GunMetal by Majesco is a game about a war between humanity and the ever-opposing force of alien-kind as they attempt to take over the world via a cosmic wormhole that is conveniently situated a stone’s throw away from the natural rotation of earth.  But more than that, so much more, it’s about the transformable top-secret 30-foot-tall mecha that you are in control of that really makes this game a pleasure to play.  This transformable mech unit, code-named the Havoc Suit, is apparently capable of not only stemming the growing takeover of the world but also has the potential to overpower the alien invasion outright.   As with most mech-based games that expect you to invest a handsome chunk of time into learning the controls GunMetal is different and actually pretty arcade-like and fairly simple to pick up, even for those new to the genre. 

There are 15 missions in all, each taking around 3-10 minutes to complete.  That is, once you master the game, which takes quite some time once you hit the sixth mission.  Which brings me to the biggest gripe I have with the game: difficulty ramps up to a ridiculous degree midway through the game, it turns into Stuntman (PS2) without the wheels and without warning.  Even then, though, it is still manageable, barely.  The action is intense, and control is very tight considering the fact that you are expected to make hairline precise maneuvers at a second’s notice. 

The Havoc Suit is capable of transforming into either a towering bi-pedal land-based mech or a highly maneuverable jet fighter.  Both variations control similarly, with the exception of how they move around.  In mech form you move around with the L-stick and use the R-stick to change your perspective and aim, in jet fighter form the L-stick changes your perspective and the R-stick is used for boosting and braking.  The R-trigger and L-trigger is used for firing weapons and launching missiles in both forms.  Hitting the Y-button transforms your unit, and the A-button cycles through your available list of weaponry.

Both mecha and jet forms each have their own unique arsenal of available artillery.  This artillery consists of weapons that range from things like the Disk-Launcher for the mech, which has a fast reload time but a low power rating and the GP-bomb for the jet fighter which has an extreme payload but slow reload times.  All weapons in the game are rated by power, reload, and ammo capacity.  As you progress through the various missions you’ll be awarded with upgraded weapons which take the place of their inferior counterparts until you are controlling a 30-foot-mech that is armed to the teeth with incredibly powerful offensive capability.

Gameplay is great, which is to say that controlling the Havoc Suit is easy to do and very enjoyable.  But the problem is that the missions you’ll have to complete consist almost entirely of defending this or that base, or playing escort to a group of ships.  In other words you spend too much time defending and protecting and not enough time in one-on-one dogfights and full-on combat without worry of damaging friendly units.  If there is one thing that is dragging this game down it’s its generic missions.  And if that weren’t bad enough there is no two-player mode or any other mode of any sort for that matter.  All-in-all you are given around 10 hours gameplay for your fifty bucks.  “Worth it?”, you ask.  Well that depends: is ten hours of mecha goodness worth fifty dollars to you?  I say nay.

Visually the game is Halo-like but without the same amount of graphical depth and detail.  Slowdown continually occurs in particularly hectic sequences, much like in Sky Gunner (PS2), which is similar to this game in more than one way.  Graphically the game does more than get the job done however, and transforming from one form into the other is particularly cool looking.  Atmospheres are quite diverse and range from tree-laden slopes and hills to flatlands which, more often than not, harbor enemy bases.  As you crash through the environment trees will fold over in flames like matchsticks and the sheer adrenaline of flying through the sky in jet fighter mode towards your objective is incredibly fun.  Sound effects are as good as can be expected: everything sounds realistic and appropriate but not particularly memorable.  Music consists of formulaic electronic drumbeats overlaid with subtle yet sweeping orchestrations, on paper it sounds like an odd mixture of musical elements but in practice it actually works quite well and sets a nice mood to accompany the on-screen action.

Until the Decepticons hit the small screen I’ll be content playing GunMetal.  It is a solidly entertaining mech game that doesn’t serve up enough replay-ability and occasionally stumbles in its missions, but it’s still fun while it lasts.  It does kind of suck that Rage Software ended up including unnecessarily difficult missions instead of integrating the requisite bonus modes of play in order to increase the lasting appeal of the game, but that’s ok, just consider this game the before-meal breadsticks until the onslaught of mech-based games hit store shelves later this year and early next year.  If you are a mech-head than this game might be worth dropping fifty bones for, if transformable mech-based combat isn’t your bag than it is still worth renting.  It’s an adequate appetizer until Steel Battalion, Robotech, and MechAssualt come out anyway.

Gameplay: 8.4
Controlling the Havoc Suit takes a little time in order to get used to the various nuances and activation triggers but once you are comfortable with the button layout you’ll be able to maneuver with ease.  While the game as a whole isn’t particularly impressive the gameplay that GunMetal employs is: you’re able to transform between forms on the fly at any time without exception and the various bumps and hills of the terrains give you a lot of strategic possibilities.

Graphics: 7.6
Graphics are somewhat redundant, especially the atmospheric additions and the various background elements seem to lack a high amount of depth.  It should be noted that GunMetal is visually appropriate by all accounts and is not obviously lacking in any way, but it should also be noted that the developers did not go the extra mile to take advantage of the Xbox’s powerful hardware.

Sound: 7.4
Aurally GunMetal is unsurprisingly suitable, but as with the graphics, it is hardly impressive.  The music is sufficiently entertaining and is pretty original but the sound effects are derivative and give off an aura of “been there, done that”.

Difficulty: Medium
For the first half-dozen missions you’ll have quite a bit of fun tearing through enemy terrain and unloading tons of artillery weaponry, but starting with the seventh mission the game suddenly ramps up the difficulty to an unprecedented degree.  Actually it seems like the hardest missions are found in the middle of the game, which makes very little sense.  Overall, expect to invest around 10 hours to reach the end credits.

Concept: 7.2 
An alien invasion, no hope of survival, a giant 30-foot-tall mech comes along and saves the day: hmm, this sounds familiar somehow – oh yah, that’s right, it’s the exact same plot for nearly every other mech-based game and anime!  Still though, you gotta admit, towering mecha robots that are capable of destroying entire cities in a matter of minutes never gets old.  It’s a shame that the mission objectives are so generic and consist mainly of defending and escorting, if it had been more one-on-one action intensive then this could have been a great game.

Overall: 6.8

Anyone who digs piloting gigantic mechs will assuredly get a kick or two out of GunMetal but unless you are seriously jonesing for some transformable mech action you’d be better off waiting for the shoe-in mech titles that are on the way (*cough* Steel Battalion).  Definitely worthy of a rental though.