You know, I’ve always looked at the Metal Slug series and thought, nice games you got here, but they’d be better if I could just slow down and take my time with all the shooting. So the announcement of Metal Slug Tactics looks...perfect?
Sure, the Metal Slug experience is now slower, but all the style remains, from the goofy character design to the exaggerated death animations. Plus there are still fat tanks and boss fights, only now everything is turn-based tactics instead of fast-twitch action, and it all looks cool as hell.
See? Incredible. Of course all we’re doing is looking at the game, and the real test is going to come from just how the game’s mixture of movement, probability and gunplay all comes together. On just a visual basis—even the animation parts in that trailer!—I haven’t been this excited by a tactics game reveal in a long time.
Missions are going to be procedurally-generated so maps will never play out the same way twice, and you’ll be able to gain experience and level everything up between stages. Plus, combo moves where two or more characters link their attacks are going to play a big part in combat. It’s coming to PC...sometime in the future.
That’s the good news! The bad news is that, as cool as this looks, a plan to obtain a controlling stake in SNK was quietly kicked off late last year by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, a dude who orders the murders of journalists, jails opponents, has been “indiscriminately bombing civilians and hospitals” in Yemen, and has lately been using his billions to try to sportswash (and I guess now gameswash) his reputation in the West.
None of which affects the game, of course, but worth pointing out all the same. And now, to end this on slightly better news, SNK have only licensed this out, and Dotemu are actually handling both development and publishing of the game.