By
Michael Palisano
Those
players familiar with the previous installments in the Metal Slug series,
whether on the classic Saturn emulations, or those lucky enough to own the
games on AES hardware will find few surprises when they load up either of
these two titles. Players can select from one of four characters at the
start of each mission, then it's off to battle against Morden's evil
forces in a battle of wits and bullets. Metal Slug 4 & 5 both stay
true to the series' successful formula, with a similar approach and level
design. Of the two on this compilation, Metal Slug 5 seems to have a
better overall design and feel with slightly more coherent level design,
though it features fewer levels and a more straightforward approach. As
you'd expect from these types of games, the controls are tight and
responsive and work in classic fashion. Aiming your weapons and blasting
foes is a simple task, while jumping out of the way of enemy fire is
likewise simple. Players can keep track of ammo and their overall status
using the onscreen indicator.
The enemy attacks you from all angles
and fire at your soldier relentlessly with machine guns and missiles with
the intensity of the game evident immediately. In order to beat them, you
can use your standard weapons and a secondary fire such as a missile, to
launch long range attacks. Your can also collect numerous power-ups such
as heavy machine guns, missiles and other weapons to wipe out a level
cleanly. Obviously, the key elements of the gameplay are the Metal Slugs
themselves. For those unfamiliar with the series, Slugs are controllable
vehicles that the player can jump into and use to cause even more mayhem.
When you're inside one of these machines, you have added protection from
enemy fire, but aren't completely impervious. The Slug will flash for
several seconds before it explodes and kills your character, giving you
time to jump out. The design and types of Slugs available in both games
are impressive and range from tanks, to scooters, to helicopters and aire
ships. Each of these can perform a different type of task, making them an
integral part of each mission.
Both
of these Metal Slug titles offer a mixture of the traditional side
scrolling action along with some areas which are more complicated, such as
a section where your soldier is falling through a cracks. This gives both
titles a sense of variety that keeps the gameplay from becoming stale,
while not diverging too much from the standard Metal Slug mechanics. Of
the two games, MS4 was the title that was more experimental in this
department, though these divergent approaches made for a somewhat
disjointed feel at points. The games show an increased inventiveness in
their level designs as well. On certain levels, players will also face
other types of bad guys such as zombies and mummies who will transform
your character into a weaker, altered state. This usually slows you down
and eliminates your secondary fire weapon. This adds to the challenge and
makes these sequences much harder to beat than you'd think. In addition to
the standard gun upgrades, both games allow players to collect a variety
of points by collecting objects onscreen. Your high scores can then be
posted online using Xbox Live where players can compare their scores
against other players' in the game's leaderboards.
From a visual standpoint, both Metal
Slug 4 & 5 effectively recapture the look and feel of the classically
styled arcade games nearly flawlessly, with no loss in graphical detail
and little load time between levels to degrade the experience. The
character animations are richly detailed, with multiple frames of
animation, beautifully detailed explosions and evocative backdrops that
create a great looking 2D platforming experience. Both titles remain
defiantly old-school in appearance, and this is definitely a large part of
their charm. Using hand-drawn sprites instead of polygonal renders gives
Metal Slug its unique personality, allowing the characters in the game
great sense of cartoon expression. For example, you'll see enemies
flailing their arms right before they explode, or your soldiers' slumping
and walking slower when they're captured. This is a violent game, but not
without a sense of humor, with exaggerated characters and funky designs
that bring the world to life vividly, with an almost old-fashioned flair
many modern titles seem to lack these days. This approach is definitely
almost archaic these days, but goes a long way giving the games a retro
chic that's quite charming. While you can debate which of the games is
better, they both offer non-stop action and challenging gameplay.
The
games both offer a range of player controllable options and settings, with
the ability to select levels (once completed), difficulty settings, and
control parameters at the menus in each game. You can also choose to view
your war trophies in the gallery mode and upload your high scores and
completion times. While this might seem a bit threadbare in this
department, the game's don't really require too much in the way of
elaborate options, and these more than suffice. While the games offer
solid action and tight gameplay, there are a few minor issues. Both games
only feature a few levels, making them quite short. Since they also offer
unlimited continues, those who abuse the system will find themselves able
to blow through the game quickly, though holding yourself back and setting
parameters along with harder difficulty levels helps to extend the
challenge and longevity of both games. The good news is that despite their
short length, the added difficulty levels and branching levels help to
increase the game's longevity, and most players should find topping their
previous bests and scores gives them a sense of accomplishment worth the
time and effort. These are solidly entertaining, traditionally 2D shooting
games made for hardcore gamers. Metal Slug 4 and 5 are definitely
must-plays for any old-school gamer looking for some of that classic SNK
magic, and younger gamers looking for a refreshing change of pace should
have a blast with them, too. The somewhat high price tag might turn off
some gamers but, it's still far cheaper than either of these games command
individually on AES hardware. Since the conversions are so faithful,
anyone interested in these game from a gameplay standpoint will definitely
get their money's worth
