Metal Slug 4 Guide

Metal Slug 4 is relentless. Enemies attack from left, right and above, you instinctively duck, jump and change your position, and there's a metronomic quality to the hammering of your finger on the fire button.move from left to right, stop to dispatch a scripted wave of adversaries, catch breath, repeat. Its opening exchanges pit you against cannon-fodder soldiers, but a more involved pattern of play emerges as you progress. One of its (oft-repeated) tricks is to pit you against a relatively strong foe - such as a helicopter, or a tank of some description - and then distract you with the introduction of a wave of easily dispatched grunts. This forces you to strategise, but in an immediate, non-rational kind of way. There's the unthinking comprehension that foot-soldiers are only dangerous if allowed to accumulate in sufficient numbers - or, more pressingly, allowed to linger long enough to take a pot-shot and so you manage the screen carefully, dividing your time between threats.Metal Slug 4 lacks is the ability to evoke any feeling that, personal pride aside, dying actually matters. There are moments where you can climb aboard vehicles - including the titular Metal Slug tank, a Bradley missile launcher, and a forklift truck and wreak havoc.

This is Metal Slug 4 at its best: enormous firepower, explosions everywhere, and the central one-hit-deaths mechanic replaced by a short energy bar. You don't want to relinquish control of these toys cheaply, and so you frantically fire and dodge, utterly immersed in acts of wanton destruction. When they're destroyed, you feel disappointment: this is as close to 'losing' as you get. The first two Missions are ripped straight from previous Slugs, but the later Missions are new, are very well drawn, but offer little or no background action. Also your destructive influence is very limited. There are no buildings, walls, bunkers or cliffs for you to destroy here. A few cars on the first level, and then you’re restricted to the odd crate that might get in your way for the rest of the game.

The first thing you’ll notice about MS4 is the character line-up. Eri and Tarma are pushed back to cameo roles and new characters Trevor and Nadia are brought in for you to select, alongside Marco and Fio. The two new characters are well presented and a welcome addition to the series, but at this stage it probably would have been better to have all six characters selectable to play in game. This is a minor grumble though and doesn’t detract from the game. One of the key elements of Slugs past has been the weapon power-ups available to you. Again these are largely gained through rescuing the bearded POW’s, but the only new weapon I’ve found is the twin Uzi’s – very cool, but are few and far between to be found. All the regular weapons since MSX are included – Iron Lizard, Super Grenade, Laser, Enemy Chaser etc, etc. The extra bombs are still limited to Grenade and Firebomb, but Stone also appears for the first time since MSX. However, gone are Rain Cloud, Satellite and our little monkey friend with the Uzi.To many, this is what the games are all about jumping into a Slug and destroying everything in your path!

However, here the game proves most disappointing, especially after the selection available in MS3. Gone are the Marin Slug, Slug Flyer, Drill Slug, Ostrich Slug, Camel Slug, Chopper Slug, and the Gold Metal Slug. Ever present of course is the standard silver Metal Slug, and joining it is a forklift truck. No, that isn’t a typo; a forklift is, honestly, one of vehicles you can commandeer. The other vehicles include several enemy units like the Metal Crow and Rocket Launcher and a rather odd robot thingy, which almost resembles the mutants from Mission 5 of MS2/X. The only other Slug that heralds from previous episodes is the Slug Walker.One new addition is ‘monkey mode’ and this adds a lot of amusement to the proceedings – but at a cost. The often hilarious ‘big mode’ has been scrapped, and along with it, the excellent animations and touches showcased in MS3 for your fat friend. ‘Monkey mode’ is good, and its different, but it doesn’t appear often enough, and is almost a throw away gag.

Here we are looking at Metal Slug 4 and I honestly tell you that if it weren't for the number at the beginning of the game, I would have never known which one this was. It plays exactly like the first Metal Slug, which means that you're dealing with a slow moving character that runs from the left to the right shooting and dodging. Outside of a new weapon or two nothing has changed here, it's just you fighting your way through soldiers, vampires, and just about anything else they can throw at you. The first two Missions are ripped straight from previous Slugs, but the later Missions are new, are very well drawn, but offer little or no background action. Also your destructive influence is very limited. There are no buildings, walls, bunkers or cliffs for you to destroy here. A few cars on the first level, and then you’re restricted to the odd crate that might get in your way for the rest of the game.There are no real surprises to find, monkey mode is mentioned in the manual, and you certainly won’t find anything as original as the Elephant Slug hidden away amongst the Missions.The graphics are standard Metal Slug quality, with very few new animations, and certainly nothing to match the details and quirks of MSX.

The gameplay remained pretty much the same, with little more than a few tweaks here and there for good measure. Metal Slug 4 was developed by Korean firm Mega Enterprises and came onto the arcade scene in 2002 (during SNK's bankruptcy and prior to the company's rebirth as SNK Playmore), which might lead you to assume it's the black sheep of the family. The game has arrived on the Wii Virtual Console, and despite the troubled nature of its development, it offers fans of the the previous three releases plenty of explosive action to enjoy. Level design remains strong in Metal Slug 4 and there's plenty variation in each of the stages. You're going to be on foot a lot of the time, but there are a host of vehicle-themed spots in levels that will mix things up, not to mention the craft you can commandeer which come equipped with a wealth of fire-power. You can even charge the vehicles into a barrage of enemies with a quick press of the button for maximum carnage.Play controls have always been very responsive in the series, so its no surprise that the developers pretty much left things as they were for this fourth release. Moving around is quick and easy, as are the shooting and explosive mechanics. Vehicles add a more intense element to the game and require you to keep an eye out for enemy attacks. No matter how long its been since you last played a Metal Slug game, it's always a bit like riding a bike in how quickly and easily you'll feel right at home with the game again.

Ever present of course is the standard silver Metal Slug, and joining it is a forklift truck. No, that isn’t a typo; a forklift is, honestly, one of vehicles you can commandeer. The other vehicles include several enemy units like the Metal Crow and Rocket Launcher and a rather odd robot thingy, which almost resembles the mutants from Mission 5 of MS2/X. The only other Slug that heralds from previous episodes is the Slug Walker.One new addition is ‘monkey mode’ and this adds a lot of amusement to the proceedings – but at a cost. Level design remains strong in Metal Slug 4 and there's plenty variation in each of the stages. You're going to be on foot a lot of the time, but there are a host of vehicle-themed spots in levels that will mix things up, not to mention the craft you can commandeer which come equipped with a wealth of fire-power. You can even charge the vehicles into a barrage of enemies with a quick press of the button for maximum carnage.Play controls have always been very responsive in the series, so its no surprise that the developers pretty much left things as they were for this fourth release. Moving around is quick and easy, as are the shooting and explosive mechanics.