Let’s not mess about here, Metal Slug 4 was awful. Sadly its development was caught up in the turmoil of SNK’s collapse and its re-emergence as Playmore (later to be SNK Playmore). Out sourced to a little known Korean developer called Mega Enterprise, Metal Slug 4 was a patched together effort which resembled more of a Mugen-style hack than a professionally accomplished product.

After the grandeur of Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug 4 was nothing short of disappointing.

At 13 years old, the tried and trusted Neo-Geo MVS hardware was starting to show its age, so it came as pleasant surprise when Metal Slug 5 was announced, and launched into arcades in late 2003. The question was though, who was programming this new Slug game and would it do the series justice, unlike its predecessor?

Fortunately, Metal Slug 5 was programmed jointly in-house and by Noise Factory (the Japanese developer behind the brilliant Sengoku 2001 and Rage of the Dragons). Therefore, most of the features introduced by Mega Enterprise are removed and the game looks and plays in a considerably more polished manner than Slug 4.

Which is a good thing, as this was the last Metal Slug game to be released on the Neo-Geo hardware, and not only did it get the standard MVS and AES releases, SNK Playmore also provided the game in a very nice JAMMA kit and produced home ports for the PlayStation 2 and X-Box.

The story is a bit thin, but gives us a reunion of our favourite Slug characters, meaning Player 1 and Player 2 can choose to play as either Marco, Tarma, Eri or Fio (Nadia and Trevor from Slug 4 aren’t mentioned – no great loss there). Then it’s straight into the action as our heroes battle against the Ptolemaic Army who are generally up-to-no-good and have stolen plans for the Metal Slug super vehicle.

Gameplay is straightforward run-and-gun, and anyone familiar with the previous games will feel instantly at home. Each credit gives you three lives, and it’s still one-hit and you’re dead. As standard you’re armed with a pistol with infinite ammo, and ten grenades, but there are plenty of power-ups to collect on the way by destroying certain enemies, or, in the main, rescuing hostages. If you get killed during a level you’ll lose all the hostages you’ve saved up to that point. Get to the end of the level unscathed and with plenty of freed hostages and you’ll get rewarded with lots of bonus points.

Although there is some re-use of previous Metal Slug backgrounds, it is nowhere near as blatant as Slug 4’s use of old graphic assets, and is usually fairly brief. The enemies have been redrawn and it’s refreshing to see opponents who aren’t part of General Morden’s army or alien invaders. End of level bosses are typically large, and well animated, guaranteed to give your reflexes a workout.

A new “slide” move is introduced (pull down and press B) which is useful at times, and actually necessary in a few places, and the dual machine-gun power-up returns. There are no new weapons to find sadly, and the flame-shot is missing altogether. “Big” mode is here somewhere, apparently, but I have yet to activate it. The useless “Monkey” mode from Slug 4 has gone, as have all the rather naff Slug variants introduced in that game.

And what about the Metal Slug? Our trusty Super Vehicle 001 makes regular appearances through the levels, along with the Slug-Mariner, Slug Flyer and the all new Slug Gunner. The Slug Gunner is a great addition, very well animated with some nice features, one of the best new Metal Slug variants since the Slug Flyer was introduced in Metal Slug 2.
There’s also the really neat looking Spider-Slug and the Slug Car – which looks like a Fiat 500 with a cannon strapped to it. I was a bit disappointed there were no “animal” Slugs this time, the Camel, Elephant and Ostrich were always really amusing (as well as useful) and added to the style of the earlier installments.

One of the great things about Metal Slug X and Metal Slug 3 were all the little nuances, like the Elephant Slug, “Thunder Cloud”, Allen O’Neil’s demise, suicidal mummy, the explorer, Hyakutaro Ichimonji… I could go on for ages. Little elements like this provided the series with a much-loved charm. Lamentably, there are no little features to look out for in this episode, which is a real shame.

Music is good, a selection of rock infused tunes that suit the game very well, but I can’t help but miss the soundtracks of composer Hiya! who scored the first three games in the series. Sound effects are great, though largely re-used from previous games.

The story, as presented through the game, is not particularly cohesive or fathomable, and although this doesn’t overly detract from the fun in playing the game, it does make the experience feel a little random. However, not long after the game was originally launched, some fans found a number of unused sprites and other game assets hidden in the game’s code, heavily hinting that the game was not finished properly and the release rushed.

Given that MVS releases soldiered on for another 6 months after Slug 5, it’s a shame SNK Playmore didn’t release a revised edition of the game with the missing content programmed back in… a Metal Slug 5 Special or Metal Slug X2 if you like. But, in retrospect, there probably wasn’t the time to do so.The game is not as large as Metal Slug 3 with its numerous branching paths; but nevertheless, it’s got as much action and longevity as the first few installments, and Slug 3 was always a bit too big for my liking. As a huge Metal Slug fan I found Slug 5 to be readily enjoyable, and a massive improvement over the dire Mega Enterprise effort.

Metal Slug 5 is a worthy entry into the series, and whilst it does not quite reach past glories, it’s a very playable, and fun, run and gun affair that no Neo-Geo owner or Metal Slug fan should be without.

Metal Slug 5
Version tested: SNK Neo-Geo MVS (JAMMA)
Also available on: Sony PlayStation 2 / Microsoft X-box / SNK Neo-Geo AES / SNK Neo-Geo MVS (cartridge) / Microsoft Windows