Metal Slug Anthology Review

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(More customer reviews)After numerous delays, SNK has finally brought the Metal Slug Anthology to the PS2. This game has already been out for a few months on the Wii and for about a month on the Sony PSP, but the PS2 version is the best version to get of this game.

Think of Metal Slug as Contra on steroids/crack and you'll have a proper understanding of what all of these games are about. For the most part, you run to the right side of the screen laying waste to everything in your past while rescuing hostages and sometimes getting access to vehicles called Metal Slugs to cause even more damage.Most of the game is spent running and shooting, but they also spice things up with some shooter type segments in which you're in a flying vehicle of some sort (and at one point a small submarine type thing).

Basically, you get all 7 proper Metal Slug games on one disc (well, really 6 as Metal Slug X was a re-working of part 2 that fixed most of the extreme slow down problems of Metal Slug 2), all are emulated almost perfectly from the original SNK Neo-Geo system ROM's.The only slight downside is that there is some in game loading when you finish one area of a level and are heading to the next area.The game will pause for about 1 to 3 seconds (though the music will keep going) while the game loads the next area.While some purists will decry this and say that it ruins the game, it only breaks up the breakneck pace just the very slightest and was kind of unavoidable.

The games are slightly letterboxed with black bars on the left & right side of the TV screen to approximate the original arcade screen size.

As for the games themselves, I found them to be arcade perfect ports all the way disregarding the slight load times.Some people are upset that they didn't just put the PS2 ports of 3, 4, and 5 that have already been out for the PS2either in the states or Japan on this collection instead of emulating the original arcade ROM's, but I think that these emulations do a much better job of preserving every single frame of animation as well as the proper arcade feel of the original Neo-Geo titles.There is some slow down at times, but this was present in the original games and can actually help out in hectic parts at times.

The animation is the most important thing of Metal Slug games and since these are great emulations of the original ROM's, nothing is missing in this regard. The sound/music is also duplicate flawlessly.The Metal Slug games have always had great music anyway.

Some people have complained that there is a lag in the controls at times, but I've played through all 7 games and found that the control is dead on.

The first Metal Slug feels a little more sluggish compared to the rest of the games, but that's more due to how they chose to animate your character when you turn from left to right as well as jumping.Never did I die as a result of some lag time in the controls, everything just felt right in that regard.

Probably the best part of this collection is the fact that Metal Slug 6 (which is a fairly recent game) has been included on this game. I would say that next to part 3 (which was ported to the US X-Box but not the US PS2), it's the best game of the series by far.

Extras include unlockable art galleries when you beat each game, you can listen to the music of each game and there's a text interviewwith some of the original game developers about the Metal Slug series.

They could have maybe included some of the combat school extras from the Neo Geo CD versions of 1 & 2, but you really can't complain too much.

Each game takes around 45 to 60 minutes to beat, which might not be seen as much, but these are more of old school games in which the point was a quick burst of pure pick-up-and-play gameplay. But when you combine all 7 of these in one package for only 40 dollars, you can't beat it for pure adrenaline pumping fun.

The PS2 version corrects most of the errors of the PSP and Wii versions as well as minimizing the in game load times.

Highly recommended!

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Product Description:
Seven incredible METAL SLUG games on one UMD - METAL SLUG 1, METAL SLUG 2, METAL SLUG X, METAL SLUG 3, METAL SLUG 4, METAL SLUG 5, METAL SLUG 6

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