hree CorpoNations--RimTech, MilAgro and Neuropa--are vying for control of the world and/or galaxy. The key to winning the control game is Hedoth technology. Discovering a functioning example of said technology would be the Metal Fatigue equivalent of the Iraqis stumbling across a couple of American Abrams battle tanks--sweet, if you're the Iraqis.
Three brothers find the stuff for RimTech, but the discovery sets the three against one another. Each of the brothers then allies with a different CorpoNation, and the war is on.
This real-time strategy war game plays out over 30 missions, with 10 missions per CorpoNation. The standard RTS game play is provided: farm resources, build bases, construct units and fight battles. Players can fight the computer in the campaign, fight the computer in Skirmish mode (think multiplayer without the multi), or hook up with like-minded folks to battle over the Internet or a local area network.
No matter how it's fought, the war is waged underground, on the surface, and in orbit. The combatants are a mix of goofy tanks (don't these designers have any idea what a modern tank looks like?), goofy artillery, other assorted goofy units and the drop-dead sexy Combots.
Stealing pages from every anime Mecha game/cartoon/story since the beginning of time, the game has cobbled together a fascinating array of tree-top tall biped weapon chassis called Combots. Players build them, equip them with various weapons and then send them to dominate the fray.
The strategy of 'Bots, 'Bots, 'Bots
In truth, the Combots dominate Metal Fatigue. Make no mistake, that's a good thing. Without the 'Bots, the game is just standard real-time strategy fare; with them, it's neat, cool, fun, even occasionally challenging.
Much of the strategy lies in choosing how to build and employ the Combots. Available war implements vary from missile-sprouting torsos to axe-wielding arms--there's a weapon for every job. For example, the missiles inflict damage from afar, while a katana can be employed to sever an enemy Combot's arm. A severed arm's weapon may even be bolted onto another 'Bot and used against its former owner.
That usage provides the best eye-candy of the game. Combots sway, lunge and swing axes as they strive to destroy their foes. Some stand back, bathing their opponents in laser light or loosing streams of missiles. It's just plain fun to watch.
Combots are not Metal Fatigue's only newfangled idea. The three-tiered battlefield is a catchy gimmick. There's something to be said for tunneling under the opponent's base, or massing an army in orbit and then descending to smite the foe with flaming sword. Still, the different realms offer limited scope for tactical innovation. Once players pop out of the ground, or descend with sword aflame, it's still the familiar real-time struggle.
The Combots, however, provide the game's saving grace. Fun to build, fun to battle and fun to watch, they lift Metal Fatigue above the realm of mediocre clone-and-conquer games.
