Metal Slug 3

"Too tough to be brought down"

I love fascist military regimes. They are stalwart figures of evil oppression that can headline a blockbuster film, kick some ass, and look good while doing it. Submarines, tanks, fighter jets, fortresses, and countless soldiers all come standard. Sure, they've had they're ups and downs, but they know to work it when the chips are down. Put a good one in a videogame and it's hard to go wrong. But why stop there? Add some robots, yetis, ninjas, and eyes would bulge. Throw in killer man-sized piranhas, crabs, grasshoppers, plants, snails, maggots, and jaws would drop. Somehow pack in zombies, mutants, aliens, clones, and zombified alien mutant clones, and bowels would loosen. Would not an unholy alliance of such magnitude rock the world as we know it?! Well, the result of such an alliance exists, its name is Metal Slug 3, and it sure as hell rocks my world.

Along with showcasing the unabridged canon of hardass villains in a seemingly scant five levels, Metal Slug 3 crams in a dizzying array of wild places and situations. The first two Metal Slugs were top-notch action games that played like Contra with a generous dash of comedy, offering up furious challenge, larger-than-life bosses, and morbidly funny slaughter. They truly did throw in everything but the kitchen sink, and Metal Slug 3 lives up more than lives up to its predecessors. This is a 2-D run ‘n gun adventure; shoot, jump, and grenade are still the three actions in your arsenal. The difference is that MS3 hurls the kitchen sink in with reckless abandon, promptly rips open a wormhole to another dimension, and starts hurling objects from unknown galaxies faster than the speed of light.

Metal Slug 3, the best game in an epic series, is a game that should need no introduction—its name should be uttered in the same breath as titles like Contra or Ninja Gaiden—but clearly it does. It's been stuck in obscure Neo Geo consoles and dingy arcades for years. On the XBox, Metal Slug might have had a chance to shine and reach wider acceptance, but this botched port won't help matters.

Now, don't get the wrong idea. This XBox version is technically pristine. People love to say things like, “It's really unfair to compare Metal Slug with new titles because it's 2-D and hand drawn.” These fools get my blood boiling. Without a trace of the third dimension, Metal Slug 3 is more visually accomplished than forty-nine out of fifty games from any generation. The artwork is simply astounding. The backgrounds brim with tremendous detail; subtle visual cues hint at secret pathways or enemies to come; each foe is outfitted with gorgeous character design, unique attacks, and painstakingly detailed death animation. The vivid sound effects also remain completely intact: there is a guttural scream, metallic crack, and crunching explosion for every occasion.

There are no audiovisual or control issues here on the XBox—the wrongdoing is the ruination of the credit system. How does someone play a game—say, Metal Slug 3 for instance—in an arcade? He puts his quarter in, plays until he dies, and repeats until he is out of money, time, or machismo. Here, on the Box, one cannot have more than five continues under any circumstance. I see the value of forcing the player to get better, of causing his brow to drip with sweat as he fights the final boss with no lives left, of forbidding him to win on his first try. But there is something to be said for a training mode to improve without restrictions on lives, and there is also something to be said for running through MS3 with infinite continues, tackling wild encounters with reckless abandon and soaking up the entire glorious epic without a brain-fraying struggle. A system whereby the option of extra credits opens up after a significant amount of playtime is ideal, and some of the fun is undeniably lost with this pointless reworking.

The other instance of tampering is even more painful. At the end of every credit, you are warped back to the beginning of the stage. Again, how does someone play a game in an arcade? He runs out of lives, he pops another quarter in, and he picks up where he left off. Demanding each level in Metal Slug be one-credited is especially ridiculous considering the game's mammoth, brutal final stage—the difficulty suddenly shoots upward astronomically. In tandem with a stupid feature that allows players to select the mission they wish to start from (assuming they've beaten the preceding mission), this unfaithful nonsense really breaks the rhythm and spirit of the game. Most players will get through the first four stages with moderate difficulty and then face the Mission Five gauntlet—challenging even to Slug vets—over and over again. Your reward for victory is two boring minigames that aren't worth the struggle.

That being said, the action here is too good to pass up. Metal Slug 3 is a truly rare breed in its intensity, range, attention to detail, and flair for the epic. The ever-changing circumstances—locations, enemies, power-ups—are consistently awesome. Simply tossing a heap of ideas on the screen would not have succeeded, but Metal Slug 3 never does anything half-assed. Every one of the many branches each level has to offer (yes, the Metal Slug 3 series has branching pathways) is bursting with rigorous artwork and thrilling action. Whether you spend Mission 4 duking it out with gigantic plants hungry for manflesh atop a Mayan ruin, avoiding the explosions from sticks of dynamite that jihadis light with their dying breath in a Japanese manor, or traversing a slimy tunnel filled with gargantuan slugs while piloting a giant drill on wheels, you will be having a blast. Metal Slug 3 is such a fierce, manly headbutt of a game that a few asinine, arbitrary new rules can't put too big a damper on the experience. But they're still there.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/04