#118

Metal Flame By Dawnbreak Wind

[Summary]

2D side scrolling shooter game where you battle against a thirsty robot army that tries to take over the world.

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Review:

Do you know how many competent side scrolling H shooters exist?
I'll tell you - between 1 to 3. This being one of them, another that I've already covered, and a third one that I've yet to discover.

You'd imagine such a simple concept would make an appearance here and there at the scene, but it's actually pretty damn rare!

Now, lets not get too excited here - Metal Flame isn't the greatest shooter out there, heck, I wouldn't even put it at my top 10, BUT (!!!) we're judging an H game, and within that genre it gets a high overall score from me.

So lets start from the beginning:

Metal Flame's story is as important as Contra's (did it even have one?), so lets just call it "good vs evil" and move forward..

The game is named after our heroine, which is the "Metal Flame" - a battle machine.
You wake up in an unknown facility, introduced with a short tutorial about how the game works. (although it won't explain about gearing up)

🕹️ The gameplay is simple (ONLY Mouse & Keyboard!) : Basic movement, jumping, Crouch, shoot (doh), special skill, weapon swap, and reload.
After a minute in, you'll enter the "overworld" - a stage select map where you move MF's icon to progress.

Your objective is to reach from the beginning to the end, while avoiding / destroying the enemies in your path. Upon reaching the end you'll collect a special chip that you will alter your stats from the inventory via the equipment menu (drag and drop them with the mouse into the gear's slot).

It starts easy, but those without side-scroll action experience might hit a few Game Overs after losing the two full HP refills whenever you're KO'd.
Some enemies fire without warning, and bosses hit hard, so you must learn their patterns quickly, or you'll have to start the entire stage over.

As long as you maintain your distance and familiarize yourself with the different weapons you'll obtain along the way, then you shouldn't struggle.

I greatly enjoyed Metal Flame, but it does have some issues that take away from the fun and turn it a bit tedious...

For starters, the gunplay does feel good, but the more you'll progress, enemies will become tankier and hit you harder - here's when the grind kicks in: there's just not enough natural currency generation to power yourself up to a level high enough to avoid a bullet sponge situation, mainly against bosses.

Some of the H content also requires grinding, yeah... you've read correctly...
There are birthing scenes in the game, but they require repeating the same process with enemies that will "assault" you, but won't deplete your entire health, until you're ready to birth.

Unfortunately those scenes don't appear in the gallery. Probably an oversight that will be fixed later, since we know there's an audience for that type of fetish that would prefer it more easily accessible.

💕 Speaking of H content, you'll be pleased to hear that you can fully unlock the gallery after beating the game. However, it does require following the right-most path during the final sequence and find the "H Machine". (yeah.. 🙃)

Triggering H scenes is the standard enemy assault on KO.
I did like how you get a 2-in-1 event, when the pixel animation plays, you can control your robo-buddy to give you a "better look" with a much bigger high quality animated CG hologram above its head... very nice touch I must say.
Admittedly, I've never seen another game going that extra mile, so props to the genius in the team that came up with that blessed idea!

Metal Flame is one of the biggest ACT games out there!
For such a simple concept, there are a lot of stages, with actual level design.
Each vary from 2-8 minutes to complete, split into 4 main stages + per biome.

There are also additional Ex stages (one per biome) that can be unlocked at hidden parts of specific stages. These stages either provide new weapons, H content, or easier access to farm resources.
So make sure to keep your eyes peeled for any suspicious looking spots!

If it was up to me however, I'd cut down each biome by a stage or two.
While it's a fun game, it also stretches itself out unnecessarily...
It's true that we're here because we want more than just pure lewds, but going all-out with "proper" gameplay is kinda forgetting what we came here for first and foremost...

Even with its flaws however, Metal Flame deserves its place among the top ACT H titles.
It provides simple, yet challenging gameplay. Cute pixel art and CG animations.
And most importantly - it's one of the few competent lewd shooter of its kind.

Two thumbs from me.
Metal Flame is available on DLsite and Steam.

❤️ For relevant H content of this title you may contact me in DM for referrals.