Metal Slug 3 is touted to be one of the best arcade games ever, and the Metal Slug series itself an arcade classic. My days in the arcade were non-existent, therefore I have never played a Metal Slug game. When SNK released the third arcade game in the series with a few enhancements for the Xbox, I really wanted to try it out after hearing many positive things about it. I felt nostalgic when I turned on my console, cherished playing this title, as this is something that the next-generation systems have lacked quite dearly.

The plot behind this title isn’t too complex, but this is the case for all arcade games. Basically, General Morden is trying to take over the world yet again. Although his armies were defeated and the remnants of his army were being picked off slowly, strange things began to occur. Before long, everyone came to the conclusion that extraterrestrials were behind all of these new events, and once again they are led by the evil General Morden.

Metal Slug 3 is a classic two-dimensional side-scrolling shooter game. In the beginning, you pick one of four characters (Marco, Eri, Tarma and Fio), all of whom have the exact same abilities and only vary in appearance. This game is comprised of five missions, which differ in difficulty and locations. Although the game is fairly linear, I noticed that there is quite a large amount of paths that you can take. In the first mission alone, you can take go through the sewers, underwater or battle it out on a boat.

The controls are very simple due to the fact that this is originally an arcade game. The left thumbstick is used to control your character. You can move horizontally or aim up with it. The A button is for jumping, X is for shooting your weapon while B is for throwing grenades. Besides the left trigger + A button combination which is used for the Slug Attack, the control scheme is very simple.

In Metal Slug 3, your character starts out with a minimal pistol and a mere 10 grenades. If the combat becomes too close and personal, then the pistol becomes a bayonet. However, throughout the game you will often come across Prisoners of War. As you untie them, they will whip out a pair of pants and will drop a power-up. As soon as they have done this, they will scamper out of your way. Power-ups are essential in this game. One of their functions is to upgrade your pistol. For a limited amount of time, you can turn your pistol into a heavy machine gun, rocket launcher, shotgun, flame-thrower, super grenade launcher and many more. You usually have a limited amount of ammo, so use it wisely.

What sets apart this game from other 2D side-scrollers is the fact the ability to hop into one of many vehicles and to control them throughout levels. The most common vehicle is the Metal Slug itself, which is a tank-like vehicle that has infinite machine gun ammo, as well as a limited heavy-duty cannon. Besides the Metal Slug, there are other vehicles to control, including a submarine and a helicopter. What makes this game even more unique is the incorporation of animals as Slugs, as you can hop on an ostrich, an elephant or even a camel. And the amazing thing is, these animals also have cannons and machine guns. Innovative, eh? These slugs can withstand three direct hits, and after that you will have to evacuate right away. The only thing that I have yet to describe about these machines is their Slug Attack. By pressing the A button and the left trigger, you will shoot out of the metal and your Slug will perform suicide by blowing itself up and doing massive damage to the enemy that it was directed to.

There is a large amount of other items scattered throughout the missions, including jewels, bones, coins, keys, teddy bears and all kinds of various food. The purpose of these items is merely to raise your score, although the food can have a hilarious effect on you. If you eat too much too quickly, then your character grows fat on the screen and slows down. Besides enemies, there are a few creatures that will actually help you along your way. My favorite by far was the small monkey, which (when released from a cage) follows you along your journey and shoots at enemies with an uzi. Other helpers include a storm cloud, a satellite and the famous Hyakutaro Ichimonji.

The enemy variety in Metal Slug 3 is amazing. You will encounter everything from Giant Crabs to Flying Sharks, from Zombies to UFOs, from Jellyfish to Red Arabians. Even Nazis are available for slaughtering! All of the enemies that you encounter have different weapons, different weaknesses and are all very unique. Everyone’s favorite enemy, though, must be the zombies. If they manage to catch up to you, then you turn into a zombie yourself and your grenade attack turns into a steady gushing of blood. Very entertaining to use as an attack and watch as well. Before you conclude a mission, you must win in a showdown against certain humongous, treacherous and intimidating bosses that will give you quite a scare.

If you manage to beat the main mission mode, then two more extra “modes” will be unlocked. These are in the form of mini-games, and are called Fat Island and Storming the Mothership. Fat Island is an entertaining mini-game, the objective of which is to reach 200 kg, which is done by eating as much food as possible. This mini-game can be played in both single and multi-player. Storming the Mothership actually puts you in the shoes of Morden’s army. You select what type of commando you wish to be, and gain the support of more commandos by rescuing them along the way. Both mini-games extend the gameplay quite a bit.

The replay value is quite high due to the game’s toughness. You see, Metal Slug 3 features three difficulty levels. However, beating the game is extremely tough even on easy. For each mission, you start out with five continues and up to five lives (recommended). If you get hit or touch an enemy, you lose a life right away most of the time. Then you will simply respawn at the spot at which you died. If you lose all of your lives and choose to continue however, you must start at the beginning of the mission. This was a good idea because if you could continue where you left off you could probably cruise through this game in an hour. However, some missions (especially the last one) are so darned difficult, that you will get frustrated, throw your controller in disgust, leave the house but will eventually return to attempt to finally beat the mission. Even when you have completed the game, it will lure you back because this quick title will beckon you to beat your previous high score.

The multi-player aspect was handled fairly well, as you can play through all of the five missions in co-op mode, which means that you and a friend can fight together against the enemies. The multi-player occurs on the same screen, as no split-screen options are available. However, this works incredibly well and fighting together really is a lot more fun than alone. There is no Xbox Live for the actual gameplay, yet there is Xbox support for high scores. You can submit your high scores and see where you rank against players all around the world.

Graphically, Metal Slug 3 is obviously not on-par with the games being released today, mainly because this game is a rehash of a four year-old arcade game. However, the graphics are still very captivating. The environments (which are hand-drawn) are very lush and colorful. The characters and enemies are also very well-drawn, comical, although somewhat primitive by today’s standards. The character animations are few in amount, yet priceless. As you can tell, not everyone will enjoy these graphics, although others will not only accept them and appreciate the art, but will also cherish every inch of every mission. While playing this game, you will encounter no slowdown whatsoever, even when the screen is jam-packed with enemies.

The audio department is also somewhat lacking by today’s standards. The background music is a bit cheesy and repetitive, yet it fits in with the game perfectly. There are no character voices nor any dialogue, mainly due to the fact that this is an arcade game. However, the deep-voiced guy that tells you what power-up you just obtained or says “Stage 1… Start” really makes you think of '90s games. It seems like such a familiar voice, which might be because all games back then had an announcer with the same voice. Finally, the sound effects are not realistic, yet the extent of the poor “pow-pow-pow” effects and the like fit in with games like these, and they should never be taken away.

Overall, Metal Slug 3 is a very interesting game. Although it is nothing like most of the games coming out nowadays for next-generation consoles, it is still very fun. Blasting hundreds of enemies throughout five missions is as fun as it was for arcade gamers four years ago. Metal Slug 3 is the kind of game that my collection was sorely missing, and I had a blast playing through this very frustrating, yet rewarding game. The current price is $40, which is sort of high for a game that was released four years ago, so I deem it necessary to wait until the price drops to between $20 and $30. When that happens, pick this up right away.

Related Reviews:
Metal Slug 4 & 5

Recommended: Yes

Write a Review