is the seventh entry in the '' Metal Max series'' (counting the ''

Metal Saga ''Metal Saga'', known in Japan as , is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by Success and published by Atlus and Success. ''Metal Saga'' is the fifth game in the ''Metal Max'' series and the first one to reach the United State ...

series'' and remakes but not counting the mobile game). It is a vehicle combat

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

produced by

Cattle Call An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performer. It typically involves the performer displaying their talent through a previously memorized and rehearsed solo piece or by performing a work or piece g ...

and co-published by

Kadokawa Games Kadokawa may refer to: * Kadokawa Corporation, the holding company of the Kadokawa Group **Kadokawa Content Gate and Kadokawa Mobile, both former names for BookWalker **Kadokawa Future Publishing, a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the publ ...

Enterbrain , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on 30 January 1987 as . Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy ...

, and

Crea-Tech Crea-Tech ( ja, 有限会社クレアテック) was Japanese video game developer that was located in Koto, Tokyo, Japan and was founded by Hiroshi Miyaoka in 1988. The company was best known for developing the role-playing video game series '' ...

for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

exclusively in Japan in 2010. In 1993, '' Metal Max 2'' was published by Data East, who retained the trademark rights to the series until its closure in 2003 and the liquidation of its intellectual properties in 2004. In April 2009,

(Kadokawa's subsidiary) obtained the rights and published ''Metal Max 3'' the next year. It is the first numbered entry in the series in 17 years. A remade version of '' Metal Max 2'' for the Nintendo DS was published in 2011, and utilizes ''Metal Max 3''s engine. Similarly to its predecessors, the game is open-ended and

non-linear In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many other ...

Gameplay

Much of the gameplay is similar to its predecessors, ''

Metal Max is a role-playing video game series created by Hiroshi Miyaoka and his studio Crea-Tech. The first title was developed by Crea-Tech in collaboration with Data East, and was published by Data East in 1991. Due to the bankruptcy of Data East a ...

'' and '' Metal Max 2''. The game is open-ended and

, with the player given the freedom to decide where to go and what

missions Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion * Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

to do in whichever order. The player can choose the character classes and subclasses, besides a mechanic, soldier, artist or other, for the

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s. The battles are turn-based, with the characters able to fight either on foot or using tanks. The tanks can be created and customized by the player, who can modify and enhance each part of a vehicle, though there is a weight limit to each tank which mostly depends on an engine. In certain areas where tanks cannot pass, the characters must engage the enemies on foot. The game also features gambling machines where minigames can be played, including

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

and

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

Synopsis

The protagonist was picked up and revived by mad scientist Dr. Minch. However he suffered from severe memory loss and cannot remember anything about himself. Therefore, the protagonist decided to travel around the world as a bounty hunter, in order to retrieve his memories and find out his true identity.

Development

Since '' Metal Max 2'' was released in 1993, original publisher Data East planned to release a new entry which underwent a troubled development cycle. During this time, a Dreamcast game named '' Metal Max: Wild Eyes'' was planned, and was set to be published by

ASCII Entertainment was a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Group Holdings in 2004, and merged with another Kadokawa subsidiary MediaWorks on April 1, 2008, becoming ASCII Media Works. The company published '' ...

, but the game was later cancelled, due to the publisher quitting video game business. There were also other companies interested in developing a sequel for the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

, but they given up later on. In 2003, Data East went into bankruptcy, and the trademark for the game was acquired by other companies. The series was then published by

Success Success is the state or condition of meeting a defined range of expectations. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. The criteria for success depend on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One person mig ...

under the name ''

''. In 2008,

invited the producer of ''Metal Max 2'' to make a new game in the series, and obtained the original trademark in 2009. The game was published in July 2010 by Enterbrain's subsidiary

Translation

On June 23, 2020, an unofficial English fan translation was released by a translation group known as Metal Dreamers.

Reception

While ''RPGamer'' scored ''Metal Max 3'' 4.5/5, Japanese gaming magazine ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' awarded the game 33/40. The game was praised for its vast degrees of freedom and its tank system, but reviews criticized high encounter rates and slow-paced gameplay.

References

External links

* {{Metal Max series 2010 video games Cattle Call (company) games Japan-exclusive video games Kadokawa Shoten games Metal Max Nintendo DS games Nintendo DS-only games Role-playing video games Single-player video games Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Satoshi Kadokura