Metal Max Xeno Reborn

A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage.

While it might seem like our gripes outnumber the improvements in Xeno Reborn, this is still a weird, unique, and overall enjoyable entry point into the Metal Max world. Squad-based, single-player tank-centric games (set in a post apocalyptic world) are few and far between, to put it mildly, so this is still worth your time. And to their credit, instead of simply moving on to a sequel (which they're doing as well in Metal Max: Wild West), Cattle Call and 24Frame took the time to improve on the foundation laid by Metal Max Xeno, to ambitious if flawed results in Xeno Reborn. You can't fault the teams for the effort made, and whether they were totally successful or not, the whole of Metal Max Xeno Reborn is still greater than the sum of its parts.

A reworking of Metal Max Xeno doesn't get patched up enough to make life worth living in Dystokio.

While some gamers will find themselves engrossed with monster hunting, others will find themselves frustrated by how Metal Max Xeno: Reborn is still unable to get things right, even after being fully reconstructed. A campy sense of humor can only carry a game so far. Unfortunately, this second chance at life is inexplicably held back by the same quality issues that plagued its progenitor.

Metal Max Xeno: Reborn is a highly enjoyable and entertaining JRPG that is stuffed with ideas that mostly work, even if some come at the cost of logic. The story and characters lack presence and it is due to the after thought presentation. The protagonist is borderline mute, and it is jarring when he suddenly speaks and everyone acts normal.

Metal Max Xeno Reborn manages to commit one of the most serious crimes a game can do: being boring. Its story, gameplay, visuals and soundtrack all combine to deliver an unremarkable and totally uninteresting title, making it an almost impossible game to recommend.

Metal Max Xeno Reborn is a totally fine game with awesome tank tinkering and a cool dog that straps a machine gun to its back and draws power from its bodily fluids. But if you’ve played the original Metal Max Xeno, you might be more confused than hyped. It’s more of the cool tank stuff, but a dramatic shift in style and tone that just makes the weird low budget JRPG feel like a weird low budget JRPG in a different way.

Overall, I have to say I really like Metal Max Xeno Reborn. While the gutted storyline and a few design choices are a little questionable, I found the combat system to be immensely enjoyable. Nothing quite like spotting an enemy over a hill and massacring them with a 100 ton cannon dropped by the last boss.

Do you like tanks? Do you like lasers? Do you like the idea of those two things together? You should play this game.

So it goes with Metal Max Xeno Reborn, where yesteryear’s vehicles of war and destruction are the future-present’s platforms of hope. One could also say the same for the game itself, salvaged over the course of years and redeveloped into something quite different — and much better – than before.