Metal Slug 4; a.k.a. franchise black sheep

Printable View

18 Jun 2002, 02:46 AM
fiend_of_rejections

Metal Slug 4; a.k.a. franchise black sheep

And I don't mean black sheep in a good way.

I know most people didn't expect MS4 to topple MS3 as the side scrolling shooter GOD, but what this team(Mega) did to a great franchise is totally unacceptable.
Don't let the good character design fool you. I went to find it in my local arcade. I admit, I was exstatic at first... but that was before I put in my first quarter.
Let me start off with the graphics.
Drab. VERY drab. There's like a million shades of gray. It's like KoF2001, but with more white than black. Blech. In my opinion, its looks worse than MS1... and I thought it looked decent.

Stage design: Linear. No multiple paths, no varied design. Everything looks the same after a while. ALOT of the backgrounds have been rehashed from MS1 and MS2. Well, not alot... more like, too much. For the most part, you just travel a straight line.

Boss design: All the bosses are multi-tiered, mech dealies. Robots, tanks, depos... your normal fare.

Weapons: 2x machine gun. Whoop-dee-do. It's like a handgun, only faster. You can't shoot diagonally. I haven't seen any other weapons.

Slugs: You've seen the pictures. Nothing special. The enemy tank, the fork lift, and it seems you can ride an enemy robot that appeared in MS3. Screams of originality.

Other: Some medal system BS.... I still don't know what it's for, but it's probably for score. Oh yea, you can turn into a monkey. Funny how you can call somethings "new" when you modify a sprite.

Difficulty: Well, I guess this is a bit of a highlight.... Until you start pumping dollars upon dollars into the machine. MS3 was hard, but it was "skill" hard. If there was a pattern, you'd figure it, and save bucks the next time you encounter a boss or an area. MS4 is just blatanty cheap. In certain areas, the game will leave you in one area for minutes on end. Just a constant stream of enemies. I swear, the game left me in one area to fight a horde of mummies and soldiers for over 5 minutes. BTW, the soldiers can kill you with a knife slash in mummy mode. Boss fights are too lengthy. Grrrr....

So yea, I'm terribly dissapointed. I've wasted about 5 bucks, too. I guess I can always run back to MS3. Yea... *sniff*
18 Jun 2002, 02:49 AM
Johnny Nighttrain

here's hoping you're completely wrong.

if not... :(
18 Jun 2002, 02:52 AM
Freeter

Re: Metal Slug 4; a.k.a. franchise black sheep

Quote:

Originally posted by fiend_of_rejections
You can't shoot diagonally.

They STILL haven't implemented that yet? Crackheads...
18 Jun 2002, 02:54 AM
Regus

Re: Metal Slug 4; a.k.a. franchise black sheep

Quote:

Originally posted by fiend_of_rejections

And I don't mean black sheep in a good way.

Since when is it good to be the black sheep?

Anyway:

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...&threadid=4813

Just one of a few.
18 Jun 2002, 02:56 AM
fiend_of_rejections

Quote:

here's hoping you're completely wrong.

I'm with you, man. :( :( :( :(
Meanwhile, I'll be playing the last stage of MS3. :D
*drool*
18 Jun 2002, 03:05 AM
fiend_of_rejections

Re: Re: Metal Slug 4; a.k.a. franchise black sheep

Quote:

Originally posted by Freeter

They STILL haven't implemented that yet? Crackheads...

Sarcasm, noted. I meant for 2x gun. It's not like the machine gun where you can shoot/point 360.
18 Jun 2002, 09:34 AM
Werewolf

Well what did people expect, SNK has a habbit of making games so similar and I really didn't expect something that different from the Metal Slug series, I love Metal Slug but it pisses me off they don't release more of them to other consoles at a more reasonable price and the fact that they don't support the Neo Geo CD kills me to. King of the Fighters is another game that falls victim to this too... it is like Capcom's many Street Fighter II games but only with a $300 price tag... don't get me wrong I like KofF but I don't think there is enough difference from one game to the next one to warrant a purchase of $300+ cart.
18 Jun 2002, 09:48 AM
Cheebs

Just to clear one thing up, there are branching paths in MS4.
18 Jun 2002, 11:19 AM
Werewolf

Quote:

Originally posted by Chibi Nappa
Just to clear one thing up, there are branching paths in MS4.

That's good to hear, probably the best thing I liked about MS3 since it adds alot of replay value to it :)
18 Jun 2002, 11:39 AM
supermario

Re: Metal Slug 4; a.k.a. franchise black sheep

Quote:

[You can't shoot diagonally

There is no part in Metal Slug that you NEED to have diagonal shooting. There is a jump button for high to reach enemies.

And the only time when I have seen the need for it whas in Metal Slug 3, stage four on the pyramid, when the flying bugs attack you. But they give you a Heavy Machine gun, which if aimed reapeadly up and down shoots diagonally and an Enemy Chaser, which homes on them.