The Metal Slug series holds a special place in the hearts of retro gaming fans. The games, particularly the first three titles, represent run-and-gun gameplay excellence that picks up the mantle that Konami let rust with its once-popular Contra series. A while back, SNK, Metal Slug’s publisher, revealed that a new Slug was in the oven, but no one expected that the game would come with a radical gameplay shift when its trailer dropped during Geoff Keighly’s Summer Game Fest.
The Leikir Studio-developed Metal Slug Tactics takes the elements that people love about Metal Slug, and presents them as a “dynamic tactical RPG with roguelike elements,” according to the game’s Steam page. It has the cool, undulating, cartoon-like sprites. It has Marco, Eri, Fio, and Tarma, the series’ familiar, player-controlled soldiers. It has the scruffy hostages. It has the huge bosses. And it has the Metal Slug, a super-tank that unleashes big hurt. Joining those staples are items fresh to the Metal Slug series: a grid, an isometric view, and what appears to be turn-based gameplay. That’s not Metal Slug. Yet, it is.
A New Metal Slug
The Metal Slug series, despite its cutesy exterior, is about military people doing military things. The series sees the heroes battle General Morden and his Rebel Army, aliens, sasquatches, and other enemies using heavy machine guns, grenades, airplanes, submarines, or the eponymous Metal Slug. In short, all the parts you need for a thinking person’s war game have existed since the series’ 1996 debut.
Metal Slug Tactics’ reveal trailer highlighted how some of the familiar elements are remixed into a tactical-RPG. Marco hurls a grenade at an enemy fighter a few tiles away. There’s an unexplained Sync move that lets at least two characters—in this case, Marco and Eri—attack a target in a single turn. It recalls a traditional Slug game’s two-player action, in a way. Intimidating bosses from previous games make appearances to torment the heroes.
A Bold, New Way to Play
The remixed, classic Metal Slug parts aren’t the only reason to be excited by Tactics. Unlike traditional Metal Slug games, Metal Slug Tactics has procedurally generated missions. Although some classic Slug games feature branching paths that give them exploratory aspects, Tactics’ randomized levels ensure that no two levels are exactly the same. I like that concept a lot, as it gives the game enduring freshness.
One of my biggest gripes with long-running video game series is that its entries eventually congeal into a mushy sameness if developers don’t build on established concepts. For example, the American Super Mario Bros. 2 is vastly superior to its Japanese counterpart because it dared to be different with its multiple, unique, playable characters; lifting abilities; and Sub-Space. Likewise, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has mechs and conspiracies like the mainline Metal Gear Solid titles, but it focuses on a sword-carrying protagonist who hacks and slashes his way through enemies, instead of stealthing around them with tranq guns.
Metal Slug Tactics’ randomized levels represent a significant gameplay change, but the game’s pace that may prove even more surprising. Traditionally, Metal Slug games are platform shooters. With Tactics, the series appears to go the grid-based-movement route. This potentially slower pace isn’t necessarily negative; Gears of War successfully went tactical with the outstanding Gears Tactics. It’s good to break away from the safe and familiar, both in terms of game development and artistic enjoyment.
But There’s a Dark Side…
Currently, Metal Slug Tactics lacks a release date, but it has my curiosity for the weeks, months, or years that it will take for the game to hit PC. If this is the result of SNK licensing its properties out to other companies (Dotemu is licensee that double as the publisher outside of Japan), I’m all in for new takes on classic franchises. Unfortunately, my desire to purchase Metal Slug Tactics is severely kneecapped by the realization that a major SNK shareholder—the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman—is allegedly an awful human being.
So, what’s a conscientious Metal Slug fan to do? Simply hope that the stakeholder situation changes, so that I can enjoy Tactics without guilt. Until then, Metal Slug Tactics remains a game I want, but not a game I need, despite looking really, really good.
For additional, in-depth video game talk, visit the PCMag Pop-Off YouTube channel. There we’ll talk E3 and Summer of Gaming.
