In my youth I remember spending a lot of time playing arcade games at my local skate rink. I don’t remember every machine, though I know The Simpsons was there, with another being Metal Slug X. In so many ways it embodied what I loved about gaming. It was simple fun that wasn’t constrained by reality. A basic battle against hostile troops expanded to mummies, zombies, and even aliens. Over time the franchise died off until Dotemu revealed a spin-off set to turn the iconic run and gun into a tactical RPG. Given Dotemu has proven themselves in the past, is this another win, or does it fall short?
Keeping true to Metal Slug’s roots, Metal Slug Tactics doesn’t have much of narrative. Players need to defeat Donald Morden, leader of the Rebel Army, who is starting trouble in various locations.
Following this most interactions are essentially flavor dialogue. There are a handful of possible exchanges that relate to the missions, location, and selected characters. They add some context, though skipping them likely won’t make things less confusing.
In addition to these introductions are character stores. These are unlocked by meeting certain conditions, such as beating a boss with a specific team, or completing a random task. Each story is a brief exchange that reveals background details. It’s a fun extra that pushes players to try different things on the battlefield.
Before getting into gameplay, I wanted to praise Dotemu for another thoughtful experience. Fans of the franchise will likely be delighted to know it’s possible to save POWs, iconic mechanics like turning into a mummy, and even a tank can be found on the battlefield. It isn’t perfect, but it’s absolutely more than I expected.
That being said, gameplay reminds me of Disgaea. The most effective tactic is positioning allies so their attacks sync. Doing this allows up to three characters to attack a single target/position. Unlike Disgaea, once an attack is made players need to largely accept their current position unless certain conditions are met. Said conditions varying based off a wide variety of factors.
Even Includes the Iconic Sounds/Animations
Beyond that, stages ask players to accomplish different things. These range from killing enemies, to protecting an asset, or just staying alive. Each mission will also have an optional secondary objective that gives another reward. Some options include having no one die, or killing a set number of enemies in a single turn. Despite sounding simple, they can be a nightmare without a solid strategy, and some luck.
For the most part combat works like most RPGs. Players select their load out, which includes a basic attack (handgun, knife, grenade, etc), special weapon with a finite amount of ammo (more ammo comes from challenges/buying), and passive/active skills. Each of these have distinct pro/cons that allow for completely different tactics.
Where things get somewhat interesting is the battlefield itself. Instead of allowing players to slowly overwhelm every enemy, a strong emphasis is put on cover. These locations will have a different colored icon when moving, and make it so players take less damage. The downside is the same applies to enemies. As a result, several stages force players to goad enemies into making a mistake, or simply destroy the barrier leaving them open to substantial damage.
Another solid mechanic is forcing players to be aggressive. When I first started playing I tried to pick off every enemy, clear the battlefield before attacking the boss, and made other choices to mitigate my risk. Despite that I quickly learned the most effective tactic is to use cover, and positioning to your advantage. When done correctly adds can be killed in a single attack, with bosses dying long before they pose a genuine threat.
Despite having a lot of positives, Metal Slug Tactics has two notable negatives. The first is the roguelike system feels rather lacking. Most of this is due to perks being underwhelming, or requiring a fair amount of synergy to be truly effective.
So I might get a weapon mod that gives me more damage for being behind cover, or ignore enemies that are behind cover, and then end up in a situation where that is useless most of the time. Other times the perk is strong, like dealing extra damage during a sync attack, though it’s only useful if the increase actually results in an enemies death. It just doesn’t make for an exciting experience.
The other negative is surprisingly high load times during certain encounters. These are typically limited to boss fights, and seem somewhat conditional. For example, one of the bosses would briefly load following its turn, and then load again at the start of my turn. The example I captured came to roughly 7 seconds of loading. This might not sound too bad, but in the five turns it took me to kill that boss it can be in the upwards of 35 seconds.
Some of the later stages are even worse. Against the final boss there were times I would wait 3 seconds after moving, and another 7 seconds after attacking. If all three characters move/attack that is 30 seconds for my own turn. Absolutely not the performance I would expect from this type of experience on my PlayStation 5.
Metal Slug Tactics Review Verdict
Metal Slug Tactics: At its core Metal Slug Tactics is a solid tactical RPG that does an amazing job translating Metal Slug to another genre. It feels fresh, and once the experience clicks it's a lot of fun. Especially for anyone trying to complete every challenge along the way. It isn't without shortcomings, like the roguelike elements could be a bit deeper, but the core experience is something fans of both tactical RPGs, and Metal Slug will likely appreciate. – Grant
Editor’s Note: Metal Slug Tactics was reviewed on PlayStation 5, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.
