With three sides to choose from my initial impression towards the story was pretty bright. After all, with that many sides it would be easy to write up an epic story that could explore each side of the confrontation. Unfortunately while the story hints at political intrigue and all sorts of potential drama, the story is not supported in-game at all. The intro and conclusion to each mission have a hard time making up for this, despite the halfway decent vocal presentation. This shallow support reveals just how much a good story holds a single player experience together.

Yet the gameplay itself is somewhat fresh and that leaves the option for the game to lazily rest on that aspect. Metal Fatigue uses a three-layer battlefield consisting of air, ground, and underground areas. The player must carry out offensive and defensive fronts on each layer, which can be pretty demanding. The use of air units, mech units, and tank units, make up the primary units of each force, but their ability to move between layers of the battlefield changes the way they can be used. With towering mech units in close melee combat while tanks around them carry on smaller battles is all very exciting. This would all be true, of course, if the AI was programmed to make a mistake once in a while.

I had just wanted to get into a little action, my first game of Metal Fatigue being in Skirmish mode, but this proved to be too much. Within 3-5 minutes (upon exploration) I had discovered that my opponent had already monopolized almost all of the mineral deposits in the area and had a large force preparing to attack. Admittedly I hadn't played the game before, but after going through the Command & Conquer, StarCraft, and Homeworld, I am pretty sure I have a firm grasp on the basic RTS play mechanics. The performance of the AI ended up almost the same in single player, only limited by the small amount of AI scripting. In ‘easy' mode the third mission lasts forever thanks to the still difficult opponent. It isn't that the AI is particularly clever, it just manages to pump out crucial units and pull of important tasks at optimum efficiency, while the player is only human and just can't compete.

I am convinced that the best way, and probably the only way to enjoy the true experience of this title is to find someone and play a controlled multiplayer game. The AI is easily the worst part about this title, and if it could be rid of I think the game would be much easier to enjoy.

The units and the possibilities end up being the one saving grace for Metal Fatigue. The game does include the all purpose tank and heavy artillery, but the main focus is still the use of mechs. With modular parts built, the player can put together a mech that is customized with their choice of legs, arms, and torso. The selection of weapons and special abilities for the mech designs are large in number if it is taken into consideration that mech parts from other factions can be researched and utilized. This adds a new dynamic to the gameplay that is just really quite cool. The victor of a large mech battle is allowed to salvage any parts left over for research or re-use.

As a person climbs the tech tree they acquire different units and mech upgrades that can usually traverse two layers of the battlefield. For example, mech units cannot go underground due to their size, but with jump jets they can go to the air level and do damage to the floating islands above.

The audio/video aspect of Metal Fatigue is sort of one sided. The visual presentation of the game, while not all the impressive, is still enough to keep up with modern day titles. A good use of different unit/building design styles keeps each faction visibly different from the other. The games audio is a very forgettable experience. The unit sounds are adequate but seem so recycled and dull, and I won't even start ranting about the music.

The possibility of fun is there, especially for any fan of mech combat. Metal Fatigue is an interesting entry into the real-time strategy genre but one that will ultimately be forgotten. The gameplay is solid, but there is very little supporting it, and oh so very much holding it at bay.