ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug 5

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Metal Slug 5 is an Action-Platformer released in 2003 in arcades, and ported to PC and the NEOGEO AES home console in 2004. This is the sixth in a series that would come to be one of the pinnacles of the “run and gun”-style Action-Platformers, well-known for its unique art style with beautiful fluid animation and massive, complex war machines, with this release of the game on Nintendo Switch coming out in 2018.

As with the previous game, Metal Slug 5 doesn’t do much to change the series formula, but there are still a few noteworthy changes here. Long-established characters Eri and Tarma once again rejoin Marco and Fio (Metal Slug 4‘s Trevor and Nadia have yet to appear again in the mainline series, though they do show up in spin-off games), and there is now a Mega Man-style slide move. Add in some new weapons and vehicles and that’s about it.

This release of the game includes a new “Hi-Score Mode” that challenges players to score as much as they can in one run before seeing a game over screen. There is also a new “Caravan Mode” that does much the same, but with the limit being five minutes. In addition, this release of the game includes both English and Japanese versions, and gives players a decent array of options, including various display options, sound options, challenge modifiers, button mapping, and online leaderboards.

Overall, Metal Slug 5 is yet another solid entry in the series, well worth picking up. At this point, I don’t really have much more to add – this is a solid Action-Platformer and genre fans will definitely want to give it a try.

tl;dr – Metal Slug 5 is an Action-Platformer that makes a few small changes to the series formula, but overall this is more of the same great Action-Platformer gameplay, and well worth picking up for anyone who enjoys the genre.

Grade: B+

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