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Super Nintendo - Biometal Review |
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Biometal is a horizontal shooter where you control a experimental Halbard fighter, using it against the aliens code named Bio-metal. The plane is a two seater with a pilot and a biologist. Gameplay: 9/10 The Halbard like the planes many other shooter games has a main weapon a plasma rifle which you can improve by collecting power-ups. The main weapon can become a scatter-shot weapon, a slow but powerful laser or a wave attack which will attack behind as well. The plane itself can also collect missile power-ups so as you fire missiles are launched as well. There are three kinds of missiles, straight firing, missiles which split apart and homing missiles which home in on the closest target. What makes the Halbard different isn't the main weapons but the special weapon known as G.A.M. At the bottom of the screen is an energy bar which tells you how much energy you have left. When not in use the G.A.M is recharging and you activate it by pressing the Y button oryou can use the same button to deactivate it. Once activated it appears as four blue spheres which protect your ship from any bullets. That isn't its only use however. You can also expand if you press the X button or you can launch it towards a direction. You have to press in the opposite direction you want it to go before launching it. Finally, you have a combination of both. So you can launch it make it expand when it reaches the enemy. When its travelling it continues its absorption abilities so bullets will disappear but your craft will become vulnerable. This means that if you launch it at an enemy in front of you any bullets headed from the enemy will not hit you but if there are other enemies around you'll have to become. Of course, all this takes energy so you'll have to be careful. This makes for some important tactical decisions. When and where exactly should I be launching or using the G.A.M.? When should it act as shield and when should it be recharging? There is a problem with the game play however, there just aren't enough power-ups. With only three kinds of weapons and three levels of weapons the main weapon of the ship just isn't powerful enough. Further, the first two kinds of missiles are no difference in power or speed from the homing missiles so there's no real point in collecting them, you should just collect the homing missiles and stick with them. This is very disappointing considering how much thought went into the G.A.M.. Graphics: 4/5 The background graphics are pretty good and smooth for its time, there isn't really anything bad about it, there just aren't any really really cool moments in the game. The enemies themselves are pretty cool since they are suppose to be half-animal and half-machine. Sound and Music: 3.5/5 I personally think the music is quite good and it fits the theme of the game quite well. However, the sound is just terrible and wouldn't be missed at all if it wasn't even present. Game design: 3.5/5 I think the game is fairly well designed to provide a challenge. The game will be hard without training and at times I feel the ship is a bit too big for the game especially later on when you have to manuever around. As mentioned before, the lack of power-ups really limits the game in many ways. Longevity: 3.5/5 The game is unique enough I think to hold most people's attention especially once they get the hang of using the G.A.M.. Unfortunately with only six levels, its a little short. For: Original gameplay, cool looking enemies. Against: Not enough weapon variety, a bit short. |
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Rom Review Options |
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Game: Biometal Genre: Action Produced by: Athena Year: 1993 Platform: SNES Runs on: Snes 9X Scoring Summary Gameplay: 9/10 Graphics: 4/5 Sound and Music: 3.5/5 Game design: 3.5/5 Longevity: 3.5/5 Total: 23.5/30 Rating: 78% Bronze Award -Reviewed by Barnabas |