Metal Slug 7 – Review

	Available On: Nintendo DS Format Reviewed: Nintendo DS Publisher: Ignition Entertainment Developer: SNK Playmore Players: 1 Online: 0

The Metal Slug series has been going for roughly 13 years now, and within that time a heck of a lot of Metal Slug titles have seen release. Fast forward to 2009, and the latest game is MS7 for the Nintendo DS. It takes place before the events that occur in Metal Slug 4, and your mission is to once again, you guessed it, try and eliminate the evil General Morden. But of course, in true Metal Slug style, there’ll be hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers trying to stop you along the way. So is the first DS iteration of the franchise another classic addition to the series, or will it leave you feeling a bit sluggish? Check out our full review to find out.

Metal Slug 7 barely takes advantage of the DS’s unique features such as the touch screen and the microphone, but obviously those aren’t necessary for a game like this. However, I was disappointed with the use of the lower screen. All it is used for is a damn map that looks awful. It’s pixellated and thus blurry, and doesn’t feature anything useful. The only things it displays are a little icon of your character and power-ups. No enemies. Sure, you can move the map slightly ahead of your position, but there’s no need to as it doesn’t help out in any possible way.

The controls are extremely fluid, and are very easy to learn. Obviously the D-Pad moves you, whilst the ‘Y’ button is to shoot, ‘B’ is to jump and ‘A’ is for lobbing grenades. You can re-assign the buttons in the options, but personally I felt no need to as the presets felt just right. Now the controls may be easy, but the same cannot be said about the difficulty. Run ‘n’ games have always traditionally been tough, and Metal Slug 7 is no exception. The ‘Beginner’ and ‘Normal’ modes aren’t too hard going, but that is certainly not the case with the ‘Hard’ mode. This is definitely reserved for Metal Slug fans and hardcore gamers, you wouldn’t last five minutes in that mode with little experience of action titles. It certainly does provide a challenge if you found the other two modes to be a little on the easy side.

The level design isn’t particularly enthralling, but it does the job. The DS is certainly capable of handling a lot more than what‘s here, but SNK have opted for the traditional, yet somewhat dated Metal Slug look. The same goes for the game’s soundtrack, it’s all your typical Metal Slug stuff. Some of the tunes are pretty good, whilst others are repetitive and boring. It’s actually quite shocking how so little has been altered. Sure, you could say if it isn’t broke then don’t fix it, but considering this is Metal Slug’s DS debut, it would have been nice for there to be something even remotely unique about it. Are SNK Playmore too afraid to take any risks? Or is it simply that they think fans will be happy with yet more of the same?

Seven missions are available to play through in Metal Slug 7’s main adventure mode, and each is unlocked by completing the preceding one. As the game progresses these missions get increasingly harder, with wave after wave after wave of merciless enemies that become stronger and stronger. It all depends on the difficulty you play on and your skill really, but you could probably speed through the ‘Beginner’ mode in a good hour or so, whereas ‘Normal’ and ‘Hard’ will certainly take you a bit longer. After you have completed the main game, you unlock a Challenge mode which sees you replaying levels from the adventure, albeit in a different scenario. After you’ve beaten all of those though, then there literally isn’t anything else to do but play through the main game again.

There are a total of six characters available to play as in Metal Slug 7: Marco, Eri, Tarma, Fio, Ralf and Clark, and each have unique strengths, weaknesses and weapons. Some of the characters, such as Tarma, are more about sheer brute force, yet are quite slow, whilst others, like Fio, are fast and lightweight, but aren‘t very powerful. And in true arcade style, you can switch between characters whenever you lose all your lives during the game and need to use a continue. However you’ll most likely find yourself sticking with a particular character that has a certain set of attributes that you find preferable.

In the end, can you really expect a bunch of innovations and original ideas from a Metal Slug game? The series is all about pure action, not revolutionary gameplay mechanics that make each title stand out from the last. It is, however, disappointing to see no decent use of any of the DS’s stand-out features, most notably the dual screens. It does have a little replay value, but with just two modes: arcade and challenge, and absolutely no multiplayer whatsoever, there’s little of it. If you are looking for a game with more of the same, then you will be pleased with Metal Slug 7. It’s typical run ‘n’ gun gameplay as you have always known it, re-packaged for the Nintendo DS. But if you want something totally different from its three hundred or so predecessors, then don’t bother.