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Shoot-em-up games have been around for a very long time now (Space Invaders was released back in 1978 for example). However, I can´t say that I´ve seen or played all that many Metal shmups throughout the years. So when I heard about Nuberu Games top-down shooter “Metal Tales: Fury of the Guitar Gods” (which, by the way got greenlit on Steam Greenlight just recently), I just had to check the game out. Well, luckily enough for me (us). Nuberu Games gave me the chance to playthrough a very early alpha demo of “Metal Tales” (you can watch our gameplay further down the page). So played the alpha demo through five or six times in row, and the first thing I noticed (besides the obvious fact that you play as Metal hero who fights against all kinds of Metal cliché enemies) was that the stages, items, power-ups and enemies were all randomized (just like in Diablo 3 for example).

You could say that this bathroom has never ever been more Metal than it is now.

In other words, every playthrough offered me a unique gameplay experience. Not only that, the challenges were different each time as well, due to the fact that the rooms changed (and so did the deployment of enemies). As for the actual gameplay itself, “Metal Tales” did remind me a bit about a Metal version of “The binding of isaac” (thank you AngronIsAngry for pointing that similarity out!). However, everything in “Metal Tales” has something to do with Metal (even your basic weapon is an Metal guitar, which allows you to shoot lighting bolts). And I´m talking about everything from items, bosses, music to power-ups (you will get the chance to use exploding amps for example).

So I really enjoyed those Metal features, as I´m a huge fan of Metal. And “Metal Tales” is a rather addicting game I have to say, the graphics look good (the game uses the Unity Engine), the Metal music rocks, and the controls are simple and smooth (keyboard + mouse, or gamepad). And you also have the ability to play alone or together with a friend (either via LAN or the Internet). Nevertheless, it´s far too early to tell if “Metal Tales” has what it takes to become the next big thing when it comes to shoot-em-up games, as I have only played through an alpha demo of the game after all. So far so good though.

There were a handful of different items and power-ups to be found in the alpha demo.

Even so, I would like to point out some things which I think that Nuberu Games should take notice of (I will hand over my feedback to them as soon as possible). And that would be the following:

1. I think that “Metal Tales” are a “bit” to easy, and there should be different difficulty settings as well (I bet that Nuberu Games have already thought about this though)
2. Some enemies are “somewhat” stupid and harmless
3. It would be awesome if you (the player) could pick between a handful of different Metal heroes (different looks, skills and attacks)
4. An epic Metal soundtrack is an absolute must have (I have already handed over some suggestions to Nuberu Games)

There is just one boss in the alpha of “Metal Tales”, but the Metal Viking boss is pretty darn cool, in my opinion.

Other than that I truly did enjoy “Metal Tales”, and speaking of which. A funny side note, the Viking Metal boss (which you have to battle at the end of the alpha demo) made me think about the boss stage from “Max Payne 1” (Ragna Rock). Anyhow, that was everything that I had to say about “Metal Tales” for now. So I´m going to wish Nuberu Games the best of luck with “Metal Tales”!