Metal Torrent Review: Thin and Frail

April 4, 2012 Patrick Hickey Jr. Video Game Reviews, Video Games 0

The cliche, “Looks can be deceiving” has never been truer when it comes to the Nintendo DSi shooter “Metal Torrent.”

It has the look of an old-school top-down shooter and immediately brings back memories of the quarter-sucking shooters of the ’80s arcade era. Upon closer inspection however, the title is seen for what it really is, a stripped-down, poorly executed excuse for a shoot-em-up.

The gameplay engine is a joke. With just two gameplay modes, which vary in difficulty immensely, the game essentially caters to the newbie and the hardcore only. If you’ve never played a shoot-em-up before, Metal Torrent isn’t the worst place to start. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll manage to whiz through the easy modes and get frustrated with the more difficult ones. If you fall somewhere in-between these two classifications, it’s probably best that you find something else to play.

At its heart, Metal Torrent is a shooter that’s all about high scores. Able to trade your mega scores with internet-based leaderboards is cool enough, but what about making the game enjoyable to play?

Seems like the game’s developer, Arika, forgot to do the most important thing here as what could have been a fast-paced shooter is quickly monotonous and boring.

The biggest problem present in Metal Torrent is you never know what enemy attacks do damage. During gameplay, the screen is literally flooded with enemy fire. You’d think if any of it hits you, you’re a goner, but that’s not the case. Even after repeated plays, it’s impossible to know what enemy attacks will destroy your shop. You have the ability to absorb enemy fire and protect yourself, but this feature lacks real polish. It looks nifty and can be effective in boss fights, but overall, the game ultimately falters on the weakness of what was supposed to be its biggest gameplay innovation.

The fact that all the levels, or phases, look exactly alike, doesn’t help its case either. Bland and boring, after about 15 minutes, this retro shooter gets older than Defender. With a decent graphical engine and plenty of challenge, this could have been a fun, off-beat DLC. All this game needed was a few different looking levels and a damage system that actually worked.

Instead it’s just a nuisance that disguises itself as something potentially cool.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13856 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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