Release Date: April 19, 2018
Metal Max Xeno is a 3D jRPG set in a post-apocalyptic world. The game belongs to a series going under the name Metal Max; the series is not much known in the West. The game features a turn-based combat system, and the graphics resemble an animated movie thanks to the cel shading technique.
Metal Max Xeno is a jRPG combining exploration of a 3D world (the camera is placed behind the character’s back) with tactical, turn-based combat. This is the second title belonging to the Metal Max series, which was released in the West (after Metal Saga, released for the PlayStation 2 in 2006). The game was developed by Kadokawa Games.
The action of Metal Max Xeno takes place in a post-war, post-apocalyptic world, in which there are many different types of armored vehicles (tanks, mechs, etc.). The player controls a group of heroes wandering through the wastelands while trying to survive.
Metal Max Xeno is a JRPG. The gameplay consists of exploring the 3D game world and tactical, turn-based combat, which is typical of this genre. During combat, players control a group of characters, and for the most part, the combat revolves around picking out targets and choosing attack types. Although we sometimes traverse the wastelands on foot, vehicles play an important role in the game, they can be used both for mobility and combat. The game features a long list of vehicles with varying stats, which are left to players’ disposal.
Metal Max Xeno employs cell shading, which makes the game resemble an animated movie. The graphics style was crafted to resemble Japanese manga and is rather pleasing to the eyes.
Platforms:
PlayStation Vita April 19, 2018
PlayStation 4 September 25, 2018
Developer: Kadokawa
Publisher: NIS America
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Game Ratings for Metal Max Xeno Video Game.
RPG Fan: 40 / 100 by Robert Fenner
Metal Max Xeno lacks just about all of the characteristics that made the series interesting to begin with.
RPG Site: 6 / 10 by Adam Vitale
While the combination of tank and foot combat offers some interesting wrinkles, it can't hold up an otherwise bland skeleton of a game.
PlayStation LifeStyle: 8 / 10 by Lucas White
That's about it, really! If you're looking for storytelling chops you won't find them here. Metal Max Xeno is all about angry and confused survivors screaming about dying, starving, or being horny, and how dope their tanks are, and how more bad guys need to die. It's refreshing in its earnest nature, and is actually more hopeful than nihilistic. But it is still on the simple and tropey side. Ultimately, this is a game about having a billion options dumped in front of you, and the joy of diving into that pile and making cool stuff out of it. There's lots of menu-fiddling, number-crunching, and ingredient-gathering, but at the end of that grind is comeuppance for evil, jerk murder-bots as your painstakingly-curated ordnance tears them to shreds, and it's hard to get more satisfying than that. Metal Max Xeno is a strange, janky, ugly mess of a game, but one I was glued to every minute of.
Average score from votes.
