Is this shooter as meaty as it sounds?
Iron Meat is a fast-paced, run-and-gun shooter that immerses players in a world overrun by The Meat–an all-consuming interdimensional biomass. With a mix of classic arcade and console mechanics, players will battle against mutated victims and machines, dodge bullet barrages, and crush bosses in nine levels of gore-ific brutality. As Vadim, fight back against The Meat and stop the terrors spawned from scientist Yuri Markov’s experiments on the Moon. With 2-player couch co-op, you can grab a buddy to leave a trail of bloody, Meat-infected corpses together! It’s double the firepower, double the carnage, and double the MEAT!
Dying in one hit? Check. 30 Lives? Check. 2-Player co-op? Check! Iron Meat takes the fundamentals from Contra, make no mistake. It handles like it and looks like a Contra game too. You could say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but is this too far?
I’d normally say yes in this situation, but Iron Meat is just as fun as you would expect from a Contra game, so it’s hard to slate too much. It has everything you would expect from tough bosses, unique enemies, upgrades and most importantly, solid controls. The run-and-gun mechanics work well here across the 9 stages you’ll be overcoming. There’s a decent sci-fi plot here as well…
The visuals are beautifully retro, while feeling like a blend in styles between Contra and Metal Slug. The framerate is consistent throughout, the soundtrack is great and I didn’t encounter any glitches throughout my playthrough.
The Verdict
Iron Meat doesn’t add anything new to the run-and-gun shooter genre. It takes almost everything from Contra, but it does it well and is just as fun to play. It may not be original, but damn it’s addictive with another player by your side…