With meticulously detailed pixel visuals, a head-bopping soundtrack, and a quick layout, Metal Slug Tactics stands up to its icy classic namesake from SNK’s heyday. Although it masterfully adapts the run-and-gun franchise into its first turn-based tactics game, it also avoids sacrificing content for cheesy nostalgia. With the exception of a few irksome bugs and quality-of-life problems, Metal Slug Tactics’ superb retro-inspired shell contains a well-made, unique, grid-based tactics roguelite that deftly transitions its chaotic origins into a more structured genre without skipping a beat.
Metal Slug Tactics
Tactics places you in charge of the Peregrine Falcons, an elite fighting force inside The Normal Army, much to the majority of mainline Metal Slug games (the most recent being Metal Slug 7 from 2009). Metal Slug’s legions of different enemy kinds, unique locales, vast weaponry, and fleet of amazing vehicles are all fully utilized in this spin-off. It’s easy to understand why this seemingly odd turn was a natural progression when you put ingenious twists on series staples, such as rescuing captives to add some other objectives on the battlefield.
Game Overview
Every character has four different unlockable loadouts, each of which caters to a slightly different approach. Marco is an all-arounder whose role as leader means that many of his abilities focus on teamwork in both offensive and defensive scenarios, but one of his loadouts focuses on ranged moves to help maximize the number of Synchronized attacks he can execute with his teammates in one turn. To begin a run, you must choose three of this surprisingly diverse cast of nine characters.
As an alternative, Trevor is a glass cannon who uses movement and offensive-focused tactics to expose his enemies to a million cuts, but one of his selectable loadouts forgoes ranged versatility in favor of close combat. Fio, on the other hand, is a support character that can also function as a self-healing tank and has a ton of useful mobility skills that make her a trustworthy friend for setting up all kinds of dazzling combos.
Gameplay
To put it mildly, calling Metal Slug’s cohesive combat force “The Normal Army” isn’t Shakespearean, nor should it be. The plot and premise follow the “rule of cool,” which is a principle that calls for chunky guns, dieselpunk machines, loads of explosions, and villains that are typically nonsensical and seem lifted from an action film from the 1980s. The artwork of Metal Slug Tactics is so amazing that it fills every available space on your screen with as much charm and personality as possible. Your characters are never still, even when they are sheltering behind cover, and tanks and battleships chug and buckle under the sheer weight of their destructive horsepower. Explosions also crash upon the grid with a satisfying flourish. It would be an understatement to say that Metal Slug Tactics “oozes personality”; it is evident in every pixel.
Metal Slug’s displays are dotted with subtle details that perfectly capture its lighthearted, cartoonish atmosphere. You might see soldiers lounging on the sides of a map near a desert battleground, or you might see Ralf, a member of Peregrine Falcon, playing a video game on a little TV in the barracks. The game is so well-animated that you can determine which 2D fighter he is playing. Every time I attempt a 45-minute run, I continue to find new things to laugh at in between turns because of how consistently this attention to detail is applied.
Games Storyline
Each battle’s objectives are entertaining but typical of any tactics game, such as destroying all or some of the opponents on the field, destroying an enemy convoy, defending civilians, surviving a predetermined number of turns, arriving at a checkpoint on the map, or escorting an NPC to a specific location. Even so, the most of them will only last three to five turns and give you useful treasure that you may use to boost the attack strength of one of your three characters, purchase a new upgrade in a shop, or obtain reinforcements that can be used to bring a fallen colleague back to life.
Secondary objectives, such as missions that require you to take the least amount of damage, arrange your team to chase assists with one another, or finish a level in a specific number of turns to gain bonus loot, reward and promote skillful play with intriguing extra difficulties.
Every boss battle effectively assesses your proficiency using Tactics’ movement and cooperative mechanics. For instance, you are up against a battleship that can hardly accommodate all of its guns on its deck in the first boss. It uses homing missiles to target your squad, and you have to get units that are in danger under cover while ensuring they have enough adrenaline to withstand damage. You must ensure that your crew can move from platform to platform and deal damage from enough cover because the ship will also shoot down one of the platforms your squad is using to target them every few turns.
Metal Slug Tactics’ impressive mechanical improvements, synchronization and adrenaline, support its smaller scale. By moving about and gaining advantages for leaping across elevations and navigating narrow spaces, the Falcons can build up Adrenaline. A character’s capacity to use special skills and avoid oncoming attacks is powered by this adaptable resource. Linking these two essential weapons for battlefield success compels you to keep your party moving in addition to creating a demanding and rewarding push-and-pull between defense and offensive.
In a turn-based tactics game, this masterfully converts the run-n-gun roots of the franchise into, well, running and gunning. With restrictions on their attack range or skill set rather than their range of motion, even characters like the heavy Ralf—who could be slower or tankier in other tactics games—are extremely mobile.
Conclusion
Metal Slug Tactics is a painstakingly made tribute to the arcade classic that never loses sight of its passion for the game without comprehending what makes Metal Slug great, from its vibrant, cartoonish graphics to its upbeat soundtrack. Rather, it brings a few unique additions to the genre of tactics that skillfully combine the action-packed platforming and shooting of Metal Slug with a tactics grid. Despite the annoying issues that hinder it, I’m still enjoying every run as I try out different tactics and team configurations.
