METAL SLUG

by wagesofsyn

Years ago, a friend made me play a game called Metal Slug with him. Instantly, images of shiny garden slugs filled my mind... but anyway, we pushed our quarters into the slots and I began my first Metal Slug mission. I was hooked from the first few (of about a million and two) shots. Being a PSX owner, I was delighted to hear Metal Slug had made its way onto the system. I snagged a copy of the import (as this never came out in America) and stuck in in my PSX. While it was the wonderful game I remembered, there were a few things that hampered my joy in playing this now mediocre title. 

Graphics

While they stayed fairly true to the arcade original, I noticed there were a few frames of animation missing from the two heroes of the game. The enemies appeared seemingly unchanged, as did the bosses. There weren't any pixilated parts to the game, and the backgrounds were just as gorgeous as the arcade original. 

Gameplay 

The controls were a little sluggish. Not so much as you could predict the delay, but not so quick as I would have liked it to be. The weapons were just as powerful as in the arcade, but I found aiming them to be a bit awkward. Often when I was about to jump, I found it wouldn't turn me around to shoot, even if I held the directional button down for quite some time. Other times, it would move me if I put less then a hair's pressure on it. Strange, to say the least, but still overall enjoyable. What had to be the most annoying thing about the game was the load times after a sub boss was defeated. It took away from the effect of the game, and that break in action did get on my nerves. 

Sound 

Same explosions and death rattles that 'graced' the original. The sound of bullets does tend to get annoying after going through 6 long levels and shooting everything in sight. Nothing to write home about, but nothing horrible either. 

Final Thoughts 

In my opinion, the Saturn version fared the same as this one, in terms of gameplay. Metal Slug is still an extremely fun game on the PSX, and fans of the arcade game, as well as fans of side scrollers, shooters, and arcade fanatics will also get a kick out of this game, as the thrill from the original is still there. Still, if you have some money to throw around [And that's a lot of money! -Ed.], pick up a Neo Geo and its version of Metal Slug... 

- John Gillerlain 

Overall: 7.2/10

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