Metal Saga: Hot Tank Action

This is not a typical JRPG. There is barely a narrative at all, being almost entirely dialogue-less or dialogue-minimal sidequests. The characters are given a line or two of characterization before joining your party, after which point they remain almost entirely silent. The game is essentially a wide sandbox with secrets for you to uncover, most of them being tank-related.

Oh right, the tanks.

Metal Saga is all about its tanks. Characters have their own weapons and armor, even skills to learn for use outside the tanks, and there are times when you will be forced to explore an area or fight a boss without your tank. This is… fine. Character combat is acceptable.

Tank combat, however, is exceptional, bordering on perfection.

If I’m being honest, this is almost entirely due to the vibes of tank combat. Fighting in your tank just feels heavy. Each shot from you or the enemy hits with a satisfying metallic clang or explosive boom that makes tanks feel visceral and exciting in ways that the character combat can only dream of matching up to. The visuals only enhance the effect, as your tank starts to smoke heavily as it gets damaged from the variety of gunshots, missiles, and bombs thrown your way.

This game is a typical JRPG in at least one way, though; levels and equipment matter. They matter far more than any amount of strategizing, especially in random battles. For example, I reached what I believe is the last city in the game, with enemies outside leveled around 120 while I was still in the mid-60s. I sat here and grinded for an hour or so by calling enemies to me, and at the start I had to go into town and repair my tanks after every battle, even while using all the best equipment the town had to offer me. As my level neared 100, however, I found that the damage I was receiving became far less catastrophic, and as I got to around 110 the final area became legitimately explorable as I no longer had to heal after every few battles. Stats, therefore, reign supreme.

Exploration is also all-important. Your first couple of tanks are essentially handed to you, but after that, you really have to search them out. You’ll find them buried in the desert. One roams a wasteland near a city, with a small sidequest involved in getting it to stop moving so you can acquire it. My favorite so far is a red firetruck that I had to enter a bidding war for against another secondary character introduced to me earlier in the game (needing this money actually instigated the grinding session I mentioned earlier). Few lie on the beaten path, and those that do will still require you to go off elsewhere before they’ll be yours. But it’s also very important to get new tanks; the ones you get early on fall off hard, with low defenses and few weapons options.

This is a game that I can see myself going back to over and over again, on the same file. Many JRPGs, if you leave for a while and come back, there’s the urge to start from the beginning. Do I remember everything? What was happening in the story? In Metal Saga, truly, nothing is happening. I have no investment in what little narrative is proffered. All I care about is making tanks go boom.

Oh, and the music. The soundtrack for this game is absolutely phenomenal. I’m not one to really notice JRPG music; I’m usually too busy fighting enemies, finding chests, or reading dialogue to really properly pay attention to the background soundtrack. But here, the music was the first thing I noticed, and I let it envelop me completely while I played. There actually aren’t that many songs (town themes are recycled regularly, and as far as I recall, there’s really only one battle theme), but each one is fantastic and they never get boring or feel repetitive.

Metal Saga is not a game I should like, knowing what I look for in a video game, and if you’ve been reading my reviews then it probably comes as a shocker to you, as well, that I absolutely adore this game. This is one of the best JRPGs for the Playstation 2. Dip in and out as you please; your tanks will be waiting for you.

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