Metal Slug

"There are plenty of ways you can hurt a man and bring him to the ground..."

There's a man dying in front of you. His gut has been shot wide open; he's feebly struggling to keep his innards from slipping out onto his uniform. His camouflage used to be green to blend in with the jungle around you, but the blood seeping through the fabric has blown the man's cover. This guy is just another nameless soldier fighting for a greater cause; his country will list both him and his fallen comrades as mere statistics once the fighting is done. Somewhere back home, he has a life. A lover. Maybe some kids. He'll never get to see any of it again. The last thing images in his mind will be of men murdering each other and bodies lying in the dirt. The flies will feast on his corpse, and whatever's left will rot in this terrible heat. But this soldier isn't dead yet; his bloodshot eyes drift up towards your face in a look of pure desperation and agony.

Accordingly, you aim your gun at his forehead and finish the job.

For Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving, this is just another day at the office. They're part of the Peregrine Falcons, an elite Special Forces unit in the Regular Army. Ever since the President was nearly assassinated in 2026, the American military has been split between the Regulars and the Rebels and forced into civil war. A few tactical blunders and faulty intelligence reports later, the good guys are basically outclassed in all possible ways. Under General Morden's (aka Saddam Hussein wannabe) command, the rebelling troops have plundered the Regular's weapons cache and have stolen a battalion of highly powered tanks. With the tide of the war on the line, Marco and Tarma have volunteered to retrieve the stolen good by any means necessary.

Of course, “by any means necessary” is just a roundabout way of saying that they'll charge headlong into enemy territory and shoot the Hell out of anything that gets in your way. Unlike Solid Snake, Sam Fisher, and the rest of those wannabes, the two heroes of Metal Slug don't need stealth to get their work done. A blend of bullets, quick reflexes, and unbridled machismo is all it takes. There's no place to hide in these side-scrolling levels; if there's something trying to kill you, you keep shooting it until collapses. It's that simple. It doesn't matter if you're facing rocket launchers, laser cannons, blade-toting scuba men, or a small army of fighter planes; it's just takes more bullets to turn them into scrap. Being outgunned is a fact of life for these guys; they'll frequently duck under a hail of shrapnel and get up close and personal with countless diehard enemies. Since the Rebels have no qualms about brutally slaughtering their enemies, the Peregrine Falcons will respond in kind.

The chaos will start off simply enough; a soldier can be left bleeding in the dust with a single pistol shot. Things tend to get messy, however, when you have to face twenty of these bastards at once. Somewhere in this firestorm of gunfire, swinging knives and grenade explosions, Marco and Tarma will have to procure more weapons on site. Should they rescue one of the many Regular Army POWs strewn throughout the battlefield, he'll provide them with some new firearms. The trusty (albeit pathetically weak) pistol will be replaced by machine guns, shotguns, flamethrowers, and missile launchers. There's something morbidly fascinating about running up to a platoon of soldiers and unleashing a wave of flames; you can hear their tinny little screams as their bodies collapse into charred heaps. Combined with the various tanks that they'll commandeer throughout the crusade, our heroes will be well equipped for the bloodshed.

You won't be spared any of the violence, either. There's no way to sugarcoat the visions of blood spewing through the air and bodies slumping to the ground. After you've mowed down the first dozen soldiers, you won't care about the fact that they all sport the same oversized noses, green military drab, or comically large helmets; their guts will flow into the cobblestone streets and leafy underbrush long before you can ponder over your actions. As you blast your way through a town, you'll get to see all the innocent bystanders trying to run away, windows and balconies shattering on impact, the walls collapsing into rubble, and the twisted ruins of all the tanks and vehicles that you've blown away. In the midst of all the chaos, Marco and Tarma march forth with a barrage of bullets, bad haircuts, and enough moxie to make Rambo run for his mommy.

Forget about Mario, Sonic, and all those other 2D characters that you know and love. SNK's dynamic duo provides us with an intense wartime short unlike anything before it. There's no finesse of strategy involved here, but it isn't needed. All you've got are two guys, a wide range of deadly weapons and nigh unlimited ammunition, an unending flow of enemies to slay, and an epic and graphic depiction of the chaos at hand. So you'll likely be overwhelmed and shot to pieces countless times. Big deal. There are few things more glorious than slaughtering your foes with extreme prejudice. Needless to say, Metal Slug is one of the best examples of a 2D action game done right.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/07