Set in the near future, most of Earth's land has been disintegrated in the chaos of the Anti-matter War. This real-time strategy game portrays the Colonies' Allied Force - the Metal Marines - in their epic struggle against General Zorgeuf and the Imperial Federation, who are bent on world domination. Commanding the Metal Marines across a series of battles, the player must strategically allocate resources, ready supplies, manage funds and move troops in an effort to outwit and outmove the opponent. Read More »

The real-time battle system rewards split-second decisions and adaptability in the struggle for military superiority. Unlike most turn-based strategy games, Metal Marines engrosses the player in a fast-paced and frantic battle in which both sides advance simultaneously. A constant eye must be kept on enemy movements to maintain a formidable defense and not miss the perfect chance to strike. Strategic foresight and quick judgment hold the key to victory.

Review

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 by Damien McFerran

Set in the near future, most of Earth's land has been disintegrated in the chaos of the Anti-matter War.

The Japanese love big robots; you only have to look at series like Gundam, Macross and Patlabor to see this. However they seem to like strategy videogames a lot less, which is what makes Namco’s Metal Marines (Militia in Japan) all the more..

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User Comments

1. lavkian 09 Jul 2007, 17:30 BST

Oh wow, THIS game. Despite the fact that I simply can never get into SRPGs nowadays, I used to play this on zSnes every freaking day as a kid.

I wonder what official rating it'll get here. I bank on 3 stars.

2. brian 10 Jul 2007, 10:21 BST

if you liked the SNES version, try tracking down the windows 3.1 version. it absolutely rocks, especially comparatively. this looks like and plays like garbage compared to it. the windows version looks a lot more like advanced wars in its palette and art style. iirc, the player and the enemy are in two different windows and they fire at. that's pretty cool you gotta admit.

3. michinmuri 19 Jul 2007, 03:36 BST

Love this game. It's not for everyone, but for those that like RTS type of games should enjoy it.

4. Kyle Siopiolosz 06 Oct 2007, 16:20 BST

Thanks...I'm the one who posted this video on Youtube. I have the windows 3.1 version, however I prefer this one, (The graphics are better). Anyways, thanks for posting.

5. Mazgazine 15 Oct 2007, 20:47 BST

"it’s therefore unsurprising that Metal Marines has dated pretty badly" - how is it dated at all? There is no game that plays like this to date (next to its windows counterpart)..Advanced Wars? This not even the same type of game. This is an RTS/artillary strike game 'thingy'. Yeah, I love this game.... I've played it way to much and I'm definitely going to buy it to further the cause.. There is alot of challenge involved and good chunk of levels to go through.

6. Damo 16 Oct 2007, 12:34 BST

While I'll admit that it's not an exact match for the likes of Advance Wars, this is still basically a strategy title and should be compared to other games of the genre. It has some nice ideas but I don't think it's for everyone, as I stated in the review.

7. AlphaNerd01 16 Oct 2007, 18:58 BST

I'd say that comparing this game to Advance Wars is pretty fair, seeing as how Damo was just trying to draw attention to the fact that this game has aged a bit.

Regardless, this game is totally rad. It's def. worth some attention if you're into the who SRPGs genre. I'd say this made a better port on the SNES than Sim City, too.

8. Kyle Siopiolosz 14 Nov 2007, 22:33 GMT

Here are all the cheats for the game..for anyone that doesn't have them:

Level Password
2 HBBT
3 PCRC
4 NWTN
5 LSMD
6 CLST
7 JPTR
8 NBLR
Level Password
9 PRSC
10 PHTN
11 TRNS
12 RNSN
13 ZDCP
14 FKDV
15 YSHM
Level Password
16 CLPD
17 LNVV
18 JFMR
19 JCRY
20 KNLB

10,000 $ and E: CSDV

9. TRON 05 Apr 2008, 19:50 BST

This game seemed kinda random and I wasn't sure what was going on at first, but once you get it, it's a lot of fun. It's sort of an RTS, but seems a bit turn based once you get the hang of it. Not for everyone, as the review says, but if you like games like Military Madness then you'll probably like this. Good mix of attack and defense, as well as some resource managment. The only minus for me is that you can't skip the animations for the attacks. Not a big deal really, as the gameplay more than makes up for it.