Review for Metal Max Xeno. Game for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 19/04/2018
Metal Max Xeno is the latest incarnation in a decades-long series - started on NES in the now very distant 1991 - by JRPG very famous in Japan, whose distinctive features are the post apocalyptic setting and the massive use of tanks and heavy vehicles in general.
The game, developed by Kadokawa Games e Cattle Call, came out for PlayStation 4 e PlayStation Vita on April 19, 2018 in the land of the Rising Sun, while for the European version (only on home console) we had to wait until September 28.
The future that Metal Max Xeno shows us is not encouraging: humanity has been pushed to the brink of complete extinction by the monsters mutated and unleashed by an artificial intelligence that the same men had created at the dawn of the new millennium to try to put a brake on global warming. Too bad though that NOA, this is the name of the AI, has identified precisely in our race the main problem for the environment and, with cold determination, has decided to eradicate it at the root with a nice salvo of multiple nuclear warheads (thank goodness it had to defend the environment !), followed by the creation of mutant and techno-organic monstrosities that finish the job by hunting down survivors.
But, you know, the human race has tough skin and it didn't take long to recover from the catastrophe, organize communities of survivors and establish a real caste of "Monster Hunters" who, aboard heavy tracked vehicles, they wander through what remains of our world blowing up biomechanical horrors with cannon fire.
The setting, as you may have already noticed, does not shine for originality, but has all the credentials to be interesting anyway. Moreover, like all the other games in the series, Metal Max Xeno has an open world structure without major constraints on how to deal with the plot, leading to different endings depending on the choices, large and small, that the player will make.
The main character, Talis (but it will be possible to call him as we please, in perfect JRPG style) is one of these monster hunters, who finds himself in communion with the survivors of a settlement wiped out by an attack of monsters, who have found escape in an old hyper-technological military base, hidden on the bottom of the now dry Tokyo Bay. In the course of the story we will meet and recruit many other characters, all very iconic and not too stereotyped, each of them with an occupation and talents that will be useful, if not absolutely essential, to continue our research in the best possible way, with whom we will have also a way of establishing s, often ending up in situations that are also quite funny and "spicy", since the game will never lack alcohol (!) and the female characters, both human and android, will always be very alluring. Not for nothing the designer of the characters, Non Oda, is a famous illustrator specializing in the genre Hentai!
In our wanderings through the post apocalyptic lands we will also have the opportunity to find and make ours many vehicles, all designed to be heavily armed and all fully customizable. Yes, because another strong point of Metal Max Xeno is the almost total customization of the vehicles, both aesthetic and structural. Not to mention the armaments, totally interchangeable and of many different types and characteristics.
The gameplay is that of a classic JRPG: we turn around the map in search of objectives, there are the usual random encounters, fortunately avoidable without problems if we are not in the mood to level, and turn-based combat. We will be able to carry out all these activities both comfortably on board the vehicles and on foot. Some special powers and abilities, as well as some items, will only be available when used in a vehicle and vice versa. All this is somewhat reminiscent of the unforgettable Xenogears to PlayStation, but with tanks instead of mechs.
If from the point of view of history, characters and freedom of action, Metal Max Xeno fully convinces, on the technical side it unfortunately leaves much to be desired. The environments are often a little too basic and bare, and even a little repetitive. Ok that the post-atomic desert and the ruined cities are not the best of bucolicity, but if we put the environments of Metal Max Xeno next to those, in some similar ways, of Never: Automata, the comparison is truly merciless.
Vehicles, monsters and, most of all, characters are excellently portrayed, but very badly animated. While exploring, whether aboard a chariot or on foot, it often feels like you're in a PlayStation 2 game with HD remastered cel shading graphics! Unfortunately, flaws of the genre really weigh a lot on the title, which otherwise would have been really more than excellent.
Metal Max Xeno, net of its big defects and its equally important merits, remains an extremely interesting game, especially for lovers of the JRPG genre. The use and customization of the vehicles, the characterization of the characters, the open world structure and the complexity of the story, all combined with excellent longevity and good replayability, due to the choices we will make, cannot completely overcome a technical realization at times embarrassing, thus relegating Metal Max Xeno to a full sufficiency, but with the regret of knowing that it could really be much, much more.
► Metal Max Xeno is a JRPG type game developed by Kadokawa Games and published by NIS America for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 19/04/2018
