With seven different games to boot, Metal Slug Anthology is the game to have on your PSP
- great looking graphics
- frantically challenging 2D gameplay
- hilarious sense of humor
NAYS
- metal slug 6 feels weird
Metal Slug has always been one of the best in its genre - if not the best. The premise of the game is a simple side scroller action game that is anything but simple, and derives its entertainment value from its ridiculous sense of humor, gorgeous 2D visuals and rewarding gameplay.
While the gameplay between all Metal Slug games is essentially the same, there are some differences. First of all, playing the games in sequence shows you how the series and its enemy/story gets more ridiculous and absurd (in a good, goofy way) as you progress. Although you start in Metal Slug 1 as a soldier against ruthless enemy soldiers, the series slowly takes shift to include barbarians, zombies, mummies, amazon fighters, aliens, and a different kind of aliens that feeds on the first kind of aliens. It is hilarious how, as you play the games, these new encounters play out with previously-existing enemies and villains. From trying to kill enemy soldiers and their commander in chief to actually fighting alongside them against the aliens (then watching them get eaten) is priceless.
Of course, no 2D scroller will be great without awesome screen-filling boss fights, and in this aspect all games without exception do not disappoint. The boss battles are awesome and often quite challenging. The boss designs range from exaggerated army tanks with a gazillion cannons to ridiculously funny alien mother brains with a gazillion cannons. I only wish there was an extra feature in the anthology where you fight all boss battles in sequence. How awesome would that be!
Of course, to pull off all that carnage, you have an awesome arsenal to boot. You have your standard pistol which is effective against most of the regular enemies, and your grenades when there are too many of those or when there is a tank in between. You also get weapons upgrades either randomly from boxes and crates or from rescuing prisoners of war. The weapons you get range from an insanely powerful shotgun to laser beams to flame throwers and iron lizards. Enemies of course die differently depending on the weapon used, and nothing beats seeing the whole screen filled with enemy soldiers and aliens all set ablaze with your flame thrower.
The difficulty comes is that you don't have a health bar, meaning you get killed by one hit - and you lose all the weapon upgrades with that. It makes the game challenging since you'd be trying your best to dodge bullets. However, if you're in for the fun, casual gaming and not for the raw hardcore part of it, you can turn off the limited continues and you can play and die as many times as you want without worrying about restarting. For the hardcore, the limited continues offers a good challenge. You can also set the fire button to auto-fire to make it more user friendly and streamlined. It is a great mechanism that will appeal to both the hardcore and the casual so that everyone can enjoy the game.
It helps tremendously that the game is awesome to look at, despite the fact that most of the games came out mid-to-late 90s. The 2D artwork is outstanding and so are the effects, in fact it is so good that developers in this generation should be ashamed to not be able to pull off a great 2D looking game with the current hardware. The artistic style is comically goofy, and so is the animation and all the sound effects.
Since the games are ports, you can expect that the slowdowns of the originals are ported as well. It isn't quite an issue and adds to the charm of the gameplay. You'd notice however that Metal Slug 2 has the most annoying slowdowns between all the games. Thankfully, you can play Metal Slug X which is a faster, more playable (and more goofy) than MS2. MS2/X is also by far the most ridiculous of the bunch, and MS3 being the best.
MS6 is the newest but also feels very different from the rest. While the 2D graphics are mostly the same (but more touched up of course), the music and sound effects have changed dramatically and may alienate you, especially after having played the first 5 in sequence. You can also wield 2 sub weapons at the same time and switch between them, and you can also choose your difficulty settings. The game also introduces the second type of aliens, who although do sadistic things to your previous enemies, also provide a quite difficult gameplay. MS6 is probably more difficult than the previous 5 combined, with lots of the enemy hits being more or less unavoidable. Thankfully, it does play like a Metal Slug game, but it doesn't genuinely feel like one.
Regardless of these shortcomings, the anthology is definitely a must-have for fans or new comers. It offers lots of variety and challenging gameplay, a great sense of humor, and on top of all a memorable experience that would make you view other 2D shooters differently.