Iron Meat review : A beefy appetite for bullets and guns.
Prepare to blast through hordes of grotesque, bio-organic monstrosities in Iron Meat, a high-octane love letter to classic run-and-gun shooters. Developed by Ivan Valeryevich Suvorov (Razz) and the studio that brought us Prison City, Retroware, this game delivers relentless side-scrolling action that’s dripping in nostalgia, while also boasting modern touches to keep today’s players engaged. Available on multiple platforms, including Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox, Iron Meat revisits the platform shooter genre with an addictive blend of old-school difficulty and fast-paced gameplay, sprinkled with some modern gaming sensibilities.
In Iron Meat, Earth faces an invasion of horrific meat-based monstrosities from the Moon. The world has become a nightmarish battlefield, where the remnants of humanity struggle to hold back an overwhelming alien threat. As part of the military's last-ditch effort, you are sent to stop the extraterrestrial horrors before all hope is lost. While the narrative is light on content, the grim and oppressive atmosphere provides enough context to fuel your fight through nine levels of relentless carnage, and isn't that why we are all here playing these games for anyway? The game doesn’t dwell on the story—it’s all about jumping in and blasting apart alien foes.
Gameplay: Precision, Carnage, and Replayability
If you’ve ever played games such as Contra or Metal Slug, Iron Meat will feel immediately familiar. Jump around, grab what weapons you can find and shoot everything that moves. The game’s controls are tight and responsive, there is support for your preference, including mouse, keyboard, but it is most recommended to play with controller, any controller, and sit back and enjoy the adventure.
You can remap all the buttons to your hearts content which is so good to see as we all have our preferences, but out of the box was fine for me personally. Movement is fluid and it really feels that I am in control where my character is and is going on the screen. Very important key of the game as it can turn into a real bullet hell in times where besides shooting you are spending a good amount dodging, jumping, moving and evading. The ability to shoot in seven directions, plant your feet to aim, and even go prone to avoid deadly traps adds that layer of strategy to the action without compromising the gunplay.
Each of the nine levels presents its own distinct challenge, some move horizontally while other have you fight in a vertical level while riding a massive elevator. From dodging traps in a flying ship to navigating a deadly train filled with exposed electrical wires you will be required to stay sharp. The game can be hardcore, but it is generous in giving the players different difficulty levels easy, medium, and hard, affecting enemy placement, trap locations, and health values. While easy mode offers a bit of a breather with 30 lives, medium and hard will truly test your skills, with fewer lives and more challenging scenarios. When I started, I had a few levels where I got close to losing every single one of those 30 lives. Afterall, get hit, lose a life. not exceptions. The game is meant to be hard, but kind enough to allow new players to get used to it and to learn, and at the same time feel like they have accomplished something. Then the challenged will start at the high levels and the achievements that are in the game.
Visually, Iron Meat excels at capturing that retro pixel art aesthetic, with meticulously detailed sprites and animations that really pop off the screen. Being short on exposition the game works hard to deliver story with its visual content. The environments are richly detailed, from the dense forests of the opening stage to the industrial horrors of a bio-organic-infested city.
The grotesque enemy designs, especially the bosses, are disturbing yet fascinating, making every encounter a spectacle. To see the weird ways people and objects are reconstituted by the Alien, Mutant, Meaty organism is fun to look at and to shoot at. You can shoot signs, light posts, you can even shoot the letters in the mission complete sign at the end of a level. All signs of the love and care that has gone into the details of this game.
The backgrounds have a ton of detail as well, and there seems to always be something going on from infection to the site, Chopper crashing in a fiery blaze to allies running around and tossing you upgrades etc. It makes it feel you are just part of this ongoing battle and not the only one doing all the work, even if you do all the work. I especially enjoyed the end credits where you see the army you fought with cleaning up the mess across all the levels and removing any lingering enemies all while celebrating your victory.
There are not many graphical options for the game, but it does come with unlockable screen filters such as the CRT look making things look more like the good ol' days and smooth over the pixelated edges with a good amount of visual blur. Besides that, the game is light on graphical settings and that is fine for a game like that this that knows the look and style it is going for.
From blasting through hordes of enemies to unlocking new skins and achievements as well as challenging yourself to higher difficulties there is ton to keep you busy and to replay either the entire game or just your favorite levels. But even if you play it once, on easy, it still delivers a great concentrated experience that leaves you feeling satisfied and happy.
Two-player couch co-op adds even more fun to the mix, allowing you and a friend to take on the meat invasion together. There are no online leaderboards at the time of my playthrough and this may disappoint some, but the game offers a results screen that tracks your time, threats eliminated, and lives lost, with a ranking system that adds incentive for players to improve their skills. So, make many screenshots and share it with your friends and rivals.
Iron Meat is a fun short, well-balanced entry for must-play for fans of classic run-and-gun shooters. Its blend of tight gameplay, relentless action, and gorgeous artwork makes it a standout in the genre. The difficulty is punishing but fair, and the sheer variety of weapons, levels, and boss fights ensures that no two playthroughs feel the same. And there is so much going on in each level, as part of the design as well in the background that it is fun to watch as well as play. Whether you’re a seasoned retro shooter veteran or just looking for a new challenge, Iron Meat delivers a satisfying and genuinely fun experience. So, get ready to dive into a sea of mutant meat and save the world one shot at a time. Iron Meat is the perfect way to scratch that retro gaming itch while enjoying modern gaming conveniences.
The ESRB rating for this game is T for teen, clearly for its violence and pixelated gore, and I would say if you are 12 and older this game should be fine to play. The violence and gore are over the top and ridiculous and there is nothing deeply scary or traumatizing mainly due to the art style. If you are not a fan of violence in videogames then as you can read in this review, this is the wrong game. As far as gameplay challenge goes, this is a great game to get into the genre mainly due to the forgiving easy mode to get used to the playstyle and grow from there. be warned though it is a relatively big stem from easy to normal and gets harder from there. When frustrations set in, it is time to dial down the difficulty and try the levels to learn their setup or just take a little break. As always you are in control, and you know what works best for your family.
