There’s not much else to the game besides this campaign, but that’s okay because what’s there is outstanding. The Unknown progresses from the iciest domains to the fieriest alongside a talking skull voiced by Troy Baker – he brings a southern drawl that matches the game’s almost Western-like tone – all to find and kill The Judge, a slithering ruler losing her grasp on Hell, excellently voiced by Jennifer Hale. It feels like bringing a song to life, like a producer, except you’re doing it with weapons that rip Hell’s demons to pieces.Īll of this is happening because of The Unknown, the playable character in Metal: Hellsinger, banished to the deepest realms of Hell where only ice and lowly demons remain. Reach 8x, and the song begins to roar, missing just the vocals, which complete the track at 16x.Ĭlimbing from 2x to 16x, made easier by streak multiplier pickups littered throughout a given stage, remained as exciting the umpteenth time as it was when I first did it. At 2x, you might hear a bass rumbling and a guitar’s subtle whine, rearing for what’s to come. What’s unique about this streak counter is that each new level adds a new layer to the music track. Streaks increase your damage output and score modifier. You use one of six different weapons to attack hundreds of demons, and the game rewards you with extra damage if you fire each bullet in perfect match with the on-screen metronome that doubles as your reticle. It was as enthralling as it sounds, in no small part, thanks to precise and punchy shooting mechanics. I ripped through hordes of enemy mobs and behemoth demons to the rhythm of Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz’s death-metal melodies. I gunned down a massive skeletal boss to the beat of a near-operatic song backed by iconic vocals from System of a Down’s Serj Tankian. If you like Trivium, Lamb of God, and other bands like this in the genre and guns with a fiery kick, Metal: Hellsinger is already worth the price of admission. Music plays throughout your experience, whether it’s in the game’s fantastic campaign that takes you through realms of Hell or its trials, which unlock sigils used to strengthen your loadout during the story mode. Metal is the name of the game here, literally. What the game gets right far outshines what it doesn’t, and the developer, The Outsiders, has created what I hope is just the start of a new FPS franchise set in Hell. It’s not perfect – the bosses are uninspired at times, and it could use an extra dash of variety in combat design – but my criticisms mattered little to my overall enjoyment of my 11-hour playthrough. It’s a no-frills shooter that asks, “What if you had to blow bodies to pieces to the beat of a metal album made by genre greats?” It excels at answering that question. Metal: Hellsinger knows precisely what it is from the second it begins: a love letter to fast-paced first-person shooters, especially Doom, and a tribute to metal music and the culture surrounding it.
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