Metal Saga for PS2 is a lot better than no Metal Max at all

destructoid.com:

Getting into the Metal Max series has been one of the most exciting experiences to come my way in this hobby recently. I picked up Metal Max Xeno Reborn on a whim, and the next thing I know, I’m hungrily trying to consume everything from the series I could get my hands on. That’s unfortunately not a lot. Most of the series has never left Japan. While there are some fan translations landing for some of those titles, there was only one official release for the series in North America before Metal Max Xeno. That was 2005’s Metal Saga on PS2.

Don’t let the name fool you. This isn’t some spin-off. Metal Saga is a whole-fat entry in the series. There were some trademark issues resulting from Data East going bankrupt, so the developers at Crea-tech couldn’t actually call it Metal Max for a time, but that’s the only disruption. It takes place in the same world as the previous games, making reference to those narratives, and the mechanics all follow the formula set out by the previous two titles. It’s the true Metal Max 3 in everything but name.

Unfortunately, the shift to the 3D perspective wasn’t an effortless one.

Metal Saga starts out in much the same way that the original Metal Max does: the protagonist tells his parent that he’s setting out in the world to become a hunter. Taking place in a post-apocalyptic future, Hunters travel around and take down the various monsters that roam the devastated planet.

Like the original Metal Max, the actual over-arching narrative isn’t clear from the start, and only takes shape at the very end. Largely, you’re let loose on the world and left to do whatever you feel like, and Metal Saga just trusts that you’ll eventually find your way to the conclusion. It’s up to you to just travel