If you've been in an arcade anytime in the past five or so years, you've probably seen one of the Metal Slug games. You know, it's the sidescrolling action game where there are more enemies on the screen than you know what to do with. Such a simple, unassuming game has devoured many a quarter with its incredibly difficult but oddly entertaining gameplay.
The premise of the games is simple. You take the role of a soldier and shoot other enemy soldiers. As you progress through stages, you'll take out nastier soldiers and a wide variety of vehicles. You'll also be able to collect different weapons to use against these enemies that the game continues to throw at you. Well, SNK-Playmore has released a new compilation on the Xbox - Metal Slug 4 and 5.
As a change from the first game in the series, Metal Slug 4 and 5 start off by letting you choose from one of four different characters. This really doesn't make much of a difference, though, as all of the characters shoot the same gun, fight the same enemies and progress through the game the same way. Really, it's just a graphical change.
The gameplay, as always, is solid. While the formula doesn't really change from the earlier games in the series, it has no reason to. The first game was successful and the next games have followed suit. They didn't try to change how the basic game was played and, in the case of this game, that was a good thing.
Of course, there is one huge problem with this game - you'll likely finish playing it before dinner finishes cooking.
Seriously, this game is short. The little replay value in the game involves beating your high score over and over again. There's also the ability to try to play through using less continues (you now have infinite continues, another way some challenge has been removed from the series). Really, though, there's not much reason to play through this game more than a couple of times unless you're the type that likes to try to beat your top score over and over again.
Also, there is no story to speak of. You run through the game and blow stuff up - that's it. Of course, blowing things up is pretty fun, so the lack of a story is at least somewhat forgivable.
Playing the game is simple. You have a jump button and a shoot button. You move around with the joystick. That's all there is to the controls. No fancy double-jump-spin-somersault-leaping-double-barreled-shotgun type moves here - just run around, jump and shoot at stuff.
Overall, I definitely appreciated the simplicity of the game. It was easy to just pop in and play without reading the instruction book. While the lack of a story may be a turnoff to some, the bigger turnoff will definitely be the lack of replay value for all but a select few people. That isn't to say this is a bad game - on the contrary. The game is just incredibly short.
Do yourself a favor and rent this game. Play through it a few times and enjoy the nostalgic trip to the day when all games were this simple. Then take the game back to the store and be happy you didn't actually buy the game.
Hi. My name is Brian. I am a video game addict.
Of course, I actually do things other than game. Currently, I’m a full time college student at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke where I am majoring in Mass Communications with a Journalism focus.
I’ve served as Managing Editor on my school’s paper and also written various editorials. I pride myself on my academics and work hard towards earning good grades – a few years of hard work will be worth it in the long run.
I’ve been gaming ever since my parents bought me an NES in 1985 (I was born in 1981). My favorite game of all time is probably the original Legend of Zelda but my currently played favorite game is a tossup between Madden 2005 and MVP 2005.
While I play a lot of sports games (which happens when you live with two baseball players), I also enjoy RPGs and RTSes. The first I’m actually good at and the second I’m not. I am also known to play the occasional FPS but will rarely make it all the way through one.
I’m also not a competitive gamer. I definitely prefer games that include co-op modes along with the normal competitive modes. Some of my favorite games in that regard are Legend of Zelda: Four Swords for the Game Cube and Fianl Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.
