The God Kuk is possessing all the guitar gods, and through them, the metalheads. Through infinite concerts, he is helping his legion of metalhead zombies wipe out every original creation of metal bands and their dedicated fans. As legions of metalheads are stripped from their passion, only one person can really grind through the challenge and come out victorious. Will you manage to defeat all the metal gods, save the world, and become the ultimate Metal God yourself...?

An action-adventure game where Metal and adrenaline clash

Metal Tales: Overkill is an action-adventure game where Metal and adrenaline clash to give you the ultimate 3D rogue-like guitar-shooter. Fight against the looming curse affecting your Metal brothers and free them from an ancient evil. Plan your path and play as you want with procedurally generated levels that will change the game every single playthrough.

The game boasts that you can pick and choose from a wide variety of instruments and add-ons from the history of Metal... And while that is welcomed, your character is so small on screen (not to mention the fact that you'll be running around like an idiot avoiding zombies) that you have to ask yourself does it really matter what your guitar looks like? Of course, to some it will. But to most, it won't.

Collect power ups as you make your way through the levels

There are power up items to collect and use to help you, but these are not a huge issue in the early stages.

You have four players to choose from (two at the start of the game, but the other two unlock later on), and there are three different environments to traverse: Metal Den, Metal Festival and Hell 6.

But maybe the single most important element is that each time you play the map of the game is completely random - so no two games are ever the same.

I did find the controls a little fiddly, and aiming was a bit of a pig to start with. In addition, everything is so fast and chaotic that at times you lose track of where your character is.

The Metal tracks that play in the background help to set the mood

When I first started playing this game I was (bizarrely) reminded of Ultimate Play the Game's 1983 Spectrum game Atic Atac. This was not for any other reason than the top down viewpoint of the camera and the way the doors were positioned in each room. And the more I played, the more I wondered if the developers had grown up on Ultimate's catalogue of games.

It's fun, in small doses, and the Metal tracks that play in the background help to set the right atmosphere. It's an enjoyable enough game, but it gets old very quickly. It's best played with a friend, with the volume turned up real high.

6

Nick Smithson