METAL SLUG TACTICS

A bold new direction for the historic Metal Slug franchise, from arcade shooter to turn-based tactical game. As a big fan of the classic Metal Slug and also a big fan of tactical games, I was eagerly anticipating the game with full faith that this unorthodox combination would be crowned with success. Why was I so sure? I don't remember if I've mentioned it before in a review, but I've developed a theory around gaming that I believe in a lot: All kinds of games can be ported to turn-based. "Really, all of them? Yes, all of them and Metal Slug Tactics proves me right!

The game belongs to the broader genre of roguelites (i.e. there is permadeath and starting from the beginning but with elements of permanent progression) and the more specific one of turn-based tactical games. A ragtag group of soldiers comprised of characters from Metal Slug's history take on the difficult task of pursuing and eliminating the evil general Donald Morden, who has managed to amass an army and is threatening world peace. The dastardly Morden has set up his base in the city of Sirocco and our team must get there by fighting through enemy forces to put a definitive end to the general's evil plans. The story progresses through dialogue between missions and is fun enough but nothing special, while each character has their own story and epilogue that is progressively unlocked. It's positive that there is at least some amount of story but it's not as developed as in other games of the genre, e.g. Hades.

Metal Slug Tactics generally follows the standards of the genre. The map of each area has various points of interest and you choose which of them to fight in based on the type of mission and the possible rewards. After a total of three missions in a region you will fight the Boss and if you win you will move on to another region, upgrading your units with stronger abilities. If you lose in a mission it's game over and new game, however there are elements that are unlocked and persist from run to run such as new characters, different loadouts and new skills. So if you manage to get to Sirocco, find Morden and defeat him, is that it? GG, let's go home and celebrate? Not quite, as Morden escapes with the help of his lieutenants. Therefore, to put a definitive end to the Morden threat you must progressively dismantle his support system by first eliminating his lackeys. This is a clever way to incentivize multiple runs, since a full run that goes through each area is not especially lenghty.

Combat is in the familiar style of two move-attack actions in each round, but with some original ideas that freshen up the gameplay. Firstly the game places a lot of emphasis on movement, with the obvious aim of discouraging turtling: the maps are generally small (rarely more than two screens long and wide) so it would be tempting to find a corner and hunker down there, but if you exhaust each character's movement range you'll be rewarded with dodge points that will reduce (or completely negate) damage from enemy attacks. Since in each mission the opposing forces have an overwhelming advantage in numbers, exploiting dodge points is essential to the survival of your units.

Another interesting aspect of the battle is synchronization, i.e. the ability of your units to attack simultaneously. If you execute an attack against an enemy unit and it is within range of more than one of your characters then they will all open fire on it, resulting in a large increase in damage, since these extra attacks by the others are "free" (they don't cost the action you have each turn). Therefore the movement stage becomes more interesting and tactical, with players who make sure to place their units in places that are conducive to synchronization being richly rewarded. Overall I found the combat system enjoyable, fun and addictive, especially on the higher difficulty levels and after units gain some interesting skills. There are other surprises in the gameplay but I'd like you to discover them for yourself by playing so I won't go in detail. I have to say though that there might be some issues with the balancing of skills since some are powerful and others... not so much. I may not have found the right builds for the latter yet (I completed multiple runs but haven't unlocked everything yet) but I noticed it and wanted to mention it.

So do we invest safely in Metal Slug Tactics? In general yes, but with a few footnotes. The first one concerns the bugs the game has at launch. At various points in the game I encountered bugs and glitches, some of which required restarting the game to go away (e.g. in one round my ability to fire my weapons disappeared) and one particular one I would describe as game breaking (rewinding a move "broke" the scripting of the mission and I couldn't finish it). There are also all sorts of visual bugs (e.g. a dead unit appearing upright and alive). The devs are aware of the problems and are working to fix them, I believe they will do so quickly because we're not talking about very serious issues but it's still something that should be reported. Also the game menus are not as clean and readable as I would like and the font in some windows is large and in others too small (so probably unreadable on handhelds like Steam Deck). Minor issues of lack of polish that betray some pre-launch haste.

Even with the above issues, however, I have no hesitation at all to recommend the purchase of Metal Slug Tactics, especially if you have a history with the series. The roguelite genre is crowded and includes quite a few all-time classics, the competition is stiff but the game isn't lacking against it. The price is also reasonable for what it offers, so if you're interested you can wait a bit for the first patches and then buy without having to wait further for a discount. See, turn-based really does go with everything!

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