PixlBit

A humorous on-foot shooter with some serious fun

If you like the Contra games, you'll love the Metal Slug series. It's obvious to see that they took their inspiration from Contra, yet they wanted to set themselves apart. Metal Slug is not a clone of Contra at all; it stands on its own very well due to its multiple characters, unique settings, and great humor. Where Contra is hardcore blast-alien-scum shirtless dudes tough as nails dead-serious stuff, MS is generous, humorous, fun, with still the hectic action and explosions. The two are similar, yet very different. 

Metal Slug X is actually an updated version of Metal Slug 2, originally released for the Neo Geo in 1998. MS2 was a great game, but had a lot of little flaws with it, so SNK decided to update and fix all the bugs, and boy, did they fix those bugs! MSX was released for the Neo Geo in 1999 and for the Playstation in 2001; this review is of the Playstation port (who owns a Neo Geo anymore?). The game was developed by SNK and distritbuted by agetec. 

         The cartoony graphical style of the game gives it great personality

Being a port of an arcade game, the main game is simple called Arcade Mode. After you choose Arcade Mode, you choose which character to play as; there are four characters: Marco Rossi, Tarma Roving, Fio Germi, and Eri Kasamoto. I believe all the characters play pretty much the same, but I stuck with Marco. There are six levels in the game, each one in a unique location: the levels will take you into Egyptian tombs filled with mummies, eerie labs that host mutants, and towns filled with soldiers and aliens. 

The bad guys in the game are soldiers that resemble Nazis, led by an evil dictator with a little mustache who looks sorta like a certain leader. . . named Hitler. But instead of a German swastika as their symbol, these villains have a generic "x" as their symbol (how original). You find out at the end of the game that the Nazi-like soldiers are not the real enemy, the aliens are! No on-foot shooter would be right without aliens. 

You're given a standard gun at the beginning of each level. Throughout the levels, you will see prisoners who are tied up; if you shoot them free of their ropes, they will say "Thank you" and give you something in return, many times a special gun. Unlike in the Contra games, you will have limited ammo with a special gun, so use it wisely. MSX has a good variety of guns, including the heavy machine gun, laser gun, rocket launcher, drop shot, flame gun, shot gun, enemy chaser, iron lizard, and super grenades. Some of these guns are absolutely awesome (the shot gun really stands out). 

The Nazi-like soldiers in the game are hilarious. Sometimes just the way they died made me laugh (morbid, right?). If your character comes close enough to a bad guy, he will slice him with a knife instead of shooting him. What I thought was really funny is that if your character dies, the soldiers will laugh, but when you reappear, they will scream in horror as if they just saw a ghost. The attention to detail in this game is incredible. The backgrounds are full of life, not that you'll have time to notice since you're busy blasting the baddies. Level 5 pits you against a horde of mutants; you cannot kill them until they turn red, then they will implode like the scum they are. Another level will pit you against a macho man with a machine gun who loves to throw grenades; once you hit him with enough bullets, he'll fall into the ocean and be eaten by a killer whale, who quickly spits out his bones. 

The characters can actually undergo transformations in the game. In level 2, you can be turned into a mummy if a mummy breathes on you; however, as a mummy, you can still move and shoot your gun, but if you're hit again, you will die. Also, if you eat enough food items throughout a level, you will change into an obese person! Being obese, you are slower, but your attack is stronger. If hit, you will burst like a water balloon. Ew, gross! 

Of course, the best part of the game is the metal slugs, big machines that you can jump into and use to blast away at the enemy. Some of them are like tanks, rolling along the ground; others can fly like planes; others still hop around and shoot with long cannons on the side. Metal slugs are in every level, and they are a blast! Once they take enough damage, however, you will have to jump out before they go boom. 

The ending to the game is hilarious. You run up the hill to see the Nazi-like leader laughing at you in his alien-like hover craft with a soldier on each side. The aliens then drop in, blast the soldiers, and blow up his hover craft. Then they beam him up into their ship. You proceed to take on the aliens, and the soldiers actually join in to aide you. After you beat the alien mothership, the ending is hilarious! My description of it would be worthless; you have to see it, so check out the video below to see what happens. 

MSX is made even better thanks to two-player cooperative play. Blasting the baddies with a friend is a lot of fun. The game gives you unlimited continues, ensuring that you'll beat the game. You can still choose, however, to play on Easy, Normal, or Hard difficulty. The music for the game is great; very exciting, always fitting the mood just right. 

I do have a couple minor gripes concerning the game, but they are very nitpicky. First, while the bosses are great (all of them are giant machines), they can take a long time to beat if you're not in a metal slug. This is the only time when the game can get repetitive, but it's a minor complaint. Another thing is that you cannot shoot your gun diagonally. You can only shoot straight over or straight up. This resulted in times when I had to be directly under a flying opponent in order to hit it, which was kinda frustrating. Once again, though, these are minor gripes that hardly hurt the game at all. The game is great, I love it. 

MSX gives some extra content not found in MS2, including an art gallery and a special combat school. The combat school has you joining the army, which is not allowed until after you beat the main game. Once in, you'll be able to participate in two challenges: Pin Point and Survival. You will begin as a recruit, but if you continue to improve, your class ranking will improve as well. The art gallery is also enjoyable to look at.

Final Verdict--4.5 Stars: Highly Recommended

MSX is a fantastic game. Where Contra is the hardcore on-foot shooter, MS is the more casual and humorous shooter. Don't get me wrong, it can be hardcore too, but it's apparent that their approach was just to be a great game with a lot of fun. The humor in the game really makes it shine. You will laugh while you play this game. If you like on-foot shooters, be sure to check this one out. It's available on Wii Virtual Console; or you could just get the Metal Slug Anthology for Wii, which contains MS 1 through 6. As far as I know, they're all great games. SNK has given Contra a run for its money. I'm not saying which one is better because both series are great and distinct from each other. But I must admit that MS has a little bit more class. 

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.