Explore the wasteland of Distokyo. METAL MAX Xeno Reborn tasks you with saving humanity in this wasteland.
Humanity often sees the future as very bleak. METAL MAX Xeno Reborn shows us whether, by natural disasters out of our control or some genius villain, we never know the end as hopeful. The title shows us that stubbornness is humanity’s most significant trait. From the minds of Kadokawa Games, embark on a journey as Talis through the desolate wasteland now known as Distokyo and see if you can save humanity from extinction.
First, getting into the story, it’s evident that humanity has suffered a great cataclysm from the environment. Exploring what was once Japan is no easy task. Travel points are separated by vast distances, with enemies strewn about.
A faceless enemy has spread their robot creations far and wide across the now desert landscape. As Talis, one must lower the chances of humanity’s extinction. In METAL MAX Xeno Reborn, the only way to do that is to take the fight to the enemies. And those enemies will make things extremely difficult.
Thanks to the tutorials the developers added, getting the hang of the game was a walk in the park. No matter what I was doing, I had a guiding hand teaching me how to do things initially. It was greatly appreciated.
Fighting enemies reminded me of classic RPG titles, such as the Attack, Item, Skills, and Guard menus that were presented during the first fight. When approaching an enemy, the player is given a line of sight, making it super easy to gauge distance and the enemy’s direction.
If one stayed in their line of sight for too long, it would automatically trigger a battle sequence. Depending on the enemy, one could either run away or, if the enemy were too strong, the characters would have no chance of escape before they wiped out the entire team.
Facing an enemy isn’t always necessary, either. Each unit possesses an “aggression meter” that shows their level of awareness of your presence. So long as the meter doesn’t reach the end of the bar, you won’t be locked into a battle sequence and end up waiting to run away. It’s also possible to take out a group of enemies in one fell swoop. But this also depends on the weapons one has equipped to Talis.
Despite their sometimes great attack power, weapons in METAL MAX Xeno Reborn, like a handgun or sniper rifle, can only hit a single enemy. If taking on groups is your thing, then it would be best to equip a weapon like a machine gun or “Beam gun.” These almost always have multiple successful hits on the group.
The chances of missing with either weapon are very low. Hitting enemies with the Beam Gun was nothing short of epic. It was a genuine blast to unleash an intense laser beam through 4 to 5 enemies at a time.
While having a variety of weapons is cool, it requires a bit of “research.” One must manufacture items in the team’s base to be able to create certain firearms. This was also necessary for any tank or M-Buggy weapons in METAL MAX Xeno Reborn. Without getting the required parts, there was no chance of getting better weapons.
This often required venturing to opposite ends of the map. Different enemies would drop different parts, necessitating constant travel. Some parts one may find are so rare that it’s best to weigh the pros and cons of keeping some. I sold the most expensive thing I found. However, one might want to check the stats for anything that winds up in their inventory.
As a player in METAL MAX Xeno Reborn, one must face off against both organic and robotic enemies. The organic enemies had virtually no problem with the right weapon. But most of them were varying sizes of irradiated ants. Robotic or mechanical enemies, however, often proved to be an issue.
It would be no problem for them to either one-shot a single teammate or the entire team. Unless one has a special item called “chaff” (metal bits used by fighter jets to confuse enemy missiles), the robots will lock on to Talis, and a battle with zero chance of success would ensue.
Who wants to be guaranteed a loss? The chaff does well to lower enemy robot aggression, but I often had to ensure it was still in effect before venturing into potentially dangerous territory.
Exploring METAL MAX Xeno Reborn was an absolute pain until I acquired a vehicle. It’s hard to fathom why there is no sprinting ability available. This made exploring mentally taxing and unnecessarily increased the time it took to acquire a vehicle. It took so long to acquire any mode of transportation that I almost quit playing.
Acquiring the M-Buggy, as the first vehicle is called, took an eternity because the mechanic character that owned it wouldn’t allow anyone to use it until a couple of rare alcohols were acquired. I took significant issue with this because even in the quest journal, nothing tells me this guy will have a ride.
The journals gave me basic information about the quests and related characters. One of the good things about the journals was all the “mini-quests,” which collectively gave a fair amount of XP.
While outfitting a vehicle might have benefited from a tutorial, it was still pretty fun. I was able to outfit the M-Buggy with either laser cannons, machine guns, or mortar cannons. If the weapons were strong enough, one could take out swarms of enemies with the vehicle’s weapons before any other character took a turn. Each weapon also seemed to be given its turn. And the M-Buggy could be outfitted with up to five. Additionally, one could force Talis to exit the vehicle and use his handheld weapons.
Graphically, there isn’t much to say about the world of METAL MAX Xeno Reborn. While it was expansive and open-world, much of the environment was bland. I understand that the game takes place in the desert, but even deserts don’t lack that much detail. And for being such an expansive open world, I expected there to be far more enemies than I saw.
Character models were right at most. But I felt like they could have used just a small amount of more detail. Perhaps adding gritty texture to their costumes would have added to the aesthetic. A “costume” feature would have been a nice touch as well. Who doesn’t love being able to customize their RPG avatars?
Aside from the “natural environment,” buildings were also relatively basic. From the outside, it didn’t appear any humanoid or being on two legs would fit without having to crouch so much it hurt their back. Entering buildings other than the main base would have been cool, too.
But, being in a post-apocalyptic setting, it makes sense that most buildings are so dilapidated that it isn’t safe to venture inside. Still, fighting inside a building and destroying it to survive would have been a nice touch. Who doesn’t want a destructible environment when they’re busy driving around a tank?
While the game had its share of what I see as issues, it was still a reasonably good game. It may not be the best regarding graphics, and acquiring progressively better vehicles will take up most of your gaming time with METAL MAX Xeno Reborn. But when one finally acquires the vehicle, speeding through most small-scale battles takes no more than a few seconds.
Nothing beats tearing through gamma insects with multiple mounted weapons. The gameplay is relatively smooth, and there were no hiccups. It’s worth checking out if you’re a fan of anime-inspired titles. If you’re interested, you can find the title on Steam for PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
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