Metal Slug 4/5 Combo Pack Preview

Man oh man did I love going to the SNK booth this year.  For games that love old school 2D games it just doesn’t get any better than talking to SNK.  At this years E3, SNK was showing off Metal Slug 4 & 5 for both PS2 and Xbox.  Deciding that I just couldn’t contain myself from playing the games on just one system I played the games on both systems.  Ahh…..2D gaming goodness for two different systems.  Some people call that heaven. 

The Metal Slug games have always been the most extreme and intense 2D shooters.  But instead of just making it the most difficult games ever the games include a great sense of humor.  From attacking mummies to shooting remote control mice there has always been a tongue in cheek touch to the Metal Slug games.  Metal Slug 4 & 5 continue this tradition and provided me some laugh out loud moments when playing the games at E3 2005.

The basic gameplay has you and one of your friends controlling soldiers that have to advance through a level by blowing everything up in front of you.  The game is a side scroller in the true sense of the word(s) since the action usually takes place by moving from left to right.  On occasion the game does change it up by having the screen move up or down but the normal paths are from left to right.  The action in the game gets crazy at times with a huge amount of gun fire filling the screen.  There is just no way you can avoid dying in the game unless you are the hardcore of the hardcore and memorize the patterns of the gun fire & enemies.  But that’s what Metal Slug is all about; crazy, insane, non-stop action that just doesn’t let up.

Besides the tongue in cheek humor of the game and action the visuals are another ingredient that keeps players coming back for more.  The visuals are incredibly detailed for a 2D game with a ton of detail in all of the sprites in the game.  The animation for all of the characters is always very smooth with some of the characters having some hilarious animations.  The amount of enemies that can fill the screen is also another heart stopping feature of Metal Slug.  It seems at times that there is no way in the world a game can have as much happening on the screen as Metal Slug.  Huge enemies, massive amounts of fire and bullets fill the screen to a point that it’s hard to see.  But you know what, SNK fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

Both versions of the games on PS2 and Xbox played great.  I never noticed any slowdown at all with the graphics no matter how many enemies were on the screen at the time.  The games controlled perfectly on both systems as well.  The only big difference between the PS2 and the Xbox version will be the inclusion of a Xbox Live leaderboard in the Xbox version.  You can check the scores of gamers from across the country to see just how good you really are.  The games are due to be released in August of this year.  By the way SNK did have a short trailer of the new 3D version of Metal Slug Evolution on display.  It was just the opening cinema display but it still looked great.

For All E3 2005 Previews