There’s a fair chance you’ve never heard of the Metal Max series. Even if you have, there’s still a fair chance that you didn’t know it was an actual series, much less one that’s been around for over 30 years. In point of fact, the first Metal Max game goes all the way back to the Famicom and it’s a fairly popular franchise in Japan. Unfortunately, most of the series was never released anywhere else. Sure, we got Metal Saga for PS2, but it’s honestly not a very fun game.
Fortunately, Metal Max Xeno was brought to the West back in 2018. You may or may not have seen it then, but it was released on PS3 and Vita from Kadokawa Games and while it wouldn’t even qualify as a sleeper hit here, some gamers noticed it. Sadly, there were a few issues with Metal Max Xeno and it wasn’t the hit that the developers had hoped. Now however, developer Kadokawa Games and publisher PQube are back with Metal Max Xeno Reborn and things are noticeably improved!
If you don’t know anything about Metal Max Xeno Reborn, let’s just clear up the plot. It’s not a deep one so don’t worry. Basically, the world has been destroyed by a computer because it decided that humans are a plague upon the Earth. While the computer failed, it unleashed a horde of rampaging killbots (oops…SoNs) to wipe out what was left of humanity. The planet is a wasteland filled with vicious robots and weird monsters now and humanity is holding on by a last tenuous thread. Sounds kind of familiar right? Maybe a bit Terminator-ish, sans time travel? Well, Metal Max has its own charms and unique identity even if you may have heard portions of the story before.
You end up joining a group of survivors in ‘Iron Base’, a reinforced fortress in the Tokyo desert (things are not good here for there to be a Japanese desert). From here, your job is to sortie out and fight your way through tanks, giant insects and more in order to find more survivors and save the world, stuff like that. Returning to base heals all damage for free (why can’t more games do this??) and then you set out again, spoiling for a fight with the destroyers of your planet. As the game progresses, you’ll gain allies that fight beside you, allowing for two more companions and a wealth of additional weaponry and abilities. Each person gets a tank or some sort of armored vehicle eventually and there’s even a dog! Weirdly, dogs were present in other incarnations of Metal Max but removed from Metal Max Xeno. Now the dog is back and yes, you can pet it. Yes, it’s oddly gratifying. And as an added bonus, your dog is armed with a machine gun on his back and he’s a good boy. He even rides on your tank while you’re driving around, adding to the fun ambience of the game.
Oh yeah, you get a tank. That’s actually kind of the main focus in Metal Max Xeno Reborn. Kitting out your tank and fighting in it are key portions of the game. Iron Base doesn’t have much but it does have full-service machine shops, allowing you to upgrade and change the armaments, computers, and even pain colors of your tanks and equipment if you’ve found the right scrap and have the money for it. The base also has a bar which you stock with liquor pillaged from the base and essentially exchange for backstory, a jukebox, a bedroom to sleep away the time in, and not much else.
But what’s the point of all this? Well, it turns out a monstrous SoN laughably called Catastropus is coming to destroy Iron Base and end humanity once and for all and it’s your job, intrepid stranger, to stop it. While there’s a plot in Metal Max Xeno Reborn, it isn’t the best plot and honestly, that’s ok. To stop Catastropus (yeah, it’s fun to keep saying it), you’ll have to find a shield for your base, find more powerful tanks and weapons, meet up with other survivors, and generally wander around exploring the wastes and grinding your character. Once the initial charm of the Metal Max world has worn off, it’s time to settle in to a slow expanding grind that gradually opens up new areas as your buy, find, and build more and more effective armaments and shielding. Catastropus (See? Awesome).
That might not sound like the best time to some though, and if you’re familiar with Metal Max Xeno, you might remember that things weren’t as lackadaisical in the original version. Here though, turn-based combat has been replaced with an Active Time system where allies and opponents both have turn meters that make combat a bit more unpredictable. In addition, the overworld is more open now, allowing you to go pretty much anywhere no matter what your level. Sure, you’re probably going to die if you explore too far too fast and there are some physical barricades to unfettered progress but by and large, the game feels quite open.
The shift to free movement during combat and open travel means that tactically, there are new options available for players. There are powerful wanted boss enemies to hunt down in addition to the regular enemies littering the landscape as well. Most of these are well above your level when you first encounter them but clever use of cover and firing from outside their line of sight can allow you to defeat them without even entering combat. This goes for a host of enemies in the game, allowing you to get a first shot in before battle begins or even wipe out whole groups of smaller enemies without activating combat.
When enemies see you, a bar appears at the top of the screen indicating their alertness level. When the bar fills, combat begins. In addition to the bar at the top, enemies have sight lines visually represented on screen. Lots of enemies means lots of sight lines and makes the entire screen look like a laser maze at first glance. If you’re sniping enemies from afar with a long rage weapon, your first person targeting reticle changes from grey to white, showing you are within range. If enemies are out of retaliatory range, they’re all fair game. If they’re closer though, they become aware that they’re being fired upon very quickly and stronger enemies initiate battle rapidly. Once you’re in combat, you’re basically waiting for your action meter to refill. When you’re not in the menu selection screen, you can move your vehicle around to try and dodge shorts, but missiles home right in on you no matter what in a frustratingly accurate manner, making most combat a simple war of attrition. If your stats are high enough, you’ll win. Then it’s back to the base to heal if it was a close call, using the new fast travel selections to immediately appear inside your base fully healed.
What’s weird about Metal Max Xeno Reborn is that when you leave to sortie again, most of the enemies you’ve killed stay dead. Your goal is to lower the Extinction Counter on humanity, a physical counter that starts off in the high 90s and slowly lowers as you obliterate enemy after enemy. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a grind to make any progress in Metal Max, so to bring back more enemies to kill, replenish the scrap, and keep going, you’ll have to nap in your room. The longer you nap for, the higher the Extinction Counter goes back up and then you’ll be able to wander back out into the wastes and slaughter with abandon once more. This balancing act on the knife’s edge of the survival of the human race is something you’ll have to learn to manage to minimize the amount of wandering about you’ll do in the game. Tactically resting to replenish enemies is a weird idea but it’s quirky enough that it fits right in with this unorthodox RPG.
There are still a few rough edges to Metal Max though. For one, driving your tank can occasionally be frustrating as it’s easy to get stuck in bits of environment. Obviously, collision detection is important but banging into a building when you’re just trying to back up and turn around is irritating, and doubly so when the only reason you drove into a corner in the first place was to obtain some inconveniently placed scrap. In fact, sometimes it’s best to just pop out of your tank and leave it sitting out in the open. Jumping out allows you to run about on foot and there are even some dungeons that are only available on foot and inaccessible with tanks and other heavy equipment. In these areas, you rely on your individual characters’ abilities, and yes, that includes your dog. Working your way on foot through areas adds a refreshing layer to gameplay and is generally fun. Different types of enemies mix things up and there are some items you can only acquire on foot. When you’re out in the main overworld however, being on foot gets you killed fast, while being in a tank allows you to lose the tank’s HP all the way down to zero without being killed.
Death is not the end in Metal Max Xeno Reborn however. If you fail and die, you’re simply returned to Iron Base with full HP and no damage. There are no penalties to death but that just reinforces how much grinding you’ll have to do. Speaking of characters and HP, don’t neglect your characters! In addition to equipment that can be scavenged, bought, or built, you gain levels like any other RPG and you have skill points that can be assigned to a number of different abilities that affect both in-person combat and tank-based warfare as well. Forget to assign those points (and it’s easy to do) and you’ll end up a bit under-powered with less abilities. Some of the more useful ones include things like firing every machine gun on your tank for a single action or dual firing the weapons in slots one and two. These abilities enhance your tactical advantage and as your power levels creep up, Metal Max starts to feel easier and more accessible.
Visually, this is a somewhat dated game of course. While Metal Max is a remaster of a 2018 game and many of the visuals have been updated, it still looks like an older game overall and some of the environmental features are jaggy with limited textures. This is not a triple A release with a massive team of graphic designers, but the designs that are there, especially the new character portraits and redesigned tanks and base are excellent. Not a surprise when your graphic designer previously worked on Gravity Rush. The music is also fairly average in Metal Max. While the soundtrack is good, it’s not the sort of thing you seek out to download and the sound effects are serviceable. The music coming up as you get pulled into battle or targeted by a huge enemy is cool though and sound implementation in general is quite good here.
Metal Max Xeno Reborn is a unique game. It’s a post-apocalyptic tank RPG that’s been semi-converted to an open-world game, but still retains the sensibilities of the original content. The design elements are great but the plot is thin for this style of game. Not bad mind you, the story is quite fun (let’s not spoil it though), but there’s not a ton of depth behind it in the same way that major RPG franchises have. Gameplay is the key here and refinements in the combat systems are excellent, making the overall game more engaging and fun, even if working your way up in power is a bit too repetitive sometimes and the challenge level can randomly spike if you wander into the wrong area. In short, while it’s not a mainstream game, Metal Max Xeno Reborn is fun and worth your time. At $40, you’re going to get your money’s worth here if it’s your type of game and there’s even a bit of low priced DLC, though most of it is just items and such. PQube chose a good one to bring back and putting it on the Switch is a great choice due to the added portability. Metal Max Xeno Reborn is as fun to play on the go as it is docked, and fun goes a long way towards mitigating a story that could have been a fair bit more intense if the devs had wanted it to be. If Metal Max Xeno Reborn sounds like it appeals to you, you definitely won’t have any regrets picking it up! Catastropus (yup, still awesome)!
This review is based on a digital copy of Metal Max Xeno Reborn provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and played equally well in both. Metal Max Xeno Reborn is also available for Steam and PS4.
