Metal slug 7 series#
While the series has always been in part about high scores, here that focus is sharpened by way of the coins that spew from fallen enemies and masonry, their value increasing exponentially as you collect them, Mario-style. Rather the developer's focused on mechanical changes such as the ability to hold two weapons at once and cycle between them, and introducing new weapons such as the super blade and Tesla gun which affect on-the-ground tactics. These tweaks aren't quite as visual as those in previous games, where eating too much food would explode your character into a grotesque fatty or where puke from a zombie would turn you into one of the undead (while allowing you to play in this new guise). These hold you fast till you either wiggle your way out of them or take a missile to the head.īut beneath these top-line consistencies are a number of design changes that in some ways alter the way the game is played.
In the cave levels you must watch out for quicksand spots, difficult to make out on the DS screen. Finally, should you find any vacant vehicles along the way, you can ride them into the glorious cannon fire. Scattered throughout each level are a number of ageing POWs, naked save for a linen cloth that cups their modesty, who supply you with new weapons. You've no health bar: it's one shot one kill and your default pistol (or machine gun if you're playing on 'Beginner' difficulty) is holstered next to a clutch of grenades. As ever, you control a single soldier (one of six men and women), and must work your way through 2D environments shooting enemies before they shoot you. Metal Slug 7's fundamentals remain immovable despite the platform change. It's a wise decision to stick to tradition, and one taken despite the fact that, for the first time ever, the console version has no arcade release to which to adhere. Metal Slug's disastrous foray into 3D in 2006 ensured that for this, the seventh sequel to the series, SNK Playmore has retreated to a Tom and Jerry cartoon approach to the crimson horrors of war. Indeed, Metal Slug's expressive hand-drawn sprites, birthed on that Bentley of 16-bit consoles, the Neo-Geo AES, are kept alive through choice, not necessity. There's an assurance that these firecracker shooters will always offer the same precise run-and-gunplay, presented on a backdrop of a slapstick war waged by coward Nazis, dripping zombies and mecha-camels. Perhaps the secret of Metal Slug's success lies in its predictability then. What other series continues to use the same sprites, sound effects and ideas found in its debut more than a decade ago? In mechanical, visual and thematic terms, Metal Slug's developments are measured in minutiae: tweaks to format indiscernible by all but the aficionado. For over thirteen years now, SNK has been releasing much the same videogame over and over again.
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