Metal Slug 3

"Why Do We Always Hurt the Ones We Love?"

Some video games are so good, or of such a rare genre, that to poke at their inadequacies would seem a crime. But if we do not look at the negatives of even the greatest software, aren't we doing the developers a disservice? Perhaps there is a mistake or flaw they overlooked accidentally. Wouldn't the crime be to not tell them, allowing the error to propagate in a sequel?

Metal Slug 3 is an incredible game, but it suffers from an error that's been brewing since Metal Slug 2...

The story is basically the same as the other Metal Slugs--evil dictator rises to power, and must be thwarted. Now the aliens from Metal Slug 2 and X play a greater role, and the heroes pursue them beyond earth, to their space station. A few plot twists provide enough contrast to discern between the old games and the new. There's no real problem here.

The sound is stellar in Metal Slug games, and this one is no exception, especially with the spectacular ending/credits theme. But the music is a bit stale at times, or forgettable. The music really doesn't carry the ''epic'' Metal Slug feel until the end, when fighting the final bosses. Early secret areas and stages get the short end of the stick here, with some being practically without music.

Herein lies the beginning of the error. Metal Slug had a tendency to always blare epic or catchy music, driving you forward in the game--much as Contra, the granddaddy of these types of games, did. As the Metal Slug series has progressed, the music's taken a hit. The grand Metal Slug themes could only be reworked so many ways, and after that, it seems the music has dissolved into either silence or sneaky-sounding tracks with ambience. This is especially the case in Metal Slug 3.

Graphics and gameplay are where the error takes true hold of the game. Perhaps the most painful examples are all the hidden areas in Metal Slug 3, touted to add replay value and longer game times. Areas like the ''ice'' cave and the ''Arabian'' cave throw repetitive, mindless enemies at you, coupled with repetitive, mindless backgrounds. Many backgrounds, even outside of these areas, no longer have the parallax-rich depth of the other Slug games--such as behind the first boss. You are left with a dock, the boss, and an endless expanse of water. It's still a great area, but compared to the previous Metal Slugs, it's painfully spartan. And the enemies, a critical element in any game of this genre, do not live up to the previous games. In the other Metal Slugs, you come up against an army of Morden's troops. They come in droves, and when attacking, do not always follow the same pattern. Some do a suicide run, others throw grenades, and some even actually TRY to shoot you. But in Metal Slug 3, outside of the painfully few Morden troopers left, the enemies simply go kamikaze, all the time, and die in the same way, all the time. In this, Metal Slug 3 loses a lot of its charm and legacy. The enemies no longer seem different in any way, and plowing through a wave of clones seems a chore.

The addition of ''new modes of gameplay'' seems shallow. You ride new creatures, but only for very short times, in very short stages. You can spend more time in machines, however, but even this has problems. One of the largest ''new vehicle'' problems is the shoot-em-up transition to the enemy space station. While enjoyable at times, the stage is probably the most repetitive in the game, blasting through the same barrier, dodging the same rocks, and killing the same Galaga-like enemy patterns in a cycle. While this kind of gameplay can be fun, it seems entirely out of place in a Metal Slug.

And yet, some areas are worthy of the series. The last two bosses are expertly designed, and the illustration is incredible--truly the culmination of the ''alien architecture'' art the Metal Slug team has been into since Metal Slug 2. The first stage has some wonderful early backgrounds, and the hidden area where you trek down a river, Apocalypse Now-style, is excellent. But it all falls flat in the middle of the game. It seems as though the start and finish of the game were worked on extensively, yet the middle is comprised entirely of ''filler'' stages.

The error simply comes from the developers focusing on one aspect of the Metal Slug archetype, and neglecting what they thought was ''unnecessary''. ''Repetitive areas'', ''lacking music'', and ''graphical anorexia'' are symptoms that have been developing since Metal Slug 2, unfortunately.

This does not mean Metal Slug 3 isn't a great game. It is. It's fun, wholly playable, and it tries desperately to fill an eternally open gap in gaming (that begs for the return of Contra). And the amount of work it must have taken to create such a game is almost beyond comprehension-the Metal Slug team deserves great respect. But it could have been better. And with screen shots of Metal Slug 4 showing no signs of hope, perhaps it is a time for honesty, not blind love, so that any future Metal Slug games can reclaim the charm of the original.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/28/02, Updated 02/28/02