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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Fighting Developer: SNK PlayMore Publisher: Ignition Entertainment |
For fans of action, few franchises satisfy like the Metal Slug franchise. The series is known for endless streams of bullets, amazing 2D
animation, a quirky sense of humor and all out explosion filled, blood splattering action. In an odd move, “Metal Slug 7,” the latest
release in the franchise, though set just before “Metal Slug 4” in the story, has been brought only to the Nintendo DS, shedding any kind
of arcade release at all for a pocket debut instead. This time around players get their standard set of missions, a few new vehicles or
“Slugs” for those that are late to the Metal Slug series, but outside of an entertaining arcade inspired package, the game doesn’t offer
any sort of lasting motivation, Nintendo DS tech enhancements or multiplayer in the game. Fans of the series will love the game play,
which is just as quick and responsive as ever.
This isn’t to say that the hardcore fan of the series should pass this one up. Actually, if a player is a hardcore fan, they will definitely
want to check out this addition to the series. When it comes to stacking this game up against the other Nintendo DS offering available,
or even the previous Metal Slug games, no matter the system, “Metal Slug 7” continually comes up short. It has a fun core, but there is
nowhere to go after that point.
Game play is obviously the reason the franchise took off in the beginning and “Metal Slug 7” feels like a true successor to the series.
There weren’t any amazing ideas in this one, such as branching paths or real character development, but the core game play doesn’t
disappoint. The three new vehicles are great fun, including the impressively huge Slug Gigant, along with the standard Slug Truck and
battle suit Heavy Armor. It is a nice touch of flavor into the otherwise very standard Metal Slug game, but they are great designs and the
Gigant specifically was done extremely well, placed on a stage filled with snow and plenty of enemies to destroy as the crush the world
beneath.
Where the game doesn’t seem to deliver is in its staying power. There is no multiplayer mode, but what is really puzzling is that the
game was made specifically for the Nintendo DS, yet it doesn’t have anything that makes it better than a standard arcade game.
Players have a few challenges to go through, a very simple front end and an area where players can view their saved POW friends, but
that’s it. There is no expansive single player mode or story format and no real statistic tracking or online offering that connects users to
each other for any sort of competitive game play.
As players would expect, the animation and overall sense of action in the game is fairly impressive, and while it looks like more of the
frames are kept in the game, a majority of the material from past games and pre-existing art has been crunched down to fit the
Nintendo DS and that can cause some problems. Backgrounds look fine at first glance, but they can be fairly easy to ignore compared
to previous titles in the series. Since the game is basically taking pre-made animations and art and crunching them down, players also
get some odd glitches in the graphics throughout the game. It looks pretty good at a glance, and most players may not even notice the
subtle oddities that occur, but hardcore fans of the series will certainly sense a little bit of a change.
“Metal Slug 7” is a fun game and when it is all said and done, it is not about what has been broken and unpolished overall with what the
game already had, but with what was left out of the game entirely. There are some odd little animation issues and players would
probably enjoy having a little more variation in the level designs and concepts, but what it really comes down to is that “Metal Slug 7” is
a one shot arcade effort, single player only, and a few challenges to try and beef up the game a tiny bit. The game is still fun, but when
players are finished blasting their way through it in roughly an hour or so, which is roughly how long it will take most players in Easy or
Normal mode, there is almost nothing left in the game to see in a second time through. The touch screen isn’t implemented into the
game very well, not as a touch screen or as a secondary display screen. There is no real connectivity from one user to another through
any online, statistic sharing or the obvious multiplayer mode. Also, outside of playing through the game with various members of the six
person cast, each person having a tiny edge over the others with a specific skill, there is not real reason to play this game more than a
few times.
The game is fun, and for those players who are fans of the series, there is still a reason to pick up the game and play it because it is
more from the franchise that they have learned to love from the beginning of the franchise, but when this game is put up against other
offerings in the Metal Slug series, “Metal Slug 7” comes up very short. Again, the game is fun, but there is a complete lack of staying
power with this one.
animation, a quirky sense of humor and all out explosion filled, blood splattering action. In an odd move, “Metal Slug 7,” the latest
release in the franchise, though set just before “Metal Slug 4” in the story, has been brought only to the Nintendo DS, shedding any kind
of arcade release at all for a pocket debut instead. This time around players get their standard set of missions, a few new vehicles or
“Slugs” for those that are late to the Metal Slug series, but outside of an entertaining arcade inspired package, the game doesn’t offer
any sort of lasting motivation, Nintendo DS tech enhancements or multiplayer in the game. Fans of the series will love the game play,
which is just as quick and responsive as ever.
This isn’t to say that the hardcore fan of the series should pass this one up. Actually, if a player is a hardcore fan, they will definitely
want to check out this addition to the series. When it comes to stacking this game up against the other Nintendo DS offering available,
or even the previous Metal Slug games, no matter the system, “Metal Slug 7” continually comes up short. It has a fun core, but there is
nowhere to go after that point.
Game play is obviously the reason the franchise took off in the beginning and “Metal Slug 7” feels like a true successor to the series.
There weren’t any amazing ideas in this one, such as branching paths or real character development, but the core game play doesn’t
disappoint. The three new vehicles are great fun, including the impressively huge Slug Gigant, along with the standard Slug Truck and
battle suit Heavy Armor. It is a nice touch of flavor into the otherwise very standard Metal Slug game, but they are great designs and the
Gigant specifically was done extremely well, placed on a stage filled with snow and plenty of enemies to destroy as the crush the world
beneath.
Where the game doesn’t seem to deliver is in its staying power. There is no multiplayer mode, but what is really puzzling is that the
game was made specifically for the Nintendo DS, yet it doesn’t have anything that makes it better than a standard arcade game.
Players have a few challenges to go through, a very simple front end and an area where players can view their saved POW friends, but
that’s it. There is no expansive single player mode or story format and no real statistic tracking or online offering that connects users to
each other for any sort of competitive game play.
As players would expect, the animation and overall sense of action in the game is fairly impressive, and while it looks like more of the
frames are kept in the game, a majority of the material from past games and pre-existing art has been crunched down to fit the
Nintendo DS and that can cause some problems. Backgrounds look fine at first glance, but they can be fairly easy to ignore compared
to previous titles in the series. Since the game is basically taking pre-made animations and art and crunching them down, players also
get some odd glitches in the graphics throughout the game. It looks pretty good at a glance, and most players may not even notice the
subtle oddities that occur, but hardcore fans of the series will certainly sense a little bit of a change.
“Metal Slug 7” is a fun game and when it is all said and done, it is not about what has been broken and unpolished overall with what the
game already had, but with what was left out of the game entirely. There are some odd little animation issues and players would
probably enjoy having a little more variation in the level designs and concepts, but what it really comes down to is that “Metal Slug 7” is
a one shot arcade effort, single player only, and a few challenges to try and beef up the game a tiny bit. The game is still fun, but when
players are finished blasting their way through it in roughly an hour or so, which is roughly how long it will take most players in Easy or
Normal mode, there is almost nothing left in the game to see in a second time through. The touch screen isn’t implemented into the
game very well, not as a touch screen or as a secondary display screen. There is no real connectivity from one user to another through
any online, statistic sharing or the obvious multiplayer mode. Also, outside of playing through the game with various members of the six
person cast, each person having a tiny edge over the others with a specific skill, there is not real reason to play this game more than a
few times.
The game is fun, and for those players who are fans of the series, there is still a reason to pick up the game and play it because it is
more from the franchise that they have learned to love from the beginning of the franchise, but when this game is put up against other
offerings in the Metal Slug series, “Metal Slug 7” comes up very short. Again, the game is fun, but there is a complete lack of staying
power with this one.
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