All the great Metal Slug games are here but since the replay value is low, it might only be worth a rental.
THE GOOD
-You can play 7 Metal Slug games
THE BAD
-Not too much replay value
-Boss battles are way too difficult
OVERVIEW
Metal Slug Anthology takes all the great Metal Slug games from the arcade and puts them into one compilation game. In this compilation you'll get to play Metal Slug, Metal Slug 2, Metal Slug X, Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug 4, Metal Slug 5, and Metal Slug 6. The story is pretty much the same for each game. You have to stop an army (led by General Morden in the first few games), aliens, or a combination of both from taking over the world. I remember playing the Metal Slug games in the arcade and enjoyed them but years later on the Nintendo Wii I found myself not liking the games as much as I did in the arcade.
GAMEPLAY
All the Metal Slug games in the anthology have the same setup as far as the gameplay goes. In the beginning you select your character. All the characters are the same except for the later Metal Slugs (5 and 6) where they added different attributes per character. One great feature is that you can play with a friend. Once you select your character you get a little bit of story and then you start. Each Metal Slug game is a side scrolling shooter. As you progress through the various stages you'll fight soldiers, vehicles, aliens and other enemies until you reach the end where a boss fight awaits. As you kill enemies you'll have a chance to pick up better weapons (like laser guns, machine guns, and missile launchers), upgrades, and use vehicles (like the mini-tank). Now, you get to keep your weapons and upgrades until you get hit once. Then you will respawn with the default weapon again. This makes it really frustrating when you fight the bosses of each stage because they can be unfairly difficult.
The controls for this compilation are very good except for a few things. You can move, jump, shoot your primary weapon, use your knife and throw grenades. You have the option to angle your gun to shoot in all directions but this is difficult to perform for some reason. Also, some of the motion controls don't respond correctly sometimes. Metal Slug Anthology offers a few different control schemes to fit everyone's needs. The different control schemes are Wii remote and Nunchuk, Tilt Wii remote (hold up like a joystick), Wii remote sideways, Nunchuk only, and GameCube controller. For me, the Wii remote and Nunchuk worked the best but you have options so I suggest finding one that works for you.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
Like the arcade games, the visuals are very good. The level design is decent too.
The sound effects are excellent for this game. From the gun fire to the explosions to the screams of terror, from the enemy, you'll really enjoy the audio for Anthology.
CONCLUSION
I would definitely recommend renting this game first. It is fun playing through all the Metal Slug games but they can get repetitive really quick and because of this the replay value is low. Plus, I was able to play through all 7 games in a matter of a couple hours. So, unless you are a die-hard fan of the Metal Slug series I would only recommend a rent for this compilation.