Metal Wolf Chaos XD Review – Believe in your own justice!

It is kind of amazing that it took this long for Metal Wolf Chaos to be officially released outside Japan. This game was  originally made for the Xbox in 2004, but only released in its home country.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD concerns the US President suiting up in a giant mech suit and fighting his tyrannical Vice President. It’s a premise so strange that FromSoftware apparently thought it wouldn’t sell in the US. Now, 15 years later, Devolver Digital has taken this cult classic, prettied it up a bit, and released it on modern consoles and PC. Fortunately, it mostly holds up, even with some rough edges.

The plot is the sort of narrative that could only be produced by a company with a very tenuous grasp on how American politics works. In Metal Wolf Chaos XD, Vice President Richard Hawk launches a coup against President Michael Wilson, forcing Michael to go on the run, accompanied only by his jovial personal secretary Jody, and his personal armoured mech suit, Metal Wolf. Seriously.

It is never entirely clear what Richard Hawk’s goal is, or how he has amassed such power in a country that seems to despise him. Still, politics would probably be more lively if our elected representatives duked it out in giant robot suits instead of just debating legislation all day.

There is satire to be found regarding Metal Wolf Chaos XD’s lampooning of American militarism and jingoistic propaganda. It’s all about as subtle as a brick to the head. However, considering the times we live in, maybe it’s best that it doesn’t downplay how the American media is often complicit in atrocities committed by the American government.

The actual combat is serviceable, if not especially complex. Players romp around the map in Metal Wolf, tasked usually with destroying certain targets or enemy mechs. Unlike FromSoftware’s other mech combat series, Armoured Core, there is little in the way of RPG mechanics or stats to keep track of. New weapons of various types can be manufactured between missions with resources acquired in-game, but that is about it as far as upgrades go.

Of course, Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a port of a game which came out 15 years ago. Although a lot of the textures have been improved, there is a limit to how much the development team were able to update it. For what it’s worth, the various mechs have some nice designs,  and aside from the blocky textures of the vehicles and buildings, the visuals overall have aged fairly well.

There are some minor tweaks, like an autosave system and localised dialogue. However this is more of a straightforward port than a remake. If there is something I would have liked to see added, it would be mid-mission checkpoints. Although each mission isn’t very long, Metal Wolf is surprisingly fragile, and it can be aggravating to have to take the whole mission from the top when you die.