Games:
Metal Black
- Platform: Arcade
- Release Date: 1991
- Similar Games: Gradius (Arcade)
Game Description
In Metal Black players must pilot the fighter against the aliens and the human-controlled weapons of war under their domination. You can continue with extra lives after you're hit and destroyed by enemies, shots, or terrain. If you run out of extra lives the game ends. The game's weapons system is based on a power gauge rated from one to eight in power.By collecting power-up icons you can marginally increase your power level. Collect enough icons and you can advance your power to the next level, all the way up to level eight, giving you a more powerful laser shot. Your power gauge can also be used to conduct a devastating attack that will damage all enemies on-screen by releasing energy in all directions. This attack drains your power gauge at a steady rate, and will last until your power gauge is drained down to level one. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
Metal Black's horizontal scrolling gameplay is reminiscent of games like R-Type, but its weapons system is unique. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game GuideReview: Enjoyment
There are some weak level designs, and the weapons system comes across as being unfinished. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game GuideReview: Overall
Metal Black is a rather disappointing shooter. There aren't any glaring flaws, but a collection of small nagging problems work together to make the game a lackluster experience.The first and most immediate problem is in the graphics. The backgrounds are well detailed, which is good. There are also several layers of background moving in parallax, which is also good. But somehow Metal Black manages to put them together to create a confusing environment to fly in. The erratic coloring scheme, which can range from decent to gaudy within the same level, doesn't help either. You will find yourself occasionally flying into parts of the mid-ground backdrop and dying just because you thought it was part of the background that you could fly over, or part of the foreground that you could fly under.
When you try to weave your way through enemy shots you'll usually be a bit more hesitant than in other shooters, because there are so many distracting things going on in the background that you have to mentally identify and separate them from enemy shots. So while you may be initially wowed by the exceptional graphics, in the end you'll be frustrated by the way they hamper your ability to play the game.
The second problem is in the game's weapons system. It's unique in that you don't grab traditional power-up icons of different types to get different weapons. Instead you grab these bouncing multi-colored things that look vaguely like high school chemistry models of molecules. You have a power gauge, and each power-up you grab bumps your gauge up marginally. If you get enough power-ups, perhaps 50 or 100, you can get your power gauge to the maximum level.
The strength of your shot is determined by the current power rating of your gauge. Furthermore you can use a screen-filling attack that drains your power gauge. Having to go after many power-ups instead of one power-up for one gauge level is a another unique idea, but that's as far as the developers took it. There's nothing else for you to do, and the difference between a level one and level eight shot isn't that significant anyway. Because your power-up options are so limited, the game can get boring after some time.
The third problem is in the otherwise decent but unimpressive gameplay. There are several instances in the game where you can be killed without a chance to save yourself. Sometimes things will fly through the screen without warning, and your ability to survive depends solely on whether you happen to be on the half of the screen that the object doesn't fly through. You can't evade the object because as soon as it appears your escape route is cut off. There's nothing wrong with difficulty, but being killed without having a chance to save yourself is unfair and annoying.
Metal Black's music doesn't have anything specifically wrong with it; it's just not very pleasant to hear. All the songs have multiple places where notes seem to sound off-key, or the tempo seems to slip.
Metal Black is not a shooter that you will want to play more than two or three times. To be remembered as a classic, a shooter must have a somewhat distinctive weapons system, at least decent graphics, and great gameplay. Metal Black's weapons system feels unpolished and half-baked. Its graphics are quite good, but ends up interfering with gameplay. And the gameplay is just not that great. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide
