Metal Slug 3 is the fourth game in the franchise of Metal Slug from SNK, and this is the fourth re-release of the game. Previously installments found themselves on the Playstation 2, the Wii, the original Xbox and now on the Xbox 360 through Xbox live arcade.

For those of you who have never played or heard of the game before, this was originally designed for the arcade as a ‘jump-in-and-play’ shooter. Yes, those machines where you drop a quid in and play for five minutes because that’s how long everyone ever lasted. There isn’t much change here, except the quid bit.

Gameplay:

Metal Slugs core gameplay is a classic run-and-gun, side-scrolling game where you have to run, gun and shoot fast, it’s a game that constantly keeps you on your toes, like most of the original games used to. It is incredibly difficult, as it was originally meant to be, the only difference is though that you can set the options (Through Free-play mode) for how many revives you can have. There is an ‘easy’ difficulty level, but even that is hard, anyone who hadn’t played the original arcade games and are casual gamers aren’t going to last very long. Patience is the key to this one.

But, for the hardcore gamers and players reminiscing the early ‘slug’ days, this is what makes it fun. The game isn’t exactly innovative in story (yes there’s a story folks) or gameplay for that matter, but it excels in the basics, this game never seems to let you stop & breath.

Feature wise, this game is very interesting. Not only is it incredibly bizarre visually but it’s strange to have a 2D arcade game which allows you to take multiple paths, this was one of the new features of being the last game of the series. This game isn’t exactly long, and the replay value lacks a little once you’ve completed it, but seeing as there are multiple paths to most missions, and the option to play with a second player, this gives the game another couple of plays.

Except from the change of style from the originals and multiple path levels, there wasn’t really any change from the port to the Xbox 360. You do however get to play co-op via online, this though, like many of the other XBLA games, has some latency issues that could be due to the recent problems with Xbox live.

Graphics:

There's a very good looking game here, it has shown some quite noticeable improvements from the original Metal Slug 3, this could be because now it is being displayed in HD. A lot of the pixelated edges have been smoothed out, and the game looks a lot cleaner making it more colourful than it ever was.

And of course, you can’t forget the fantastic artwork of your character and some of the really quite bizarre creatures you bump into; well at least it’s unique.

Sound:

The game sounds exactly the same as the original Metal Slug 3, all the musical scores and humorous quotes included making the game the classic it still is.

Longevity:

As mentioned before, this game isn’t very long, as it wasn’t created to be very long. It could take you an hour to three hours to complete, depending on how used to classic shooters you are. The things that extend the longevity though to make it worth buying are the multiple paths you find in each level, the choice of playing with a partner (Co-op or on Live) and having to work towards the achievements. The latter two being common features of XBLA arcade games.

Overall:

This is not a game for the faint of heart; you may throw your controller at the television screen, but this game is a classic, and it was bound to find its way on the XBLA collection list, next to games such as Sonic 2, Golden Axe & Bomberman. I recommend this game for any arcade loving fan, and anyone who hasn’t yet experienced the Metal Slug universe and is brave enough to tough it out. But 800 points is a little steep, even for a title like this.