Metal Slug 4 & 5 Review

Metal Slug 4 & 5 is a two disc set that contains ports of Metal Slug 4 & 5 from the arcade. The Metal Slug games are 2D side-scrolling shooters that are among some of the most beloved arcade titles of all time. These titles have a look, sound, difficulty, and overall feel that just screams “old school”. They aren’t perfect, however, but if you know what you are getting into when you play them they are still definitely worth checking out.

Gameplay

There is a story and varied cast of characters in each game, but they are so amazingly insignificant that they aren’t really even worth describing. Basically, every character plays exactly the same and literally all you do is walk from left to right shooting everything that you see. You pick up a number of different weapons including rockets and machine guns and your character also occasionally transforms under certain conditions - eating too much food makes them fat, for example. You will also come across vehicles known as slugs from time to time and these tanks, jets, submarines, and other weird devices pack extra firepower and protect you from enemy fire. Outside of a vehicle you will die with just one hit, so the Metal Slug games actually take an incredible amount of skill to play through which is one of the reasons why they are so loved by the hardcore.

You can play through the regular arcade game and there is also a mission select mode for each game. There is also a two-player co-op mode available which is tremendous fun. They are also Xbox Live Aware and there are online scoreboards.

Unlimited Continues Are For Wimps

There are a few issues with this package that really drag it down, however. The games are just as simple as I described them above – literally all you do is walk from left to right and hammer on the fire button. This in itself is not a problem. The biggest thing that went wrong with these games is that you have unlimited continues. All of the challenge and fun of the arcade is instantly wiped away because there is no consequence for your actions. Combine that with the already simple gameplay and you have a final product that is just mindless and repetitive and boring. You can blast through each game in about 45 minutes and after that there is no reason to ever pick it up again. In previous games in the series you only had a set amount of continues so you actually had to learn the levels and use some skill to get through them. Not so in Metal Slug 4 & 5. All of the magic is gone.

Graphics and Sound

As far as graphics go, you can’t really expect too much from Metal Slug 4 & 5 because they are old games which were made to run on the ancient Neo-Geo hardware. Compared to newer 2D games they simply cannot match up. They look nice, sure, but there is a definite lack of detail and pretty much every aspect of the graphics and animation can only be described as “chunky”. Metal Slug 4 is particularly disappointing because it reuses a lot of stuff from previous Metal Slug games. MS5 is a little better because it has completely new enemies and bosses, but it still isn’t to pretty.

If you have ever set foot in an arcade, you have likely heard a Metal Slug game. There are some very distinct sound effects used in these games that make up the soundtrack to the glory days of the arcade. The screams and explosions get a little repetitive after a while, but this is classic stuff so it is hard to complain too much. Once again, Metal Slug 4 reuses a lot of stuff from previous games while more effort went into the sound for MS5. All in all, though, it is pretty good.

Bottom Line

Even though these games aren’t perfect, they are still worth checking out if only to give the younger generation a taste of arcade and videogame history. Metal Slug 4 & 5 are pure, mindless, arcade shooting fun that is worth your attention if only for a little while. Metal Slug and 2D shooter fans (all three of you) can buy it with confidence because you know what to expect and will appreciate it. For everyone else, rent it first.