UnMetal

Both a parody and a love letter to the two “Metal Gear” games, although the OTT voice acting clearly roots to the first “Metal Gear Solid” as well. The goofy humor somewhat reminded me of Mel Brooks’ spoofs. Although it’s surprisingly fun at the beginning, I ended up feeling slightly exhausted by the end. Each chapter provides diversified gameplay without repeating the stealth dynamics too much, but there are also a few areas and bosses that required so many tries that it ended up breaking the pacing a little. It was also tedious to be forced to heal the guards after shooting them, as you cannot kill anyone in the game. A more compact experience could have left a much stronger impression, preserving the initial enjoyment without succumbing to frustration. Despite these drawbacks, “Unmetal” still manages to deliver a worthy experience for fans of the genre.

Solid stealth gameplay for a few chapters, then it stops being fun very quickly. The no-kills limitation imposed on you at the midgame is laughable game design. Every time you shoot a guard, you have to expend a medkit to heal him or get a game over. Meaning if I get spotted, I can fight with my fists and certainly get killed by the reinforcements, or I can gun everybody down, not have enough medkits to heal everyone, and get a game over anyway. Escaping isn't an option in most places so the only thing you can really do after being spotted is just let the guards kill you, every time. For the entire back half of the game.

The story and cast are bland and mostly serve as a vehicle to deliver the game's long, grating comedy scenes with endlessly recycled punchlines that weren't even good once. By the last chapter it's so creatively bankrupt that it resorts to "Japanese people have funny accents" as a joke on its own. What an absolute mess. Would have been a hit if it was on Newgrounds in 2005.