Seven games (Metal Slug 1-6 plus a remake of the second part – Metal Slug X) since 1996, in different ways, offer the same story, game mechanics, jokes and style of decoration. The series begins as an action movie, where the heroes Marco Rossi and Tarmac Roving fight against the terrorist General Mordent, who has stolen a giant new generation tank (Super Vehicle-001 – the Japanese name of the game).
Naturally, the sinister plans of the usurper were thwarted, which did not prevent him from returning and trying his luck in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth parts. The secrets of the ancient Aztecs, pharaohs and other secrets of the dead help in the implementation of the global plan of revenge. But behind all the events are cunning aliens, to defeat which the heroes and former enemies are forced to unite. This continues right up to the sixth series, where the fourth side of the conflict appears – another unearthly race, hostile to all previous participants.
Along with the serial numbers of the series, the number of heroes also increased. First, the young ladies Era (Era Kasamoto) and Fiorina (Fiorina Germy) joined the first pair of characters. Tarmac and Era are then briefly replaced by Trevor and Nadia. By the last part of the heroes there are already exactly six. With newcomers Clark (Clark) and Ralph (Ralf) there was some practical difference in the choice of character. Heroes shoot faster or more accurately.
interact better with certain weapons and vehicles. Even earlier, from the second part of the series, the characters began to change on the go. After spitting a zombie or a poison dart caught in the chest, the hero turned into a walking dead man (as an option, a mummy) or a monkey, acquiring all positive and negative qualities in addition to a colorful appearance. An inanimate body moves more slowly, but is insensitive to bullets and grenades, and in the skin of a dexterous primate it is easier to dodge shots. There is also a funnier version. If the hero overate bonuses in the form of meat and fruits, then he turned into a hefty fat man.
Regardless of who you choose, in each episode the hero will have to run through six huge locations from left to right, where it is necessary to shoot, set fire to and blow up all the biomass and armored vehicles encountered. By default, each fighter is armed with a bunch of grenades and a pistol, which changes to one of the means of exterminating the enemy picked up from the ground. It does not hurt to release the prisoners – a lot of interesting and useful things are hidden in their pockets. In principle, it is quite enough to deal with soldiers, pirates, Indians, Arabs, aliens, tanks, helicopters, submarines, and upright robots. But the meat grinder wouldn’t be as much fun without more serious means of destruction.
Number one is the flexible and bouncy slug tank (Slug Tank or Metal Slug) – the face of the entire series. Behind him are a mechanical mule, an elephant and a camel, a bipedal robot, a helicopter, an airplane, a submarine and a small rocket. Half of this fleet stands at the levels and is waiting for its driver, and the second part is given out for more convenient movement of our character under water, above the clouds and in space.
Metal Slug would hardly have been so popular if not for the wonderful scenery, colorful opponents and funny scenes with characters. In terms of picture quality, the first parts, of course, are inferior to the rest, forcing players to frown from square pixels. Subjectively, the most beautiful is the third game in the series, but if we discard the technical side, then almost all locations are perfectly rendered.
The entire geography of the planet is reflected in the caricature style of the game, which presents: the streets of the Middle East, the beaches of the islands, abandoned cemeteries, Indian catacombs, military bases and construction sites, spaceship corridors, Japanese and European cities, already destroyed by another invasion or still completely intact. In Metal Slug X, the developers tried to change the lighting and present the already familiar scenery of the second part in the evening, early morning and night.
Hyperbole is a favorite technique of developers. They exaggerate anything and everything. From the number of enemies on the level to the size of giant bosses. Multi-barreled fortresses, huge tanks, robot overlords and many other mechanized and living creatures are perfectly drawn and look simply gorgeous. If the final bosses have only three or four severe attacks animated, then the rest of the enemies behave quite frivolously.
Ordinary soldiers are leading in funny deeds. They cowardly crawl away and dive “fish” into cover, cover their ears from explosions, and, panicked, shake their knees. The aliens are hilariously falling apart, eating each other and trying to take control of another species. The performance ends with small scripted videos, where the next plot twist will be played according to all the rules of clowning.
