Metal Slug 7 follows in the footsteps of Contra 4. It's an old franchise, being restarted on the Nintendo DS with a completely new entry. Though, Metal Slug 7 will be released on XBOX Live Arcade eventually aswell.
In my opinion, Metal Slug 7 is the perfect game for a portable, it's quick, pick-up and play action, that you don't need to play for hours to get into. You can get into it straight away, which makes this game awesome.
Metal Slug 7 has the same style of gameplay as the other installments in the series, side-scrolling, runnin 'n' gunnin, arcade action. It's very easy to play, and you don't need to play for hours to get immersed in the game.
In the Main Menu of the game, there's quite a few options, but most of them being unneeded and lame. There's:
Main Mission - Start up the game. Obviously needed.
Combat School - Basically a Tutorial. Nice feature that previous Metal Slugs have been missing.
Options - Pretty needed, because you can change the controls and the sounds settings.
POW List - Gives you a list of the prisoners you've saved. Very unneeded, and adds nothing to the game.
Ranking - Ranks your best scores for beating the game. Not needed, but I guess it's nice to have there.
It looks like there's loads of options there, but really there's only 1 or 2 options that you'll use more than once.
Since Metal Slug 7's on the DS, you may be wondering how it uses the touchscreen. To tell the truth, it does nothing of importance. You can move the map while you're playing, which is really inconvenient, because you're trying to kill people, and well... STAY ALIVE. The game could easily have been put on any other console, but I guess there was a bigger audience for it then on the 360/PS3/Wii. I'm glad it was put on the DS though, it seems right, because the Wii, PSP and PS2 already have Metal Slug Anthology, and the 360 and PS3 already have the other Metal Slugs on the XBOX Live Arcade and the PSN.
The game features 6 playable characters, and they're the same as the ones in Metal Slug 6. The characters are Ralf, Marco, Eri, Clark, Tarma and Fio. Though I always play as Marco because I'm so used to him.
The flying part for the last level actually resembles a decent side-on shooter. There's so much going on, and the plane responds very well. I'd like to see more of that, but I guess it's fine, because the gameplay all-around is very, very solid. But the tanks move pretty slow, which can get boring.
The backgrounds in the game look pretty awesome. They look cartoonish, but realistic at the same time, it's hard to explain. They add some atmosphere to the game too. Check out this screenshot and you'll see what I mean:
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/metal-slug-7-screenshot-small.jpg
The weapons in Metal Slug 7 are awesome! There's a Laser, a ridiculously over-powered Shotgun, a Missile Launcher, homing missiles, rockets, a flame thrower, an electric gun and dual machine guns. Awesome, right?
Altogether, the game has 7 levels. The games pretty hard for me, even on Easy mode. There's Beginner, Normal and Hard. I mean, I'm no Pro at Metal Slug, but I still really enjoy the game. Even if I do suck balls at it.
I've finished the game on Easy difficulty, it took me about 3 hours, and it was really fun. I had to use loads of continues though, so I'm gonna try beat it on Normal and Hard mode eventually.
BUY OR NOT TO BUY: If you love pick-up and play games, or shooting games, definitely pick it up. It's a worthy addition to any gamers library, anybody should love it!
