Reclaimer
Haomaru's Blade Shiner
- Joined
- May 17, 2014
- Posts
- 695
So, I’ve only listened to the retronaughts podcast a couple times maybe a year or two ago. It felt like listening to someone read a Wikipedia article and was generally poor.
Some coworkers said I should give it another shot, and this is what I run into on the front page.
https://retronauts.com/article/917/reconsidered-metal-slug-4
Here’s the whole article if you don’t want to give em the ad revenue:
Metal Slug 3, aka Michael Bay's Metal Slug 3, is by far the most popular game in the series. It's also among the most leaden, least interesting offerings in SNK's flagship run n' gun franchise, offering tedious longeur after longeur. Players take on bullet-sponge zombies that enforce travel at a snail's pace, pray for death by drowning in an underwater level so dull they should call it Dullnut Plains, and finally journey through an alien mothership longer than all three Lord of the Rings novels staged back-to-back as community theatre by molluscs. Who haven't learned their lines. What I am swinging at here is that it's a boring, overlong load of bollocks.
Now, Metal Slug 4 (which followed Metal Slug 3 in a surprising adherence to naming convention) is actually much better than its predecessors, despite what every single person on the entire planet who isn't named Stuart Gipp will tell you. Unless there's some other person named Stuart Gipp who thinks otherwise, in which case he must die. Metal Slug 4 cuts the crap and presents a much leaner, tighter, punchier shooting experience. Gone are beloved series mainstays Tarma and Eri, replaced by the brand new Trevor and Nadia (they're easy on the eye) and returning Marco and Fio, the latter of which is – according to the internet — a “meganekko”, which I understand to be some sort of giant cat. Also gone are the vast majority of the superfluous transformations, meaning the game is much breezier, lighter and frankly more digestible than the others.
It's worth mentioning that almost every single asset used in Metal Slug 4 is directly lifted from the rest of the series, a patchwork of sprites so shameless it makes fictional DS title Castlevania: Budget Cuts of the Necessity look fresh. Consequently, the game is somewhat lacking in the aesthetic excitement of Slug 1, 2, and 3, but to my mind the derivative visuals are a fair trade-off for the much more focused gameplay. There's much more platforming in this one, alongside some fast-moving vehicle sections that are a nice break from the on-foot action. The whole thing is just a treat to play, harking back to the promise of the original Metal Slug that SNK gradually squandered with superfluous nonsense (and continued to squander with the unfinished Metal Slug 5 and the torturously boring Metal Slug 6 and 7).
If you would like to see just how ruddy bloody right I am, Metal Slug 4 is currently available on the PS4 as part of the Metal Slug Anthology, but that version is apparently plagued by input lag. I got used to it in about six seconds, but it might be best to await the inevitable next re-release (possibly on Switch), or pick up a pre-owned copy of the standalone release for PS2 and Xbox.
Thoughts? Do I give Metal Slug 4 another try? Do I punch my coworkers in the throat for the shit Retronauts recommendation?
.
Some coworkers said I should give it another shot, and this is what I run into on the front page.
Now, Metal Slug 4 ... is actually much better than its predecessors
https://retronauts.com/article/917/reconsidered-metal-slug-4
Here’s the whole article if you don’t want to give em the ad revenue:
Spoiler:
Metal Slug 3, aka Michael Bay's Metal Slug 3, is by far the most popular game in the series. It's also among the most leaden, least interesting offerings in SNK's flagship run n' gun franchise, offering tedious longeur after longeur. Players take on bullet-sponge zombies that enforce travel at a snail's pace, pray for death by drowning in an underwater level so dull they should call it Dullnut Plains, and finally journey through an alien mothership longer than all three Lord of the Rings novels staged back-to-back as community theatre by molluscs. Who haven't learned their lines. What I am swinging at here is that it's a boring, overlong load of bollocks.
Now, Metal Slug 4 (which followed Metal Slug 3 in a surprising adherence to naming convention) is actually much better than its predecessors, despite what every single person on the entire planet who isn't named Stuart Gipp will tell you. Unless there's some other person named Stuart Gipp who thinks otherwise, in which case he must die. Metal Slug 4 cuts the crap and presents a much leaner, tighter, punchier shooting experience. Gone are beloved series mainstays Tarma and Eri, replaced by the brand new Trevor and Nadia (they're easy on the eye) and returning Marco and Fio, the latter of which is – according to the internet — a “meganekko”, which I understand to be some sort of giant cat. Also gone are the vast majority of the superfluous transformations, meaning the game is much breezier, lighter and frankly more digestible than the others.
It's worth mentioning that almost every single asset used in Metal Slug 4 is directly lifted from the rest of the series, a patchwork of sprites so shameless it makes fictional DS title Castlevania: Budget Cuts of the Necessity look fresh. Consequently, the game is somewhat lacking in the aesthetic excitement of Slug 1, 2, and 3, but to my mind the derivative visuals are a fair trade-off for the much more focused gameplay. There's much more platforming in this one, alongside some fast-moving vehicle sections that are a nice break from the on-foot action. The whole thing is just a treat to play, harking back to the promise of the original Metal Slug that SNK gradually squandered with superfluous nonsense (and continued to squander with the unfinished Metal Slug 5 and the torturously boring Metal Slug 6 and 7).
If you would like to see just how ruddy bloody right I am, Metal Slug 4 is currently available on the PS4 as part of the Metal Slug Anthology, but that version is apparently plagued by input lag. I got used to it in about six seconds, but it might be best to await the inevitable next re-release (possibly on Switch), or pick up a pre-owned copy of the standalone release for PS2 and Xbox.
Thoughts? Do I give Metal Slug 4 another try? Do I punch my coworkers in the throat for the shit Retronauts recommendation?
.