Every Metal Slug Game comes toegether on one disc. But it just doesnt seem the same...
The plot in Metal Slug (any of them) is never really stated. But after playing the games over the course of my life, i have decided that it is about you, a secret agent of some sort, trying to overthrow an evil force trying to take over the world, oh and in the end of most of the games, Aliens come, sometimes they ally with this enemy, or you ally with the enemy to overthrow the aliens. Make sense?
The gameplay in each metal slug is essentially the same. You go through a level, shooting anything that tries to kill you, saving POWs, and then at the end of the level, killing the boss. You also might find some vehicles, whether it be a Metal Slug (the tank on the cover), A Camel with a mounted turret, or a mini mech. You have to be careful though, with one measily hit you die, but never fear, you have lives and continues! These lives and continues come in handy, seeing that even on easy mode, you will have troubles beating the game. Each game usually has around five levels to beat, each one taking around 10 minutes, exept for the last one. Some of the last levels are ridiculously long and are nearly impossible to beat without infinite lives. Which brings me back to the lives issue. You can decide whether or not to have limited lives, or unlimited lives. While Unlimited lives garuntees that you will be able to beat the game/s, it isnt that much fun. With unlimited lives, you really have no worries, you can just run through the level without even really trying. While having limited lives is harder, it is worth it, seeing as you actually have to try. The game also includes Metal Slug 6, which was never released in AMerica. MS6 features some new gameplay , but not really anything good. It gives each character Stats, and s speacial, some of them are extremley cheap, others have not point (such as being a skilled Vehicle driver). It also has the weapon storage sytem, which is actually pretty nice, normally when you pick up a weapon, your old one just goes away and when you have wasted that weapon, you go back to your pistol. But with this, you can store two weapons (excluding the pistol) and bring them out whenever you want (as long as you dont die). One othe rbad thing to note are the new load times that seem to slow the games fast action down. Another thing i would have liked is online co-op and scoreboards, that would have been cool but seeing that the wii has a lack of online now, we dont see it.
Now lets get onto the controls of this game. The game has six different control types (i believe), but only three are worth using. t is quite disapointing that the control types are bad, even the one worth using are pretty bad. The defult control type is Wii remote only, hold the remote like a normal controler, use the D-Pad to move and use 1 and 2 to jump and shoot. But where does that leave grenades? You shake the remote to throw grenades. It works but i would have liked to see it work better, sometimes it doesnt respond and it isnt that unique of a control. Another Control type is a normal gamecube controler, it works, but is unoriginal. But if you can use a gamecube controler, why cant you use the wii's Classic Controler? I would rather use that then the gamecube controler. Another conrtol type uses the Nunchuck, move with the analog, use A on the Wiimote to jump and B on the wiimote to shoot, and again, shake it to throw a grenade. This control type is also pretty decent, seeing that pressing the B button for a long time starts make your finger hurt. The other control types, i wont share, it really isnt worth it. They usually have you tilt the wiimote to move and they just dont work, they dont respond fast enough in this fast paced game.
The graphics in the game have not changed, they use sprites. They dont excactly look ugly, they look pretty good infact, the blood looks nice and they look more animated if you know what i mean. The backrounds look very nice as well, with animations in them as well. But somethings just look pixely and ugly and other things could have better effects. For example, there is an enemy that doesnt die in one hit. When you shoot him, he does one animation and one animation alone, it would be nice to see him do something else aside from hunch down and groan.
The music is upbeat at times, when the action is big and slow paced when you are being more "stealthy". It is suiting for the game, and that is all that matters. Sound effects are pretty nice as well. They suite whatever they are being masked over. But at times it can be annoying, for example, a guy that takes more than one hit to kil will just use the same groan over and over again untill he dies. It is quite annoying.
The game has every Metal Slug game, a pretty good value at that for $40. While the games are short, the fun is big and co-op is a blast. But there are somethings missing. Where are those two games from Metal Slug 3 on Xbox? Those were nice games, why didnt they include those? Or the Metal Slug game on GBA? While the game is addicting and fun, there is a large chance that you will get sidetracked by bigger and better games out there. Overall Metal Slug Anthology is a must have for any fan. For newcomers out there just keep this in mind. It is a fast paced sidescrolling shooter that is short, fun, and hard (with lives). The game has mediocre controls and is $40. In my opinion, the game is a bragain really, 6 games usually marketed for $50, now costing $40. But really you just have to decide if Metal Slug is a game for you. If it is, great, buy it, if its not, thats too bad. Im sure there are typos in here so tkae note of that, and if they really bug you, PM me and i will do something about it.