Metal Slug is a fantastic series, and for those who have been following me for a while, you will know that despite not really liking Metal Slug Attack Reloaded, I’m a huge fan of the series and sunk many tokens in the arcade before the ACA Versions of the games graced the Nintendo Switch. Metal Slug Tactics employs a new direction in approaching the franchise, adding a lot more strategy in a huge shift away from its bullet hell origins. What’s It Like? Select your squad, pick your map, and lock and load as we review Metal Slug Tactics for the Nintendo Switch.
Metal Slug Tactics deviates from the series’ 2D run and gun style of gameplay and shifts focus to an isometric turn-based tactics game. It was a huge risk for the series, and thankfully, it pays off by giving players a rogue-like tactics game that somehow manages to preserve the feel of the series. Players initially start with series favourites Eri, Marco, and Fio, but will be able to unlock Tarma, Trevor, Nadia, Ralph, Clarke, and Leona. The squad is all here, and so are the series’ signature bad guys, including the elusive General Morden. Players will start off in one sector, selecting stages in the direction of their deployment starting area, and carefully map out which rewards they want to claim before the enemy takes action, resulting in a boss fight and the end of that area. You won’t get there right away, and there’s a lot of trial and error in the first hour or so which may be frustrating to some. Those who soldier on will unlock levels and assets to deploy, as well as skill enhancements and abilities to maximise combat efficiency and increase the probability of completing their run.
The gameplay is addictive and well thought out. Players will learn to maximise their movement to increase adrenaline, which allows a higher chance of dodging and also generates points to use special abilities. These abilities can be air strikes, teleporting allies of enemies, or just throwing a lot of grenades thanks to Eri’s particular fondness for high-explosive devices. When not using special abilities, each character has their trusty pistol (or grenades for Eri) that has infinite ammo, and a secondary weapon like the iconic heavy machine gun. You will be able to change loadouts eventually, and really mix up the strategy, but for your first playthrough or two, you will most likely stick with the classics. Combat is turned-based, giving you set movement, and then actions. You must always move first, then attack, which may catch some players off guard but this is how the system generates adrenaline points. If you position your troops well, you will be able to trigger “synch shots” which are a free attack that is triggered when the enemy you attack shares an attack path with one of your teammates. These synch shots will formulate a lot of your strategy in the game and make teamwork essential to successfully completing a run. It does have its downsides, especially if Eri is in your party, as friendly fire isn’t so friendly, and there were plenty of times when my squad would catch a stray bullet or blast damage meant for someone else.
Metal Slug Tactics features the series’ signature artwork and style, and it’s a gorgeous game in action. It’s a lot of fan service, and that only adds to the excitement of the gameplay. Familiar bosses and enemies litter maps, there are the famous golden bearded hostages and plenty of easter eggs littered throughout that made me smile while playing. It pays homage to the series it is based on and takes a lot of care preserving the source material, rather than bastardising it. Boss fights are particularly well done, with large set pieces full of action, usually keeping you on the move and juggling enemy management while chipping away at bosses. These encounters are the perfect time to deploy earned Slugs onto the battlefield which act the way they did in the main series, with the exception of requiring fuel to fire, and they manage to make quick work of bosses to achieve that glorious victory. Levels are also littered with tributes to the main series, as well as sometimes having environmental objects you can use to turn the tide of battle. I rarely ran into the same level twice thanks to the random deployment with each run, and despite objectives usually remaining a simple affair, the variations changed up enough to keep the game fresh during my multiple playthroughs.
Unfortunately, Metal Slug Tactics is sluggish. With terrible performance in handheld mode where framerates dip while trying to navigate the battlefield, and often leads to frustrating misclicks. The undo button can help here, but there really doesn’t appear to be a reason for this poor performance. Docked mode manages to pick up frames, but presents its own bugs like audio being seconds out of sync which causes a rather off-putting immersion break from this otherwise fantastic game. For context, this is a retail copy being reviewed after post-launch patches have been applied, so hopefully, the game sees more support and those framerates and audio issues get sorted out soon. Vision Impaired soldiers may also have a lot of difficulty playing Metal Slug Tactics, especially on handheld due to the incredibly small text and UI, which cannot be scaled up. For my other soldiers looking into accessibility options, there are no specific options here, so as always, I recommend further research to find out if Metal Slug Tactics is for you. Despite these issues, due to the turn-based nature of the game, not a lot is lost, although it is a blemish on a game that has had much care taken in trying something wildly different for the series.
As we enter the final round of battle for this review, Metal Slug Tactics is great value at just under $40 AUD. There are a lot of secrets to unlock and a true ending to pursue which will take you a while, and the fantastic gameplay and variations of levels will keep things fresh as well, lasting anywhere between 15-25 hours for the completionist at heart. It’s a shame that the text is tiny and the performance issues mean that Tactics takes a few hits, but like the series it’s based on, it’s still worth spending a few tokens on for just one more run.
So What’s It Like? Metal Slug Tactics is like Final Fantasy Tactics, crossed with Metal Slug.
