Metal Wolf Chaos XD

Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a time capsule from 2004 that allows its recipient to survey the United States’ enthusiasm for boisterous violence and blind patriotism. The President stomping around in an eight-gun mech suit and delivering outrageous dialogue while suppressing a coup is nakedly hyperbolic, but it’s also a lens to an outsider’s interpretation of mid-aughts American culture. Metal Wolf Chaos, in addition to presenting a clumsy but capable action caper, has only improved with age.

It’s clumsy and filled with flaws, but it’s precisely these imperfections that make it so interesting.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a decent enough port of a cult classic mecha game but misses the mark over the Xbox original. That said, even if you are not a fan of mecha games, you should still give this game a go. It’s raucous and a lot of fun and finally it is now more widely available. However, as someone that poured a lot of time into the game over the years, I still think the Xbox version is the best.

It’s easy to understand and justify the state of worship that Metal Wolf Chaos XD has managed to unintentionally create during the last fifteen years: an insane setting, a pungent satire aimed at the American society and a good technical realization, all at the service of an enjoyable third-person shooter. However, the latter ingredient didn’t age very well: Metal Wolf Chaos XD is quite easy, somewhat spartan, and the weapons fail to convey the right feedback.

Even if you suffer from bone spurs, going to war as the kickass President Michael Wilson in Metal Wolf Chaos XD is supremely enjoyable. That being said, it can be rather unforgiving at times and some patience is required to learn its ins and outs.

The sheer preposterousness of it all is not lost at pretty much any given moment, which is another source of solace.

The biggest selling point is being able to finally enjoy this game in the West. It is not the best title FormSoftware has ever developed, but if you know what you’re buying, it’s worth your time.

Devolver Digital and General Arcade have slapped a new coat of USA flag paint on From Software's patriotic action game without smoothing out any of the imperfections that come with a combat system that's aged less than gracefully over the past decade.

There’s not a lot to the game besides pointing at enemies and blasting them, and it’s showing its age. But it’s so weird it’s hard to look away from, and tearing through it is a short but sweet blast. [Issue#167, p.92]

Metal Wolf Chaos XD does show its age on PS4, but with an overblown and strangely topical narrative, absurdist humor, unaltered so-bad-it-is-good dialogue, and enough destruction to initiate impeachment proceedings, it is no wonder that this third-person relic has earned enough attention over the past decade (and a half) to get this remaster made; further solidifying Metal Wolf Chaos’ cult status.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD isn’t big or clever, but if you want to get your kicks as a mech shooting and blowing things up while being an all-American patriot, then there’s only one choice - believe in your own justice!

Despite the warts and jankiness in Metal Wolf Chaos HD, allowances have to be made for its age, but as a lifelong FROM fan, I’m thrilled to finally play this painfully conspicuous gap in their Western releases. Mech-heads will find it a rough novelty and Souls fans will get a shock to their systems, but for a certain segment of players, Metal Wolf Chaos HD is a great snapshot of where FROM Software was fifteen years ago.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD is definitely a child of its time. It's an over the top action fest that has a few issues with it, but can provide a decent amount of entertainment. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the game is seeing FromSoftware's early work and recognising the systems the company would settle on to make the big leap to the more famous follow-ups in the Soulsborne style of games.

The game isn’t really supposed to be about anything, yet in that ambiguity it captures the specific madness of our present.

It took a long time before we could enjoy Metal Wolf Chaos XD in the West. It really feels like a fifteen-year-old game. The wonderfully absurd story and great gameplay keep the game entertaining throughout, but nowhere manages to blow us away.

A fun and full of action game, although short. The number of weapons is huge and the story is quite fun. A good game that finally goes beyond Japan.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a priceless artifact, a flawed gem the size of your fist that must be seen to be believed. Especially if you’ve got a history with From Software’s other mech titles. This is a critical link in the chain with no equal in the genre’s history. On the other hand, if none of that applies to you, hot damn this game has issues. The premise and the execution are wildly disparate elements. The pacing is stuttered and archaic. The mechanics at play are padded yet flat. I can’t fault that timeless voice acting either way, though. My thoughts on the game aside, hearing president Wilson and co. deliver their lines is absolute delight. Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a weird, wonky game you should almost definitely, probably, see for yourself.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD showcases the beginning of FromSoftware's iconic game formula. But, fifteen years on, the campy narrative and unpolished gameplay keep this from being a classic revival and a great re-release. It isn't too polished, but if you want to see the beginnings of From Software's beloved style, Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a solid way to do just that and only that.

While this game isn’t great by modern standards at all, it’s hard to imagine that speedrunners won’t fall in love with completely breaking the game.

About time this game got a western release! It's a lot of fun too, though the game does start to show its age in both gameplay and graphics departments. It's an okay game, but the brief length and lack of any multiplayer options are the final nails in Metal Wolf Chaos XD's proverbial coffin.

Perhaps Metal Wolf Chaos would have been more suitable for a documentary on its troubled history than for a remastered HD.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD shows its age in pretty much every way, but its enjoyable and simplistic gameplay loop is enough to give you something to chew on. Alongside one of the most insane narratives in all of video games, it’s a From Software joint that needs to be seen to be believed.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a bare bones HD upgrade that brings the bonkers cult classic West for modern consoles, including its cumbersome gameplay and outdated designs.

As an HD lifting is not enough to hide the passage of time, the craziness of Metal Wolf Chaos XD is not enough to hide its poor gameplay.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of Metal Wolf Chaos XD will come down to how much you are willing to stick with some archaic design choices in order to see more of the ridiculous story and the few levels that do hold up. And because of its dated foundation, Metal Wolf Chaos needed a remake instead of a remaster.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD's absurd premise of the President and his mech suit saving America fuels a hilarious story hampered by dated gameplay.

Metal Wolf Chaos is an old game with a wild reputation, and though it lives up to it in some ways, it's not good in general. At best, it's a curio that helps inform the story of From Software's trajectory over the years. At worst, it's a frustratingly shallow experience that fails to capitalize on it's best qualities.