Covert Critter, UnMetal, and the Sublime Art of Parody
With all apologies in advance to the Piano Man, Billy Joel, I have to admit that I’ve been in a “Metal Gear state of mind” recently. There are four very good reasons for this: The first two games in the series, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, both had anniversaries this month. Metal Gear celebrated its 35th anniversary on July 13th, Metal Gear 2 celebrated its 32nd anniversary on July 20th, and because of that, I wrote this piece for TapTap on what I thought were the five best stealth-related mobile games. And right on the heels of that article being published, I found out about a Metal Gear Solid parody game that was just released called Covert Critter.
Up until recently, I’ve always said that Metal Gear Solid was my FAVORITE GAME OF ALL-TIME™ for various reasons, both personal and professional. When the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition came out last November, I poured another three-hundred-plus hours into it (I also played it for three-hundred-plus hours when it originally came out in 2011), so I had to concede to the fact that Skyrim now has to be my FAVORITE GAME OF ALL-TIME™ because I’m pretty damn sure there isn’t another video game out there that I’ve poured over six-hundred-plus hours into.
Regardless, I’m always keen to absorb any new Metal Gear related content because I just adore the hell of that absolutely bonkers franchise so, yes, when Covert Critter popped up on my (Soliton) radar last week, my interest was definitely piqued.
In Covert Critter, you play as a badass gecko named Koss who is a covert operations specialist skilled with tactics, evasion, and camouflage. Terrorists known as the Red Hawks have taken over the GEKO Research Facility. With it, they have direct control over a bunch of nukes and have diabolical plans to use them. It's up to Koss to infiltrate the facility then make his way through eight different levels with varying environments, all while remaining undetected.
Most impressively, Covert Critter was made by only two people (sodaraptor and NormalHumanSixx) in just twelve days at a game jam of some sort, and I have to say that it is rather brilliant re-imagining of the PS1 stealth classic – from the music, to the atmosphere and graphics, to the mostly absurd Codec conversations, to the fact that Koss even smokes a cigarette throughout his missions, it’s spot on…but it does offer up a few of its own gameplay wrinkles to mix things up at bit. For starters, Koss has no offensive weapons or attacks at all, so you just can’t shoot your way out of a tight spot if need be. Also, being a gecko, he can camouflage himself for short periods of time to avoid being detected, rather than say, hiding in a cardboard box to avoid being seen.
The game itself is quite fun to play and can be rather challenging since it is a true stealth mission after all. One issue I do have though is that there is no controller support for this experience as of yet – it’s keyboard and mouse only. And for me, that does ramp up the difficulty a good bit because, by way of example, the first time I had to swipe key card from a Red Hawk guard, it took me several tries due to the fact that I’m just no damn good with keyboard/mouse controls any longer since almost every game I play, I play with a controller.
Still, Covert Critter is a super cool little game and a most extraordinary technical achievement for just two people to pull off. Bra-vo!
While we are on the topic of Metal Gear parodies, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention an excellent title that was released last September by Versus Evil called, UnMetal – and UnMetal is parody done so, so right. This game is laugh-out-loud funny (not an exaggeration) at times, and any game that references the original MSX/NES Metal Gear, The A-Team, and The Punisher in its first five minutes, well, that’s a game that I know is going to be a good time.
Beyond being just a good time and a simple lampoon of a thirty-five-year-old game, UnMetal is a super solid video game in its own right. It takes the tried-and-true formula that Kojima-san laid out many moons ago and improves upon it in almost way possible – most notability in how the combat, stealth elements, and inventory management are handled.
If you are a long-standing fan of the Metal Gear franchise, you can’t go wrong with checking out both Covert Critter and UnMetal as they are both exceptional games. And even if you aren’t Metal Gear fanboy/girl/person, check these titles out just to see how humor and parody should be handled in an interactive entertainment experience because I strongly feel it’s something that more video games need to express in today’s rather bleak and confusing world. I mean, we’re already playing all these games as a way to distract ourselves from the nonsense that really, really world dishes out to us on a daily basis, so why not make us laugh while doing so?
Seems like a pretty reasonable request, no?
What are your thoughts on the Metal Gear franchise? Have you played either UnMetal or Covert Critter? What video games do you think handle humor well? Drop us a line down in the comments with your thoughts!
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