Metal Slug X doesn't sound very appealing does it? I didn't think so when I received it from Virgin this morning (Saturday 27th). I popped it into my PlayStation2 regretfully - I had to stop playing Metal Gear Solid 2 for this. So anyway, it's in and starts to load, what the hell?
If the PS2 were built entirely for backwards compatibility, this game would be a hero. It is an old school shoot them up with arcade thrown in, published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment, and is out May 10th 2002.
Graphics. Graphics well this game looks like it was stolen from the Amiga, then crossed onto a Sega Mega Drive and finally bunged onto the PlayStation lines are so scratchy, terrible terrible! But wait, the backdrops are pretty nice.
You start off at a menu, 1 player or 2 players. You continue to a new screen, very army looking- green with a tank in the background. There is "Arcade Mode" "Options" "Training" and "Art Gallery."
Doing the sensible thing I go to the training school. WOW! A very nicely animated lady. Brill! This game may be worthwhile after all. Oh dear, can't train yet so it's time to log into arcade mode.
Now you may choose one of 4 characters, Marco, Tarma, Eri and Flo. I played with Marco. Damn he rules! Go Marco! Each character has their own personality too.
Arcade mode consists of 6 levels, starting off easy and then getting harder. In each level you parachute down. You run around aimlessly shooting soldier people. On the way of mass murder you can rescue hippy-looking dudes who seem to be army captives (is your mission to rescue them?). Once freed they will give you a new weapon or money, and sometimes help you battle (this is very rare though!). Much like PC games each rescued captive appears as a small torso outline in the bottom left of the screen.
Bad news I'm afraid, weapon ammo is limited, so are bombs! You can collect a flame shot which is shooting fire, like a flamethrower. Very nice.
You get bonus type things such as "fat" where you become fat (who would have thought it?) and your weapon is packing a huger punch! YEAHHHHHH! Potions etc get you money for points and completing a level with captives gets you even more.
To make up for the lack of long serving artillery you come across some mech style machines you may ride. The Slugnoid is a robot-armoured suite with 2 cannons. YAY! Lots of fun, although it will blow up. You can get airplanes and buggies, which are equally as cool however my favourite is the plane, except you, only get it in one level.
Anyway more on the actual levels- you are landed in obscure scenery with equally nutty enemies. You can fight mummies and mummy dogs, both of which turn you into a mummy if you come in contact with one. Being a mummy is fun except you move slower. A lot slower in fact. You can also battle aliens and aliens in spaceships along with oh, huge ass boss robots and vehicles like helicopters, boats, airplanes and vans. This makes the game more enjoyable, especially since guys come at you on motorbikes while pulling a wheelie.
This game is surreal yet has some realism. The music is annoyingly catchy and sets the scene (music can be played in Art Gallery). Enemies you come in contact with will laugh if you die, or scream if you kill them, even become shocked when you revive next to them.
Oh didn't I mention it? In arcade mode you never die fully. You loose all the people you rescued (you can't go back, sorry) and the weapons but it still comes in handy if you are in a boss fight and run out of grenades.
The controls for the game are simple enough; square "[]" is shoot, cross "X" is jump, circle "O" is throw a grenade and triangle "/\" is unused as far as I recall. There is no option to use the analogue stick so it is the right arrow to move to the right, left arrow to move left, up arrow to aim up and down arrow to duck. Now the game is 2D so you just see the side of something- much like Street Fighter for the Mega Drive.
So you complete the arcade mode with like lots of deaths. You get a new option- More Missions. This is basically taking parts from other missions and setting objectives. For example you must scale the tower without being eaten by the robot thingy advancing, and there are no weapons. ARG! This is where it is very arcade- top 3 scores with only 3 spaces for letters.
Finally in soldier training you can enlist and give details such as gender, blood type, age etc. You then get to complete missions dying only once in the fastest time possible OR complete missions without dying. Ooohhhhh boy that is very hard. A nice challenge though.
On completing of any level the character will do some sort of celebration, and it is very corny. It matches the music though, sort of a demented Final Fantasy style going on there.
After each stage is completed you unlock more. These are "More Missions" and "Special Secret Missions." Mmmm.
Well I can't think of much more to put in this review, because each level is the same relatively unlike most games. To conclude this game is really fun to play and you get a few hours of fun from it each time you put it in the console. The graphics are a let down but aren't as it is supposed to be arcade style. Very realistic. Overall this game scores a (disappointing) 5 out of 10. Don't let this put you off though; it is still worth renting it or borrowing it off a friend.
I rate Metal Slug X an Extremely Poor 5/10
