Metalwars review

I thought i'd try something new by writing about some of the iphone apps that i've been using and iphone games that i've been playing and today the topic is Metalwars by Goorusoft.

I had started out playing the lite (i.e. free) version and got so hooked on it that i had to get it (at $0.99, daily discount of the day i think) for the extra levels, although a little disappointed only a total of 18 levels for the full version.

Basically it is based on Mechwarriors (anyone remember that?) where a single human pilot gets into a robot that is armed to the teeth and they battle it out. The graphics is quite impressive with your view a 3D perspective slightly behind your robot. The controls are relatively straightforward with two circles appearing on the bottom corners of your screen (landscape mode). The "left control pad" controls movement while the "right control pad" controls the direction of the turret and fires the weapon at the same time. To point at a direction without firing, just tap the edge of the circle in the required direction. It can be a real challenge at first to master this, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite exciting to be able to run and gun, duck behind cover, change weapons and repeat. Weapons need time to reload, so it's best to have at least 2 so you can rotate while the other is being reloaded. You can't reload midway so you have to expend all your ammo (unlimited reloads i think) before the reloading can begin. You can get caught out and be defenceless at times if your weapons are all reloading, so just have to make like Gump and RUN!

Weapons can be changed via the little button next to the "right control pad" and this cycles through all the weapons you have mounted on your mech. My bugbear with the controls is sometimes this button does not respond when i try to change weapons, not sure why, could be an overlap with the right control pad. You can also give simple orders to your buddy which are self-explanatory: Follow me, Attack, and Hold.

The game offers 3 different slots for you saving progress of your game and offers a total of 18 stages for you to clear. Each stage consists of destroying all enemy mechs with the help of a fellow mech and you actually get graded for this, with the amount of money you earn corresponding to the grade you get. Each subsequent stage has harder (more well armed and well armoured) enemies, and is unlocked only if you get a minimum D grade. Basically this just means you're the last mech standing after everyone else (including your buddy) has been destroyed. The money you make varies from level to level, but generally if you do well, you can get an A grade which gives you 160. And if you really well, an S grade gives you the most money at 200. There is a buddy bonus (of 100) if he survives when you clear the stage, but i don't think this adds to your money, the only catch being that I haven't been able to get an S grade with my buddy dying along the way so i assume he has to survive as well to get that. The stages have different environments from a space-station arena, to a city grid, to a town set in the desert. Unlocking stages also gives you access to buy better weapons at the shop.

The shop is where the money you've been making becomes important as it allows you to upgrade your mech with better parts. These are catergorised into: Lower, Upper, Weapon, Extra, Wingman, Lower Paint and Upper Paint. Parts generally get more expensive as you go on so it's important to save up for them. Sometimes it's worth replaying a level, even though you've already attained 'S' for it, just so you can get more money. This can be such a mismatch at times when need more money and replay stage 1 and utterly pwn the scrawny machine-gun toting mechs.

Lower bodies come in a variety of flavours and vary in AP (hitpoints), speed, acceleration and loadage. Having a larger upper body gives better AP and allows you extra slots for weapons and of course, having more weapons is good in view of the reloading period. The maximum of weapons is 4, using the Guardian, which is interesting because the next (and penultimate) upper body that you unlock is the Impulse, which costs the same, has the same AP but can only carry 3 weapons. LOL

Do be aware that you are restricted by the amount the lower body can carry (i.e. loadage), so while it's nice to have a fast lower body (with corresponding lower loadage) and huge upper body with 4 weapons, this ain't gonna happen, which is cool. One quick tip is that placement of the weapons does matter. For upper bodies with more than 2 weapons, the 3rd (and 4th) weapons are placed on the top, allowing you to fire them at enemies if you're behind a low enough partial cover. Very useful as the computer controlled mechs generally can't get to you when you're behind cover (whether partial or full), but note that this does not work for missile boxes.

Weapons range from your basic MG (you start out with with the 20mm, with 30mm and 40mm later) to cannons of varying sizes to missile boxes (reminds me of the TOW missile on the standard M2 Bradley) to flamethrowers and laser beams. These vary in power, range, cartridge (magazine size), delay and reload time. The MGs are generally good and i can even use them all the way until the later stages when better weapons are unlocked. The cannons are powerful but have really long delays between shots and you're pretty much screwed if you need them to reload quickly, 'cos they take ages to do so. The shotgun is useful if you're a bobo shooter and is useful for close quarter battles (CQB), although not as good as the almighty flamethrower. I don't really like the laser beam but the computer controlled mechs seem to do alright using it. The missile boxes are interesting because the initial box comes with 7 missiles and fires them one at a time, and they will try to home in on the enemy provided you are facing the right direction and within range. Can be frustrating to fire your missiles and see them wander elsewhere, or even worse it hits your buddy (which does them damage so watch what you're shooting!). Later stages unlock spreadmissile boxes which fire in salvoes of 3 missiles for 3 waves which can be quite devastating. There is also a curious missile box called Skybot, which fires a bot that flies around the enemy shooting them with a small beam (a true fire and forget weapon). I usually try to keep the enemy mechs far away from me, using a mixture of skybot/spreadmissiles and MGs (cannons are too slow for me). At the same time, i'd outfit my buddy with a missile box or two and CQB-type weapons (flamethrowers are awesome!) and let him go upfront and attack while i engage from distance (from an angle).

The extras provide either a defensive laser that intercepts incoming missiles with a green beam (note long 'reload' time between shots) "Hard Kill" or extra AP "AP Up", and these come in 2 different levels, 5-10% for the AP. I did not notice any difference between Hard Kill 1 and Hard Kill 2, only that it takes up more loadage (from 5 to 10) so i stuck with Hard Kill 1.

The wingmen don't really matter so you can stick with the present given guy unless you have money to burn. Same thing for the change of paint for your mech, although it's really cheap and only costs 5. You can also rename your mech (for free).

Do remember to assemble your mech after buying your parts from the shop. This is especially useful if you want to do well (not just clear) at the various stages. There are some stages where it would be better to assemble a faster mech with less weapons, and there are some where you can go in armed to the teeth and just blast the enemy away.

My standard mech has the Guardian as the upper body as i prefer to have more weapons. I use a Skybot, a spreadmissile and a pair of 40mm MGs in that order (together with a Hard Kill 1, which gives max loadage of 110). I'd fire the Skybots, followed by all waves of my spreadmissile, then i get behind a low wall (try the wall of the compound that you start out in stage 1) and engage the enemy from safety. By the time i finish through my cycle, the Skybot would typically still be reloading, while my spreadmissile is loaded, so i fire another couple of waves at the enemy, then engage with my (now reloaded) MGs. Then back to Skybot, rinse and repeat. =)

Cover is very important in this game and it pays to use them. Stay away from open areas of the map unless you are heavily armoured and can deal death from afar accurately. Also be careful before letting loose your weapons, least you hit your buddy and try not to engage with your missiles until you have a clear line of sight to the enemy mech. If using your guns, try to park behind a building with just the gun sticking out, so you can engage the buggers at the same time, for this you'd need to be aware which gun you are firing and adjust your cover accordingly. Like i said earlier, if you have more than 2 weapons, make sure your MG/cannon is the 3rd (or 4th weapon) so that you can park behind a lower cover and engage with impunity.

Typically the enemy mechs start out at a position directly opposite you on the other side of the map. They will then make their way down, and usually use the same routes, although i have seen some variation at times. So playing through a stage can give you some idea on which side of a building to walk towards. =)

Also know that some stages pay more money that others, stage 7 for one pays 260 for an S grade, which is the highest i've found so far. The enemy mechs aren't particularly difficult to kill, especially if you use the tips above so that's easy money to be earned. Most stages have only 2 enemy mechs, but stage 6 has 3 and stage 15 has 4(!). Stage 15 is particularly hard as 3 of the mechs are small and quick and carry flamethrowers which can make short work of you if they all close in on you at the same time. One way of clearing this stage (D grade) is to send your buddy up to engage (to his death) while you try to pick them off but this can be difficult. An easier method would be to assemble a light fast mech with a big cannon and subsidiary MG and just run away. They will chase in line with the direction you're running so it's easy to just pick them off like that (try a 100mm cannon hahahaha), provided you are fast enough. This works especially well if your buddy managed to take out the non-flamethower mech early and then joins you for a quick jog around the rather open map. =)

There are still some bugs in the game, like sometimes after a freak shot or something, the mechs run around without an upper body (or weapons), which gives you an easy kill.

Overall, this is a game which can occupy you for some time. It can be frustrating at times, especially if you want to get S grade for all the stages, but the gameplay is good enough to sustain you for some time. Replayability is limited as once you get the set up you are comfortable with, you don't really have much more to fight for aside from more money or bragging rights.