CES 2010 Hands On: Scrap Metal in 3D for XBLA

Slick Entertainment iIs bringing back 3D graphics from yesteryear with their title Scrap Metal. Scrap Metal is a vehicular combat and racing game that will be available on Xbox Live Arcade. Scrap Metal is played from a top down perspective and has many distinct cars to choose from.

I played a couple of Scrap Metal’s modes during CES 2010 with and without the classic 3D glasses.

The first mode I played was a standard race. I picked a pink hover car because it was the only one that didn’t have wheels. I quickly learned that this car was meant for more experienced players. Scrap Metal’s control scheme takes some getting used to because you have to compensate for the top down view. The cars control just like a remote control car in that both analog sticks have to work together to steer correctly. At the suggestion Scrap Metal‘s product manager I tried the destruction derby mode with a different car to get a better feel for the game.

The destruction derby mode has several cars in a small arena. The objective is to destroy as many cars as possible within a certain time limit. This mode can be played alone or with up to four players online or locally via split screen. By the end of my trial I had gotten 41 kills without dying once. It was very easy to win but it’s possible the difficulty was turned down to make the game more accessible to the public. I did like the progressive damage your car receives as your enemies batter you throughout the match.

The strangest thing about Scrap Metal is the optional 3D mode that requires paper 3D glasses with blue and red lenses. Since Microsoft won’t send you a pair of these glasses for downloading this game, I think this mode will go unused by the majority of people. Looking at the visuals through the 3D glasses wasn’t very exciting. The standard graphics aren’t the best XBLA has ever seen but I think visuals come second in a party game.

Slick Entertainment haven’t decided on a price for Scrap Metal yet.

Read [Gamertell at CES]