Metal Slug 3 (PS2)

Anyway, as with the rest of the series the animation is fantastic: crisp and smooth, with plenty of claret and random green fluids adding a nice bit of colour to your environment. I still think the arcade versions look a bit nicer, but it is still very good.

As for the game's difficulty, I think it's just right. You can alter how many lives you have, and, somewhat bizzarely, you have an infinite number of continues. This does, however, ensure that frustration is kept to a minimum.

The gameplay itself is also fantastic, however I don't think the PS2's controller does the game justice: the arcade version just, for me, felt better. Killing massive armies of random soldiers is just as fun as it ever was, probably the most satisfying things to kill being zombies and mummies (all your favourite enemies are here, from aliens to ice men).

In terms of length, the main game is actually very quick to finish off (but the final level does go on a bit...). You can replay the missions in the game's level select, but all in all it is fairly short-lived. Added bonuses come in trying to better your score and also two secret modes: Fat Island (where your character is trying to put on as much weight as possible) and a mode where you play as one of the long-suffering soldiers. The latter in particular is very good, especially in the way that you can call upon the big bulging bloke with the machine gun to shoot down some aliens. Don't expect to last long, though- these guys are wimps, but working with all the troops that follow you around is pretty fun, even if you can't really order them around or anything.

2-player is of course available, and is as good as ever, adding slightly to the enjoyment factor.

So in conclusion, if you like old-fashioned, retro, no-brainer 2D shootery where you drive around in elephants killing extras from the Little Shop of Horrors, buy this game. But if you're a "cool", gun-toting 'wick gangsta and are "down with da kidz", to coin a street saying, and hate retro games, only playing your beloved annual Fifa installments and all that other EA tripe, steer clear: quality game ahoy!


hmm metal slug 3   December 11, 2004
Dr. Adrian D. Brown (uk)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

a good game but i always seem to find that the metal slugs are all too short, it only has about 5 levels theyre pretty long levels but the problem is there is not too much variation in each level they could have easily added some more levels overall a good game but you wouldn't get caught spending a whole week on this it only takes about 1 hour to complete and once you complete the game there is not really much else to do i am now awaiting the arrival of metal slug on gba and hope this will be an improvement