Help Glitch save his planet from the evil General Corrosive.
- NA release: 18th November 2003
- EU release: 5th December 2003
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Swingin’ Ape Studios
- Publisher: Sierra
- NGC Magazine Score: 82%
- Mods Used: Widescreen Hack
From the cute robot designs, I wasn’t expecting the tone of this game to be so… strange. While there’s a humorous vibe to the game, there’s also some rather dark moments (mainly the deaths of your allies) along with an incredibly foul mouthed doctor robot voiced by Dan Castellaneta. The cutscenes are rather charming, especially with a few other big voice actors, and are a highlight.
The gameplay itself is basically a discount Ratchet & Clank with the platforming removed and more focus on the shooting. Every enemy is a bullet sponge and ammo for anything but your mining laser is rather scarce. It makes each fight last far longer than it should do.
Other than occasionally finding switches and demolition packs, there’s also not that much to do other than move forward and keep shooting. There are a few vehicle sections, but these don’t really change things that much. I suppose on GameCube, it does let players get a tiny glimpse towards the likes of Halo and Ratchet & Clank.
That said, there was something oddly charming about it all. With some tweaks, it could be a lot of fun. After the sequel was cancelled due to poor sales, Swingin’ Ape Studios ended up taking over the development of Starcraft Ghost, which also never released. They were absorbed into Blizzard at some point.
We’re not all that sure that there’s an untapped market or the ‘really hard comedy robot shoot-’em’up’. And that’s a real shame as this game looks and plays great. Is being ‘tough’ and ‘original’ really enough to bag this worthy shooter an audience? That’s a question only time can answer.
Daniel Griffiths, NGC Magazine #88
Remake or remaster?
A remaster with tweaks such as balanced difficulty, better weapons selection and more ammo would be great.
Official Ways to get the game
There’s no official way to get Metal Arms: Glitch in the System.
Europe
Japan
North America
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
