Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001

Well it's been awhile and I just wanna write something. What better way to do that than with Metal Slug for the Neo-Geo. Originally released for the MVS arcade board, it was later ported to the AES console (not that anyone can afford one) and the Neo-Geo CD (with some glaring load times) I'll be playing the game on the metal slug anthology for Wii which has no load times once the game has booted up. They seem to be arcade perfect from what I can tell but unless you have a gamecube controller you may not get along with the controls or the wiimote. Sadly the PS2 version has no 60hz option in PAL regions so the Wii is the only way to go about it unless you dont mind playing on a PSP screen.

There is very little to say about the story. In the 21^st century there are two armies. “The Regular Army” which is basically an anti-terrorist group funded by the government and “The Rebellion” which is a group which aims to turn the government into a military ruled one. The Regular army is pushed to the brink and only you, Marco and run in their and kick their butt. On a side note. The enemy of the Rebellion looks like a mix of Hitler, Saddam Hussein and General Gaddafi so he's gotta be one evil bastard hm? Or maybe I'm just projecting.

Well being a Neo-Geo game. It does not ever pull any punches. With some practice you'd be able to beat the game without a konami code amount of lives but it's still a game that can test you. Marco starts out with a Pistol which can be upgraded to a Machine Gun, Flamer, Shogun, Laser(Correct me if I'm wrong) or Rocket Launcher. All of which are good but the shotgun is probably the best but also the rarest. You also have a number of Grenades or “Bombs” as they call them, which can aid you greatly when taking out tanks or people hiding behind cover. Marco can jump, crouch, shoot vertically or horizontally and jump into the Metal Slug. An all powerful tank which can aim in all directions with the main Machine Gun, fire a limited supply of Tank Shells or throw Grenades by holding down and the Grenade button. The Metal Slug also has a health bar so you wont die in one hit unlike when you're outside.

The game is visually stunning and still is one of the better looking sprite based game series around. Every detail is well animated and it looks great even when running the Wii on a HDTV (Though I am running it through component cables). The only real drawback is that you can't use the Classic Controller to play the game but the Gamecube does the job pretty well as long as you use the analogue stick over the pathetic D-Pad. Metal Slug as a series is fantastic if you love run and gun shooters and no collection is complete without it. I'll probably do a small review on all the games that I have (1 – 6) and I'm looking to buy 7 sometime. I'm not going to do a score as I think they're all good and if you like one of them, then you basically will like all in the main series.

The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Better late than never I guess. I must admit that I was a little bit worried about Skyward Sword I sort of kept myself separate from it about from watching an odd trailer or two. I mainly did this as this will be my first motion controlled Zelda game as I played Twilight Princess on the Gamecube. As much as I am often behind Nintendo in their attempts to innovate the industry. (the DS being nothing short of a total success, PSP fans be damned.) Motion control is a fickle little beast and without well thought out design. It can often cripple an otherwise great game. Thankfully Nintendo have always treated their first party games with total respect and it shows again with Skyward Sword.

I admit that it took me a few hours to get used to the game under trial by combat but it often works best to take your time. I heard that twilight princess plays somewhat random with motion controls but you have total control here when you get to grips with it. The motion control plus really is more than just a worthless add on. I would say it would be nice to have a controller option but it's obviously not possible with the way Nintendo approached the gameplay.

You have nine basic moves in the game. 8 from all the different angles and a thrust. For the most part the combat is a reflex based puzzle in attacking slowly and precisely to get through an enemy's guard. Flailing the remote will seldom work unless you create an opening large enough. Most of the time the motions feel natural and you wont often be doing the wrong move if you take your time. Your items on the other hand can be a little bit more tricky to grasp. The game focuses the centre of the screen based on where your remote is pointing at the time so if you're pointing up when you pull out your slingshot the game will think up is centre. The game thankfully has a built in option to recentre the controls with the down button so you can recalibrate on the fly. Most of the items are really fun and as usual Miyamoto thinks of fun and interesting ways to solve puzzles with them. It's like the guy never runs out of steam.

I would say one of the biggest problems with the game is one that is a matter of preference. I feel the game does not try too hard to show many interesting places and dungeons. Also you feel like you are backtracking a whole lot considering how little else you've done. It's not fair to say that they just reuse the same areas because they don't but you do find yourself going through them to a smaller and slightly different area often. The formula for Zelda has not been so different since Zelda 2. No joke. That being said it's still fun to run through these areas and due to their smaller size they tend to be more richly thought out. The overworld is pretty much just the sky and it seems to attempt to draw upon the great sea from wind waker and in my opinion to not so great an effect. The islands you can visit are tiny and mainly just for grabbing treasure. It does not really feel realized.

On the story however. It's fantastic. They put a lot of effort to give it a more cinematic feel and the characters have far more emotion. Even though Link is still a blank slate kind of character. He feels more alive than ever before. The plot is great and adds a lot to the Zelda timeline. I don't want to spoil a thing so you'll have to play for yourself but you see how everything falls into place now. It's quite a long game...I think I clocked about 35 hours and I didn't even do everything in the game. There were a few side quests left to do and a few items to get.

One of the newest features to the game is the crafting system. You can now upgrade a fair few of your items. Though none of required to complete the game, it's fun to get stronger. There are many misc items in the game which boost things from drop rates to money obtained from enemies. You can also upgrade your various bags, in case you need more arrows or bombs. Also any increases to your item limit take up a slot but there is a storage system in the game and it's a life saver.

I guess that in short. It's not the best Zelda by any means but it's probably the best for me since wind waker. I stand by the fact that I've not played a bad Zelda game in the main series. Despite the slightly more non-linear gameplay and slight adjustment time to the controls. This is a quality Zelda game. Though I feel that any non fans will not find anything that grabs them here but then it's best that Zelda stick to doing what it knows best. Fun.

I want to change then rating system here now as I feel too many reviews out there are hard to grasp in the reasoning behind their scores. I want to add a score out of ten for my personal opinion on the game. What I think are flaws are subjective to other people. Finally I wish to add a score out of ten on what I think other people will think of the game.

My Score: Despite it's very minor flaws it's still a great game and every Zelda fan should play it. 9/10

The People: I think the flaws in the game are going to rattle more than a few out there but they should see a decent game under it. 7/10