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Metal: Hellsinger

Metal: Hellsinger

We've trained our rhythm skills in this declaration of love for both metal and first-person shooters.

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What do we get if you mix Guitar Hero with Doom (2016) and spice it up with Hexen? You get Metal: Hellsinger. The action title that's a bit like shooting your way through a ferocious death metal concert. The first thing that struck me was how intense it was right from the start. While this is a first-person shooter, you need to have a sense of rhythm if you're going to be successful. You need to attack or push to the tempo of the music. This was a little tricky at first for me as I have the rhythmic skills of a potato, but after a while of fiddling I became better and better. When you kill in time to the music, you increase the contents of a meter that gives you more points for the kill. The music also changes as it's made up of different layers, so it's 100% dynamic. When you reach 16x on the meter, the instrumental metal music changes to melodic death metal with vocals.

Although the story is there in the background, it is rather flat and uninteresting. The short summary is that you play as a demon, who wants his voice back, and you go down to hell to reclaim it from those who cursed you. Because you're a demon, you can use your wings to jump high and land a little slower. The pace is quite fast and the enemies hit hard even on lower difficulty levels. Personally, I found the design to be quite good despite the story being very absent. This is certainly a first-person shooter reminiscent of those from days gone by. The environments are of somewhat mixed quality, they are extremely linear but have different appearances, which helps with the variety.

Metal: Hellsinger
The arrows on the sides of the crosshair help you with rhythm.
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I initially mentioned Hexen because that game from Raven Software had some magic and interesting weapons. Hellsinger finds itself in the same situation. You have classic forms of weapons but also some more odd variants. A talking skull can shoot fire attacks, your sword is good in melee range and then you also have ultimate attacks. The ultimate attacks can only be activated if you fill up a meter through battles. Shadow Warrior also shares parallels to this. It's on top of all the classic elements of this first-person shooter that the music, with its demand for rhythm, is superimposed. There are many positives to say, but also negatives.

The music is really good, with singers and musicians from really great bands, including Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Alissa White-Gluz, Mikael Stanne and many more. A big chunk of the budget for the game must have been assigned to the music. It's probably the best thing about the game, but I'm not quite as fond of how linear the game becomes as a result. I understand that the developers need to make sure that the player can always have a "flow" in their killing of enemies through the game, however, it does result in a relatively short action experience, which relies on you wanting to replay levels for higher scores. The title puts an emphasis on you constantly being number one on the leaderboards and breaking records. As a consequence, we lose that labyrinthine feel of yesteryear. This is more of a corridor shooter with 1990s game design.

Metal: Hellsinger
All tracks have been created entirely for the game, with vocals by metal celebrities such as Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Matt Heafy (Trivium), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity), Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) and Tatiana Shmailyuk (Jinjer).

Unfortunately, I'm not a person who likes to replay the same map for more points, which means I get less out of the product. However, I did appreciate the time spent with interesting game mechanics, design and music. You should play with a mouse and keyboard. I've tried it with a controller and it doesn't work as well. You lose too much of the precision and it can sabotage the rhythm, which in turn doesn't result in you getting into the rhythm that carries the experience. The game is at its very best when you hear the music, the singing and massacring enemies rhythmically on cue. It's at its worst when you don't succeed and the music remains instrumental. However, you are helped to get the tempo right, thanks to the user interface that signals the tempo.

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The settings are good, with enough options and possibilities to customise what your keys do. It's not quite as impressive as in Doom Eternal but there are enough features. The graphics aren't particularly impressive though, which means you'll probably be able to play with a good amount of frames per second. It's needed in this game, it doesn't do very well with 30 or even 60. You want over 100 to really get a great fluidity.

Metal: Hellsinger
It looks like a concert of flames, moving to the rhythm of the music.

In the end, this is a really exciting idea. It falls a bit flat for me on its focus on the scoring system. It gets a bit too linear and short as a result. However, I am impressed with how entertaining and fun it is to get through Metal: Hellsinger. Although the environments get a little repetitive and the bosses aren't really that interesting, there's still a sense that you can always get better. The learning curve for this is all about maximising bonuses and getting as many points as you possibly can on each individual level. It's far from the best game I've played all year, but it's definitely something I'm enjoying. However, I can't quite let go of how linear and short it is, as it will take you between 5-10 hours to beat, much like the games we got in the 2000-2010s. But, if you like to replay the levels, you may get a lot more play time out of this than I did.

Metal: Hellsinger
You choose which weapons to carry into each level. You can also see what ultimate abilities they have and choose seals.
07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
+
Great design. Powerful music. Entertaining game mechanics. Has a learning curve and a great concept.
-
Repetitive. Short. Few enemy types. Longevity depends on whether you like to replay the levels.
overall score
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Metal: HellsingerScore

Metal: Hellsinger

REVIEW. Written by Patrik Severin

We've trained our rhythm skills in this declaration of love for both metal and first-person shooters.



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