The Metal Slug series debuted at arcades all over the world in 1996. Developed by longtime arcade developer, SNK, the game was made to do what most arcade games of today do—eat your quarters. Despite how much people have lost trying to fend off a helicopter with a single soldier, Metal Slug remains to be a popular title when it comes to sheer challenge. Now players who have missed out on the last Metal Slug games can get into some of that nostalgic action on their GBA—marking Metal Slug’s first appearance on a handheld since the days of the NeoGeo Pocket Color. The premise of Metal Slug Advance, as with all the other Metal Slug games, is to simply destroy the mother-load of the enemy and survive the war. The game takes place on the battlefields of the enemy territories, and the only backup your character has are his or her own projectile weapons, knife, and unlimited continues—which you’ll really need since quite a few of the game’s areas can be extremely difficult. Before starting a new game, you will be asked to choose one out of two characters—Walter or Tyra. These two individuals are privates with a very keen sense of combat, and they’re practically indestructible on the battlefield. No matter which character you choose, both characters will have the same equipment, so there really is no difference between the two. Metal Slug is played on a 2D, sidescrolling, interface—and Metal Slug Advance is no different from the rest. You can move from left to right or vice versa using the directional pad. Also, your default weapon is an automatic pistol that has unlimited ammo. If you have the auto-fire action on, you can go ahead and hold on the trigger button to unleash a nonstop barrage of shots from your pistol. If the auto-fire isn’t on, you can’t hold on the trigger button to create an infinite amount. With that, you also have grenades at your disposal which you can chuck using the right shoulder button. Unlike the automatic pistol, grenades can be wasted—so it’s best to just use them when in dire need. For those who don’t really know what the game’s title suggests, the slugs represent the destruction vehicles you can use from the tank to other machines of power. To use a slug, all you have to do is jump in, and you’re automatically in one. In slug form, you’re barricaded and your health won’t be affected. Other than a great way to defend yourself against the greater enemies in the game, the tank also has unlimited ammo in which one shot out of the cannon will cause damage at least more than half the power of your grenades. While the slug sounds great and always is a fantastic addition to the Slug games, it does have its bad moments. When in a slug, you have another tank of health. When suffering too much damage, the health meter will deplete, causing you to jump out of the destruction as you go back to your original slugless self, along with your original amount of health before jumping into a slug. Now why would you need all this stuff? As stated above, the Metal Slug series is known for its sheer challenge. Along your campaign of destroying the opposing army, you’ll run across enemies that don’t really plan on giving you a chance. Your character will be fighting other tanks, helicopters, and all sorts of other vehicles. The only chance of survival is to destroy each and every one of them. There’ll even be some amazing cases in which you’ll have to fight two different tanks along with a helicopter at the same time, so you’ll have to rely a lot on reflexes and course-memorization. It’s not optional either, as you usually can’t just skip on to another part of a mission. Every time you kill a soldier of the opposing army, your score increases and sometimes a hostage often come out of nowhere tied up in ropes. When you save the hostages, they’ll give things that’ll help on the journey like bread or alternative weapons. Each mission contains three to five sublevels, and each time you reach a sublevel, it’ll work as a checkpoint to mark where you can continue after your character is killed. There’ll even be some amazing cases in which you’ll have to fight two different tanks along with a helicopter at the same time, so you’ll have to rely a lot on reflexes and course-memorization. However, if you turn off the GBA before you beat the level, you’ll have to start over from that mission. The game wasn’t made to look pretty, but it looks good nonetheless and has a noticeable improvement over its NeoGeo counterpart. The animation is accurate; the backgrounds look fine, and any gamer can have the feel of what can be an enemy or an ally. While the sound in the game is also nothing to totally be excited about, the game sounds exactly the way you want to hear it. You want to hear things explode. You want to hear the music as you’re on the killing spree. The only thing that one can possibly find wrong with the sound is the voice acting of hostages who often yell out “Thank you!” as if they were a game show host or something of that nature. Metal Slug Advance only has five missions, but they’re jam-packed and a lot longer than some missions in past Metal Slug games. To put it plain and simple, Metal Slug Advance is one of the most entertaining Game Boy Advance games of the year, and if you even find the game easy enough to beat it quick—you’ll want to keep going time and time again to improve your skill with it. Metal Slug Advance is the perfect game for gamers looking for a challenge or any sense of nostalgia.
At first I was really excited about Metal Slug Advance. I borrowed it off a friend and when I started playing I was very impressed by the cool graphics and sound, and it was quite fun to play. But after the first 2 level... Read Full Review
Before this game i had never played any game in the Metal Slug series and didn't know what it was about. After playing it for about 5 mins, however, i started to get hooked, but a little p****d off because the first leve... Read Full Review
