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Metis One (PC) artwork

Metis One (PC) review


"Metis ain't the One. "



Jupiter colony Metis One is in trouble; facing attack from some unknown alien danger, Earth's greatest ship has been sent to repel the threat. Actuator Games are off to a great start with some of the freshest shoot-em-up writing I've seen to date. Metis One is a top-down shooter that reminds me somewhat of the old, sort of classic, Xevious. But Xevious for all of its blandness today, initially did something special: it helped pioneer the two-plane shooter (no, not two airplanes, two planes on which to wage battle). Airborne foes get the guns, ground targets get the bombs. Elementary stuff now, but special stuff in its day, and surely responsible for more modern sort of classics like Raystorm and its ilk.

For all that, Metis One does not boast two-plane action. It won't likely inspire any games which come after it. It's a painfully pedestrian throwback shooter with almost nothing on offer of any consequence. So where does the Xevious comparison come from? The wimpiness. The shooting feels decidedly wimpy. And it doesn't look great (not for 2018, even when 2018 is pretending to be 1990): if I were to describe it, I would say that it employs very basic polygon work, which it then colours so brightly that the end product looks vaguely childish, provincial. The tunes and sounds? Hell if I remember.

In a nod to the types of games it is aping, Metis One requires you to pound the fire button incessantly, because who's ever heard of auto fire? The standard waves of alien ships traipse down unto the screen from the top, fodder for your very feeble weapons. Take out the right ones, usually hiding out at the back end of choice waves, and you'll be able to power up your ship. You can choose between a red or a blue model: the red can reflect enemy fire when powered up; the blue can emit powerful volleys when it's ready. Every now and then a boss will creep onto the screen with only slightly more fanfare than its minions -- these guys are bigger! -- and you'll have to take care not only not to die, but to do your own killing quickly, lest the boss bore of you and slide off the screen, disinterested and disgusted.

And this may well be your reaction after having spent a little time with Metis One. Regrettably, it was mine -- and I play and enjoy a lot of shooters. That tends to make me more forgiving. I only wish there were some redeeming quality here which might have saved this effort from the scrapheap of shmup pretenders. Usually there's an attempt at some gimmick, some something to stand out. The best thing that can be said of Metis One is that it furnishes drop-in local multiplayer. Although. Not many people I know play multiplayer games on Steam in this fashion (online MP? What's that?). I picture a friend and I huddled around my laptop, with two Xbox One controllers bluetooth synced and ready to go... and, no, I can't picture that at all.

This game will probably cost you very little to play (edit: no, I'm wrong, it costs nearly ten bucks! WTF), but once you factor in your time, even that may be too great a cost.



Masters's avatar
Staff review by Marc Golding (July 08, 2018)

There was a bio here once. It's gone now.

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