Metal Assault Review

Metal Assault is an anime-inspired 2d run-and-gun game by Aeria Games that offers gameplay different from most free MMOs on the market. Players choose from four classes that specialize in different styles of gameplay, and leap right into battle. There's a huge selection of weapons of all kinds - assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, and pistols, and a wide variety of customization options are available to make your character unique.

Pros: Challenging despite cartoony graphics, balanced weapons, rewarding co-op modes

Cons: Gender-specific classes

One of the great things about Metal Assault is that its weapons are well balanced. Having any particular weapon does not give someone a decisive advantage over someone else. Instead, players buy weapons that better fit their style. Instead of higher-level weapons being better, they are made to better fit certain play-styles. For example, while the low-level assault rifles don't vary much, the high-level ones are more unique, like guns with incredibly high damage per second, but dismal accuracy and range, or spray-and-pray rifles with an extremely high rate of fire but low damage output.

So many guns!!!!11!one

In addition to different weapons for different play-styles, players can also modify and upgrade their weapons to add unique features. Players can add a sniper scope to an assault rifle, so instead of throwing a grenade with a right click, they can look down their scope to target enemies much farther away. Silencers, red dot sights, and laser sights can also be added, although their effects are more superficial.

My custom DMR-ish assault rifle

Metal Assault features two co-op modes, a zombie mode and another campaign-like mode. These modes reward players with experience and currency just like the pvp modes, so they are a great say for new players to get money and items.


In all the game modes, players accumulate points by killing and being killed, and once a certain amount of points are collected, players can use special "things" (for lack of a better word), like artillery strikes and a powerup comparable to a legitimate speed-hack.

Another significant feature in Metal Assault are its vehicles. In the larger PvP maps, and in some co-op maps, teams fight over several control points. These control points, depending on their type, do things such as refill ammo and health, and spawn powerful vehicles such as tanks, mechs, helicopters, and artillery that up to four teammates can enter to cause chaos all over the battlefield. These vehicles add great variety to the game; you never know if it'll be a single player around the corner, or four of them in a tank. In larger maps, you have to be constantly mobile, or else you'll be shelled into oblivion by enemy artillery.

Score: 9/10

Metal Assault is a breath of fresh air in a free MMO industry where nearly everything is the same cookie-cutter game. A huge selection of weapons make for incredible variety while none of them cause an imbalance, and customization of both your character and your weapons is easy and rewarding. Despite the cartoony graphics, Metal Assault is challenging and extremely fun.