Metal Slug XX is marketed as a bargain, which is a load of crap. If you want a bargain, get Metal Slug Anthology.
IT'S THE SAME DAMN THING!
As soon as the game booted, my first reaction was "Damn, I must have put the wrong Slug in," since I could have sworn I had seen those mountain, snow, cave and hangar levels before, as well as the same weapons, enemies, tanks, MIA hobos and alien-looking monstrosities in later stages. Even the sound effects are the same. So what's my motivation to play this conversion? Conditioning, for one thing. You can go a long way making people think they'll have fun reliving old sentiments, and nothing reminds players of the good old days more than this series.
Metal Slug titles are like Tetris in that multiple "new versions" of the same game are released on every console. Actually, scrap that. Every so often Tetris releases a version with novelties or actual improvements. Metal Slug is more like McDonald's: you crave it each time you see those golden arches even though you've told yourself you would never eat there again because you always get that queasy feeling when the TBHQ and GM corn in the McNuggets mingle -- all this to say that SNK's classic side-scroller is starting to outstay its welcome. It doesn't attempt to offer us anything new in terms of gameplay, unlike McD's various attempts at new McMeals.
I'd like to spend a few paragraphs explaining the intricacies of Metal Slug XX, but nothing has changed. We still have the same old faces (Marco, Eri, Clark, Tarma, Fio and Ralf) running around in lush, colorfully hand-drawn levels, throwing grenades and slashing undemocratic evildoers. Like in previous installments, each character has distinct strengths. Fio, for instance, has better armor penetration and Eri starts with more grenades in stock, and is better skilled at chucking them. We're also still saving the same POWs who give us weapons, and we still get to ride various vehicles. So it's basically a hack of past games. At this point, the only attraction is the curiosity of seeing what funky new rides the developers have concocted for their ragtime squad.
So I'll indulge you… We get to ride the various tank-a-mabobs, a giant mech that takes up half the screen and an ostrich with machineguns. The latter two are quite possibly the highlight of this 7-stage mini-game. As for the rest, it's your standard Slug-fest. You run, shoot, and try to play nice for the first couple of stages until you decide to strictly rely on unloading all your nades and dying to replenish them. So what's the point of getting this game when the fun-factor has bailed on us like Marco jumping out of a used tank some ten years ago? $20 is a bit steep for a game that won't last you more than 20 minutes and offers absolutely nothing new (shame on you, Atlus, for claiming it's a "bargain").
NICE TRY SNK, BUT IT WON'T WORK ON ME
I usually don't knock a game for what it doesn't offer, but after seeing the same title released for the last 14 years, I'll make an exception. When will we get a change in gameplay? A grappling hook? A double-jump? A riot shield? The ability to pull off hadoukens, or better yet, to shoot diagonally? Anything? When was the last time SNK Playmore even released an original thought in the Metal Slug series? The game is better suited as a PSP Minis than a retail title. I take it back, there is something new in Metal Slug XX in the form of a seventh character, but she's only available for download for an extra buck.
I'm getting the feeling SNK keeps the Metal Slug engine lying around in wait for those dry spells when quarterly results are at their lowest after the Holliday season. They pull out a variation of the game and plug it using repeated propaganda slogans like "bargain" and "new." All that's missing is a black and white clip of Donald Duck claiming it's our patriotic duty to buy the game. They even boldly give us descriptions as to what we're most likely to do while playing the three difficulties levels. On Easy, SNK suggests the mode is "best suited for a light play during your lunch break." The implied notion here is that you've played the game before and want a quick replay fix while you have nothing to do. That would be a great suggestion… had I not replayed the damn game for the last XX years!
In all seriousness, I can't help but feel that SNK didn't put any time into making this version. There is a multiplayer mode, but wouldn't you know it, it's only Ad-Hoc. They did spruce things up a bit by including a Combat School, a POW List and Rankings. The Rankings refer to your single player exploits; POW shows how many prisoners you saved in each level and Combat School lets you replay various stages with specific goals, like finishing a level as fast as possible or surviving a shower of falling tanks, the reward being more points and a letter ranking. It's cute, and so is Cynthia, your Manga drill instructor, whom, unfortunately, you can only talk to (and by talk I mean read a dozen lines of text), but that's not enough to justify the price tag when Metal Slug Anthology is $5 cheaper and comes with seven virtually identical games. To add insult to injury, I got the feeling this version was shorter than previous ones. If Cynthia were to give me some form of "motivation" I might have let some of those transgressions slide.
SUMMARY
Metal Slug XX isn't a bad game because it belongs to one of the smoothest side-scroller franchises ever created, but for $20 there are better options on the PSP. If you want "a light play during your lunch break" get Metal Slug Anthology because it's cheaper, offers the same gameplay experience, and you get multiple games in one title. Arcade-style games shouldn't be sold at retail -- we have the Playstation Network for that. And no amount of marketing will convince me that Metal Slug XX is a bargain. Nice try SNK. Maybe if you change something in the next game I'll be more forgiving, but for now we must do our patriotic duty and avoid this one.
Oh, and if anybody cares, my final score was 2033539, 29 continues and 4 prisoners saved.
Graphics 80
Same pretty, hand-drawn graphics, as usual. Nice animation for such small sprites, but when in the hell will the Falcons finally defeat their old foe so we can start seeing new enemy characters?
Gameplay 75
Guess what? You still can't shoot diagonally and you still can't drop down a level by pressing down/jump -- reusing the same old game with a new paint job will do that to gameplay.
Production 45
Hmm, it's every Metal Slug ever released all over again… But yay, Cynthia is cute! Aww, she told me she dropped her pen… Oh look, a single player scoreboard! And wow, a POW list!! Jeepers creepers, an Ad-Hoc multiplayer feature!!! Better head out to find someone to play with during my lunch break.
Sound 70
If graphics and gameplay are identical to previous games, why should sound be any different? To SNK's credit, the tunes fit the "lone trooper against an army of futuristic, alternate-universe, retro, alien-conspiring Nazis" theme.
Lasting Appeal 30
Add this one to your Slug collection if you must, but if you're the crazy type who enjoys doing something new, then you'll get more out of this game playing hacky sack with the UMD, which will give you at least 30 minutes of fun, as opposed to the 20 if you boot the game the traditional way.