Metal Saga - It's a game where you can strap a cannon onto your pet dog.

How's your Sunday going? Ok? Today I decided to dust off an old favorite known as Metal Saga. I picked this game up for about 2.99 used at Gamestop. Judging the game by it's derpy box art alone, I passed it up so many times until I finally went "Eh, why not? It's only 3 bucks.", and I must say I'm glad I gave it a chance because this game is truly something special.

Metal Saga is your typical JRPG but it has the mindset of a WRPG like the Fallout series. The special thing about this game is that there is no real plot. The instruction booklet even tells you to create your own story, there are no objectives there are simply optional tasks that you decide whether to do or not. Basically, you're pretty much free to do whatever you want in whatever order you choose to do it! This is a perfect game for me, because that means if I drop this game for a while and pick it up again, I'm NEVER lost on what to do next. Shape your own destiny!

Now, if a game has no plot then how does it end? Surprise endings of course! You can easily beat this game in the beginning if you wanted to. At the start of the game, you're lectured by your mom that becoming a hunter is too dangerous a job and that you should just be a mechanic and inherit the family business. If you choose to agree with your mom and give up your dream then the game ENDS! Since there are many endings in the game, I can spoil this one for you:

And so R.C inherited the family business, spending his life as a mechanic. He would never fight a giant flying manta ray...Nor would he find a pet dog with heavy artillery on its back. No. He wouldn't even encounter a cult of
body-builders obsessed with ab toning and proper waxing techniques.

Truly R.C lived one of the most boring lives ever imagined. Sure, he
eventually gets married and has a few kids, who go on to lead equally dull and
boring lives. And, of course he dies quietly in bed. But every man dies---not
every man truly awakens an attractive female robotic weapon designed long ago by scientists that time forgot. R.C didn't anyway. That's for sure.

That's a sad frog ending if there ever was one.

One of the cool things about this game is the tanks. Tanks are a big deal in Metal Saga, as you do most of your fighting in one! Explore junk heaps, abandoned buildings, etc. You'd be surprised what vehicles you might find, even more surprising is that you can fully trick out your tank with custom paint jobs. Of course, the tanks are based on real tanks used during world war 2 and even today like the M1 Abrams, Type 90, and even a fire truck! You can spend a good amount of time collecting tanks, in fact, being a tank collector could be your goal if you want it to be.

While the game lacks any voice acting, it more than makes up for it with it's sharp writing and great sense of humor. The enemies you fight seem liked they were ripped straight out of Earthbound in how wacky they are. If you liked Pogo Punk, then you'd love to know that kid grew up and became Pogo Cadet! Oh yes, and as the title of this blog states: the dog you find has laser vision too.

Really, I found that there was a lot to like about this game, truly a diamond in the rough. If you don't mind how ugly the box art is, you'll might find yourself having a bit of fun with this game. In fact, I think I'll go hunt down some criminal scum with my tricked out armored passenger bus. Enjoy the game intro, it's also one of my favorite video game themes of all time too!



Later!