There are rumours of Resistance movement and the sinister notion that they have allied themselves with a sinister force not of this earth. As a Peregrine Flacon you must go deep into enemy territory and find out what's going on and stop it. Along your dangerous journey you will encounter many enemies but helping you will be the Metal Slug, the Slug Flyer and the new Slug sub. So you have a fighting chance. HAH!
Okay, so this is the sequel to Metal Slug: 1st Mission, so what's new? Well not actually a great deal. It's still an action-platform game, you still have to rescue hostages and you still have to shoot bad men with big guns and you still get to drive vehicles to help you in your mission. What is new is the Slug-Sub. In selected levels you take control of the Slug-Sub and take it underwater to give the enemy a shot from below! Also new is the character select, from the very start you may select from a male or a female agent.
Metal Slug: 2nd Mission looks superb. The graphics are even better than in 1st mission, which is a real achievement. The main characters have 4 colours rather than the previous three, while this doesn't sound very significant on paper when you see the main characters is motion, you will understand what I mean. As in the first game, the animation is superb and this time round there is even more. You now teeter while on the edge of platforms, there are several idle animations and when you eat too much food you balloon and become incredibly fat complete with wobbly a gut! Excellent. That's the main characters out of the way, now I can move on to the rest of the graphics, and they are all equally as good. Particular highlights are the Vehicle Carrier which is 2 screens long, the Slug-Sub which has a superb reflection on it from the surface of the water. These may well be the most polished graphics seen on the Neo Geo Pocket so far.
The sound too has had an overhaul. Most of the effects and music from the first game return as well as some new tunes and a voice telling you what weapon you have selected.
Playing Metal Slug:2nd Mission is a wonderful experience. It's bigger, faster, harder and more involving than the 1st Mission. Finding all the hostages is a real challenge and as in the 1st Mission there are many routes through the game depending on the exits you find while playing so actually seeing every level is again quite challenging. The new gameplay additions, like getting fat, the jetpacks and the Slug-Sub are all excellent and make it a worthwhile purchase even if you have the 1st Mission. The two characters are actually different, each having different equipment making it an almost, and I stress the word almost, different game. Remember that I did say almost. So is it worth buying? Well yes, it's been improved in every department and feels different enough to be a worthwhile purchase, so what are you waiting for? Parachute into enemy territory now and get a copy. And that's an order soldier.
-Bradders
