Январь 2010 Февраль 2010 Март 2010 Апрель 2010 Май 2010
Июнь 2010
Июль 2010 Август 2010
Сентябрь 2010
Октябрь 2010
Ноябрь 2010
Декабрь 2010
Январь 2011
Февраль 2011 Март 2011 Апрель 2011 Май 2011 Июнь 2011 Июль 2011 Август 2011
Сентябрь 2011
Октябрь 2011 Ноябрь 2011 Декабрь 2011 Январь 2012 Февраль 2012 Март 2012 Апрель 2012 Май 2012 Июнь 2012 Июль 2012 Август 2012 Сентябрь 2012 Октябрь 2012 Ноябрь 2012 Декабрь 2012 Январь 2013 Февраль 2013 Март 2013 Апрель 2013 Май 2013 Июнь 2013 Июль 2013 Август 2013 Сентябрь 2013 Октябрь 2013 Ноябрь 2013 Декабрь 2013 Январь 2014 Февраль 2014
Март 2014
Апрель 2014 Май 2014 Июнь 2014 Июль 2014 Август 2014 Сентябрь 2014 Октябрь 2014 Ноябрь 2014 Декабрь 2014 Январь 2015 Февраль 2015 Март 2015 Апрель 2015 Май 2015 Июнь 2015 Июль 2015 Август 2015 Сентябрь 2015 Октябрь 2015 Ноябрь 2015 Декабрь 2015 Январь 2016 Февраль 2016 Март 2016 Апрель 2016 Май 2016 Июнь 2016 Июль 2016 Август 2016 Сентябрь 2016 Октябрь 2016 Ноябрь 2016 Декабрь 2016 Январь 2017 Февраль 2017 Март 2017 Апрель 2017 Май 2017
Июнь 2017
Июль 2017
Август 2017 Сентябрь 2017 Октябрь 2017 Ноябрь 2017 Декабрь 2017 Январь 2018 Февраль 2018 Март 2018 Апрель 2018 Май 2018 Июнь 2018 Июль 2018 Август 2018 Сентябрь 2018 Октябрь 2018 Ноябрь 2018 Декабрь 2018 Январь 2019
Февраль 2019
Март 2019 Апрель 2019 Май 2019 Июнь 2019 Июль 2019 Август 2019 Сентябрь 2019 Октябрь 2019 Ноябрь 2019 Декабрь 2019 Январь 2020
Февраль 2020
Март 2020 Апрель 2020 Май 2020 Июнь 2020 Июль 2020 Август 2020 Сентябрь 2020 Октябрь 2020 Ноябрь 2020 Декабрь 2020 Январь 2021 Февраль 2021 Март 2021 Апрель 2021 Май 2021 Июнь 2021 Июль 2021 Август 2021 Сентябрь 2021 Октябрь 2021 Ноябрь 2021 Декабрь 2021 Январь 2022 Февраль 2022 Март 2022 Апрель 2022 Май 2022 Июнь 2022 Июль 2022 Август 2022 Сентябрь 2022 Октябрь 2022 Ноябрь 2022 Декабрь 2022 Январь 2023 Февраль 2023 Март 2023 Апрель 2023 Май 2023 Июнь 2023 Июль 2023 Август 2023 Сентябрь 2023 Октябрь 2023 Ноябрь 2023 Декабрь 2023 Январь 2024 Февраль 2024 Март 2024 Апрель 2024 Май 2024 Июнь 2024 Июль 2024 Август 2024 Сентябрь 2024 Октябрь 2024 Ноябрь 2024 Декабрь 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Game News |

Metal Slug Tactics review

32693

In the entire history of videogames, there have only been a few recorded cases of a studio performing the forbidden alchemy of transposing a game into another genre entirely. Until now, the most successful was probably R-Type Tactics (originally for the humble PSP, and now currently being remade), but I think the crown might have to go to Metal Slug Tactics.

Need to know

What is it? A turn-based roguelike-ish adaptation of the arcade classic
Release date: November 5, 2024
Expect to pay: £20.99 / $24.99
Developer: Leikir Studio
Publisher: Dotemu
Reviewed on: Windows 11, i9-13900k, Nvidia RTX 4090, 64GB DDR5 RAM
Steam Deck: Playable
Multiplayer? None
Link: Official site

From a distance, and if you squint real hard, Metal Slug Tactics looks a little bit like Into The Breach—not a bad game to crib notes from. Pick three characters, tackle quick turn-based tactical battles on small, hand-crafted maps (no procedural generation here, although enemy spawns are unpredictable) where you have the information advantage. You’ll gain temporary power and resources over an individual run, but unlock new starting options, difficulties and fun wrinkles over time, including new minibosses and a path to the gratifying True Ending. But the actual meat of the combat is as different as it gets from Into the Breach's desperate precision.

Everything here happens in service of running, gunning and generally getting into hugely messy scrums, which is pure Metal Slug. Mission objectives lean towards fast action, throwing your soldiers into a swarm of enemies with objectives like ‘pick off three targets’, ‘get two characters to a location’ or just ‘survive for four turns’, with battles ending the moment the job’s done. Bonuses reward speed. With small battlefields (often tiny enough to fully traverse in just two moves) and bad guys capable of killing your soldiers in just a couple hits, running away isn’t an option. You WILL be attacked.

So you’re best off throwing your three squaddies headfirst into danger. Paradoxically, the riskier you play, the safer you get. Speed is life, and the further a character moves in a turn, the less damage they take when attacked. Sprint as far as you can before attacking (with bonuses for jumping across gaps and down from high ledges), and they become functionally invulnerable, cheekily pirouetting through the air as enemies fruitlessly take shots at them. If I could pull of these kinds of moves in Metal Slug, I'd never need to go to the arcade with more than a 50p coin again.

Military moshing

Image 1 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 2 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 3 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 4 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 5 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)

The potential to become unkillable made wacky cartoon tactics—exploiting overzealous enemy grenadiers, rocket troopers or big incoming artillery attacks—not just viable but incredibly tempting. With fast enough movement (further improved by ending a turn on a blue "cover" square near a stone wall or some sandbags) I delighted in letting my enemies blow themselves to bits trying to hit the invulnerable lunatic that just bounced into the middle of their formation.

Sometimes it's worth just taking a hit—everyone’s revived and fully healed after each fight for free, but screwing up lets you channel that most Metal Slug experience; credit feeding. You’ve got a pool of revives (a resource restocked through some missions) that let you respawn characters straight back into the fight, encouraging risk-taking and pushing limits. This feeds back into the run-and-gun pacing: Wiping out enemies fast enough to complete bonus objectives (providing extra resources or even support drops like the titular, wildly overpowered Metal Slug tank) requires stacking up your squad in complex arrangements to trigger "sync" attacks.

Sync attacks are what really made me feel like a galaxy-brained god of war. So long as a character is within range to use their unlimited-ammo lighter weapon (pistols and knives, mostly, but sometimes grenades), they’ll join in with any ally they see take a shot at no extra cost. Do it right and each of your characters gets three (or more) attacks per turn and the enemies fall like dominoes. Position your squad slightly wrong, and you can end up blowing up your own team or getting backed into a corner with no room to wiggle out. Gratifying when I nailed it, but thanks to the short missions (and runs—15 missions or less), wiping out never felt too frustrating.

Image 1 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 2 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 3 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 4 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 5 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)

There’s just so much to like here mechanically. Each of the four zones has fun environmental quirks, like mummified enemies in the desert that spread their curse on touch, turning that character undead, slow and VERY powerful for one turn. Bosses are high-agility fights of attrition, as your squad dodge big AoEs while trying to outpace a screen-filling mechanical monster on damage. Guest characters Ralf, Clark and Leona (best known from the King of Fighters series) showcase their fighting game moves, with Ralf playing rushdown, while Clark grapples enemies and throws them into range for Leona’s sync attacks.

Aesthetically it’s pure Metal Slug, and that's a sincere compliment. SNK’s OG sprite-work is still uncontested, but Tactics takes a serious shot at recapturing the look from its isometric perspective. While the sprites might not be quite as smoothly shaded, everything is detailed, colorful and clear, with lively pixel soldiers bouncing and wiggling in classic arcade style, making them pop out clearly from their (impressively detailed) backdrops. Almost like they’re bopping along to the hummable Tee Lopes soundtrack, which blends Metal Slug's military march motifs with some properly soulful melodic breakdowns. It’s just a nice game to look at and listen to. And yes, the classic announcer voice is here too.

Shell-shocked

If only each run didn't hit me with some kind of minor bug. Sometimes amusing and cosmetic, like poor Ralf respawning without his arms or a squadmate forgetting if they’re still mummified or not, and other times more frustrating: a clearly open tile inaccessible for no discernable reason, or only available once my squad blocked off all alternate routes, indicating some pathing wackiness.

Image 1 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 2 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 3 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 4 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)
Image 5 of 5

(Image credit: Dotemu)

There are also some perspective issues making it not entirely clear which isometric tiles share planes or lines of sight. Nothing game-breaking or impossible to work around with the occasional click of the Undo Turn button (generously provided twice per mission), but these issues cropped up frequently enough to dull Metal Slug Tactics’ gunmetal sheen. It's simply releasing before it's quite fully ready.

All of these issues could be patched up by the time you read this, but I can only rate the game I got to play. So unless you’re ready to catch a little flak, check the patch notes. Bugs aside, Metal Slug Tactics has been a great little surprise. Win or lose, it’s hard to resist the air-raid siren call of just one more run-and-gun through Morden’s army.



Читайте также

Rumble Defense это интересное сочетание стратегии и Tower Defense

MMORPG Legend of Ymir наконец-то можно предзаказать

Today's Wordle answer for Thursday, December 12




Game24.pro — паблик игровых новостей в календарном формате на основе технологичной новостной информационно-поисковой системы с элементами искусственного интеллекта, гео-отбора и возможностью мгновенной публикации авторского контента в режиме Free Public. Game24.pro — ваши Game News сегодня и сейчас в Вашем городе.

Опубликовать свою новость, реплику, комментарий, анонс и т.д. можно мгновенно — здесь.


Персональные новости

Филиал № 4 ОСФР по Москве и Московской области информирует: В 2024 году 283,4 тысячи женщин и новорожденных Московского региона получили услуги по родовым сертификатам

«Есть, что показать»: Путин назвал Москву одним из лучших мегаполисов мира

Филиал № 4 ОСФР по Москве и Московской области информирует: В Москве и Московской области 650 тысяч пенсионеров старше 80 лет получают пенсию в повышенном размере

Филиал № 4 ОСФР по Москве и Московской области информирует: В 2024 году Отделение СФР по Москве и Московской области назначило единое пособие родителям 370,5 тысячи детей