As someone who has played the original Xbox exclusive version of the game I have to disagree with some of your comments about Metal Wolf Chaos XD.
The original is not a great game, it is not a subtle or pretty game, but the review made it sound as if it is not any fun and that is something I just cannot agree with. It is huge fun, when played in small doses.
What is there not to like about the ridiculousness of saving America by destroying large parts of some of its biggest cities? Whilst doing that you mow down dozens of enemies and save hostages by shooting the cages they’re being held in. Finding all the hostages and freeing them successfully, i.e. not accidentally killing them is another fun part of the gameplay. Success doing that rewards you with additional weapons and there are also a number of other hidden pickups in some levels worth looking for too.
Controls were fine on the original Xbox and I’d bet no worse now. Slow combat? No, a lot of the time if you go in gung-ho like you’d think you be expected to do and you’ll get your butt kicked. The lack of checkpoints is no issue if you play with a bit of intelligence. That’s what I really liked about it. The game may be about creating carnage, but it does still require some tactical forethought. It is simple stuff: shooting from cover, enemy prioritisation, weapons choice, and careful exploration etc. but it is essential if you want to survive. The time limit in some missions also adds a demanding extra element.
Having said all this you’d probably get much the gameplay experience but bigger and, arguably better, playing Earth Defense Force 5 or one of the earlier games in that series. But what you won’t get is the same barkingly mad humour.
Metal Wolf Chaos in any form is not a 4/10 game.
Malcolm Lawn
GC: 4/10 is a little below average and that doesn’t sound much different from what you’re describing. Perhaps the difference is we just didn’t find it all that funny. There are similarities to Earth Defense Force though, we agree.
