Gunmetal (video game)

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Not to be confused with Gun Metal (video game).
Gunmetal
Single player, multiplayer

Gunmetal is a first-person shooter video game for the PC. It was developed and distributed by Mad Genius Software in 1998.

Plot

The game takes place 300 years in the future. The world is completely controlled by corporations, and the concept of nation is unknown.

The player takes on the role of a newly hired security guard for the Nataka Corporation, a multi-planet organization patterned loosely after mid-20th century

Sara Lee, or General Electric
.

The game is focused around the player completing various missions, that become increasingly more chaotic as the player finds themselves caught up in a battle against a rogue computer virus.

Gameplay

Gunmetal has 24 published levels, along with two secret levels, four

easter egg
minigame. An additional deathmatch level was added in a later patch release.

Between each level, the player is told a bit about the challenges in the upcoming level through a mission briefing. They can then choose to visit an upgrade area where they can buy, sell, and trade weapons, ammo, and vehicle types to use in the mission. A limited amount of

bonuses
, the player can eventually afford a wide range of weaponry.

The easter egg consists of a side-scrolling minigame called "Gandhi Kong," done in the style of

Donkey Kong and starring Mahatma Gandhi
.

Game engine

Gunmetal's

Doom clone
(although both the engine and game were heavily influenced by Doom as well as Duke Nukem 3D, among other contemporary titles of the time). It includes realistic lighting, spotlights, direct sunlight, and partial reflectivity (for reflections in pools and other details). At the time, very few video games had all of these features. It also featured original digital music that was not redbook audio but streamed in real time, and it dynamically changed based on the current state of a level (like where you were currently at or if you were facing down a major enemy).

Gunmetal supports the full range of multiplayer options available in 1998. As many as eight players can play over a

split-screen
2-player mode is available for local and online play. As of the final patch release, however, online play was reportedly still broken and players were limited to the LAN option or local split-screen.

Development

The game was showcased at

E3 1998.[2]

Reception

The game received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.

References

  1. ^ Gentry, Perry (August 28, 1998). "Weekend Releases". Gamecenter. CNET. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  2. ^ Lee, Helen (June 16, 1997). "Mad Genius To Show GunMetal [sic]". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on February 20, 1999. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  3. ^ "Gunmetal for PC". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on June 9, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  4. ^ Ryan, Michael E. (October 29, 1998). "Gunmetal Review [date mislabeled as "May 1, 2000"]". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on January 17, 2005. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  5. ^ Saltzman, Marc (December 1998). "Gunmetal". PC Accelerator. No. 4. Imagine Media. p. 104. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  6. ^ "Gunmetal". PC Gamer UK. Future Publishing. 1998.
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