Lock And Load
The story of Metal Slug has never been very important and while that may be forgettable, the characters are certainly recognizable. This includes the villainous General Morden. Morden and his endless droves of soldiers are back again, this time building their base on Garbage Island.
HQ is dispatching six skilled fighters: Marco, Tarma, Eri, Fio, Ralf, and Clark to take care of Morden. Stopping Morden is the purpose of the Main Mission, one of a few options available from the start screen. From here, you can also adjust Options, enter Combat School, check your Ranking (offline only, for the Main Mission on the local PSP), or your list of rescued Prisoners. Combat School isn’t a bad idea for newcomers, but considering Metal Slug had its roots in arcades, you can bet this is an easy game to get into, but a very difficult one to master. You’ll die a lot, with or without a friend, but thankfully, there is no limit to the amount of times you can continue. This makes getting through the Main Mission more of a matter of going through the motions than seriously trying to play ‘properly.’ That said, with no checkpoints within a mission, it’d be a very difficult game without unlimited, or at least a lot of continues, so I’m in favor of them.
So the Main Mission takes players across several maps, each of which includes dozens of Morden’s forces (soldiers, gun emplacements, vehicles) and a final boss. Some areas require players to interact to turn a crank by tapping Square, for example, but for the most part the gameplay is classic run and gun that the series is known for. A variety of weapons are at your disposal, including the default pistol and ten hand grenades. Rescued prisoners will often drop power ups that give you access to a heavy machine gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, laser gun, Iron Lizard, and a few others. The Dropshot, represented by a letter D, pops a shell onto the ground that explodes on its fourth bounce. The Iron Lizard zips across the ground while the Flame Shot blasts out fire to dispatch foes.
Other pickups include Molotov cocktails and additional cannon ammo for your Slug. Metal Slugs take a variety of forms, including the old school Metal Slug, the Slug Trolley, Slugnoid, Slug Armor, Ostritch Slug (yes), and Slug Gigantus. Several of these were new to me and all are fun to use, which should be no surprise. While in a Slug, you’re offered some actual protection where more than one hit is required to kill you — not the case outside of a Slug.
When you run out of lives and it’s time to continue, players can switch characters and pick up exactly where they left off. Different characters can offer up some strategy in regards to their special skills, but for the most part each character plays like one another. Some differences include Marco’s Burst Shot, Tarma’s Kick Slugs, Ralf’s Vulcan punches (that can even destroy enemy tanks), and Clark’s Super Argentine Backbreaker.
With multiple characters offering some differences and so many enemies to face, Metal Slug XX is best played with a friend. To do that on the PSP, each player will need a copy of the game and only Ad Hoc mode is supported. Both players must start the game at the same time, so you cannot have a buddy jump in and help out during a mission — you have to start together.
Outside of the Main Mission, Presentation
The Main Mission is certainly worth a play through, although it won’t take you more than a couple hours thanks to the unlimited continues. Replaying the game again for a higher score, on a harder difficulty, or with other characters may appeal to some, but the experience is nearly the same. Going after any prisoners you’ve missed is fun though, especially since the game keeps track of your progress in this regard and it’s easy to revisit any mission you’ve already beaten.
If you can find a local friend with a copy of the game for co-op, you’re in business for at least another play through, but what else does Metal Slug XX offer? Well, the Combat School adds more and more drills for you to try your skills on as you play through the Main Mission. The dozens of drills are made up of five types: Annihilate, Supply Recovery, Hostage Rescue, Stronghold Attack, and Special Drill. In Annihilate, players are challenged to defeat all enemies with a limited supply of lives and weapons. Supply Recovery has you running about collecting lost supplies, while Hostage Rescue requires that you get to each hostage and save them (the more you save the
higher your score). Stronghold Attack pits you against some of the toughest Morden’s forces have to offer. Completing drills increases your rank, and there are quite a few ranks to earn. The complete list takes you from Recruit to Captain to General, with several stops in between, and eventually up to the max rank of Satan, which is pretty funny.
From a Presentation perspective, Metal Slug XX has the same look and sound to it that I’ve come to know from the series. Gun fire and yells galore, grenades and vehicle explosions, crazy boss fights with robotic weaponry — good stuff. Not surprisingly, the detailed and funny animations I’ve always liked about Metal Slug are here, too.
Ultimately, Metal Slug XX is everything you would expect from a Metal Slug game. That will please some and disappoint others, since the series has been steadfastly opposed to much advancement or change in its core gameplay in the last decade. I’ll start to worry about then if the series ever goes annual, but until then, I’m all for keeping the gameplay intact.
To the summary…