Starting to warm up to Metal Slug 5

Despite the flack the game consistently gets, I'd rate my favorite MS game with Metal Slug 4 and Metal Slug 1 taking the top honors in my personal preference list. I own them all (with the exception of X) in my MVS collection, so I've spent a good deal of time playing and learning the ins and outs of each individual game.

Now, when I bought MS5 a few months ago from arcadeshock, I didn't know what to think. On one hand, the game was getting some so-so reviews from the N-g.com boards and the discovery of missing/cut-out elements and bosses only made matters worse. I played the game through and wasn't impressed initially. The missing elements and the unconnected storyline (you fight mech bosses up until the last stage when suddenly you're facing a scythe-wielding winged demon?) sort of ruined the experience for me, though it was nice to see a more action-oriented approach similar to MS4 in the game rather than the alternate path-heavy focus of MS3.

This weekend, I plugged the game into my MVS-Supergun setup again and gave it another go. This time, I focused only on the gameplay and found myself beginning to enjoy it more. The soundtrack is fantastic...probably one of the better MS audio scores in the series. The bosses all have easy to identify patterns with the exception of that desert tank, which makes replaying and going for a better score that much fun. Not too many alternate paths (or many secrets for that matter) exist, but I look at this as a plus. And, I really like the new Slugs that they included in this game. The more I play it, the more I like it. I'm even considering bumping this up to my second place favorite MS game, despite its missing elements and taking into account "what could have been"!

Anyone else find themself likeing this game more with repeated plays?

Absolutely Free!

Ahem... Well yes there have been several times where all i cared to play amongst my slug collection is Slug 5; for its metal music, LVL1 boss, and almost a "home console" type gameplay as well its slide mode.

Certainly though, in my mind, the best thing going for MS5 is its soundtrack. Every BGM in the game is really great indeed. And while the final boss is certainly unorthodox as far as MS is concerned its a welcome change of pace.

Currently:
MS5>MSX>MS1>MS3>MS4

Yea i'm a bit bored of MS3 as of late. Its been outplayed for now

Electroman said:

Absolutely Free!

Ahem... Well yes there have been several times where all i cared to play amongst my slug collection is Slug 5; for its metal music, LVL1 boss, and almost a "home console" type gameplay as well its slide mode.

Certainly though, in my mind, the best thing going for MS5 is its soundtrack. Every BGM in the game is really great indeed. And while the final boss is certainly unorthodox as far as MS is concerned its a welcome change of pace.

Currently:
MS5>MSX>MS1>MS3>MS4

Yea i'm a bit bored of MS3 as of late. Its been outplayed for now

Click to expand...

I must agree....the atmospheric metal soundtrack adds so much to this game. I doubt the experience would be the same without it. And I also welcome the slide move...something that I feel the earlier Slugs could have benefited from (in fact, I found myself trying to do it in MS4).

I only wonder if SNKP is planning on adding the "missing elements" to the XBOX port.

Good post guys. Now, I won't go as far to say that I like MS5 more and more...I've liked it since the day I recieved my pre-order from Shawn.

Like you, the music really gripped me right from the beginning, with most of the tracks reminiscent of MS3's stage 2 metal track, being just as heavy and high speed as that. I mean, that's one thing about MS3, I always thought 'man, I wish the whole game had music like stage 2!' Well, MS5 kinda did that for us metal fans.

Now, despite some audio glitches and the previously mentioned flaws in the storyline, it's still a strong sequel, especially in the graphics department. It's funny you made a topic about Slug 5, because I was just thinking this weekend while playing it, that it possibly has 1, maybe 2 of the best looking stages through the whole series. I really dig stage 3 for its factory background, and the swarm of soldiers and mechs that you have to fight....its graphically intense and the stage is designed pretty well too....I would rank it just as beautiful as the factory stage in MS3, except I like the MS5 version better because of all those awesome looking Mechs you fight against.

Now, stage 5 is another awesome stage, with the wizard men and more of the heavily armored mechs...I love the look of this stage, its a very futuristic industrial style. Plus at the beginning you get to drive that spider-slug, so another bonus. I think also this stage has the best audio track.

Don't care much for the Slugmobile, but its still kinda fun anyway...I'll just say it wasn't what I expected, I thought it would be a little more fun than that, plus I didn't expect the stage to be on auto-scroll.

Overall, I always liked this game right from the start. Yeah, its disappointing that the game is obviously an unfinished product, however there is nothing I can do about it, so I decided to just enjoy what is there.