An absolute shoot’em up classic

Metal Slug X is a remastered and extended version of Metal Slug 2, a classic arcade game from 1999. If you reject this title with the excuse that it’s too old, you’ll miss and explosive, exciting, fun, action-packed and above all very, very, very difficult adventure. Do we have your attention now? Great, that means you are up for the challenge that awaits you.

Die, explode, survive!

Metal Slug 2 (and, therefore, Metal Slug X) set the bar so high for shoot’ em up games that it was only surpassed by its own sequels. You are looking at a title where you (normally) need to advance from left to right while you smash a whole that is after you.

In spite of its simple premise, Metal Slug X will keep on surprising you. To begin with, get ready for literally rampant action: one minute you’ll be aboard a jet plane destroying a moving train and the next you’ll be climbing a tower while escaping from a monster-shaped robot.

But the action is not the only thing that will vary in the game: eat too much fruit and you’ll turn into an obese but mortal hero; once in a while you’ll run into vehicles that radically change playability; and don’t forget the enormous final bosses, which are also true visual spectacles. You’ll die many times because you’ll be paying more attention to the details happening on the screen than to what’s happening to your character!

It’s impossible for you to finish Metal Slug X at the first attempt. You’ll die many times, since the enemies will not stop attacking you. Fortunately, the game is conscious of its difficulty and allows you to choose infinite continuations. But everything has a price: Metal Slug X will laugh at the number of times you’ve died until you can finish the adventure.

Once you have mastered Metal Slug X, it’s possible that you will pass it right away. However, the game surprises you even when you thought you had already passed it: you have many additional modes, such as the Combat School Mode that invites you to replay previous levels with new goals.

Hell can be a lot of fun

Although it’s a game from 1999, Metal Slug X is still visually amazing. Every second, thousands of details happen on the screen. The movements of characters (main, secondary and even tertiary characters) are very carefully done, especially in the case of the final bosses. The cartoon style is delicious. For instance, the enemies will make fun of you when you die but they’ll be screaming with terror when they see that you have just revived. Hilarious!

Metal Slug X’s controls are simple and precise. You’ll learn to shoot in all directions, climb on vehicles or jump in a matter or minutes. Once the game has revealed all its secrets, it will be up to you to make good use of them. In MSX, all the mistakes you make will be your responsibility and no one else’s.

An essential game in its genre

Metal Slug X was, is and we bet will also be a referent in its genre. It is a 100% essential game for shoot’em up fans. It has everything you’re looking for: action, variety, madness and tremendous final bosses. And if you’re a genre newbie, don’t let its difficulty scare you: face the challenge and you’ll enter the scene in style.