Foreword

Since I first published a review for Metal Unit on Febuary 3rd, 2020, this game has undergone many updates. My review reflected the first few hours of content on release. This review should be taken with a grain of salt, though most of it will ring true to the game in its current state.

Gameplay

. . . in a nutshell

A super stylish action-sidescroller roguelite.

out the shell. . .

You move on a 2D plane and utilize a wide variety of weapons and upgrades to clear stages of enemies and bosses. From crazy-blizzard armor to homing missiles, there are plenty o’ upgrades that will help switch-up your playstyle. In addition, there are a bunch o’ guns and swords for you to ogle and toy-with. Melee attacks do lots of damage, but come at the (obvious) disadvantage of being within’ kissing (or getting hurt) distance from your foes.

You have an inventory, which allows you to store all of your cool loot (but there is a catch). Enemies drop coins, which can be used at shops to buy new equipment and healing items. You have to play the game in “episodes”, long stretches of short missions and cutscenes. If you quit during an “episode”, you will lose your progress. . . so make sure that you have some time to kill before booting up the game

Remember that “catch” I was talking about? You don’t get to keep your items between saving and quitting. So if you want to hold onto your legendary items, well. . . don’t quit. I’m not fond of this “mechanic”, and I think that it would be nice to be able to hang on to at least what you have currently equipped.

Story

The game takes place in 2060, following some planet-shaking earthquake, a great-big hole has appeared on Earth. From that hole monsters have emerged, and wreaked havoc on planet Earth. Thankfully, there’s a squad of super-pilots who wield M-suits, aka. . .

The Metal Suits.

M-Suits are basically mechas, which greatly enhance the users’ physical abilities. You play as Joanna, a M-Suit user who embarks on some “suicide mission” against the monsters which have risen. Her sister has joined the monsters, and only Joanna is able to stop them. But it won’t be easy, as later in the story it is revealed that Joanna’s sister is quite the pilot.

Visuals

The visuals are. . . awesome. So, so awesome. I love pixel art, and this game is nothing but top-notch pixel art! The protagonist is a very curvy anime girl, and everytime you hit-up the pause screen you et to ogle her un-armored body. The cutscenes are made-up of some dope animated scenes, again all done in pixel-art. Everything is very movey, which keeps your eyes busy with the graphics.

I do wish this game was modable, because it could use some. . . adult reskins. Just saying.

The Goods

The artwork is high quality, and so are the (animated) character portraits. There are a total of eight images/scenes to unlock. The CGs can be fullscreened, which means no pesky user interface. Male genitalia is stylistically blurry. . . or censored. Expect basic male-on-female intercourse.

Verdict

I definitely recommend this game, especially now that it has received multiple balancing patches, among quality of life improvements. Overall, this is a very fun game to play. It’s full of interesting toys to play with, and looks super-appealing to the eyes. If you have an hour or two to spare, pick it up and complete an episode or two!