Метал Сага: Сахарадағы Шынжырлар

the video game

Metal Saga, known in Japan as Metal Saga: Sajin no Kusari (メタルサーガ ～砂塵の鎖～), is a post apocalyptic role playing video game developed by Success and published by Atlus and Success. Metal Saga is the fifth game in the Metal Max series and the first one to reach the United States. Like the previous games in the series, it follows an open, non linear style of gameplay. The game received a mixed reception for its unconventional gameplay and dated graphics.

The game mechanics are similar to that of most role playing video games. Players travel between points of interest on an overworld map, during which point in time they can be attacked by randomly encountered foes. Within towns, players can rest, repair vehicles, sell items, and other typical activities. The "dungeons" in the title are usually caves or abandoned buildings. Such hostile locations are relatively small, with much of their complexity being due to their maze like nature (and the lack of an auto mapping feature). Combat is individually turn based, utilizing a staggered initiative system (e. g., characters on foot are faster than those in tanks). Any canine member of the party acts on his or her own, automatically attacking foes at random. For the remaining characters, players choose among a limited number of actions. While characters do have some skills which can be used during combat, these cost money to use (rather than using a separate mana/skill point pool) and often cannot be used when within a tank. As a result, skills are not necessarily as attractive as in other such games. Although certain weapons are clearly intended to be used against certain foes, characters cannot change arms or armor during combat.

The title takes place in a post apocalyptic world, though presenting a less serious take on the genre, compared to the harsher representations seen in role playing games such as Final Fantasy VI or Fallout, or movies such as Mad Max or Nausicaa. The environment of Metal Saga seems to be relatively unscathed, with a generally healthy ecosystem and no apparent areas of radioactive contamination, perhaps since the apocalypse (referred to as the Great Destruction) happened in the first place in an attempt to destroy humanity to actually save the planet. Rather than focusing extensively on mutants and ruffians, many of the enemies encountered are merely machines gone haywire. As a result, scavenging such machines and using scavenged parts to build equipment appear to be common activities. Additionally, the game includes a good dose of militaristic qualities, with most of the game's battles being fought from within tanks, or other tank like armored vehicles. In essence, the game has very little storyline and mostly non linear gameplay. Like its predecessors, one may choose to take on whichever informal quests one wants, or none at all, but cannot choose to slaughter the entire population of a town on a whim. The title features more than half a dozen possible endings, several of which can be obtained less than an hour into the game. One ending can even be obtained minutes into the game, making it the shortest possible RPG.

While the game is mostly non linear with multiple endings, the primary plot arc is revealed by travelling from the east side of the map to the west, culminating near the final fortress city of Hell's Keep located in the western desert. During the journey, the protagonist, a newly starting hunter (default name "Syu", though only mentioned in the Japanese version), encounters a legendary Hunter "Scarlett", who assists him with one of his early bounties and introduces him to bounty hunting. He also meets Rosa Beldaire, a wealthy heiress who collects tanks and becomes Syu's rival, and a mysterious man named Alex who, along with his cohorts Bonnie and Clyde, appear to be searching for something among several ruins in the world. After reaching the frontier town of Alice One in the central region of the map, Syu's father Eddy, a famous bounty hunter, puts Syu in contact with Leon, a researcher who has discovered evidence of a pre Great Destruction facility codenamed, "Ziggurat". Visiting Leon's office later results in Syu finding Scarlett searching Leon's room for information, but she accidentally injures Syu's arm in the encounter, requiring him to receive a cybernetic replacement. After the player visits a certain number of cities, Leon is attacked by Bonnie and Clyde, who ransack his house; he informs Syu that they took his information on Ziggurat, and gives Syu the facility's location near the city of Hell's Keep, in the world's western desert. Syu travels to Ziggurat, revealing it to be a massive missile silo containing an intact ICBM from before the Great Destruction. Eddy, who arrived prior, reveals that Alex is attempting to re activate the facility and launch the missile, but he has been injured fighting the tower's defenses, and tasks Syu with finishing the job. Fighting past Bonnie, Clyde, and the defenses, Syu encounters Alex, who reveals he is actually an android built by "Noah", the supercomputer which caused the original Great Destruction in an attempt to destroy humanity to prevent an ecological disaster. Alex explains that, after Noah's defeat, he was given the directive to finish what Noah had started, and that he intends to launch the intact ICBM and start a nuclear holocaust; Syu defeats Alex and destroys the missile as it is launching. Afterwards, Syu, his team, and Eddy return home to recover, where Syu may choose whether to continue bounty hunting, or retire, though afterwards he may elect to continue their adventures.

Since the first game was published in 1991 by Data East, the series was famous for having a "high degree of freedom". and the trademark "Metal Max" was registered by Shinjuku Express, so this entry of the series had to use a new trademark — "Metal Saga". The series' producer, Hiroshi Miyaoka was not involved in the development from the beginning and said: "I can't make anymore with Metal Max, I thought it was really dying". The game was published in June 2005 in Japan; The game received a Lite/Demo version that was published in North America in April 2006.

Although the game's sense of humor, music and solid hours of gameplay won it some positive marks, the overall impression of the title was decidedly mediocre. Reviewers scoffed at the dated graphics, lack of plot, and missing feeling of progression. As a result, a considerable amount of time was often spent by reviewers and gamers alike simply wandering around, trying to figure out what to do next. While the game had all the classic trappings for the genre, complete with its own quirky style, it seemed to lack the polish required to stand out. GameSpot noted that "Metal Saga has the makings of a good role playing game, but there's nothing to tie it all together". In Japan, Metal Saga received a respectable 30 out of 40 from Famitsu magazine. Media Create reported that it was the top selling game in Japan during its week of release at 63,219 copies. By the end of 2005, the Japanese version of the game had sold 99,374 copies in the region.

There are four sequels of Metal Saga, none of them released in western world. The first sequel Metal Saga: Season of Steel was released in 2006 for the Nintendo DS and follows the story of the first Metal Max. The second sequel is a cellphone game and released in 2007. The third sequel, Metal Saga New Frontier, was an online browser game released in 2010. The fourth sequel is Metal Saga: The Ark of Wastes.