Recent reviews by Employee 427

this game has a lot of heart and soul but i dont think its polished enough to cost money or be called a full release. there are a LOT of bugs, mostly harmless or visual, but occasionally pretty bad (like getting stuck in place or units not targeting enemies killing them). i dont think the units and weapons are very balanced either. i got about 2/3 through the campaign and from what i could tell the best strategy by far was just spamming the cheapest unit (rathound) with items that buff it and spamming a rocket launcher from behind them when there was something with a lot of health. this way i was able to literally just walk through each stage with almost no resistance, but trying to do literally anything else was a brick wall where moving forward was basically impossible.

i ignored every building except the campfire (to regen cheese) and the biggest turret to wall off enemies while i made a new batch of rathounds. none of the upgrades or statues feel very impactful because they add very small bonuses for a lot of money, meanwhile dumping cash into units provide an immediate return. the shooting doesnt feel great in general, bullets travel slowly and dont feel punchy when they hit. its just kind of clicking endlessly into bullet sponges.

my biggest problem is with the UI, it's very difficult to navigate. weapon and unit stats are mostly hidden, lettering is very small and difficult to read (especially ammo count), and the colors are really drab and dont contrast well so everything just sort of blends together both in the menus and on the battlefield. maybe a clearer distinction between object layers and heavier outlines would solve this? i honestly dont know, just that it was a repeated annoyance and i had trouble keeping track of things on my screen

i didnt hate this game by any means and it had some pretty enjoyable features as well (i like the little suicide bomb rat you can throw out) but there were too many annoyances for me to stick around. i could see myself coming back and reevaluating in the future once there has been more polishing and balance passes.

not perfectly balanced but pretty fun, decent variety of builds and plenty replayable for at least a dozen hours

one of those horrible quake/half life mod type boomer shooters with wretched meme textures and random geometry everywhere. level design, shooting, "story" and especially the ear r*pe deep fried music is all truly miserable to experience. im sure this is intentional and the joke is that the game is bad, unfortunately this isnt funny for more than a few levels if you aren't a brainrot streamer and the game is legitimately like 50+ levels long or something insane. they all blend together after a while and i couldnt even bring myself to finish it, it's that boring. you can find a million maps like this out there if you really want to, except this one costs money for some reason so i cant recommend choosing it. and if you want to play a brain rot boomer shooter that's actually fun and well made, go play Cruelty Squad which this game is desperately trying and failing to emulate

i feel bad leaving a negative review since the developer seems to have genuine intentions and i get what they were trying to go for, however it just doesnt work and i cant in good faith recommend this mod/game

why go through all that painstaking effort to make the ultimate battlefield killer then immediately abandon it? devs, PLEASE come back. i love this game and its community. we deserve better than pulling a sleazy con and running away with our money

it doesnt quite recapture the magic of wuppo but there's plenty of fun and laughs to be had regardless. i appreciate the developer moving in a new stylistic direction rather than a rehash while maintaining a recognizable tonal identity. interested in what they'll come up with next.

very nice and refreshing fps. original take on an oversaturated yet untapped genre. excellent shooting, mechanics, and atmosphere. low content but above expectations for price. terrible performance and somewhat unstable, again acceptable for price but could be improved. progression could be a bit faster but its not painfully slow either. i found the maps to decrease in quality per unlock, starter map is by far the best and others need more work imo. super fun overall cant wait for sequel

there's a zombie in your game
there's a zombie in your game
there's a zombie in your game
we don't want zombies in our game

unfortunately i dont feel that metal garden is quite worth your time. i was enthusiastic to it first, but quickly became bored and forced myself to finish the game just to see the ending. there's a couple big reasons for this amidst some smaller ones:

1. the gunplay isn't fun. combat is about as bare bones as you can get for a shooter, with only the three basic weapon types (short mid long) and frag grenades. there are equally few enemy types, and their ai is the most basic run and gun. the weapons arent fun to shoot, enemies arent fun to shoot, and combat generally feels like a waste to pad out the runtime. there's just no crunch or satisfaction to any of the weapon designs. imo metal garden shouldnt be an fps at all, as it doesnt feel like the shooting does anything to increase the player's enjoyment or intertwine them with the world and plot.

2. the game doesnt look good. i understand the artistic reasoning behind making everything similar shades of grey, and i understand the technical limitations behind the modeling, but in this case it just doesnt work. rather than immersing me in the world the drab and barren appearance of everything disconnected me from it and made me feel like i was in an unfinished map, rather than a living world. my eyes actually hurt after completing the game because the colors of my desktop were such a contrast from looking at the near exact same shade of grey for an hour. more detailed lighting, more densely populated environments, or better modeling could all help improve the atmosphere. as it stands, it just feels dead, and not in a good way.

besides this metal garden shows promise; the story has some interesting beats despite the short runtime, and some of the scenery is pretty nifty. there's a real solid foundation in the worldbuilding. however, the experience overall feels too unfinished and bland to charge for. needed more time in the oven.

it's like half life but without the guns or aliens

fantastic, a perfect example of greatness emerging from simplicity. the concept is great and the puzzles are good, but the real draw to ZNT is the atmosphere. the B-movie aesthetic, sound and writing really sets the mood and elevates a good puzzle game into a great immersive sim. the game chooses its style carefully and sticks with it til the end, to the immense benefit of the player. a really gorgeous and ambient game with a killer soundtrack.