Metal Slug had always appealed to me, having been a child who spent many days playing Sunset Riders. Many magazines had also recommended the series as a high point of the Shoot ‘em Up genre. So as Christmas rolled around the Earth waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself I waited with fair anticipation. The opportunity to play all six of the arcade games plus X was too good to pass up. Hopes for #3 were especially high. But would the game be too hard, too short or could it possibly live up to the enormous hype? Read on to find out.
My initial worry was that the game would be too hard, so I set out on unlimited lives mode for my first experience, starting with the original Metal Slug. As I set off cautiously expecting bullet hell from the second level onwards, I was surprised to find I passed it with 27 continues on my first crack at a Metal Slug game. It was hard, but only by Arcade standards, where as a child or teen a ten continue limit would have seemed steep at a dollar a pop. For the anthology, a ten continue limit is the highest difficulty setting, Normal being 20 and Easy 30. Arcade purists argued strongly that they should have been able to have a harder difficulty setting with 20 being easiest and no unlimited lives mode. I must admit, I felt their pain, having struggled to complete the games in their original arcade appearances. However, there is a lot to be said for having 30 or unlimited for multiplayer as you can easily (and slowly) teach a friend or family member the ropes of what may be to them an unfamiliar genre.
My first attempt at Sunset Riders occurred in this way, as I completed it on unlimited lives mode with my friend heckling me the whole way. I would later complete it on easy mode solo when I purchased it from him and nowadays I can just scrape through Metal Slug 2/X on Hard.
My point being you need to give new players the opportunity to see all a game has to offer. As another example: I can appreciate R Type 3 as being a brilliant classic full of genius, but for the life of me I can’t pass the second level and have never completed a game of that precise genre. So I personally would never purchase an R Type game, which is a shame and something I feel a lot of people can relate to.
Now that I’ve satisfied those of you new to the series, I’ll start the review proper.
Metal Slug at it's finest... I think.
In the Metal Slug series you are a lone soldier (or two lone soldiers, *wink wink*) fighting an entire army by yourself to gain peace. Although the question must be asked: If the vast majority of the world supports a rebellion that wishes to overthrow the current government, is peace really a cause worth fighting for? But I digress, you must proceed through a series of roughly five levels using a joystick and three button set up. Running, ducking, crawling and jumping as you blast an onslaught of enemies with your gun or grenades. Your standard weapon is of course the handgun and is perfectly capable of getting you through much of the game unscathed. You also start each life with ten grenades, which are invaluable for tougher enemies, groups, bosses, and taking out soldiers in positions of cover. Sadly the blast radius is smaller than you’d expect so make that throw count! Variation in gameplay comes from different enemy types, vehicles and gun turrets to man, assorted weaponry in the form of power ups and boss battles. Over the course of the games you will have driven several tanks, ridden a camel with a gun turret, piloted submarines and jets, donned a mecha suit, and crawled through an underground cavern in a four legged walker, among other things. The variety in weapons is also generally well thought out, although you must apply a bit of thought to each marked pick up as two of them are only useful in limited situations.
I’ll now run you through the course of a level.
Oh sure, blame the Muslims. So typical.
You’ve been dropped off and proceed on foot. You quickly meet a bunch of angry men with knives rushing towards you. Firing wildly with your trusty handgun you take them out just in time, knowing that a single blade or bullet could have meant your end (and one guy got far too close for comfort). You free a POW and claim a machine gun from him. Ten seconds later there is a mix of soldiers armed with guns and knives. You quickly find cover and prioritise those with knives first before throwing a grenade to take out one clever sod and mow down the rest. Another POW is freed in the process and you gain more machine gun ammo. Ten seconds later a helicopter attacks from directly above and you blow it up only to be assaulted by two tanks, a helicopter, assorted soldiers and a rush of knife guys. At this point you lose your first life trying to free another POW. Next comes the mini boss battle and the word bullet hell comes to mind as you weave through the shrapnel, wishing you hadn’t died and still had that machine gun. Throwing grenades wildly, knowing you’ll probably die in the next two seconds, you defeat him, through a combination of skill and luck. Next you mow up a few straggling soldiers and hop inside a tank. “Wow, a health bar!” you exclaim out loud, causing the person in the next room to call back, “What?!”. In that brief lapse of concentration you’re tank takes a couple of hits from the tremendous military grunt now firing your way as you struggle to adapt to moving and firing the turret simultaneously. You hold on to your tank by a sliver of health and free two POWs, one has cannon ammo and the other machine gun ammo. There is a brief pause before the boss battle and you prepare to fire your eleven shells as quickly as possible. You get seven off before a stray machine gun bullet connects and you have to leap from an exploding tank. Furiously lobbing grenades, you back yourself into a corner and have a huge volley fired your way – you just lost your first continue. You stare at the countdown and the brand new machine gun which just popped down like magic. You then proceed to fire off the first hundred bullets with relative ease before jumping up to throw another grenade and getting shot. You die one more time before finally finishing off the boss. Level one complete! Zero bonuses awarded.
Honestly, if that doesn’t appeal to you then you may as well stop reading.
There are also tokens for passing the games with limited lives. 3 for easy, 4 for normal, 5 for hard. These can be exchanged for an interesting text interview, music and artwork – things which are guaranteed to interest you once you’ve been sucked in.
As I mentioned before, the anthology features 6 games as well as ‘X’, a slick remake of #2.
#1, #2 and X are for newcomers to the series with a slightly easier difficulty setting. The later titles feature slightly more variety in gameplay and enemy types.
#3 and #6 are for the seasoned with some very difficult sections. The level 4 boss of #6 was particularly memorable in this reviewer’s mind for making a reasonably challenging game super tough. #3 is a personal favourite of mine also for being the introduction point of zombies and their special attacks.
#4 introduces a medal tally, but ends up being fairly forgettable having been unfortunate enough to fit in between four and five, although it does have some fun sections where you’re being driven across a city at high speed (which is reminiscent of Sunset Riders). It’s unique for being developed by a different team than the others through to 5 for better or worse.
#6 is probably the most unique of the packages in the end and is also the only one I usually fail at. It introduces the ability to swap between weapons as well as 6 characters, all with different stats for power, speed and defence, as well as different grenades and melee attacks, not to mention a new enemy. Going back, yes defence! Some characters can now take a minor hit without dying! If only it wasn’t for that level 4 boss I’d pass it with no trouble (almost)!
I'd rather be chased by a Mummy than the Wolfman!
#5 is another ripper which has you taking out Jungle rebels in mysterious masks. The first level in particular is memorable for having tribesman swing at you from vines with knives in hand as you’re being paddled towards a cave. It also introduces a slide function for avoiding bullets a la Sunset Riders, but it tends to always kill you as much as it saves you, when instead of jumping you accidently slide into a hail of bullets. It remains the only game in the series with that function.
#3 introduces the underwater sections, which although similar to the airborne sections in #2, allow for some more organic enemies and more opportunity to display graphical flair.
All the games can be completed in under an hour, but there’s quite a bit of replay value and multiplayer fun to be had, for this kind of game rarely gets old. Not to mention you’ll be raring to attempt it on the harder difficulty settings.
Graphically, it’s practically all done in 2D sprites, but it’s true to the arcade original and the style works perfectly. And although you couldn’t say it looked much better than a 2D Dreamcast game, it’s amazing to see it work without slowdown as there can be a tremendous amount going onscreen at any one time. Only #2 is noticeably affected by slowdown, but this is because it’s a direct port of the arcade version (which couldn’t originally handle it all without catching fire). I honestly don’t care about the slowdown, it manages to fit in perfectly as if you’re character is pumping a massive amount of adrenaline anyway. But if you must complain, just play ‘X’ instead.
When it comes to sound, it’s slightly difficult to review because you don’t actually notice the music until it’s gone. There is so much happening on-screen with bullets, grenades, tank motors, helicopter blades, shells, and soldiers crying out that you’ll unlock the music to the game you were just playing and only recognise a couple of tunes. That said they are pleasantly enjoyable, even if it’s only the main menu music you can remember. Oddly enough that’s the only one you can hear in isolation!
By ireadtabloids
Graphics: A-
Sound: A-
Gameplay: A
Overall: A
The SLUG indeed has the METAL.
