Metal Slug Tactics pushes hard on the boundaries of the vaunted run-and-gun arcade series.
As a true fan once wrote, Metal Slug games are about “crazy vehicles, amusing enemies and levels, and some of the best sprite art you’ll ever see in gaming.”
Turn-based, grid-mapped tactics have a natural tendency to feel slow and to strip characters down to chess pieces that can do two or three things.
For better or worse, I don’t have a deep well of Metal Slug nostalgia to pull from; when I finally got into the SV-001 (the “Super Vehicle-001” tank that can walk and crouch), I was very confused, and then very amused.
It feels like a goofy, fast-paced, screen-ripping ’90s SNK arcade title, but it also plays as a devilishly challenging grid tactics game.
The renowned run-and-gun arcade series is pushed to its limits in Metal Slug Tactics. When it’s your character’s turn, you can run, but only for a set number of tiles. You can shoot, but not quickly, and only after deciding on the best target and equipment.
Is this simply Into the Breach with SNK artwork and aesthetics from the classic era? If so, you’re welcome.
A true Metal Slug fan once described the games as having “some of the best sprite art you’ll ever see in gaming, crazy vehicles, and amusing enemies and levels.”. I think that’s what you’re getting in Tactics. Grid-mapped, turn-based strategies are inherently slow and reduce characters to two- or three-purpose chess pieces. The action-movie mood is maintained by the exaggerated-just-enough artwork, the guns, explosions, and scimitars that go off loudly, and the characters and villains who are unable to stop rocking their bodies.
Your squad usually consists of three characters, each of whom has a few weapons (including, of course, a pistol with limitless ammunition). You are up against an entire isometric level of adversaries, and you can see where they can strike. Your missions are typically to kill ’em all, kill a number of them, kill a certain few of them, kill the leader, or, for a treat, rescue somebody. You fight to prevent a malevolent general and his secret army from blowing up the planet in a variety of stylized but ambiguous locations across the globe.
Your squad wants to move, because the farther they dash each turn, the more “Adrenaline” they build up to power their special abilities and the more damage they can dodge. If they end up next to cover, even better. At the same time, you want to place your fighter and pick a target that one of your other fighters can target, too, scoring a “Sync” where you can both fire at once. This game despises turtling and will actually pop up a “tip” from your comms manager telling you that moving more makes you tougher.
This frenetic spirit applies to the game as a whole. You can do a run of the game in less than two hours’ time, but you won’t see everything, win or lose. You unlock more weapons, characters, and abilities the more times you play, and each character can go down different “tech trees,” turning them into a very different fighter. It’s very session-friendly, and it worked well for me on a Steam Deck, with some occasional but tolerable mouse-pointing and small text.
For better or worse, I don’t have a deep well of Metal Slug nostalgia to pull from; when I finally got into the SV-001 (the “Super Vehicle-001” tank that can walk and crouch), I was very confused, and then very amused. Even without a deep history with the game, I was impressed with what Tactics pulled off. It feels like a goofy, fast-paced, screen-ripping ’90s SNK arcade title, but it also plays as a devilishly challenging grid tactics game. You can dip in, conquer your enemies or get wiped out, get hyped up by a strong soundtrack, and come back whenever you’re ready for more.
Maybe, like me, you’re better at planning than reacting now. And you’re no longer held back by a lack of quarters.
