Metal Slug Anthology

"A game hindered by controls"

SNK knows how to take their time with the games that they release, and have little to show for it. They tried to milk people of their money by only releasing a few Metal Slugs at a time, but have finally came out with a collection of 6 Metal Slug games (plus the revised 2 in Metal Slug X). This collection is great in many ways, but fails to impress mostly due to poor extras and control schemes. Here's the breakdown of the game.

Game Play: 8/10
Fun fun times. The game plays just like you'd remember it (except for the annoying control schemes, which will be discussed). Despite the game being the same thing over and over again, it's still fun to play. All of the Metal Slug games basically look and sound the same, so you'll not have to worry about extremely drastic changes between any of the games.

Story: 5/10
All Metal Slug stories are roughly the same: You're a tough S.O.B whose job it is to stop an evil organization by taking out its boss/bosses. The plots are basically cookie-cut throughout the entire series, and the game designers make sure it's entirely fan-based.

Sound: 7/10
Good quality sound, but hindered by the fact that they just recycle old tunes with slightly modified newer versions. The limited voices and sound effects go well with the games, though.

Graphics: 6/10
Nice to look at, but they really didn't try to improve upon the look at all once they made the game between each succeeding game. There are some touch ups that are noticeable, but other than that the game's very dated.

Control: 4/10
What was SNK thinking? For once I'd prefer the Classic Controller over any other. Not even in Virtual Console games have I had such a strong desire to use the Classic Controller and almost shrugged it off as unnecessary; however, instead of allowing the use of the Classic Controller, SNK made sure that the Wii's control could be used. The tried to make clever ways of playing using the Nunchuck, Wii Remote, or combination of the two, but these new modes feel tacked on and aren't even as good as the GameCube controller (which feels awkward enough as it is).

Overall: 7/10
You'll get a lot of fun out of these games, and can even unlock some extras like art galleries and music. The only major complaint about this game is that the control mechanics aren't good. The fact that you'll be using so-so controls for a game designed to work perfectly on a standard controller makes little sense. This game is proof that trying to make sure a game fits the Wii's unique control schemes isn't always the best idea. For a collection of games that are so ridiculously similar and cut-and-paste throughout, having controllers that stick to old ideas designed for the specific games should've came naturally to the people who put this collection together. Too bad SNK couldn't see that tacking on controls and omitting comfortable ones has the potential to turn many fans away.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07