Reviewing Metal Slug 7 has proved to be one of the toughest endeavors I’ve undertook since launching this here webbersite. Allow me to explain.

I’ve been a fan of the Metal Slug series since its inception; the combination of cutesy, cartoon-like characters and mega-violence sang a song of love. Unfortunately, its debut was during the twilight of the arcades in the New York City area, so it became increasingly difficult to get my Slug-on because a) finding a Neo Geo to pop quarters into was rare, and b) home consoles has not yet had the technological capacity to handle MEGA SHOCK titles. Playing SNK ports on under-powered systems makes newborn kittens cry.

So, I didn’t have much opportunity to take Marco and company on bullet-filled romps, and even owning a Neo Geo AES system didn’t help matters as there was no way I was going to justify spending $300 for a videogame (not until the first million rolls in, at least; keep visiting, people).

Fast forward to 2009. After trading in a bunch of worthless game titles for credit at a local Gamestop, I decided to fulfill a dream by purchasing an original Metal Slug game. Sure, I could’ve bought a PlayStation or Xbox port of one of the earlier releases, but SNK Playmore’s Metal Slug 7 was a newbrand new title in the series–not a Neo Geo port.

Similar to when you were a kid and had a adamantium-like bond with the first handful of games that you owned (regardless of quality), I have much love for Metal Slug 7; perhaps more than it really deserves. Metal Slug 7 isn’t a bad game by any means; in fact, it’s quite good. But it lacks the some of the magic that made the series sparkle from Metal Slug to Metal Slug 3.

As with Metal Slug 6, our heroes include:

• Marco Rossi: His guns do twice the damage as others
• Eri Kasamoto: Carries twice as many grenades as others
• Tarma Roving: Does extra Slug damage
• Fio Germi: Extra weapons supply and totes the Heavy Machine Gun
• Ralf Jones: Can take two hits instead of one; his Vulcan Punch can tear through enemies and machinery
• Clark Still/Steel: His Argentine Backbreaker works on most non-vechile enemies, and grants invincibility

The new Slugs include:

• Sluck Truck
• Slug Gigant
• Heavy Armor

Metal Slug 7 is similar to its predecessors in that you, for better lack of phrasing, air vent everything that has the audacity to move. The grunts are fairly generic soldiers that are the series staple, but they have personality: they point and snigger when you die, and cower in fear when you respawn.  The explosions are huge, mech-monsters massive (with tons of shifting gears, parts, and other touches), and the movement of your main character as you leap, shoot, and chuck grenades are captivating and, uh, cute.  In a hardcore, military way, of course. This attention to detail, combined with the series’ trademark hyper-animation, makes Metal Slug 7 (running on the Nintendo DS’  somewhat cramped screen) a marvel of 2D programming.

“Adequate” would be the word best to describe the audio. The explosions and yells of enemy soldiers are loud and clear, but the music is forgettable. Not in a bad way, such as listening to Marvel vs. Capcom 2‘s original score; it’s just so non-catchy that you won’t find yourself humming any of the tunes once you power down the DS.

With seven levels, some may decry that the action isn’t lengthy enough, but fans of the genre will have a blast evading and returning fire – - does every title need to have 50 hours of gameplay? (Commando: Steel Disaster is the perfect example of a long game done wrong). Between work, spouses, friends, and family, many of us welcome a quick-and-dirty gaming experience. Besides the standard missions, there’s Combat School, a modified version of the standard arcade mode in which you’re required to meet certain criteria, such as rescuing hostages.

There aren’t many quality run-and-gun titles on the Nintendo DS, so by default Metal Slug 7 is of the upper-echelon. The gameplay is far more far and balanced than the needlessly frustrating Commando: Steel Disaster, but I reckon that only the most hardcore fans will actually see the ending as the action gets really hot and heavy once you pass the opening level. There may be no multiplayer (a sin in a Metal Slug game!), and the the second screen displays a useless terrain overview, but Metal Slug 7 is portable Slug done (mostly) right.