Metal Raiders Demo

Retro shooters were as straightforward as possible, which was great if you were in a rush and you just wanted to shoot as many enemies as possible. Granted, the difficulty level was through the roof as well, given the fact that there were no cloud saves or any of the helpful tools we have today. On the other hand, less frustration means more people willing to spend their time playing, which is also good.

Metal Raiders is a 2D action game in which your goal is to destroy enemies and explore each stage as thoroughly as possible from the board of a mechanized vehicle called OutRider. As it happens, this vehicle has the power to run on any surface, as well as stick to vertical walls or the ceiling in order to keep moving without having to stop or navigate around tough obstacles.

It also comes equipped with a variety of weapons, ranging from small caliber machine guns, all the way to missiles and plasma bombs that deal a lot of damage to multiple enemies. However, the ammo for the last two weapons comes in very low supply, which means that you must watch out how you spend it. On the other hand, it’s also possible to avoid most enemy contact if you want to.

Because it’s important to respond quickly to the environment around you, the controls must be accurate and simple, which is almost the case here. It would seem like they are a bit badly placed sometimes, but you can get used to them after a while. However, aiming is particularly annoying, because your vehicle moves at the same time, which makes it impossible to shoot in certain situations.

As for the graphics, you shouldn’t expect anything too exciting, given the fact that the game was designed for a jam competition. Thus, the assets are very basic and repetitive, which is only natural when you consider the tiny time frame the designers had at their disposal. The music is not bad either, but it’s got not nothing special to stick with you.

All things considered, Metal Raiders is not a bad game at all, but it has a few annoyances when it comes to gameplay and graphics. Thus, it needs more time in the shop to reach its potential, at least as long as the developers keep working on it.