Run and gun shooters are something of a gaming staple over the decades. Thanks to Contra and Metal Slug, it has been a staple of both arcades and consoles alike – with Contra in particular having an interesting journey from arcade to console. It went from a middling arcade game to a beloved console game and led to the Metal Slug series kind of taking over as the dominant arcade run and gun franchise for about a decade, with Contra taking over consoles and PC shooters. Newcomers, however, have entered the fray and allowed the genre to have fresh takes over the years.
Blast Off Baddies
Duck Game enabled players to have a lighter tone and more difficulty options alongside things like turbo as an option and Iron Meat blends some of that game’s accessibility with a darker look and feel. It very much feels like a Blasphemous-style world blended with Contra gameplay and it’s an interesting mix. There’s still a lot of real-world settings in use, but they all have a blood red sky or dark motif to them to add a sense of horror to the action. The darker look is counterbalanced with bright ammo that makes it easy to both attack enemies and avoid their projectiles too.
The weapon variety offered up is very much in line with genre classics – so things like laser shots and spread shots are here to deal out damage. The wavebeam attack is especially cool and allows you to take out enemies faster, and while the laser does a lot of damage too, its small area of attack hurts it. Of course, the classic spread shot is best for large swaths of enemies and Iron Meat has a ton of enemies around to attempt to take you out.
Turbo Fire Firepower
Enemies like to hide around doors and tend to blend in more with their surroundings than in most run and guns, which adds a layer of challenge to things. Iron Meat features automatic rapid-fire, which makes combat much easier than a lot of genre entries. It also doesn’t have a ton of bullet hell baked in, which can make even the best game a slog because you have to play on defense so much when the idea of it is to be constantly on offense.
Check it out now on console and PC and PC players can enjoy ademoas well.
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