The name Neo Geo meant a whole other level of gaming back during the 1990s. As a kid, whenever I heard the name, I couldn’t help but think big, real BIG, thanks to all the glowing, mythical and positively overblown coverage it used to get in magazines. Bear in mind, during those days, there was no Internet and the flood of diverging opinions in regards to just about any subject you can think of. We were limited to whatever was in print, and only had that to feed our imagination, the handful of crudely reproduced pictures when it came to previews.
Weirdly enough, though, for as expensive as SNK’s console and games were then, Latin America happened to be part of the company’s distribution plans for arcade machines, and for a lot while, they ruled supreme here, hence the reason why King of Fighters was almost as big as Street Fighter in these parts, for instance. And having drooled over the pages showing off some more of the Neo Geo catalog, the early Metal Slugs were among my most played arcade machines. When MAME came about, thankfully, I got the chance to tear through the entirety of that series from the comfort of home.
But for a long while now Metal Slug has remained dormant, with post-acquisition and now Saudi-owned SNK Playmore focusing way more on its fighting game franchises. It was to my surprise a mobile game that would bring life back to the squad, with 2022’s Metal Slug Awakening being the latest, and of all things, Metal Slug Attack Reloaded earlier this year, which made its way to consoles, a strategy game set in the universe of the fantastic run ‘n guns we all love that I’ve had my hots for a while.
And now, with Metal Slug Tactics, we get a game with clear inspiration on the grid-based classics of the past, combined with incredibly clever gameplay ideas, all the while looking the part of a bonafide Metal Slug title. Unfortunately, not everything’s roses and wine, as a host of performance issues and glitches halt what is an otherwise fun diversion on Nintendo Switch.
Originally announced in 2021, Metal Slug Tactics has been long in development, and for quite a while it looked like it would end up as vaporware, due to the lack of news of any kind for long stretches of time. French developer Leikir, through Dotemu, was given the keys to SNK’s beloved IP and what seemed to be a missed opportunity finally saw the light of day earlier this month, with ports to every current console and PC, and what seemed like the perfect game for a portable console turned out to be a troubled release.
That’s due to the fact that Metal Slug Tactics is riddled with bugs of the most wild variety, from random crashes to desynced audio and scripting errors during missions, that coupled with presentational problems like the painfully small font and confusing interface hinder what could’ve been THE game to play on the system. And even with all those cons, I still tried to get the most out of this one, because on paper it’s a brilliant concept.
Basically, it’s a grid tactics game with roguelite trappings, where repeated runs slowly help evolve your troops, allowing you to get further and further the more you play. Featuring all of your old friends like Marco, Fio, and Eri, to name the starting line-up you get to put together your squad from, you move from map to map as you fight against series’ baddie General Morden, who has escaped from prison and is trying to take over fictional Sirocco City and its surrounding areas.
Every location offers different missions that you can tackle in any order. Levels come in all shapes and sizes in terms of objectives, such as elimination, escorts, and all-out attack to name a few, each with their bonuses that you have to take into account when planning your route towards the boss encounter at the end. Much like your usual roguelite, the resources that you get are eventually converted into upgrades when your run ends, or serve a purpose to keep your army going, such as fuel and ammunition.
Gameplay can feel extremely rewarding because there’s reason to care about unit placement during battles past their attack range and defense behind obstacles, taking into account how one character can help another out when attacking the opposition. In very exciting fashion and admittedly uncharacteristic to the genre it’s part of, Metal Slug Tactics urges you to keep moving as far as you can, since it’s how you build up momentum and are able to dodge attacks more consistently. That as well as putting their special abilities to use powering up nearby allies in a way that can very well turn the tide of combat to your favor, which comes in very handy. You’re always outnumbered in this game and nothing makes me feel smarter when playing than pulling the carpet from under the enemy, let me tell you!
Unfortunately, other aspects of the game get in the way of playing it. For one, the interface can sometimes be a tad confusing to navigate, which is made especially worse on controller, usually resulting in irreparable mistakes during fights. At other times, what’s displayed on screen simply isn’t telling you the truth when it comes to projected outcomes to your actions – be it the actual range of your attacks or what damage they’ll do, for instance – which I hope is a glitch that can be patched as it’s not inherently a problem design-wise with the game.
Then there is the constant slowdown all throughout the action, making it all the more frustrating to deal with Metal Slug Tactics, regardless of your chosen way of playing, portable or on your TV. And adding to the injury is the headache inducing, ridiculously tiny font, coming in varied equally small sizes, each one harder to read from the next. Mark that in your notebook as another issue that could hopefully be fixed eventually, fingers crossed.
For where the game is currently, it’s things like those that hold it back, as it’s solid just about everywhere else. Top of the list of cool bits that it has going for it are the solid pixel art, a hallmark of Metal Slug that works very well in an isometric view, and the exciting musical score tore straight out of the original games. And as I’ve mentioned, comboing off your team members’ attacks feels sooooo good. The boss fights are also exciting and challenging and thanks to the short and straight to the point missions, failure is hardly annoying, unless it comes because of bugs, of course.
Metal Slug Tactics is one of those downloads that I’ll look forward to coming back to a few months from now, when – pray to the heavens – mostly if not all of the nags that it has are dealt with and it fulfills its potential of being one of the finer offerings on Switch and other platforms. As it is at this moment, it’s just hard to recommend it.
