Metal Eden(Playstation 5) Review

I might've recalled hearing buzz for this game from a couple of places. I thought I wasn't going to bother with the game since I heard some pretty scathing things said about the demo. Much to my surprise however that the devs turned things around and the game turned out to be solid. I did enjoy my time with this game however, the game is unstable as of now. I would've beaten Metal Eden on PS5 sooner but then the game crashed on the final boss fight. This isn't your usual run of the mil game crash. All the progress I made since I returned to playing it the prior day was gone. To say I was really angry would be an understatement. I was close to beating the game and then one expected crashed set me back hours. With all that said, this is a testament to how much I enjoyed the game from a moment to moment gameplay standpoint. I would've dropped the game if I didn't enjoy it or thought it was mediocre. It did sting redoing everything from Level 4 onwards again just to get back to fighting the final boss.

That massive problem out of the way. Metal Eden is seemingly a new Doom meets Titanfall adventure. There is one major inspiration I never thought would be here that is the Halo series. There is also a weird homage to Metroid with Samus' morph ball mode but is more head scratching than endearing. It does add to how much Metal Eden borrows from the strangest of places.

It has the asthethics of modern Doom with mechanics from Eternal. There is also being able to hold all your guns, a freeze grenade and a "blood punch" of sorts. Titanfall's fast paced wall running and double jumping parkour system is here with a small hover ability. The grappling hook can be used in the campaign unlike the 2nd Titanfall. One big aspect of the Halo series does rear it's head, it's the aspect that never got ripped off nearly as much as 2 weapon limit, regen health, dedicated grenade throw button and vehicle sections. That is the shield and flesh system. There is something so surprising about this getting borrowed from since it always goes ignored.

Some weapons are good against flesh while others are good against shields. You need to drain the enemy of their recharging shield and then use a flesh weapon like a pistol or shotgun to actually damage it. The melee attack is a bit like Doom Eternal's blood punch with the animation of Halo's rifle butt melee attack where you get back health and armor when the attack connects. An issue is that the impact when using doesn't have the same feedback as the Blood Punch does.

An interesting aspect about the design is the tearing core system where you could either absorb it and turn it into Doom Eternal's blood punch or use as a grenade from a distance like in the Halo games to lower shields. It's an interesting decision to make depending on playstyle.

Being effective at Metal Eden means you will need to switch to shield draining weapons and then after a flesh damaging one. There is also a high enemy count to contend with, health and armor management as well constantly being on the move to mitigate damage. There is also some stage hazards to content with like turrets that you have to shoot in the eye to deactivate for a few seconds and the floor getting electried to encourage the constant movement. You also need to stay in place for a few seconds as certain parts of a level scans to complete the enemy waves.

Metal Eden throws a lot at you and keeps things fresh and varied. I would do without those morph ball sections since they were are out of place in a game like this and are also too infrequent to be anything worth noting.

Weapon line up also isn't very interesting. You got two machine guns. One of the pistol alt fires being a rocket is more useful than the weapon itself. The grenade launcher like many in games is too unreliable due to hoping you time the denonations enough for them to damage the enemy. The two energy weapons more or less do the same thing, widdle at shields.

Reloading also is a massive inconvience. There is nothing more infuriating when a perfect freeze grenade is timed and I want to use that time to widdle at a shield but the reload time is happening while the freeze effect is active. It can feel like the game is holding the freeze grenade back at being a reliable tactic.

The story is also kind of just "there". The AI companions you get do tend to monologue excessively. I'm more focused on the platforming but these sections at times do feel like a means to an end have them drone on and one. It's not a story that overly annoys me since you are playing it more than you engaging with the story. I did wish sometimes you get some warnings when an platforming obstacle was going to pop up.

Overall, Metal Eden is a solid and enjoyable game. I would sing the praises for the devs turning things around as well as they did if it weren't for the crash save data wipe I mentioned earlier. It really left a sour taste in my mouth an otherwise an enjoyable game.