There's so much about Gun Metal that's good it's hard to believe there's so much that downright sucks.
Gun Metal's gimmick is the same as the Transformers in that the Havoc Suit can transform into a jet upon command. It adds a decent little spice of variety to the action where one minute you're tromping into combat, the next you're flying around at alarming speed. I was actually alarmed at just how fast paced the dog fighting and overall jet controls are and it's always cool having a fast flying vehicle that defies the laws of physics for the sake of gameplay, but I still can't help but wonder why they chose a generic, straight launching jet for the mech to transform into. Wouldn't a VTOL make more sense, something that you could slow down easier in claustrophobic situations? Why not a spaceship, something that could take advantage of full air movement space or, I dunno, heavier armor that could withstand the pressures of space, heat and radiation, thus withstand half a dozen more blasts?
The game thankfully offers the Custom Soundtrack option and thank God because much like Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volley Ball and Xyanide, you're gonna need it. Not that the soundtrack to Gun Metal is bad, it's just recycled. Completely. Imagine taking all the generic orchestral scores or rock sounds you've heard in recent B-Movies or budget video games, throw them all into one game soundtrack and you would have the soundtrack to Gun Metal: barely remarkable, all of which you know you've heard somewhere else. With that out of the way though, the sound effects aren't too bad as you get a fully unique range of articulate sounds such as the mech changing shape into the jet and there are actually different varieties of laser fire. Of course, when things get busy, they'll be easily drowned out during combat. Graphically, the game is pretty good. It's not too impressive, nor is it really embarrassing. If anything, you'll run into one too many invisible walls around the area and in the final level I swear I saw an enemy battleship spawn in behind a mountain out of nowhere.
Most of the game you'll spend juggling between using the mech or the jet per level rather than both. Maybe in the first three levels you'll be able to go from one to the other easily, but for the most part you'll either have to choose between slow and short ranged but powerful or incredibly fast and capable of flying over hills and buildings. Healing in the game's a pain because you have to go to recharge stations and sit around them waiting for your health to regenerate usually while the immobile target you have to defend is getting blown-up. Still it all makes for a fun ride per mission first tromping then flying.
Sadly, the difficulty curve of each mission tends to bend too often. The first eight missions are pretty easy but from there the difficulty suddenly jumps. The major flaw to Gun Metal is the simple fact that it's a mission-based game. I don't expect every game to have a sandbox or have be severely linear, but I don't expect the missions to be so tight and restrictive it chokes out all the fun. Some of the missions require you to do actions in a specific style and speed in order for them to be won and it gets really infuriating. Actually, a lot of the missions in this game are hard simply because they have literally no logic working with them; you'll find it impossible to care or sympathize with the Internal Security Corps because they prove to be a least effective military defense force than the ones in Gamera AND Godzilla movies. I suppose this is to give you a feeling of desperation, that Project Gun Metal is literally the only hope Helios has left, but even so you'll find the heroic forces quite stupid.
Let's get one thing straight, okay everyone? ESCORT MISSIONS SUCK. ALL Escort Missions. And I don't mean when characters just randomly tag along though they may get hurt along the way. I mean actual missions where you absolutely have to keep someone or something alive in order to progress through the game. Escort Missions aren't fun or entertaining; they're embarrassing attempts at adding variety to game play and petty excuses of adding to a game's challenge. There are few Escort Mission I've played that didn't suck so hard it actually denigrated the game it was on. Every Escort Mission for every game I've played sucked: Hunter the Reckoning, Freedom Wings, Secret Weapons Over Normandy, Silent Hill 4, Resident Evil 4. Gun Metal only adds to the list.
The ninth mission in this game is beyond stupid and beyond irritating because it's simply one of the worst escort missions I've had to encounter: you're supposed to pave three paths that have been lined with floating mines so three friendly Dropships can hover safely towards the target area and then you have to defend those Dropships even more from in-coming enemies who show up once the mines are cleared. The Dropships have guns mounted to them and actually fire, but they don't do jack against the mines, so you have to go in and clear them with your superior firepower.
Unfortunately, rather than have you personally clear the mines for them BEFORE they fly in, the VTOL pilots stupidly start flying head-first into danger, hoping you assist them and stop them from committing suicide. Naturally, once they get to the target area which is now swarming with enemies, they don't have the AI to sit back safely and wait for you to clean up for them, no, they happily go about doing their work while five heavily armored space cruisers and eight hi-powered space fighters rain heavy-laser fire on their stupid @$$es and if all three of the losers die, it's Mission Failed. This mission could be forgiven if it gave you more time to heal between combat and protecting idiots that don't deserve a piloting license, but there's the catch: there's no healing station in this level nor is there any time to do anything else! This mission couldn't have waited until near the end of the game? That's where I'd expect it.
The logic behind each mission only sinks lower at the final level. You and you alone save the entire planet from the entire Earth invasion force from opening a new worm hole on the planet itself (like that was a big plot twist) in one of the game's more forgiving and surprisingly climactic missions. However, after saving six of the seven continents from certain doom, the remainder of the enemy forces – a total of eight battleships - is encroaching on the one continent the ISC neglected to defend up till' now. They're attempting to attack a single city populated with civilians and simultaneous military installation defended by two large carrier ships, half a dozen tanks and you, but if you fail this mission then the war is completely lost.
What the Hell kind of sense does this make?! You mean to tell me NO ONE thought it would be wise to evacuate a single city populace to any one of the tens of hundreds of cities or settlements located on any one of the OTHER SIX continents that have been completely cleared of enemy forces?! No one though it was a good idea to send in reinforcements from the previously won and rebuilt bases on the other, safer continents? Why is there only one Havoc Suit at this time, why do I only get one chance at this?? Helios has a 99.9% chance at victory here and then all of sudden once it loses one percentage the entire war is lost? Why is our commander so surprised that your allies are suffering when they set-up camp within spitting distance of a heavily defended enemy missile silo?! Why did this planet security force only invest in hover tanks and piss-weak helicopters as their primary line of defense? If this were a scrolling Shoot em' Up, the ISC would've been ****ing creamed before the Havoc Suit was even finished!! The Parcelia Military alone would've conquered and sterilized Helios in seconds!
You are going to get so sick of having to restart the mission from the beginning just because your headquarters loses a few buildings or a few square towers get demolished. Yeah, that's right, there are no checkpoints in ANY of the missions. If you fail at any time you have to do the whole thing over again!
Gun Metal's action and gimmick are competently handled and can be loads of fun, but the tightness of its stupid missions only serves to make the experience irritating and annoying. A Free Play mode would've been warmly welcomed that way you could spend all the time you want blowing up tanks and jets. Gun Metal has everything I love about any action game and everything I outright hate about any modern action game: it's got a greatly frenetic pace that rarely stops, but it's too dependent on occasionally illogical and often irritating missions.