MW Ultra Review

I have an extraordinarily hard time naming even three franchises that consist of four consecutive games of such ultra high quality as the Metal Warrior games for the Commodore 64. The 1993 original was released for the Amiga, and the (in my opinion vastly superior) C64 “re-make” came out in 1999 via Electric Harem Productions.

The trio of sequels were then released between 2000 and 2003, and each entry had more features and more enhanced or clever mechanics when compared to the previous game. (Including exciting and intriguing plots.) Lasse “Cadaver” Öörni, the mastermind behind the franchise and the more recent masterpieces Hessian (2016) and Steel Ranger (2018), has now completely re-made the first Metal Warrior game… Here is MW Ultra…

Last things first – MW Ultra isn’t a part of the Metal Warrior Quadrilogy that was released by Psytronik Software in 2019. That Fine collection had all the original games whereas MW Ultra is the brand new re-boot. And if you were worried that this re-interpretation merely contains some updated graphics and a couple of new options in the title screen, you can stop worrying immediately – MW Ultra is another standard-setting example of how re-makes should be done. And that means improvements on all fronts imaginable and loads and loads of new stuff all over the place…

MW Ultra was in development for over two years. In 2018, Öörni was quoted on the Vintage Is The New Old website: “Last summer, during Steel Ranger’s development, I got a particularly good idea on how I’d like to expand the originals story, so here we are.” and “It turns out C64 still has too much potential to explore, so [MW Ultra] stays on the C64.” Always a welcome choice!

STORY

If you have played the original Metal Warrior, you will probably recognize the plot as it basically is a fleshed out re-telling of that one – But with more characterization and twists.

Ian’s “big three” goals in life are: Drinking beer, playing guitar, and growing his hair. But neither of these pastimes bring in the money, and basic income doesn’t leave much room for freedom during all the free time, so Ian has to take some more or less legal jobs wherever and whenever he can. The game begins with a segment where Ian is in prison. And this is a short dream sequence that basically lets you get acquainted with the controls. (You get to walk around, collect some items, and shoot a couple of guards.)

Next day, a burglary job with War-Metal band Cyberpriest’s guitarist Lucas a.k.a. Sadok goes completely fuck up when Lucas accidentally dies from a fall – This after the two break into an electronics plant. During Ian’s subsequent and non-stop beer-fueled time of grief, vocalist / bass player Rene from Cyberpriest contacts Ian and asks if he is interested in jamming with the band and eventually joining them as their lead guitarist. Said and done – After picking up his trusty axe (Which always rests next to the bed.) and checking out the Thrash Metal band’s page on Metal Archives (At least that site still exists in the future!), Ian hits the town… Which has turned into a pretty violent place throughout the decades… (And Cyberpriest have only had time to release an EP…!)

And of course, this is nothing compared to what’s coming…!

The original game took place in 2010, but since this isn’t the “dismal future world” anymore, the plot was updated to bring it back to the future. And instead of Sadok and several other Metal musicians either being murdered or disappearing mysteriously, the story now begins with this aforementioned scenario and unfolds through several cut-scenes and flashbacks – Completely changing the story and the tone of the game. And this is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. So if you basically have been waiting for Metal Warrior V… Well… This is a new Metal Warrior game…! (And if you haven’t played the original games for some time, chances are that you won’t even recognize MW Ultra as a re-make – We are talking extreme differences here…!)

THE GAME

So you control Hard Rocker / Headbanger Ian across mostly sideways scrolling levels. Some sections like staircases scroll vertically, and you enter new sections through doorways and other entrances / exits.

MW Ultra is primarily action-based, which means that Ian will do a lot of fighting and making armed responses to various physical threats. His fists won’t help against the harder bastards and the game’s multiple bosses, so Ian has to get his hands on a whole bunch of different weapons – Ranging from batons and knives to guns of various sizes and firepower. (And Molotov cocktails and grenades.) You can find some of the weapons by scavenging the environments, but others have to be bought with hard-earned coin at various establishments.

After the prologue, the game starts in Ian’s apartment, which is located in a city divided into three sections. (The first assignment is to get to Cyberpriest’s rehearsal “Bunker”.) The city is some 80 screens big and contains about a dozen different locations (Clubs, weapon shops, a police station, etc.), plus a West- and an East exit. But this just a fraction of the entire game map, which is about 800 (Eight hundred!) screens big. (That’s even more than in Hessian.)

As the plot twists relieve each other to keep things interesting and unpredictable, the resistance from the bad guys increases. You won’t be fighting street thugs and bikers only once the mission gets you out of the city. Even with the controls being as perfect as they probably could ever be in a C64-game, it’s unsurprisingly a good idea to master them to their full. (It gets pretty tough.)

The biggest differences when compared to the original game are not only limited to the addition of more weapons and way more interaction (And dialogue options.) when talking to characters, but there is also an added stealth mechanic and better / smarter controls.

CONTENT

Before the game even gets to the title screen, you can either read the Instructions (Nine pages.) or “Manage Saves”. The latter is used for moving save files from cartridge to disk – Select a device, and either choose to “Copy Saves To Disk” or “Copy Saves From Disk”. Simple as that.

MW Ultra has three difficulty levels – Easy, Medium, and Hard. (You won’t be shocked to hear that the baddies can take more bullets and a more serious thrashing on Hard – Among other things.) The title-screen menu lets you start a new game or continue a previous one. (After you have listened to yet another absolutely fantastic SID-groove, of course!) There are four slots where you can store saved games. If you die, you are sent back to the beginning of the current location. (Minus the stuff that you have found since the loss of the previous life.) There is only a “real” Game Over if you exit and abandon the game. (You can of course save before ending a game.) If you complete MW Ultra on any difficulty level, you unlock the Permadeath Mode. (Which means that you won’t get one chance to save or continue if you die – Like you do in a “normal” game.)

At the bottom of the screen is your status panel divided into three sections. The left part shows your energy-bar, which in turn is divided into three separate segments. Logically, they shrink to nothing, one by one, when you get injured. Energy is automatically restored (As long as you aren’t getting attacked or soak bullets.), but this only applies to the “currently shrinking” segment. So for example: If you have depleted two energy segments, only the last segment gets restored. The entire amount of energy, i.e., all three segments, can only be restored by using First Aid Kids or sleeping. (Beer helps to numb the pain at all times.) The green three-part power-bar is replaced by a yellow Body Armor-bar once you find / buy one.

The middle part of the status panel shows your current weapon plus how much ammo you have in said weapon and on you respectively. (Punches and strikes with the baton are unlimited. No surprise there either.)

And the right part of panel displays another three-part bar that is your accumulated experience. It grows one (cyan-colored) segment at a time, and once its full, you gain one Skill Point. The skills are divided into five categories: Athletics, Hand-To-Hand, Marksmanship, Load Capacity, and Endurance. In the Skill Menu, you select which skill to upgrade from the list. (Accessing the Skill Menu also pauses the game, and here, you can also turn off the music and sound effects as well as save and quit the game.) So if you upgrade your Athletics, your climbing and jumping improves. Beating Mofos unconscious instead of, e.g., knifing them dead is rewarded with more experience points. (An icon flash quickly above a fallen enemy – “Zzz” if they are knocked out and a skull if they’re dead.) So it’s either recommended or wise to punch and kick enemies at first to build up Ian’s skills – At least at the first part of the game.

CONTROLS

Covert BitOps’ games are widely famous for making the most out of controls built for one Fire-button. Fire is therefore used in several ways. Unarmed, you have a low punch, a high punch, a block, a front kick, a flying kick, and a move for sweeping the leg while crouching down.

Joystick up is for either jumping and climbing or taking cover behind corners and walls and such. (This is a significant part of the aforementioned stealth mechanic.) Ian can also jump and grab platforms with the upwards diagonal directions and walk crouching with the downward diagonal ones. Down is for crouching and climbing, but also for picking up items.

Select a firearm or projectile, and the Fire-button is used for shooting or throwing instead. The direction of the throw can also be chosen with the direction of the Joystick. With the Joystick, you can furthermore access the inventory by double-pressing Fire and holding it pressed. The left- and right direction cycles through your weapons and items in the inventory. Holding Fire again uses the item. And if you hold Fire pressed for a moment in-game, you access the Skill Menu. Ingenious.

There are no “real” keyboard controls in MW Ultra, but you can press Run / Stop for accessing the Skill Menu instead. Space-bar is for selecting the next weapon, “R” for reloading, and “H” for using a healing item like a First Aid Kit or drinking beer. The numeric keys are for quickly selecting a weapon, and “,” and “.” cycles through your stuff.

A clever option in the main menu lets you select commands for a controller with either two or three buttons. Instead of using the upwards direction for jumping, you can assign a second button for that (Thanks!), and Inventory access to the third button. Perfection.

GRAPHICS

All new and fresh. MW Ultra doesn’t look too much like its already good-looking predecessor. Every character block and Sprite that you see on screen has been brought up to the high standard of games like Steel Ranger. All good as hell. (And the graphical variation is amazing.)

MW Ultra utilizes hardware acceleration for better screen-scrolling, i.e., if you have a C128 (2 MHz Mode.), the SuperCPU, or the Commodore REU.

SOUND

Just like the visuals, the sound is all new with a superbly atmospheric soundtrack by Cadaver and Kamil “Jammer” Wolnikowski. I absolutely loved the classic Heavy Metal-vibe in the original C64-game’s soundtrack. (All the wonderful tracks that sounded like SID-covers of some 80s Metal outfit’s Greatest Hits!) And the soundtrack in MW Ultra isn’t lesser in the slightest – Just completely different with different moods. Even the Instructions-part before the main menu has its own tune, and the melodies in virtually every track are ridiculously good – Just like awesome guitar-leads.

The game includes an “adaptive soundtrack” as one of its features. Cadaver talks a bit about this at his website (https://cadaver.github.io) and mentions unique Game Over-jingles for each level as well as over a dozen tunes and closer to two dozen sub-tunes! (For bosses and danger-filled situations.)

SUMMARY

Lovers of Commodore 64 games of all ages and generations – Rejoice. Covert BitOps’ games now traditionally make you ask the rhetorical question: How much better can games on this [1982 subtracted from the year of release.] years old machine get? It happened with Hessian, it happened with Steel Ranger, and now, it happened with MW Ultra. I’m sure it will happen again. (The show must go on, right?)

Additional note: MW Ultra was released on both physical formats (With some serious goodies.) as well as digital download – Disk versions for 1541 (Two disk images.) and 1581, plus Cartridge and GMod2. Apart from the “C64 only”-version (Which is fully compatible with the C64 Mini and the Full Size C64.), the digital download runs on both Windows and Linux via WinVICE and VICE respectively.

Available at: https://protovision.itch.io/mw-ultra.

Developed by: Covert BitOps
Published by: Psytronik Software and Protovision.
Version Reviewed: Commodore 64
Genre: Action / Adventure
Players: 1
Alternate Title: Metal Warrior Ultra
Also Available On: Windows, Linux
Released: 2020