Metal Marines

Overview

Metal Marines, known in Japan as Militia, is a sci-fi strategy game that features both real-time and turn-based elements. The player is one of the last surviving commanders of the United Earth Empire, an army attempting to thwart the antagonistic Zorgeuf's forces from conquering Earth and its space colonies.

The game uses the isometric perspective popularized by god-sim/strategy games like Populous, Powermonger and Utopia, and gives players a certain amount of time and resources to build new facilities and deploy new units before control is switched over to the enemy's forces. The goal of either side is to take out the well-defended bases of the other. The player's offensive options include missiles and large bipedal mechs: the eponymous Metal Marines.

Metal Marines was released on the Super Nintendo and PC by Namco. Mindscape handled publishing duties for the PC and PAL SNES versions. It was later added to the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007 in both Japan and US territories.

Story

Metal Marines takes place in the year 2117, two years after the nigh apocalyptic destruction of Earth during the Antimatter War. The nations of the world had invested heavily in Antimatter Weapons, stockpiling them across the planet. When these weapons were finally used, an unforeseen and catastrophic event occurred, a chain reaction exploding every AM device across the globe. The power of these weapons was so huge that the continents were reduced to islands, only small sections of the planet's surface surviving.

This is the backstory for the current conflict, however the PC and SNES versions differ quite dramatically in regards to the plot for the player's adventure.

SNES

The player is part of the "Space Colonies Allied Forces", a military force assembled by the habitats orbiting the Earth. The player and the colonies are on a mission to free the Earth from the despotic rule of Zorgeuf, the self appointed dictator of what remains of the planet's surface.

PC

In this version the player is part of United Earth Empire, a coalition of the remaining nations of Earth. Zorgeuf is still a dictator, though he is in charge of space-based colonies and now seeks to establish his rule over Earth as well.

Ultimately, the player is charged with thwarting Zorgeuf's plans for domination, defeating him and his subordinates in military engagements on what remains of surface of the planet.