Metal Slug 4

"Metal Slug finally has a black sheep in the family!"

It has become apparent throughout the history of video games (as well as other entertainment media) that every great franchise needs an obligatory piece of dung to give its fans some negative conversation pieces to break from the "utter masterpiece" and "ingenious" lectures devotees so love to exchange. For example, Zelda has Zelda 2 on the Nintendo, Final Fantasy has Mystic Quest on the SNES, Samurai Shodown had Samurai Shodown 3...the lists go on and on. It seemed for a long while that Metal Slug could do no wrong, even the X upgrade was a phenomenal piece of programming, with every new installment getting better and better. Now there is Metal Slug 4, the first bonafide turd in a previously flawless series of games. There is so much wrong with this game that it boggles my mind. My expectations before playing this game weren't that high in learning that a Korean company Mega was working on the project, a developer that is pretty new and doesn't have much experience with the Neo Geo (or any other platform for that matter); why Playmore didn't handle this game is anyone's guess. No matter who was developing this game is neither here nor there, as Metal Slug 3 was a brilliant frame work to build from, making the quality of this title inexcusable. Metal Slug 4 has taken everything SNK themselves had done with the series and tore it to shreds.

Graphics-
Without a doubt, this is the worst looking Metal Slug to date. Returning characters were ripped from previous installments, which means they look good; the two new playable characters here fit very well into the game. The problem is that all of the game's levels are generic and lifeless; the design looks like lazy revisions of levels from previous games ("how many times have I seen that cityscape before?"). These rehashes don't even look particularly good with an almost complete lack of parallax, an SNES capably color palette and boss sprites that the original SNK would have thrown in the recycle bin.

Sound-
Metal Slug 4 fairs better in this department as the series' trademark soundtrack plays at full force. The only reason the soundtrack is acceptable here is because it was so good from the previous games. Samples like guns firing and enemies screaming are also cut and pasted into this game. I was kind of glad that Mega didn't add anything new to the sound as it was already excellent, and considering the results of their liberties with the rest of the game, they did us all a favor.

Game-
Metal Slug 4 plays just like rest of the games in the series. You have your weapon shot, jump button and grenades. The theme here is the same as the first Metal Slug, a more "realistic" war; there are some recycled zombies and mummies, but the main enemy here are those green (and now gray!) soldier clones that we know and love. Trouble is the soldiers constantly swarm onto the screen shooting bullets at every single second, pushing the combat beyond challenging into down right frustrating. The difficulty is totally unbalanced with no steady progression or reasonable design; level one is extremely difficult, with an incredibly easy boss, while level two is simple as pie with a nasty boss. The difficulty fluctuates through the game without fail. On a plus side, there are still alternative paths and they are much more difficult to uncover, but everything looks so much the same within levels that there really was no incentive to finding them. There are some new vehicles, all of which are totally useless sans that four legged robot thingee (basically a camel clone). The bosses aren't really that much fun to battle because they all elicit a sense of deja-vu and the fact that they all are so unimaginative in design makes them a total bore to encounter. Technically controls are fine but I wish Mega really put more heart into this game as it reaks of rush job.

Overall-
After the standard set by Metal Slug 3, I wasn't expecting a heart stopping sequel, but maybe something like Metal Slug 3 X? I don't know, all I do know is that Metal Slug 4 is a GIANT step backward for the series. The first Metal Slug is without a doubt a more entertaining and visually satisfying product. I haven't played 5 yet, but I hope that it rectifies this mess. As it stands, Neo Geo and action game devotees will have a good half hour with this product, but anyone else looking to blow $300 will be better off buying an Xbox and its perfect conversion of Metal Slug 3.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/01/04