Iron Meat Review

Iron Meat is set in the fictional world where the planet has been overrun by The Meat: an all-consuming interdimensional biomass. It’s up to the protagonist, Adim, to load up and charge in head first against waves of mutated victims and machines.

Iron Meat is a Contra/Probotector homage where players need to clear levels from beginning to end by shooting everything in their path. All of this to reach levels’ end to take down a big mutated freak. Our little protagonist can shoot in all directions.

Akin to Konami’s classic series, players can shoot flying grey ships to get some power ups for a bit of additional damage. If you pick up the same power up twice, they’ll also stack. The developers also took a cue from Contra III: The Alien Wars where you have two different slots for weapons; meaning you can carry two at once.

And when you die, only the one equipped is lost. You can switch between weaponry by pressing RB or LB. Using the triggers allows the player to stay put in place and “safely” (enemies and projectiles will come in from all directions) shoot in any direction. The game has three difficulty levels: Easy, Normal and Hard. While the core gameplay doesn’t change, the main differences are that the number of lives diminishes when choosing higher levels of difficulty and bigger enemies require a bit more firepower to kill.

As you play the game and clear levels, you’ll earn points that will increase your profile’s ranking. As you level up, you’ll unlock new playable characters… well actually more like character skins. Each unlocked character doesn’t vary, except in visual style, from the main character Adim.

The game looks great with its dark and brooding visuals. While each level has a menacing, dark-ish style, they are uniquely themed such as a forest, living train or even shooting the undead on the Moon. Enemy design, while a bit repetitive, is top-notch and creepy. Bosses are big and grotesque creations fun to challenge. The soundtrack is a high octave hard rock score to get your blood pumping as you shred The Meat’s armies.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Iron Meat aside from the fact that unlocked characters doesn’t offer any variety in terms of gameplay and the fact that given its old school inspiration, the gameplay is limited. When clearing the game, you can replay it and choose which level to play.

Whether you’re looking for an old school inspired challenge or some quick fun, Iron Meat is an absolute must play. The gameplay is addictive, easy to pick up and play and some classic co-op action. While the gameplay is limited, the levels and challenge is very fun and addictive. Even after clearing the game, you’ll find yourself replaying levels to hone to skills or just as a stress relief. Iron Meat is a must buy. Don’t miss out.