Area35 & Unties' "Tiny Metal" is a cutesy military grade SRPG made possible by a controversial kickstarter campaign. It is a turn based
tactical RPG supposedly not originally planned by the developer. A turn based tactical gaming experience in which you command, control, and conquer with various military units
on a tiled map that has special terrain and capture points made available. You basically fight enemy units as one of the game's warring factions while capturing points to spawn
new units, heal, and bank METAL coins for spawning the new units. The inclusive gameplay also uses special terrain to add in other tactical/strategic options such as height and cover advantage.
Tiny Metal currently includes two modes of play including a story driven 'Campaign', and a 'Skirmish' mode outside of that. It says it has a
multiplayer coming soon as well, but that has yet to be implemented as of the posting of this review.
The game's campaign story which is the core focus of the game involves the warring America-like Artemisia, the Japan-like Zipang, and some suspicious mercenaries for hire who are all involved in an ongoing war resulting from the aftermath of a Great Global War. A great war that left in it's wake an electronic corrupting miasma which rendered electronics useless. There is betrayal, suspicion, and misunderstanding involved between the two included warring nations as the stakes of the fight continue to escalate. It is through key characters such as Nathan Gries of Artemisia that the plot unfolds in a point-by-point series of battles that get progressively harder, and progressively more inclusive when it comes to features and mechanics. The art style within this inspired plot setting is kind of anime in nature as one might expect from a Japanese developer, and includes multiple language/audio options for both English and Japanese gamers.
Tiny Metal, as I've said, is an SRPG. A simple turn based SRPG. It was created in the vein of games like 'Advance Wars", and is touted as being Advance Wars' spiritual successor by some. It plays out manually via single player control, and in pseudo-cinematic fashion with repetitive animated attacks from both the players' side, and the enemy unit's side. The unit management system is based on turns taken by your onscreen collective of troops per day/turn, and includes limited options such a 'Assault' for pushing enemy units from important tile positions as well as a 'Lock-on' option which allows for stacking damage from multiple units when the 'Focus Fire' option is chosen afterwards. As you command and conquer on the spatial battlefields units will rank up becoming more effective in their defense, and actions. So long as they aren't destroyed in combat. The battlefields themselves grow increasingly larger through story progress including more units and strategic options accordingly. Sometimes said maps are partially covered, and can only be revealed by panning out over the map, or advancing troop units.
It should also be noted that the points/maps you play on in the campaign are all score based with Bronze, Silver, and Gold being awarded for reaching certain point values therein. Along with that your win percentage is also tallied up in time honored k/d fashion. The points that come with successful captures, and enemy unit defeats as well as the total number of days spent fighting all go into each finished skirmish's ending calculation. Between said action oriented engagements you'll read through well crafted dialogue boxes, via character art inclusive cutscenes that include well thought storytelling that weaves a tale that may or may not seem oddly familiar for war veterans of old. It ultimately has the soldiers of Artemisia leading the battle after their president and decorated war hero's plane is gun downed supposedly by orders of the leader of Zipang. Through interactions with a certain mercenary group both sides come ever closer to learning the truth about the war as the war continues onward.
The gameplay itself is wholly focused around applied tactics regarding terrain positioning, capturing, unit deployment and enemy defeat. Nothing overly complicated though. As mentioned earlier you'll be moving various troop types via limited tile movement per turn, and will be using their "Paper, Rock, Scissors" advantages (some troops better against other troops, and vice versa) to your advantage. A turn ends when all of your units on the map have taken action, and applied the 'Wait' option afterwards. Supposing you captured a factory, and occupied nearby buildings of certain types you'll be able to earn METAL coins each turn/day, and have your captured factory create troop units (Riflemen, Lancer, Scout, Metals ...) with said currency. The more you progress into the game the larger the maps will become, and the longer and more strategic the battles will be. Thus spending your METAL coins properly for the right unit types will become imperative.
At the beginning of the campaign the game does good to walk you through the game's features with a hands-on tutorial. Everything is explained in easy to understand fashion, and considering the mechanics aren't as heavily involved as a game like 'FF Tactics' you will be able to pick up on things fairly easily. Skirmish of course offers the gamer extended replay value in some side content that foregoes the campaign's story, and allows the gamer to focus purely on the gameplay aspects of Tiny Metal. As far as the 'Multiplayer' goes I'm not entirely sure how it will operate, but supposing it is implemented in an update it will likely be gameplay focused with some sort of scoring and ranking system. That would be my guess.
Beyond the plot, and gameplay the game also includes a "Metalpedia" with in-game terms and features explained in textual definition. I think some of the Metalpedia is unlocked in the campaign through the occupation of secret buildings that must be occupied before the set objective is complete. It gives gamers something to work towards outside of score perfection.
The verdict ...
I liked what I played of 'Tiny Metal'. It's not the grandest SRPG I've ever seen, but it is packaged, and presented in such a way that it's noteworthy. I loved the simpler mechanics, and the visual look of the game. The 2D character art, in particular, is drawn and animated in such a way it holds a more genuine anime flair. Something that's not the average anime, but something unique. The 3D models also looked quite polished both in the short animation sequences, and in the gameplay. Overall 'Tiny Metal' is a charming pick up and put down type of game that has decent replay value in it's current state, and will have even more replay value if the developer follows through with the hinted at multiplayer mode. For now it get's the green light from the Inferno. I think it's a well polished indie SRPG with a well orchestrated war story, and engaging gameplay.
The game's campaign story which is the core focus of the game involves the warring America-like Artemisia, the Japan-like Zipang, and some suspicious mercenaries for hire who are all involved in an ongoing war resulting from the aftermath of a Great Global War. A great war that left in it's wake an electronic corrupting miasma which rendered electronics useless. There is betrayal, suspicion, and misunderstanding involved between the two included warring nations as the stakes of the fight continue to escalate. It is through key characters such as Nathan Gries of Artemisia that the plot unfolds in a point-by-point series of battles that get progressively harder, and progressively more inclusive when it comes to features and mechanics. The art style within this inspired plot setting is kind of anime in nature as one might expect from a Japanese developer, and includes multiple language/audio options for both English and Japanese gamers.
Tiny Metal, as I've said, is an SRPG. A simple turn based SRPG. It was created in the vein of games like 'Advance Wars", and is touted as being Advance Wars' spiritual successor by some. It plays out manually via single player control, and in pseudo-cinematic fashion with repetitive animated attacks from both the players' side, and the enemy unit's side. The unit management system is based on turns taken by your onscreen collective of troops per day/turn, and includes limited options such a 'Assault' for pushing enemy units from important tile positions as well as a 'Lock-on' option which allows for stacking damage from multiple units when the 'Focus Fire' option is chosen afterwards. As you command and conquer on the spatial battlefields units will rank up becoming more effective in their defense, and actions. So long as they aren't destroyed in combat. The battlefields themselves grow increasingly larger through story progress including more units and strategic options accordingly. Sometimes said maps are partially covered, and can only be revealed by panning out over the map, or advancing troop units.
It should also be noted that the points/maps you play on in the campaign are all score based with Bronze, Silver, and Gold being awarded for reaching certain point values therein. Along with that your win percentage is also tallied up in time honored k/d fashion. The points that come with successful captures, and enemy unit defeats as well as the total number of days spent fighting all go into each finished skirmish's ending calculation. Between said action oriented engagements you'll read through well crafted dialogue boxes, via character art inclusive cutscenes that include well thought storytelling that weaves a tale that may or may not seem oddly familiar for war veterans of old. It ultimately has the soldiers of Artemisia leading the battle after their president and decorated war hero's plane is gun downed supposedly by orders of the leader of Zipang. Through interactions with a certain mercenary group both sides come ever closer to learning the truth about the war as the war continues onward.
The gameplay itself is wholly focused around applied tactics regarding terrain positioning, capturing, unit deployment and enemy defeat. Nothing overly complicated though. As mentioned earlier you'll be moving various troop types via limited tile movement per turn, and will be using their "Paper, Rock, Scissors" advantages (some troops better against other troops, and vice versa) to your advantage. A turn ends when all of your units on the map have taken action, and applied the 'Wait' option afterwards. Supposing you captured a factory, and occupied nearby buildings of certain types you'll be able to earn METAL coins each turn/day, and have your captured factory create troop units (Riflemen, Lancer, Scout, Metals ...) with said currency. The more you progress into the game the larger the maps will become, and the longer and more strategic the battles will be. Thus spending your METAL coins properly for the right unit types will become imperative.
At the beginning of the campaign the game does good to walk you through the game's features with a hands-on tutorial. Everything is explained in easy to understand fashion, and considering the mechanics aren't as heavily involved as a game like 'FF Tactics' you will be able to pick up on things fairly easily. Skirmish of course offers the gamer extended replay value in some side content that foregoes the campaign's story, and allows the gamer to focus purely on the gameplay aspects of Tiny Metal. As far as the 'Multiplayer' goes I'm not entirely sure how it will operate, but supposing it is implemented in an update it will likely be gameplay focused with some sort of scoring and ranking system. That would be my guess.
Beyond the plot, and gameplay the game also includes a "Metalpedia" with in-game terms and features explained in textual definition. I think some of the Metalpedia is unlocked in the campaign through the occupation of secret buildings that must be occupied before the set objective is complete. It gives gamers something to work towards outside of score perfection.
The verdict ...
I liked what I played of 'Tiny Metal'. It's not the grandest SRPG I've ever seen, but it is packaged, and presented in such a way that it's noteworthy. I loved the simpler mechanics, and the visual look of the game. The 2D character art, in particular, is drawn and animated in such a way it holds a more genuine anime flair. Something that's not the average anime, but something unique. The 3D models also looked quite polished both in the short animation sequences, and in the gameplay. Overall 'Tiny Metal' is a charming pick up and put down type of game that has decent replay value in it's current state, and will have even more replay value if the developer follows through with the hinted at multiplayer mode. For now it get's the green light from the Inferno. I think it's a well polished indie SRPG with a well orchestrated war story, and engaging gameplay.
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