Konami

Sony has done a good job of releasing a surprisingly large amount of feature films on its proprietary UMDs, but for those of us who don't really care about watching movies on the glossy black handheld, there are still quite a few holes to be filled in its library. Coded Arms is the first FPS (first-person shooter) to come down the pipe, and it fills its role—barely.

I liked Metal Gear Ac!d about as much as Brad, but for different reasons. While Brad felt it stumbled out of the gate but gained steam later, I felt like it started out strong and became overwhelming as it got more complex.

It didn't strike me as a great game, but it's all right for what it is.

The artistry on display here is merely one of commercial function rather than aesthetic form, akin to that of, say, a successful McDonald's advertising campaign. Sadly, just like the big M's marketing execs, it'll probably do exactly what it sets out to do: sustain the brand and make plenty of money in the process.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood, Violence

In my recent write up of the putrid NanoBreaker, my opening comment was that killing robots as an end unto itself is boring and a waste of time—unless there's a hook. I stand by that statement, but I think it's cosmically ironic that immediately after wrapping up a review for a terrible robot-killing game, I'm writing a review for a good one. I guess it just goes to show that in the right hands, even the most seemingly unappealing or dreary subject matter can shine.

The game is perfectly, almost proverbially, meh.