Unmetal Review (Steam)

Written by Thomas GJ Sharpe

It is surprising to me that there aren’t more send-ups of po-faced action games, and films for that matter. Indie darling Broforce was the last I can properly recall, but it was a through and through celebration of over-the-top action. Unmetal is Metal Gear done by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, and is crass and clever, vintage and innovative, and most importantly, funny.

Jesse Fox is as absurd as Solid Snake. Exaggerated, hyperactive and farcical. Kojima’s weird family of mercenaries bickering about global espionage is as unbelievable as UnMetal’s world of pompous characters and bizarre situations. The developers, UnEpic, have skewered the tactical espionage action perfectly. Fox is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, and we play out the actions of his adventure while it is being discussed in an interrogation. This framing allows the gameplay to bend to this more than unreliable narrator. In-between the stealthy knocking out of guards, crafting of items (in a point-and-click style) and boss fights, Fox tells his tale to a dubious intelligence investigator. Were there piranha-men born from a botched artificial insemination procedure, lurking in the sewers? Why not. The flicking between gameplay and narration is effortlessly handled, allowing for a compelling mixture of story and action.

The gameplay is pretty challenging, often switching modes. This means that the segments of any gameplay style don’t really reach any true depth. There is little to master here, but the sheer number of ideas, pace changes and reversals means UnMetal is agile. There is a more puzzle-style challenge, even to the action. There isn’t anything you would be surprised at, level-wise, but the areas are contained and well designed. I got stuck a few times just by missing a path to travel, but most sections don’t outstay their welcome. The boss fights (presented with Street Fighter-esque title cards) break up the chapters, giving the player a sense of progression. As does the simple upgrading system, providing a small amount of player choice. The aforementioned interrogation-gameplay duality, however, provides the most effective impact. The dialogue choices made in the interview impact the action, with little discernible hint at the effects of the different lines. Some make the game harder, some easier. All are amusing.

The voice-acting is superb, sending up all the stereotypes of the genre. There is something joyful to me about people putting on gravely, gruff-man voices for this amount of time. There is dedication here. The music is tightly wound and evokes just the right feel to remind you of levels from oh-so-many titles. Aesthetically, the design just works, it falls into place to feel nostalgic, but without the drawbacks, limitations and frustrations that playing the inspiration material sometime bring.

The last time I had this much fun with a parody game was Darkside Detective, and much like that sublime title, the balance between homage and nostalgia with the subversion and innovation make this a rare gem. This is goofing off at its most elegant.

Overall 9/10

Armikrog Review (PC)

Funded via Kickstarter and much delayed, the spiritual successor to the Neverhood and Skull Monkeys has now finally made it’s on the PC. Whether it’s actually in a state to have been released at this stage is another thing entirely.

It all starts out very well with a beautiful claymation style that is simply breath taking. It looks gorgeous and our two protagonists Tommynaught and his pet talking dog thing Beak-Beak are likable and voiced with humour and a lot of character. After an impressive cut scene where you are chased by a fluffy monster thing the game begins properly and quickly it begin to unravel.

The game is a point and click adventure but lacks most of what we have come to expect from the genre. The first major issue is the mouse cursor. Normally the cursor in these sorts of games changes in some way to indicate that you can look or interact with things. Not here, it just stays like a mouse cursor with no feedback given to the player about what you can do.

This in itself wouldn’t necessarily be a problem but clicking on things results in nothing at all. Yes, no description of the object, no text, nothing. You have absolutely no feedback at all with regards to what is an interactable object and what isn’t. If you can pick up an object you walk over and grab it but no indication is given to what you have actually got and you can’t access an inventory either. There’s no way of telling what you are carrying around or examining it. If you happen to click on the thing the object goes with you will automatically take it out and use it.

It’s a baffling decision and must have been brought about through time and budget issues. There is clearly no way it could have been originally envisaged like this. We endeavoured to adventure on hoping we would get used to the game and for a few rooms it did seem to improve. We managed to get some fluffy thing moved to act as a ladder and Beak-Beak went through a little hole which sent everything all trippy but sadly, the fun didn’t last long.

Time and time again we came up against irritating puzzles which required panels to be moved, or thing to be slid or turned. The sort of puzzles that turn up about once a game in other point and click adventures and end up being the bit everyone hates. The puzzles arrive with no explanation as how to complete them and no context as to how they relate to anything. It makes the game incredibly disjointed and frustrating and after even an hour we were tiring very quickly of it.

Even the options menu is poor with the ability to save, load and change the sound level. That’s it. There’s also very little confirmation that you’ve actually saved your game. When you return to the game you can’t continue from the main menu screen either and have to go into the options menu again to load. 

The fact it grew tiresome so quickly despite looking so amazing is a real shame. It is clear that a lot of care and attention has gone into the look of the game and it’s one of the most unique aesthetics we’ve ever seen. But you can’t hide the fact the rest of it is frustrating, seemingly unfinished and even a bit broken in places. Though patches have been put in place we still found some issues with things not working how and when they should.

Overall, it’s a harsh thing to say but this reminded us of Rise of Robots. It’s all style over substance and beyond that it is does its very best to annoy and irritate the player. It may well be a case of over ambition but in its current state we can’t recommend Armikrog to anyone. It’s just not up to the standard we expect of point and click adventures.

Overall 3/10

Toren Review (PS4/PC)

Toren is the debut effort from Brazilian studio Sword Tales and follows the story of a girl who must solve the mystery of the tower the game is named after. It’s a story about regrowth and regeneration and claims to be a fusion of poetry and videogames. We aren’t so sure about that but it certainly is interesting.

From the start it is clear the game is heavily inspired by Ico. The whole game is spent climbing the tower and solving puzzles much in the same way as Ico. You also get hold of a magic sword from time to time which acts to shield you from darkness much in the same way as Sony’s much lived game as well.

Toren has a distinctive visual style which is filled with vibrant colours and design. It’s not necessarily the most beautifully stunning game to look at, but it certainly is distinctive and sets up the dark and brooding world well. 

The game is only around two hours long and during that time you will mostly be moving around searching for block puzzles to solve, engaging in a bit of light platforming and entering the various dream sequences. These sequences are supposed to represent an awaking within the character of various things such as mercy. They each carry a strong sense of visual design and act as a good counterpoint to the main area of the tower.

The overall goal is to climb to the top of the Tower and defeat the horned dragon which sits atop it. As you progress your character grows in both age and stature and of course everything is all linked together with cryptic bits of story that are drip fed as you ascend.

It’s a great idea and for the most part if works well but there are a fair amount of rough edges that can become frustrating over the games short run time. The jumping and combat mechanic is somewhat basic but works most of the time. However, there are occasions when you fall off a ledge and the game can’t work out how to pull you back up without you dropping to your death.  

There are also a couple of dreams which are badly judged. One area where you have to walk around a pitch black level is teeth grindingly horrendous as most of times you fall off a ledge you don’t grab hold and just fall to your death. This is the next step on from a level with invisible walk ways and shows up a lack of creativity in the level design through these sections.

Overall, Toren is an imaginative debut from the Brazilian studio. It has both good and bad points but does create a unique and interesting tale once it gets going a bit. With a bit more polishing this could have been an excellent experience that would draw you back time after time. The stodgy mechanics and some poor design in some of dreams will put many people off though and that’s a real shame.

Overall 6/10