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Hits Like A Typhoon, But Never Reaches The Stratosphere.

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Developed by Kadokawa Games and Published by NiS America, Metal Max Xeno is an action game that pits a platoon of tanks against a bunch of iconic and not so iconic mechanical monstrosities in a bizarre turn-based JRPG series. Is this a top-tier game? No, but it has its moments, do we recommend the game though? Continue reading our review to find out!



Metal Max Xeno is a game in the long-running Metal Max series, but is only the second game in the franchise to see a western release. The first was "Metal Saga" which released in North America in 2005 on the PS2. The story is REALLY dark, the world is an absolute hell, and the few people left are being hunted down by a diabolical Artificial Intelligence. The characters are pretty messed up as you'd imagine, but some of them have pretty decent character growth during the game's story!

The gameplay is quite unique, with turn-based battles featuring fully customizable tanks. Think of it as a cross between Valkyria Chronicles, Car Battler Joe, and MS Saga? It's really hard to describe, but all comes together rather well. The game is pretty standard length for a JRPG, clocking in at around 50-60 hours, but the game is tough-as-nails so expect your first playthrough to be substantially longer. The game is also a complete grindfest for the first 15-20 hours, luckily it becomes much more enjoyable in the last two-thirds of the game.



The controls are somewhat cumbersome and takes a bit of time to get used to, but overall it's not bad. The audio-visual presentation is pretty average, though the voice acting is good, the music is rather uninspiring and the visuals are extremely drab with the exception of the characters which are detailed and look amazing. This is easily the game's biggest flaw, but overall the game is a solid and unique JRPG.

Bottom-Line:

With excellent yet unique gameplay, a decent story, and a ton of customization options, Metal Max Xeno for the PS4 is a refreshingly unique JRPG that can be great fun after the early game grinding. The audio-visual presentation does hold the game back quite a bit, but overall we give Metal Max Xeno a solid level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 7/10

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#Review #KadokawaGames #NiSA #Action #PS4 #Retail

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