Today, I’ll look at the game that popularized jumping over soda cans and riding skateboards down obstacle courses!
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Year: 1985
Played on: Xbox 360 (via Namco Museum Virtual Arcade)
Also on: Various Home Computers, PS1 (Namco Museum Volume 5)
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco
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Better run, better run, outrun my giant soda can.
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Date posted: December 1, 2017
PREMISE
It’s officially December! What better way to kick off the holiday season then talk about a game were you jump over giant soda cans!
Metro Cross is a game where you guide a man, simply known as Runner, though some wicked obstacle courses, avoiding pads that slow you down, red blocks that try to crush you, and, of course, giant soda cans, for what ever reason. Released in Japanese and European arcades in 1985, Metro Cross was popular enough to be ported on various computers, such as the Atari ST and the Commodore 64. However, an arcade perfect port would not be available for us Americans until Namco Museum Vol.5 (Which is now very hard to find!) and later on the Namco Museum Virtual Arcade collection- which is the one I played.
Enough about semantics- lets talk about Metro Cross- how crazy it is, and why you should play it!
PROS
The game takes place on a crazy obstacle course from hell! You have the already mentioned soda cans, but you also have green tiles that slow you down, traps that explode into fireworks, red cubes that try to crush you, and pits that impede your progress. Don’t fret, however, as there are plenty of things that can help you along the way, such as trampolines, which when timed correctly, fling you over multiple obstacles. There are also skateboards, which let you go over green panels and some other traps without slowing down. You can also pick up green cans that speed you up tremendously, and blue cans that can be crushed for points, and can even sometimes stop the timer.
Each course is deadlier and more insane then the last- each one being a race against time! There is a lot of variety in the courses- one, for example, has nothing but trampolines- another throws everything at you. This game is not for the faint of heart!
The game controls well- don’t blame the game itself for losing this time! It goes at a fast pace, so you better have good reflexes- you never know what’s coming down the lane, so prepare yourself!
CONS
A shocker to no one, the game is once again very hard! Also once again, Namco decided that you can’t continue in the Virtual Arcade version of the game. Why in the hell were most of the games on here like this? The original arcade version let you continue, but not this one!
The time limit imposed on you gives you little to no leeway. This makes the game incredibly frantic and nerve-wracking.
The game’s difficulty is it’s main weakness- once again, its takes time and dedication to get far in this game. I actually admire games like this- so many games anymore just give you too much breathing room. This could be a bad thing for some however. In other words, only play this game if you feel like a challenge!
FINAL VERDICT
Metro Cross is a fun little obstacle course game that gets difficult pretty quickly. If your looking for a challenging game with a lot of obstacles, then this is the game for you! For an arcade perfect port (albiet with no continues), then pick up the Namco Museum Virtual Arcade version. Hardcore PS1 collector’s might want to find Namco Museum Volume 5, but be warned- its expensive as f@#k, selling for a $50 last time I checked!
Agree? Disagree? Good! Leave a comment about how terrible my taste is in the comments below!
Gamer's Edge 