Ah yes, Metal Slug. The games with trademark toony graphics that make it look innocent enough, but pack enough gun blazing, hand grenade tossing, missle launching, explosive action to appease the more extreme action gaming fans. My first and only exposure (until now) to the Metal Slug series, was on my old playstation about twelve years ago. I remembered it as a game that had extreme action and kept you trying hard just to stay alive while firing dozens of rounds at countless enemies. An odd mix of a platformer, an acton game, and a shooter. And that it managed to pull all of this off well, with almost deceiving graphics. As soon as I started this one up, I realized that my memory served me well. It was all of these things. In fact, they stepped up the action this time. This one's a frenzy of bullets, bombs, rockets, and giant robots all assaulting you, often simultaneously. It definitely takes quick reflexes and an observant eye, to say the least. One thing I can say for it is it's definitely original, and in a game world where copycat shooters abound, that's refreshing to find.

Graphics: 7/10
Very Good.
While these graphics aren't flashy by any standard, they are solidly put together. The sprites are nothing special, but they aren't pixellated. The colors didn't exactly stand out, nor did they disappoint. The backgrounds aren't special either, but again, they aren't bad. Nothing seems to stand out about these in any way, until you get to the particle effects. It was so refreshing to see a game that delivers in this area finally. I was impressed by the explosions (and there are plenty of them) and other particle effects. I love it when developers pay this much attention to details this small. It makes all the difference in the graphics, especially in 2D games.

Sound: 10/10
Incredible.
The sounds were good, the effects were very nice here. There is so much action going on, that the sound effects are all over the place, creating an audio chaos, but it works well, and makes the whole thing sound very realistic. Odd as it sounds, this actually boosted the fun factor greatly. For a 2003 arcade game, the sounds are great. However, what made me instantly want to rate it a ten in this department was the background music: incredible to say the least. This is by far the best background music I've found in a MAME game, and some of the best I've found in any retro game. Very impressive. It sounds like someone ripped the music from the rock section of their Mp3 player files. Rather than take up several paragraphs going on about this, I'll just leave it at what I've said. This game deserves no less than a ten in the sound department as far as I'm concerned.

Depth: 3/10
Bad.
Yeah, not much depth here at all, but what else would you expect from a side scrolling shooter arcade game? This kind of game thrives on action, and big flashy explosions, not depth. Still, it would have been nice to see them break away from the status quo.
One thing it has in it's favor, is the ability to man large vehicles of various types that the player finds from time to time. As for variety, there just isn't much of it anywhere.

Story: N/A
What can I say here that the lack of rating doesn't say already? There is literally not one bit of story. Which really disappoints me, as story, to me, is almost as important as the fun factor of a game. Still, I won't count this against the game in the overall rating.

Addictiveness: 1/10
Terrible.
Addictiveness is completely non-exsistent here. I highly doubt I will ever play it again, at least, not in single player mode. It's a fun game though, so don't let that turn you away from trying it.

Difficulty: 7/10
Hard.
It took me around 35 credits to finish this one, but I would estimate around ten of those were spent on the final boss, which was poorly put together in my opinion, but it could have been worse. All in all, the overall game's difficulty wasn't too bad.

Overall: 5.5/10
Average.
Metal Slug 5 is worth a shot if you like this type of game. It can wow you in ways, and will probably disappoint you in ways. It isn't anything special, but it's definitely more good than bad. In fact, I plan to try more Metal Slug titles later on, now. My personal rating is probably a six. It shouldn't disappoint many Metal Slug fans, and it probably won't disappoint most true 2D shooter fans either.

Summary:
While Metal Slug 5 is hardly a gem, it's far from bad, or even disappointing. I can recommend it to any Metal Slug fans, semi-serious fans of 2D shooters, and even platformer fans. This game does not disappoint in any way the first time through, but it does leave much to be desired by way of replay value. As I said, don't let the rating deceive you, this game is worthwhile if you like these types of games. And though it doesn't do much to stand out among other arcade games, it doesn't exactly fade into the background either. Average is indeed a fitting word for it.
Metal Slug 5: a decent title among shooters, platformers, and action games alike.

Great review, which is why I'm going to make it a Featured Review

Davideo7 : Oh wow. Thank you very much, Davideo. I'm honored.