For people born in the 80s, the culture of that time has its own special significance. Remember those times? The heyday of actions, cassette VCRs and those cult movies: Rambo 1-3, Cobra, Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, Commando, Chuck Norris movies… Watching all of the above, we wanted to play something similar.
And then we got it, the cult classic Contra, taking over Dendy in 1987! This was a game that consisted solely of Shooting. But what a Shooting it was, like that, with a capital S! At the time, the Contra series attracted gamers with the opportunity to try on the role of a stern fighter with a gun at the ready. The cover alone already made it clear: this game is lit. A pair of Warriors, one naked to the waist, the second in armor with guns at the ready… Those cartridges were real treasures, because let me remind you – Doom came out in 1993, Contra was in the lead for a long time. It’s just a pity that Konami made several questionable moves with the Contra series, which led the series, if not to death, then to a long oblivion.
In Contra, players were met with a game that consisted entirely of epic and pathos. In it, you would control one of the two brave, brutal warriors that have borrowed the appearances of Schwarzenegger and Stallone. The fighters dashingly took out all living things in their path, but they also died no less cheerfully – the game did not give any concessions. Contra was also filled with references to Alien, Rambo 2 especially the first level, and simply to the sci-fi scene of the time.
We all fondly remember Broforce, an entertaining and interesting game that took the beautiful pixel art and ideas of Contra, but turned up the humor to the max. Maybe someone played Valfaris, also a nuclear action game, or rather a bloody mecha-metal.
And so, the baton of successful games that took the ideas of Contra as a basis was taken by the bloody action game in the genre of “run and gun”, Iron Meat, which is a rethinking of the cult classic of 1987. The essence of the game remains the same: run and shoot at everything in your path, watching the meat scraps flying around. For this alone, Iron Meat can be loved and cherished, but it also has other interesting advantages.
The plot of Iron Meat is in many ways reminiscent of DOOM. The scientists were conducting suspicious experiments on the lunar base. A creature called Iron Meat infected all the personnel and equipment, and then united them into gruesome monstrosities. It sent the resulting army to Earth through a portal, where it began to sow chaos and destruction. And only a few resisting earthlings are able to give the invader a fight.
The game was developed for 7 years by a small Russian studio, which took the Post-Soviet style and subculture as a basis. The player is given control of a brave soldier who can… run and gun. He shoots in front of himself, above himself and diagonally. He is also able to take a prone position, which saves from some enemy attacks and allows him to inflict some damage. During the last action, he amusingly tucks in his legs – just like in old films, when a teenage girl talks to her friends on the phone.
Our fighter deals with enemies using his trusty machine gun. As the game progresses, the Hero will receive bonus weapons, which are acquired by knocking down platforms and destroying special mechanisms. Periodically, new weapons are dropped by his comrades as well.
The upgrade affects the speed, rate of fire, and size with damage of shells. In total, you can carry two power-ups with you – one of which is lost after death. A cautious player can use invulnerability frames after death to inflict damage with a good gun, and return to a regular machine gun in dangerous moments.
Enemies in Iron Meat are divided into several types:
- Relatively harmless larvae and lumps of biomass;
- Cannon meat, which tends to attack from different sides;
- Several types of stationary turrets;
- Reinforcement belchers;
- Long-range bastards that shoot from a distance;
- Constantly growing columns of meat that block the passage and kill on contact;
- Cunning jerks that shoot from an ambush and hide after an attack;
- Irritating flying monsters;
- Intermediate bosses. Each subsequent boss is similar to the previous one, but learns some new tricks;
- The final boss, which changes forms and attacks throughout the battle.
The game does not try to hold back its punches. One hit on the hero, and you lose life, as well as your weapon. Fortunatelyб you always have the opportunity to switch to a regular machine gun before death. To successfully complete a level, good reaction and honed movements alone are not enough. You have to remember the threats you encounter and the behavior of enemies, and adapt to them.
The game has extremely competently executed difficulty levels. Easy difficulty gives a huge number of lives, which allows you to make some mistakes. The harder the difficulty, the fewer lives, and the more aggressive and varied the attacks of opponents.
Each level is colorful and has an excellent level design, the locations squeeze everything they can out of the player. Having started playing even on medium difficulty, players will understand that you will have to shed sweat, blood and tears for it. Taking a break after the fifth attempt, I was surprised by the timer in Steam. It claimed that I spent 15 minutes in the game, although it felt like an hour. The game also features an option to invite a friend to play together via Steam Remote Play and try co-op. However, don’t expect it to be easier.
Iron Meat has a magnificent visual style. Pixel graphics amaze with views of military action, a destroyed city, or an infected lunar base. Under the influence of Iron Meat, people and mechanisms merge into grotesque monsters. There are also funny moments when at the end of the run you fight with a building where a shawarma stall is located.
Excellent design allows you to quickly identify and destroy threats – on a subconscious level you understand why and where to shoot. But my brain persistently refused to perceive sparking wires as a threat, which too often led to death.
And the cheerful music makes the slaughter even more epic. The OST can be listened to separately, which is possible. But it is surprising how well the music gets into the rhythm of the game itself, special thanks for this.You can also notice a bunch of references, sometimes incomprehensible to people who were not born in the Post-Soviet space, but understandable if you look closely.
Iron Meat has a bunch of achievements, both easy and very peculiar or difficult to get. There is an account level progress, where the levels give different looks for the protagonist, fortunately there are enough of them in the game, you can even combine different “spare parts” into your unique hero.
The game itself can be completed in about an hour on the easy difficulty level, which will give you basic knowledge for more difficult modes, but you will want to return to it again and again. After all, Iron Meat provides an extravaganza of unexpected images, wild drive and meat! Iron Meat stands out in today’s gaming landscape.
Iron Meat is a beautiful game that entertains with short but clean gameplay. It cleverly allows for mistakes on low difficulty levels and severely tests experienced players on high. And the option to call a friend and enjoy pure ultra-violence together like in the old days is another plus for the project.
