Metal Slug Tactics Review

I don't remember encountering Metal Slug during its heyday in the arcades in the late 90s and 2000s, but at some stage I picked up an anthology disc for the PlayStation 2 and was mightily impressed. These Metal Slug games were run and gun sidescrollers with expressive pixel graphics that oozed personality. I had a blast playing through the collection, but sadly Metal Slug largely disappeared from view in the 2010s.

Now the series is back, but in the form of a turn-based tactics game. On the face of it, this is a strange choice, since run and gun shooters and tactics games would seem to exist at opposite ends of a spectrum, with the former demanding twitchy reactions and the later a slower, more thoughtful approach. While Metal Slug Tactics doesn't completely bridge this gulf, it does have some clever mechanics up its sleeve that bring some of the fast-paced, breezy action of the arcade games into the tactics arena.

To start with, you'll choose three characters and then select a region. Each region contains several missions on a mini overworld map. Completing missions unlocks pathways to more missions, although regardless of which way you proceed, a boss will appear after a few turns and force a climactic confrontation. Once in a mission, you are presented with a grid-based level seen from an isometric perspective.

There's no denying that everything looks and sounds exactly like a Metal Slug game, even with the shift in perspective and genre. The arcade games had a very distinctive over-the-top style, which is preserved perfectly here. Colours are bright and cartoony, while characters, both your team and the enemy, pack a lot of personality into just a few pixels. Everything from attack animations to sound effects are campy and exaggerated in a way that constantly reminds you of the series' arcade roots.

On your turn, you can move each of your characters a certain number of squares, then have them take an action such as shooting an enemy. Metal Slug Tactics sets itself apart from other tactics games by strongly incentivising you to move as far as possible each turn, simulating the feeling of runnin' and gunnin'. Moving more than a couple of squares gives a character a resource called ‘dodge', which functions as a temporary shield against attacks. And you'll soon realise that it is essential to accumulate dodge every turn. Without it, basic enemies can wipe out half your health with a single hit, but if you send your squad haring across the battlefield you'll either avoid taking damage altogether or substantially reduce it. There are also specific spots that provide cover from enemy fire; counter-intuitively, these squares provide cover from attacks coming from any direction, but the effect is far weaker than the protection provided by dodge. The rationale behind this is clear: you are strongly discouraged from allowing any of your soldiers to hunker down in the same spot. Attack really is the best form of defense.

There is also an interesting synchronisation mechanic which automatically triggers when one of your soldiers attacks an enemy that is within range of the basic attack of another member of your squad. This means you can frequently get two or three attacks for the price of one, although lining them up can be tricky. Still, when you manage to string together a deadly combo of sync attacks, it feels great.

You'll have to make constant use of both dodge and sync attacks, as the game is fond of throwing loads of enemy grunts at you all the time. You'll always be outnumbered, and levels will often expand unpredictably, with new foes spawning in to ruin your carefully laid plans.

As well as helping you avoid damage, running also generates another resource called adrenaline, which you can spend to activate special moves. Each character has a unique roster of abilities that can be customised during a run. Some have fairly simple effects, such as granting temporary immunity from damage or forcibly moving a character a set number of spaces, while others, particularly the special attacks, can be tricky to pull off but spectacular when they hit the mark. For instance, there are shots that ricochet and grenades that bounce in different directions which can be very effective but only if lined up carefully. I particularly enjoyed a special jump attack that dealt damage to nearby enemies on both takeoff and landing.

These mechanics all work well with each other and amount to a tactics system that feels fun to figure out and fairly unique, at least in my experience. While many similar titles reward cautious play, this one forces you to stay constantly on the move, and while that doesn't make it feel like a run and gun game exactly, it does at least bring some of the frenetic feeling of classic Metal Slug into the turn-based arena.

This gameplay comes in a roguelike wrapping, which sees you completing up to four regions before taking on the final boss. You'll start off on the lowest difficulty and unlock higher difficulties (which come with greater rewards) by completing successful runs. Even a failed run will net you currency which you can use to unlock more options for your characters.

Because roguelikes involve repeating the same content many times over in the hope of progressing further with each attempt, they sometimes feel like a modern take on coin-op gaming. Given that Metal Slug was an arcade series without much in the way of story (and there's only a basic story offering here), it makes sense that the developers plumped for a roguelike structure rather than trying to turn this into a tactics RPG.

There are ultimately nine characters to choose from (you'll start with only three) with four possible loadouts each, as well as a bevy of minor upgrades which effect how they perform in battle. Whatever upgrades you choose, your team will start out fairly weak, but you'll be offered choices of upgrades from your available pool after each successful mission.

To be honest, I found the options and upgrades to be a bit overwhelming. I would've liked a slimmer number of options, each with a clearer gameplay purpose, but this is a personal preference and I can see some players embracing the big toolbox Metal Slug Tactics offers up. Tweaking your team composition and loadouts can be fun and will help you overcome the significant challenges offered up on higher difficulties.

If I have a more serious complaint, it is that mission objectives and enemies feel bland much of the time. You can choose between missions with a small and uninspiring selection of objectives, such as killing all enemies, escorting an ally across the map, or killing specific enemy targets. The game throws a lot of basic enemies at you, which robs the tactical gameplay of some of its depth. Later areas do feature some more interesting foes which are very welcome, such as mummies that turn your squad into mummies themselves on contact (which, surprisingly, is not always a bad thing), and creatures in tombs or tanks that are tough to take down once free but can be easily destroyed if you reach them before they escape. The first couple of bosses are fun, but the last one dragged on too long for my liking, forcing you to whittle down a huge health bar.

Because this is a roguelike, you'll be fighting the same small roster of bosses many times over. It doesn't help that missions tend to slightly overstay their welcome, leading to runs sometimes lasting over two hours. Given the fast-paced style of the action, I'd have preferred shorter, punchier runs that would encourage experimentation and fit more easily into a shorter play session. On the plus side, you can quit the game at any point and jump back in later right where you left off.

My favorite tactics/roguelike hybrid is Into The Breach, and while Metal Slug Tactics shares the same structure and some of the same fundamentals, it feels like it comes at those gameplay basics from the opposite direction. While Into The Breach has you sweating over every move on tiny grids with a few deadly enemies, Metal Slug Tactics tosses you onto levels that grow and shrink unpredictably, with a seemingly bottomless supply of grunts to fight using a squad eager to run madly around the battlefield causing merry mayhem wherever they go.

While I prefer the more precise, puzzle-like gameplay of the former, I'm impressed by how well Metal Slug Tactics brings run and gun flavour into a turn-based game. It's not necessarily a match made in heaven, but the dodge and synchronisation mechanics are satisfying and give the game a unique feel that makes it well worth playing for fans of the genre, as well as Metal Slug veterans open to trying something different.