Rob reviews Metal Max Xeno Reborn on PlayStation 4...
The JRPG genre has seen a steady resurgence over the last couple of years. Popularised by titles such as Persona and Final Fantasy, the genre is often features over dramatic storyline, crazy characters, and some pretty whacky gameplay.
When it comes to Metal Max Xeno Reborn, the game fits into the genre well. You've got a character who's dark and moody personality hides an inner voice that screams "hug me!", a pet dog that can fire an assault rifle, a post apocalyptic Tokyo that's called "Distokio", and to top it off - a heavily customisable tank. Its totally bonkers and plays favor to a lot of cliché storytelling, but deep down Metal Max Xeno Reborn offers a somewhat grounded experience - even if it's rather mundane.
Don't get me wrong. It's not all bad and the game manages to be equally as good as it is bad. It tries to introduce some interesting mechanics, yet there's something else that the let's it down. The main one of these is it's setting. Set within a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, you'll spend the vast majority of the game traversing this sandy wasteland. There's no world-building specticals such as those seen in Horizon: Forbidden West, and as such the landscape soon feels completely flat. Aside from travelling from objective to objective - and fighting giant ants - there's nothing much else in the way of exploration. Invisible walls litter this world, which not only serve to funnel you into the right direction, but they also dictate when you can and can't use your tank. And considering your tank is arguably the games strongest point, its an issue.
Shortly after stepping foot in this world you'll soon be introduced to your murder machine - a rusty tank. As the story progresses more vehicle options be become available, however this tank will often be your go to. Anyway, each vehicle is highly customisable and does offer various ways to approach combat scenarios. Spend enough time in your vehicle of choice and you'll soon unlock more hard points which will allow you to bolt more weaponry to the side. It's completely over-the-top and in a way really reminded me of Vigilante and Twisted Metal.
Wether you're fighting on foot or in a vehicle, combat plays out in the same way. Once an enemy has you in their sights an alert bar will start to fill. Once full combat will automatically start, unless you manage to hit the enemy first, or move out of their range of vision. When the combat phase does begin everything takes a leaf out of the Final Fantasy play book. Utalising the same turn-based system as Final Fantasy, you'll be waiting for a bar to fill up to then attack your adversary. It's an incredibly simple system that really requires no explanation as to how it works. A nice addition touch is that your also able to traverse around whilst in combat, however needing to rely on your positioning never really comes into view.
When it comes to presentation Metal Max Xeno Reborn is a very mixed bag. The menu design is a horrible mess of overly large options, with very vague descriptions as to what's what. There's a lot of trial and error involved as aside from some very text heavy tutorials, nothing is sufficiently explained. In-fact it took me a good portion of the opening hour before I realised that I could break the many crates that were littered about!
This lack of opening hand holding also makes the beginning couple of hours a real chore to sit through. The desert world of Distokio isn't enjoyable, and constantly fighting giant ants and partially destroyed tanks does soon become a bore. However if you decide to stick with it, the game does start to offer a slither of hope. Optional side-quests - of which there are many - do allow for some degree of choice when it comes to how the game plays. While Metal Max Xeno Reborn isn't a true open-world game, it doesn't dictate what needs doing. If you want to concentrate on saving the day - then great! However if you want to roam the desert cashing in bounties, and completing side quests then you can, without fear of persecution.
These optional bounty missions are the saving grace to Metal Max Xeno Reborn. Each bounty target often requires a certain way to defeat it. For example, one of these targets is a heavily armoured flying contraption that requires your tank to be equipped with a range of anti-air weponry.
Each bounty you successfully complete does offer its own rewards so they are definitely worth playing. Plus they also act as a sort-of challenge mode to see of your tank is up to scratch.
Considering that Metal Max Xeno Reborn was originally released on the PS Vita, it has been optimised for the PlayStation 5 pretty well. Its not the best looking game I've played on Sony's flagship console, but it's not exactly ugly either. If anything you can certainly tell that the game was originally designed for a much less powerful machine. Textures can feel a little flat, which makes the drab colour scheme that ever more drab. But, it's also part of its charm. The PS Vita was an incredibly underrated console, and while it has been retried since 2019, it's nice to see how far the software has come since its 2011 launch.
All in all, Metal Max Xeno Reborn is a game full of interesting ideas that just miss the mark. If the game was a full remaster rather than a port, then we would of seen the polish that the game is ultimately lacking. Instead what we get is a bare-bones minimum of a game that was released in 2018. However, what ultimately saves the game is its decent vehicle based combat, optional side-quests, and a narrative that attempts to stay away from being another post apocalyptic cliché.
Rating: 6/10
A code was kindly provided for this review.
This game was reviewed on a PlayStation 5 Digital Edition console.
Metal Max Xeno Reborn is available now and can be purchased on the PlayStation Store.
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