Customer Reviews

Metal Slug 3

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Finally metal slug 3 is getting an affordable state-side release. its been available on th aes for quite some years now. 5 has just been released. its a straight up port of the arcade version with minor tweaks. its going to have added levels and newer music. As usual you star as either Tarma, Marco, Fio or Eri. It has many fun old levels with many new ones. the gameplay is as solid as it ever has been and just as fun. the braching paths let you play through the same level a different way. again its the co-op that makes the game truly awesome. teamin up and kickin butt in all its glory. you cant go wrong with this game.

"Modern" games have reached, of late, a level of complexity both admirable and dreadful. The obvious effort and attention to detail required to produce such titles is worthy of respect, but also of criticism. Many of the current chic trappings with which newer games are adorned lead only to, or are in themselves, distractions. An involving and complex story line, highly-detailed graphics and sound, elaborate controls and objectives - all of these are positive and rewarding, but also lead to a less visceral, less pure experience. They are, in some measure, less game-like.

As a result, it is a great relief to know that straightforward, old-school games like Metal Slug 3 are still available on mainstream systems.

Metal Slug 3 can be summed up, like the rest of the series, very simply: You shoot stuff. As an essentially traditional shooter, with both side-scrolling and top-down levels, any gamer can jump right in without instruction. Waves of comical enemies assault you in various ways, and you are tasked with eradicating them using a variety of amusing weapons and vehicles, from a basic handgun to a laser, from a camel to a helicopter - it's a time-worn game play concept with which everyone is familiar. However, as it is a traditional shooter, no one can master all the levels easily. As you advance through the levels, or 'Missions' as they're styled in the game, the action becomes faster and more complicated, and more frustrating as well. Unlike many other games, though, it is a pure kind of frustration that only a traditional, over-the-top arcade game can deliver, and it feels satisfying. Never is the player truly discouraged from conquering the game; he is only spurred to improve his coordination and planning until victory, which any dedicated player will inevitably achieve. In this way, Metal Slug 3 is an incredibly rewarding game, never feeling hopeless, but never feeling cheap. The deceptively simple dodge-and-shoot game play is wonderfully fun, always keeping the pace and never getting boring.

Now, by styling Metal Slug as a simpler, no-frills game when compared to other X-Box titles, am I advocating backward evolution? Hardly! Everything Metal Slug does, it excels at. The graphics, while 2D , are beautifully realized. The sprite animations are smooth and detailed, and possessed of their own character and emotion. The weapons each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and their own fun effects, and the game offers plenty of opportunity to mess around with them. The sounds are of a lower quality than you'd expect from a CD-based title, but there's charm in that as well: the game retains 100% of its character in the translation from the Neo Geo arcade system to the X-Box.

Control is simple, there is a primary fire and a secondary fire button, jump, and movement is accomplished with either the left thumb stick or the D-pad. The simplicity of the control, combined with the simplicity of the concept and the ferocity of the action can't be beaten.

A single gripe: X-Box Live wasn't really utilized effectively, which is a shame. The potential for wild four-player Live action is there, but the developers settled for a simple high-score ladder, which is amusing in it's own way, but not what it could have been. This small letdown in no way detracts from the fun quotient of the game, however, it simply represents a missed opportunity for an amusing bonus.

Though a relatively new game by genre standards, Metal Slug 3 is a purebred return to the fast-paced, white-knuckled, high-score obsessed days of arcade craziness that once were, and I couldn't be happier for it. Here's to enthusiastically awaiting 4&5, due out later this year.

If you are the owner of an SNK neo-geo system, then chances are you've either owned, played, or spotted some of the earlier installments of Metal Slug in some shape or form (if not this one). To those who haven't, just look at it as being SNK's answer to Konami's "Contra." SNK has finally decided to port one of their 2d classics over to the xbox gaming console.

The player is given the option of choosing one of four characters (two males and two females) to drag along into battle through five immense stages. Five immense solid 2d stages. No 3D (2.5D) influences whatsoever. This is classic 2d shooting at it's finest.

The player can choose to go into battle alone (one player game) or can also have a friend tag along (two player game with shared continues) for an even greater challenge. During gameplay, the player/s will collect several crucial weapons (firearms) to help them through battle. Rescue fellow hostages and be rewarded with vital items (rescuing hostages also adds to bonus points once having finished completing a stage).

The game's difficulty is tough (I must admit) it's no cake-walk. Player's may find themselves constantly replaying certain stages in order to complete. Since the game does force the player/s to restart the stage he/she die on all over again from scratch when they've lost all their lives (no checkpoints) even if the player/s have continues left. This may come as an annoyance to some, given the fact that continues are limited. However, there is a save feature which lets players replay stages over (stages they've completed in general) so if all continues are lost, they can replay the stage they were just on from the title screen.

Metal Slug 3 offer replay value in the sense that when having finished completing a game mode, others will soon be accessable. Why only four stars? It all comes down to the simple fact that Metal Slug 3 isn't a game for everyone. Fans of high polygon-count titles, tremendous graphics, etc., may not find themselves at home. Metal Slug is a game that's mainly aimed towards the oldschool 2d veterans of fast-actioned arcade platformers. Classic 2d shooter at it's best. Just don't expect to be too blown away.

If you're reading this, you fall into one of two camps; those who love Metal Slug 3, and those who haven't played it.

If you belong to group 1, buy it. You know the drill regarding Metal Slug, and if you didn't already import the PS2 release, here's your chance to grab it for less money. In addition, you're supporting SNK's stateside buisness, and that's always a good thing. C'mon. It's SNK, for God's sake.

If you belong to group 2, then sit back and let me see how much of this game's history I can pack into 1,000 words.

Despite the name, Metal Slug has nothing to do with the animal, or even really the type of ammunition, which you'd think would make sense. Back in the arcade days of 1996, a group of laid-off Irem staffers (the company responsible for the immortal R-Type) got together and kicked out a game by the name of Metal Slug for the Neo Geo MVS/AES system. The concept was the same as any basic Contra-style shooter. You moved from left to right on the screen, jumping on platforms and shooting anything that shot back at you.

Like R-Type, Metal Slug had a "gimmick" that set it apart from other, similar shooters, and that was the Metal Slug itself; a cute, almost anthropomorphic mini tank that could jump and crouch. The player could find the Slug in the game's levels and it allowed a huge boost in power. That was really the whole concept.

It's also *not* the defining point of Metal Slug, merely it's namesake. Less memorable than the mechanic of the vehicles was the game's presentation, pacing, and level of fun. See, the thing about Metal Slug was not so much the raw game mechanics as the amount of obvious love that was poured into it. At a time when the Neo Geo was still the undisputed king of 2D graphics, Metal Slug reigned king as a pinnacle of what could be achieved artistically with supposedly "primitive" 2D graphics.

It's a little like the Color vs. Black and White debate with films. There's no denying that color is the way of the future, and it certaintly allows for a comparable amount of artistic expression, but B&W enables certain things that color does not, and a skilled director can make the most of these things in a way that color will never be able to reach. Apply the same argument to 2D vs. 3D, and you get what's so special about Metal Slug. Little touches like the hand-drawn cell animation in every single moving object in the game (and *everything* is animated in some way) allow for a remarkable amount of character, and it shines through in everything from the standing animation of the player's character to the facial reactions of the enemy troops when your character comes back from the dead after you put another quarter into the machine.

Anyway, Metal Slug went through two more arcade versions: Metal Slug 2, and Metal Slug X (basically a revamped version of MS2, which also landed on the Playstation 1 in the U.S., so grab it if you can find it). When Metal Slug 3 came out in 2000, it quickly became apparent that this was the zenith of arcade shooters. If you're a Led Zeppelin fan, here's an easy comparison: Metal Slug 3 is like the game version of Led Zep 4. It's that turning point when the end product becomes aware of it's own mystique and uses that knowledge to take things to a whole new level. Metal Slug 3 is a game that's aware of it's own following, and it manages the rarely accomplished task of giving the fans what they want, and giving them something entirely new at the same time.

Even if you're not familiar with the previous games in the series, Metal Slug 3 still has that aura of a game that's legendary and knows it, and is therefore unafraid to try things that it would have stopped short of in previous installments. This is hard to explain properly in few words without having some kind of visual aide, so you're just going to have to trust me when I say that this game reaches the level of inspired art, and there are several occasions where you'll grin while playing it, and probably mutter to yourself "Oh, man, that's really cool."

Well, okay, here's a "quick" example. The final stage in the game starts out with your character in a flying Slug -- an evolution of the tank from the first game. It then mimicks other spaceship-themed side-scrolling shooters (like R-Type) until you wind up on the ground, where it re-creates the final level from the original Metal Slug. Then, the alien enemies from Metal Slug X make an appearance, capture your character, and abscond back to their mothership. You then get a different character (of the 4 selectable) and, combined with the forces of the soldiers you fought in the first game, get into spaceships and rocket off to go fight the aliens. From there, the game becomes a vertically-scrolling shooter (like Ikaruga) until you finally make it onto the mothership, where it's classic Metal Slug until you finally rescue your originally selected character...And by then, you're about halfway through the level.

See what I mean? It's self-referencing, well constructed, funny as hell, and just all-around amazing.

Also, unlike many other games of this nature, Metal Slug 3 is for the casual and hardcore alike. It's graphics aren't so poor that they'll turn anyone off (in fact, they've held up very well) and the concept is so simple that anyone can pick up and play. The one caveat is that the game is quite hard, but there's selectable difficulty and enough leeway that, even if you can't make it all the way through, there's a good chance one of your buddies can. Expect to spend some time with it, mind you, but it's not so hard that it stops being fun, which is really the most important thing of all.

This is an excellent chance to grab the Holy Grail of 2D games. Don't miss it; you won't regret it.

This is everything I've always wanted. Mindless action with a bit of comedy involved. You get to ride in numerous vehicles called metal slugs (hense the name). There are four characters to chose from, and each slightly unique. The old-School graphics are awesome, and it even has the arcade style setup. You can unlock bonus missions. The multiplayer is very fun with friends. I would buy this game.

classic arcade adventure shooting game. buy this if you miss those old arcade games, you won't regret it. loving it.

I have always played Metal Slug in the arcades and I played this for X-box and I cried! This game is the best! The graphics, the effects, the guns. They are very much like the arcades. I love this game! BUY IT NOW... and I realy mean NOW!

This game is incredibly fun, and I'm happy that the arcade game I hold so dearly in my heart is finally being ported to console. Unfortunately, I do not have an X-Box, but I might have to get one. I'm writing this review because everyone is giving it rave reviews, but NOT RATING it! People write "5 stars" but give it none. It deserves better than a 1 1/2 star rating when people have only good things to say.

What a blast! This game hearkens back to the days of the original Duke Nukem, Contra, or any of the other great twitch-shooters of the past. It's essentially a mindless shooting game, done in retro side-scrolling style, but as that goes, it's a lot of fun. You basically travel through levels, killing anything and everything, grabbing powerups as you go and trying to survive the constant onslaught of enemies the game throws at you. For a retro-style shooter, it's a reasonable challenge, as enemies sometimes overwhelm you with their sheer numbers. The bosses are fairly tough, as well, and there's part of the problem with the game: You get between three and five men to start each level. Let's say that you lose your last man fighting a boss. You hit "continue," thinking that you'll get a fresh set of men to resume your fight with the boss. WRONG. You have to start back at the beginning of the level! That can be very, very frustrating, especially when some of the more challenging levels can take all but your last man...and then you have to face the boss with just one life to spare! (Ouch!) If you're careful, though, you can survive the worst areas intact, especially if you're patient enough to watch for powerups. Strongly recommended to fans of shooter games or for those who loved the old side-scrolling action games (like me).

I hope this review was helpful
--Christian Wheeler

this game is built for those who grewup on nes and genesis games as a kid and wanted those beautiful arcade games that only the neogeo(700 bucks at the time) could run basically its alot like contra a 2 player run and gun action game but with slugs that are vehicles or animals you can ride with big guns on them this game has alot of weapons its fun but very hard youll die hundreds of times before beating a level and its some of the best 2d hand drawn graphics ever seen soldiers dont just die they point get mad laugh at u run away every stage screams style and the little effects drawn in complete 2d are great my personal fav stage is the zombie stage in a graveyard with metal and organ playing if youre hit by a ghoul youll become a zombie and start dragging your foot slow another thing that gives this game depth is every stage has multiple paths so you might find a truly amazing area you never seen before so if youre a fan of classic 2 d shooters and want to see the best handrawn classic graphics around by snks legendary artist buy this version for xbox its an exact carbon copy of the 500 dollar neo geo aes version