Metrocide

Style, setting, retro art, a vicious yet compelling gameplay objective... Just looking at a screenshot of Metrocide is akin to hearing a namedrop of Grand Theft Auto 2, Syndicate Wars, Teleglitch and Gunpoint all at the same time. Unfortunately, the game isn't fun. It happens, from time to time, that a game is visually appealing and solidly coded, but that *design* is missing almost entirely. Metrocide's gameplay loop/s simply aren't entertaining. There's no combat, as such, as the fight ends upon the first shot, or its outcome is defined by it. There's no skill-based gameplay, only trial and error fact-based learning on what a given tool or weapon does and therefore when or whether to use it. There's no interesting chaos spiral or meaningful AI interaction, only a binary 'Are the police drones shooting you on sight? y/n' state. All the game asks of you is to repeat a mundane task. Successful completion of said task relies upon only two things; the patience to follow your target very slowly until they are no longer in the view of another civilian, and the luck to not have a drone fly overhead at the wrong moment or a civilian turn the corner while you dump the body. It lacks GTA's chaos, Syndicate Wars complexity, Teleglitch's entertaining combat, or Gunpoint's quality of writing. It's remarkable how little Metrocide feels like a *game*... Perhaps more like a gamejam prototype that should have been shelved or radically redesigned when the absence of 'fun' was noticed. What the game lacks most significantly is any sense of chaotic consequence/rich AI feedback, or any sense of true power in your character. Metrocide isn't simply a bit boring - it's as though there never was any fun to be had, even at the very beginning. It looked so promising =<

Metrocide is a game about contract killing, and to do this you get a contract from your contact then try to kill the target while avoiding security cameras, police drones, body guards and civilians. Roaming the streets are gang members and there is a bit of early GTA vibe there, you can kill gang members in back alleys and take their wallets from the ground which is neat and satisfyingly opportunistic. Metrocide has a male and female character to select from when you begin which is nice, although given the nature of the game it is probably just represented by a couple extra pixels added for hair length. Controls are WASD for movement, RMB to draw/conceal weapon, (hold) LMB to charge and shoot starting weapon, E to interact and Mouse to aim. The city is well designed with manholes to hide bodies in placed frequently. The game is said to have a cyberpunk setting which is demonstrated albeit quite obscurely within the confines of the archaic presentation style. The contracts are fairly similar but the features that are there fit the game well. Namely the common smoking habit targets have, you can put a bullet in them while they are a sitting target stopping to have a cig which is always cool. Targets also read newspapers and enter buildings, which add an air of realism to the characters. There is an 'incognito' cash bonus for killing and disposing of the body unseen which is a nice touch. This is always satisfying. You can use cash to buy new weapons. Weapons have different characteristics; the shotgun for example is short range, has no warm-up time, is noisy and can kill two targets at once. The silent pistol is obviously totally different. You can switch between weapons with tab so your hard work getting one weapon isn't wasted when you buy another. Weapons are bought from vending machines and become available for purchase as you progress. There are some nice thematic mechanics in the game like throwing bodies into the sea and paying a hacker to hack the police database lowering your notoriety. A little bit of comedy is present in there, I think I killed someone and got 26 cash and a ‘photo of a new born’ from their wallet. There is no save function, which can be annoying because a large amount of money (therefore kills) is needed to move on to the next area. For context 2,000 cash is the target in the first zone and contracts pay either 150 cash or 175 cash per kill (plus the wallet they leave on the ground which is about 25 cash). Contracts are time consuming because you have to follow them around until they are out of view of civilians and security cameras or until you have a good hidden vantage point in an alley way. I can forgive the permadeath because it adds to the sense of accomplishment you feel for getting far and keeps things tense. I encountered some bugs but at time of writing the game is in Early Access. Particularly annoying among these is sometimes having no option to respawn and the game not responding to pressing escape upon death, forcing you to close and restart the game. I also became stuck in an intended un-enterable fenced off area nearby a space vehicle at one point. [b]Verdict[/b] Metrocide is a brilliant concept presented in an antiquated yet charming style with little depth but fantastically fun and challenging core gameplay. Is the game fun? Yeah, it is. It stands as one of my personal favourite indie games.

Oh man, I really like the concept of the game. Because of that, I also really want to recommend it. Unfortunately I can't; the average player would rip their own arm off and beat their monitor to pieces. First off, the good: -Cool gameplay idea -Cool setting -GTA 1/2 style overhead view -Lots of variety in contracts The bad: -Terrible, terrible AI -The controls kind of suck -Starting weapon is extremely ♥♥♥♥♥♥ -Lots of bugs -Lots of crashes -The AI's so bad it deserves another spot -The last zone the player unlocks isn't very fun -A bunch of achievements seem to be bugged -Cursor not locked to window in fullscreen, so multimonitor is a problem You're a contract killer in Metrocide. Not much is explained, but that's fine: the contracts early on are fun, and it's interesting to plan out if hiding the body will be an option or not every time. The starting blaster requires charging, and it's really ♥♥♥♥♥♥. Honestly, a gun with ammo that only held one bullet before reloading would be more fun and strategic. Every time you die or start a new level you are given this god awful gun, and it sucks a lot of the joy out of the game. Once you get 350ish credits and unlock it, you can whip out a shotgun instead, which is pretty fun. The objective is to get enough credits to get out of the area, which is 2000, 4000 and 8000, respectively. If a camera, cop or civilian see you kill someone or whip out a gun, expect to be chased and dealt with. Leaving bodies increases police presence, and bodies can be dumped in sewers, which are single use, or rivers, which have multiple spots. Contracts unlock as you progress, starting with people that just run away, to armed, paranoid targets with escorts. The problem though, is that the AI is so bad that you can exploit armed and paranoid targets. When anyone, including NPCs, draws a weapon and fires, the cops are on them. Even if the cop is escorting that target. When NPCs pull a weapon, they tend to stand still, even if you duck behind cover, shooting their rounds into the side of a building until the cops or someone deals with them. Vigilantes roam the streets, so if the cops don't kill them, they will. This means that completing your contracts is as simple as aggroing, running behind cover, and waiting. It's a shame this is so easy to do, but at the same time the last zone is almost unplayable otherwise. The player is unable to follow targets in buildings, so the massive network of cameras and cops makes regular contract killing a chore and extremely unenjoyable. The AI and balance needs a LOT of work for this to be more fun, but the masochist in me wants to complete this game. Beating the game is much easier than doing some of these ridiculous achievements which rely on luck. The only semblance of progression is when you unlock new items to buy, which are all expensive and can be seized during a scan, including the guns that aren't supposed to be illegal. In the event the developers don't revisit this game and retool it, I hope someone is inspired enough by Metrocide to remake it with more of a focus on environment design and introducing other ways to kill targets.

It's exactly what it says on the tin and not a bit more. A stealth assassination game with permadeath and a wholly unnecessary unlock system to try to catch onto the roguelike trend. There's not enough here though. It feels like a minigame, something you play to pass the time rather than genuinely exciting or tense. It's only hard if you don't have the patience to wait forever for each target to stumble into the clear and if you try to play it dangerously there's no fun at all because you just get gunned down instantly. It reminds me of Noir Syndrome in all the worst ways only at least in Noir Syndrome the kludgy mechanics at least gave you a goal to work toward of solving the case. Here, everything is about getting more cash and buying any fun toys sets you back six or so boring contracts worth of cash.

The streets are brutal and lives seem disposable in a bleak metropolis of the future, and the only ticket out of this town is a high commodity with an even higher price. Armed at first with only a slow blaster only slightly more useful than a toaster and your wits, you'll seek out each contracted kill amongst the likes of paranoid vigilantes, loose cannon gangsters, and the buzzing drones of a totalitarian police state from above. Metrocide is a gritty top-down trip into the dystopic streets of an open cyberpunk world of stylish minimal visuals with pulp noir flair, the city around you living and breathing with its own unique population. All of the residents of this drab environment have their own personality, their owns faults, and their own routines they carry out and you never know which of these unsuspecting people will be your next paid hit. Contractors can be found throughout the open map each offering different hits on personalities of the city in exchange for cash, with armed and timed targets earning you more money. Money earned can then either be saved for your ticket into the next area or used on arsenal and tools that will make or break your attempted assassinations. Weapons come in a variety of shotguns, SMGs, and pistols with tools ranging from lures to distract pedestrians, jammers to disrupt police drones, and explosives to remotely cause havoc. The action of Metrocide is steady paced and calculated, requiring a keen eye and a bit of patience. You'll watch your target carefully, following stealthily and strike at only the most opportune moments, and when you take your shot you have to take it quick. The frantic action and split-second tactical decision making here is often compared to Hotline Miami, but I feel this is done in a much more deliberately drawn out and subtle manner of stalking your prey from the undetected shadows of city alleys. Death comes swiftly and without warning, and once you're gone you're gone for good being forced to restart as a broke hitman yet again. Jumpy vigilantes and gangsters won't hesitate to blow you away at the first sign of aggression and civilians will be quick to report you to deadly authorities who'll quickly have you on the run. This is not an easy game whatsoever, the eyes of the city constantly have the upper hand on you and through a rigorous routine of learning the streets as well as the arsenal available to you will you survive long enough to earn your blood money. After what feels like hours of repeated deaths and failed hits on my well prepared targets I've finally survived a run long enough to scrounge up the cash to get myself a ticket out of the Downtown area. Before even meeting my first quota and leaving this first area I had earned 10 achievements, all of them related to myself dying in some horrific and unique way. It's an extremely tough and failure ridden road getting there with loads of patience required, but in the end an incredibly satisfying feeling and an experience you'll take new skills away from for your future endeavors on the mean streets of MetroCity. Metrocide is top-down stealth action at its hardest and finest.

A simple fun indie game with an interesting gameplay loop held back by being horiffically unintuitive and unfinished despite being out of early access. If I hadn't payed $10 to buy this off steam I could quite easily have believed this was a gamejam game. At a basic level the controls are confusing as hell and too much of the gameplay is dependent on the completely arbitrary actions of the ai, who are seemingly capable of maintaining perfect aim at you while you are hidden behind a corner. There's a bit of depth to the gameplay with several options to assassinate targets but these are all gated with a stupid unlock system obviously intended to pad out the game. It's a shame because the central ideas are good and I like playing it but you shouldn't encourage developers to pull stuff like this.

NOTE: This is a slightly shortened version of my review without screenshots. For the full review, please visit [url=http://realgamerreviews.com/games/idiotic-indie-impressions-4-metrocide/] Real Gamer Reviews[/url] The game kicked my ass. This may be one of the more frustratingly-difficult games that I’ve played in quite some time. Unlike many other games that are erroneously described as “Nintendo hard”, this one might just deserve that devious title. If you have a lot of time on your hands, or alternatively fancy yourself a very good gamer, this game might just be up your alley. For people like me that are both time-constrained, impatient and rule the kingdom of mediocrity, [i]Metrocide[/i] might just be a tad too difficult and tedious. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] [i]Metrocide[/i] is a top-down, contract-based stealth-shooter, taking place in a dystopian, cyperpunk-themed city. The premise is straightforward. You play as a hitman that has to earn enough money to buy a ticket out of the city. You earn money in the game by talking to your contacts, who supply you with a number of targets that you take out for money. Once you reach a certain sum of money, you’re given the option to buy a ticket from the contact, which takes you to the next level. Each of the targets that you can choose from has a number of attributes/requirements, which alter the method in which you approach your target. For example, targets that are armed will shoot you if you pull out a weapon, which requires you to attack a target who’s off-guard. A paranoid target will be alerted and will run if followed too closely. Overall, the more difficult targets reward greater bounties. Once a target is chosen, a tracker will show you the direction and distance that you need to travel in to reach your target. Once you find your target, it becomes a simple matter of dispatching them and satisfying any additional requirements as requested in your contract, which may include such things as hiding the body or looting an object from the corpse. The game also encourage stealth play by giving you an “incognito bonus” if you’re able to eliminate your target without any witnesses. In addition to money, successfully completing contracts may unlock items including different weapons (shotgun, rifle) or tools (C4, EMP), which can then be purchased from the shops. Additional target properties/requirements can also be unlocked, which allows you to choose targets with even greater rewards. If only the game was that easy. This game is [i]punishingly[/i] difficult, much of which stems from just how unforgiving it can be when you make a mistake. The game includes permadeath. Once you die in this game, it’s done. You respawn at the beginning of the zone, losing all the progress that you’ve made thus far (outside of unlocks). There’s no save function anywhere in this game either, so no, you may not play for 10 minutes, get ¾ of the way through a level, take a break and come back. It also doesn’t help that it’s so easy to die in this game. One shot from anything kills you. Anything (a cop, security camera or civilian) that ever witnesses you do anything shady will either call the cops or flat-out kill you themselves, as so-called “vigilantes”. And people will see you too – each of the streets is littered with people. There are many times where you’ll follow a target for what seems like forever to look for an opportunity to take a shot without any witnesses. There are also times where you’ll find yourself sitting in an alleyway, waiting patiently for your target to come, only to have them stop, read a newspaper and walk back the way they came. It’s absolutely infuriating. It’s unfortunately a game that rewards patience far more than skill. Naturally, each level requires a tonne of money in order to progress. The three levels – Downtown, The Docks and Hilldale – require you to collect $2000, $4000 and $8000 respectively in order to complete. Given that each contract gives you somewhere between $150-$600 and that some of this money has to go into buying weapons/ammo/equipment and bribing cops, each level requires you to complete a fairly significant number of missions without being killed. My issue with the game isn’t that it’s too hard, per se. [i]Super Meat Boy[/i] was also hard, but in a different way to [i]Metrocide[/i], which is difficult for all the wrong reasons. Each short segment of the game is fairly straightforward and simple, but making each and every simple mistake so costly increases the difficulty in a really unsatisfying manner, and the game gives you so many opportunities to make mistakes. I'm sure that if I was very patient and took only the easiest targets, I would be able to complete the game without too much of an issue. The problem is that this isn’t a particularly riveting way to play a game, and I sincerely doubt that anyone has the patience to go through the game in this manner. The game really is “Nintendo hard” because both the difficulty and the length of the game is artificial, and underneath the tedious trial-and-error, sit-around-and-wait gameplay there’s really not a whole lot of depth to it. [h1]Technical aspects[/h1] As of this review (8/12/14), the game is still in early access. As a result, it’s expected that there’d be a number of technical issues or annoyances that might creep up. I’ve listed several of the main ones below: - Crashes. Nothing in the video game world has made me want to end myself more than the feeling I got when the game crashed on me very far into a level. My blood pressure has gone through the roof just thinking about this. - Poor tutorial implementation - Pop-out tutorials are shown no matter how many times you’ve seen them. The game does give you the option to turn them off in the options, but doing so will also cause you to miss the useful tutorials that you haven’t seen yet - Broken spawn points – It's possible to spawn in areas such as pools and buildings that you can't actually get out of. [h1]Presentation[/h1] The game features a very gritty and gloomy aesthetic. The colours painting the streets and buildings are appropriately dull, highlighting the futuristic dystopian setting that the game takes place in. The sound is also correspondingly dry, primarily consisting of the unpleasant, grinding noises of operating machinery and the monotonous robotic voices of police droids. The game lacks any music or any real human voice-acting, outside of a few sentences broadcasted from a “radio aircraft”. The story is predominantly outlined in a series of very brief pixellated comic-style cutscenes that appear at the beginning of each level. The story is fairly shallow, but the cutscenes aren't intrusive and don't impact the gameplay, so they neither add nor subject too much from the experience. It’s unfortunate that despite the dense population of [i]Metrocide[/i], the city feels dead. Outside of shooting them, there’s no way to interact with any of the civilians roaming the streets. You also can’t enter any of the buildings that are available in the city, which therefore sole exist to obstruct your path and line of fire. [h1]Overall verdict[/h1] As much as I’ve dogged on [i]Metrocide[/i] this entire time, I have to say that the concept underlying the game is strong, but the execution of the idea, in particular the unnecessary difficulty and lack of depth, leave something to be desired. With that said, as of right now, the game is still in Early Access, and the developers have continuously asked for ideas, suggestions and comments in the Steam forums and have done all they can to alleviate any issues that people have. It’s difficult to recommend the game right now, but it’s so close to being a good game that I can’t in good conscience give it a “not recommended” either. I hope that future updates will alleviate some of the complaints.

I really dig the GTA2 inspired art style but sadly this top down shooter is just too much of a rough draft to recommend. Everything about it needs a little more work. The gunfights need to be more than just pushing the button first. Some bugs need ironed out, and honestly the game just plain lacks any kind of depth. :-(

Mundane task simulator. 1. Accept contract. 2. Follow target. 3. Kill Target. 4. Collect reward. 5. Rinse repeat. This is hardly a game.

像素风~连剧情漫画都这么像素！ 宣传动画不错，但是实际玩起来！！ 人物太小了，都看不清咯~反正也看不懂··· 而且攻击好像超繁琐···等老子的枪上膛！老子都倒下咯···