Metal Slug 2 - Arcade Review - The Old School Way

rye05 (64)in #gaming • 7 years ago

Counter-Strike, Wolfenstein, Call of Duty or Overwatch, all of these are all great if not the best FPS shooter games ever made.

But sometimes, you just feel like you want to just sit down and do mindless shooting, no teamwork, no communication, no need for internet access, just plain shooting and shooting till your heart is content. And one of the best way to do it is the old school way, the way where instead of shooting enemies from a first person view, they're being gunned (or bombed) from the side.

And here comes Metal Slug 2, a total upgrade and much much better game than its predecessor.

I remember playing this back in the 90s in our neighborhood plenty of times. I just put a 1 peso coin then play with my friends till we ran out of coins.

If you have a Neo-Geo by then (which wasn't popular in the Philippines), well you were lucky because you can play this game as much as you want.

SNK did gave us grace when they created this game and we all thought Metal Slug 1 was already the best :-)

Metal Slug 2 on Vita

Character Selection Screen

Story

2 years have passed since the events of Metal Slug 1. After the defeat of General Morden, various groups from all over the world who support the general's ideology became active. Although the Regular army considered them minor, eventually the Rebely army acted as one and it was concluded that they can't be united unless General Morden is alive.

And so, our heroes sat out on another operation to beat the Rebel army and once for all stop whoever is behind the scene. Due to the sensitivity and danger of the mission, our 2 heroes are accompanied by 2 special ops member.

Unlike the first game, you can choose and any play any character you want in Metal Slug 2.

Characters

Marco

Ranked up to major and the hero from the previous game, Marco will embark on a journey again to beat the great general and stop his evil plans.

Tarma

Marco's best friend and was with him during the first game, Tarma who moved up the ranks to captain will be with Marco to fend another upcoming coup and try to save the world with his best friend.

Eri

An orphan and former street gang leader, she was eventually discovered by Government Forces Intelligence Agency because of her leadership skills and was trained to become a spy. But she despises assassination and requested to be transferred to S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S. and was granted because of her skills and was sent to assist Marco and Tarma in their mission.

Fio

An heir to a wealthy military family, Fio was required to become a soldier because it's a tradition in their family. Due to her mom unable to give birth after her, she was the first female heir and is also expert in medicine. She's the total opposite of Eri.

General Morden

The antagonist in the first game, he was able to escape prison and became allies with an alien race thus starting another coup plus invasion of the world. During the final stage, he was betrayed by the alien race and was captured resulting to the alliance of the protagonists and the Rebel army.

Here is being kidnapped by the alien race lol

Graphics

Just like Metal Slug 1, Metal Slug 2 has some of the best 2D graphics that you'll see in that 90s era.

Heroes are amazingly well created and there would be a character that will eventually become you favorite.

The enemy soldiers and enemy machines are greatly designed too plus have more additional animations than the first one. The enemies are also not limited to just the green guys, there are the desert soldiers , mummies, spider like monsters and even aliens to fight.

The backgrounds for each level has great details that it suits really well to the movements and actions during your gameplay. There are even stages where enemies are mummies and you can become a mummy too.

And you can also get fat too on certain stages.

Sound Effects and Music

The game has a military theme and the music is perfect for each stage. There's different music in different stages making the actions and backgrounds suitable for the music.

The sound effects of this game is like a work of art, each sounds corresponds to every shot, every bomb, your characters laughing or dying, even the machine sound effects are all perfectly executed.

Source

Gameplay

The goal for the game is simple and like the first game. You advance through all stages, defeating enemies while rescuing as many hostages as you can. Each level is totally different and gets harder and harder as you clear each stage.

Sample Gameplay

Basic Weapons

Metal Slug 2 consists of several different weapons that will help you beat the enemies.

These are:

The basic handgun with unlimited ammo. This is your first weapon and will be with you always. The 2 female characters have a different type of handgun though.

When near an enemy, your character will automatically use the melee weapon. Aside from knives, characters also use kicks, tonfas and even a boxing glove.

And of course, the 10 ammo grenade that you is powerful and great for bosses and stronger enemies.

Special Weapons

Special weapons are limited guns that has stronger firepower than the normal handgun.

Heavy Machine Gun

Shotgun

Laser

Rocket Launcher

Flame

Flame Grenade

Super Vehicles

In the first game, there was only 1 super vehicle but in this game, there are 4 that is helpful on every stage.

Camel

Robot

Jet Fighter

Tank

Stages

And finally, beating the game requires finishing all of these stages.

Stage 1

Boss

Stage 2

Boss

Stage 3

Boss

Stage 4

Boss

Stage 5

Boss

Final Mission

Boss

Controls

Controls are very easy and it will take you maybe a minute to fully master it but one thing I noticed is that controlling the vehicles is much responsive and smoother here than its predecessor.

Overall

If Contra is the classic in NES, then Metal Slug is to the arcades and Neo Geo. This will be one of those games that will be played and enjoyed no matter what generation you are.

Just like the first game, this one is such a classic and very addicting. New stages, new enemies, new weapons, it's the perfect run and gun for anyone.

All pics and vids without source are screenshots from my Vita and youtube channel