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Metal Slug Game Review

Metal Slug is a 1996 run and gun video game developed by Nazca Corporation and released for the Neo Geo among other platforms. It’s an iconic game within this genre.

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“Heavy machine gun!“

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This is one of those arcade games that is meant to play on an arcade machine, and if not its impact will be a bit blunted. That is exactly what happened to me as I played the PlayStation version on an emulator, which is also an inferior version of the game. Still though, I wanted to play it on the PS emulator because I remember playing it on the PS1 when I was a child, so it holds huge nostalgia value for me. Playing it now, it’s almost as fun as it was back in the day.

This is a run and gun game that is reminiscent to other entries from this genre, but it is also its own thing due to its unique presentation. Graphically speaking, this is one gorgeous-looking game. Unlike other shooters, this one was made to look like a full-fledged cartoon and as a huge animation fan I absolutely adore this aesthetic.

It is wholly polished and actually rather timeless in its look unlike so many of its contemporaries due to the employment of 2D pixel style graphics that aged like fine wine. The colors are vivid, the backgrounds are incredibly detailed, the enemies are very well designed and the movie is so lived in – the soldiers before you arrive on the scene are talking, eating etc. Their facial expressions are so amusing, leading to a lot of humor present throughout.

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By far the highlight of the game is its audio-visual presentation. The score is so good and memorable, but it is the sound design that is fantastic with each sound effect being striking. The same praise should be directed toward the narration/referee voice. Yes, this element was a product of its time, but I just love the game informing me through voice what weapon I received. It all led to a very cozy and fun gaming experience.

There are six missions in Metal Slug, which are all solidly designed and visually appealing, but in terms of world building the game left a lot to be desired as the places that you visit are a bit too similar to each other with only the sewers and the snowy landscapes differentiating themselves at a bigger capacity. It’s a ridiculously short game at just six levels, but at least the levels are quite long and the game is awfully hard, which was typical for the era.

My issue here stemmed from my version of the game having infinite lives, which resulted in a lot shorter playthrough and a lot less replay value. This is a game that is literally supposed to be played with fewer lives and on an arcade cabinet, making it much less enjoyable if played otherwise.

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So, you shoot your way through six missions, encountering a boss at the end of each one. I found the bosses ridiculously difficult as they were usually these huge ships that fired smaller weapons and the screen became littered with way too many enemies, making it almost impossible to evade them all. Couple that with the game basically just providing you a one-hit life and you’ve got an enormously demanding game that I probably could never finish without the infinite lives.

Still, it was so entertaining shooting my way through various enemies and stumbling upon different weapon upgrades. The game is hugely enjoyable and comically ridiculous in the weapons employed, each subsequent one more outlandish than the last. You also get a knife for close-range fights. Another great element was the inclusion of prisoners of war. When rescued, they give you a weapon upgrade. I loved that element the most.

Metal Slug’s destructible scenery was also a phenomenal choice that paid off in spades. Just shooting through each object and enemy makes you feel like a badass. The option to get into a tank and then shoot enemies while inside it was also ingenious. It was a great choice to have so many of these amazing power-ups and those at least somewhat counteracted the feelings that you otherwise have while playing it, which are insanity and hopelessness. It’s also a game that is perfect for a co-op playthrough and I wish I could play it like that.

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