Metal Slug Tactics Review
Tactical Running-and-Gunning Deja Vu
There’s always some trepidation when adapting a beloved franchise into a new medium. Trying to figure out the best way to honour the original creation while also spinning it into something new takes a mix of creativity and ingenuity to make it work right. Leikir Studio’s Metal Slug Tactics mostly gets things right in its attempt to spin a run-and-gun action franchise into a roguelike grid-based tactical RPG. The core gameplay mechanics and characters are there, but there’s more that could have been done with the storied franchise. What results is a fun title that grows old as the same routines are made and the incentive to try new strategies are only superficially there.
Series villain General Morden is at it again. After escaping from prison, the crafty rebel leader has taken over the neutral city of Sirocco. From there he has sent three of his commanders to take over the surrounding zones: desert, jungle, and desert tombs. These zones — yes, two of which are identical except for the presence of undead enemies — give players a random starting location and put them through three different battlefields, fulfilling objectives until the enemy boss descends to stop the heroes’ Peregrine Falcon Squad’s advance. Bosses and the commanders are plucked from Metal Slug history and are a treat to see glossed up in a tactical setting. Each zone takes at most an hour to complete and players have to replay them often, starting with the same basic setup each time, in order to find Morden’s cronies to prevent his escape.
Metal Slug as a franchise has always had a unique look about it. From characters to enemies, there’s something memorable about how the visuals capture the look of 90s arcade games and this style continues with Metal Slug Tactics. There are eight P. F. Squad heroes from past titles available to control, but the wonderful character designs feel a little wasted. Their abilities are varied and they stand out in a gameplay sense, but beyond a few words back at home base, they never get to showcase any personality. Orders from home base and generic banter with enemy commanders are all the personality quirks that the squad gets a chance to showcase.
Each biome contains a few generalized objectives for the Peregrine Falcons to complete. Most of these battlefields require players to defeat the enemies within, as well as destroy convoy vehicles, or protect series mainstay Rumi as she travels with supplies. That’s generally it for main objectives, though occasionally side ones can include designated targets, surviving a time limit, or using a specific character to gain kills. Overall, these map objectives keep things just varied enough to make gaining experience fun until the area’s boss descends. The roguelike atmosphere doesn’t feel as problematic in the random missions because the variety keeps things interesting enough, unlike the boss fights. The noteworthy exception to this is one specific mission in the desert tombs, where players have to defend stationary miners and prevent undead mummies from reaching them. There’s a sense of frantic anger trying to protect these miners, for if two of the five die the run is over.
Rewards for completing objectives range from an additional weapon or ability upgrade to more reinforcement radios (the ability to revive during combat) to strategic assets. These assets are fun yet overpowered upgrades that can be used anytime during a fight and can range from healing the party to summoning the Metal Slug. There’s some joy to be had from moving around the eponymous tank to mow down enemies in droves with minimal worry. Assets are relatively rare and can bail players out of a jam when presented with a difficult situation.
Capturing the essence of a run-and-gun in a traditionally slow-moving genre like tactical RPGs sounds like a conflict in terms. That’s where the beauty of Metal Slug Tactics comes into play as running and gunning is still very much how to succeed. Perching characters behind cover will cause a quick game over. Playable characters gain adrenaline points to use on skills from zipping around the battlefield, as well as dodge points, which help minimize damage. This makes for a fascinating reversal of expectations as players move long distances to avoid being sitting ducks, while also trying to keep the squad close enough together to maximize sync attacks that occur automatically when enemies are in range of multiple party members.
This novel approach adds a new layer of strategy as some battlefields involve whirling around the enemies taking pot shots at them, while others are easiest to complete with a mad dash to the objective. Juggling between movement, teamwork, and dishing out damage is a wonderful strategic mix to discover. It does make waiting to finish off bosses and commanders more difficult because of the constant onslaught of reinforcements prevents methodical gameplay. There are definitely moments when sacrificing a team member is the best answer to ensure victory, which doesn’t hurt anything long term since the party members all reset to full health after completing each battlefield.
Boss and commander fight arenas shift in different ways. The first way involves a series of floating platforms with a countdown that when it reaches zero a big portion of the map submerges into water killing everyone still on board. This isn’t fully a race against the clock though as new platforms off to the side pop up full of new enemies every few turns as well. The other bosses will just shift the existing battlefield after doing a powerful attack. These attacks have to either be dodged by hiding behind giant metal shields, or by positioning properly to avoid falling endlessly when the boss smashes through to a new level. Figuring out the easiest way to take down these bosses while avoiding their varied superweapons that shift the landscape is thrilling the first couple of times. Excitement turns to tedium when these bosses are fought over and over with the same health against party members using similar movesets set to take them down easiest. Once the challenge has been removed through repeated success these fights end up taking less time, which diminishes their wonderful mechanics.
There are ways to tinker with characters to try and freshen them up. With eight different active skills, thirteen passives, and four different weapon loadouts for each party member there are plenty of ways to mix-and-match them. A loadout will have a weapon with infinite uses, another with special ammo, an active ability, and two passive abilities. Different loadouts are easier to work with, with the driving force being that balance of active skills is not quite right. Some skills are notably less useful than others, and picking them at level ups — where players can choose from one of three new skills or an upgrade to an existing one — feels like a selection wasted. By the end of a full run, a few abilities will likely be at their most powerful forms, especially when accompanied by synergetic passives. With the balancing, these abilities can get so powerfully broken that bosses can be downed before they even know what hit them, and there’s little to discourage players from using alternate methods once they have been uncovered.

Nadia’s Iron Lizard is a joy to scoot around like an electric RC car, that likes to explode mummies.
Metal Slug Tactics has a lot of great discovery moments. Figuring out how to make the most of the characters and learning their movesets is great at first. There’s no real incentive to put in that extra effort and these final parts feel like a traditional grind, which gets frustrating with its roguelike structure and the same starting point each time. Whether it is the similar locations, objectives, or the same boss fights there’s nothing really new to see after a few hours. This leaves unlocking new characters and loadouts or shooting for the best endings as the only reasons to continue playing. Since there’s minimal story and no Easter eggs to collect, it quickly feels like things are just spinning their wheels.
The sights and sounds of Metal Slug are found everywhere in Metal Slug Tactics. Everything is an ode to the prior titles in the franchise, from the weakest enemy to the largest boss, there’s a connection to the nostalgic past here. The care put into making the smaller pixel animations feel like their larger counterparts in the run-and-gun entries is commendable. Bosses and character portraits are done with care and it very much feels like a proper part of the franchise. There are only a few environments and enemy designs so there’s a sense of polish through minimalism at work here. The soundtrack is also filled with 90s arcade anthem replicas. Each track brings funk and pulse-pounding hype to simultaneously remind those of the quarter devouring days of the past, while also introducing people to that sensation those older titles used to have. The sound effects similarly match this intensity as it’s hard not to smile when the announcer calls out the game title or a character’s name when they are chosen for the team.
Metal Slug Tactics is a title built on discovery and then repetition. Running and gunning in a tactical sense is evoked wonderfully in the presentation found here. Unfortunately, the short gameplay loop brings things down as limited boss variety and minimal incentive to try something new means that this presentation gets lost in the monotony. A bit more variety or difficulty in recreating overpowered party members would lead to something great here. What is here makes for a worthy addition to the Metal Slug franchise, that luckily does not need quarters to play through time-after-time
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.


Tactical RPGs have rarely felt so fast
It feels like a strategic Metal Slug entry
Little flourishes in animation and soundtrack really pop
Short gameplay loop means lots of repetition
No incentive to try new things
Recent Comments