Though MS4 had several stages where the player would hop on moving vehicles, it can't really compare to MS5's flying and underwater levels. Though MS4 may feel more like its predecessors, MS5 is certainly something different. If you're uncomfortable with the whole rotting flesh aspect you can grab a health pack and switch back to your warmer blooded persona. This zombie mode also switches a player's bomb throwing ability to a badass blood spew that clears out about half the screen. In one of the stages players actually get turned into zombies, subsequently slowing their movement speed and greatly reducing their jumping ability. YES NO The slugs themselves are fairly standard, including walking machines with rotating hand cannons that lay little bomb eggs to a strange crawling skeleton machine.įear+my+shotgun! MS4 does give the player a few unique gameplay options. It's still fully capable of boring several mortal holes through enemy infantry and disabling that pesky red rocket launching helicopter, just not as quickly as the other options. Don't get the wrong idea and think the original pistol stinks. To start players are armed with a little pistol and ten grenades, but by saving various hostages players will quickly acquire power ups, such as dual wield guns, faster machine guns, rockets, and even an odd rabbit-like mobile mine launcher. To do so, players pick between Marco, Fio, Trevor and Nadia and have a variety of weaponry at their disposal. Players will take on snow monsters, zombies, pirates, standard grunts, an innumerable array of motorized machinations, and even the all too rare zombie robots. Shrapnel, fire and blood spray across the screen in all its intended sprite-based 2-D glory. While both titles share many things in common, it's five that might appeal to many of the series' fans.
In the heat of a bullet, missile and explosive energy pulse barrage, this is certainly welcome. Amazingly, with all the action and explosions onscreen, neither of SNK's games slows down to any noticeable degree. There's no mind wrenching puzzles or sappy emotional storylines here, just lasers, homing missles, and robots holding chainguns. Yes, the world of Metal Slug is one populated with ridiculous machinery, suicidal footmen, and power-up dropping homeless people, but who cares? It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to explode. Why? Because of the explosions, zombies, deadly yeti monsters, insane amount of bomb-dropping helicopters, bullet belching tanks, and skyscraper climbing rocket launchers. Players can jump onto and walk on the rocket without being killed.It's a rare but all too welcome experience to sit down with titles like Metal Slug 4 and 5.
The rocket can be destroyed with sufficient damage. Blue virus vials contain an item, which is either a Heavy Machine Gun, Rocket Launcher, Enemy Chaser, a mummy antidote or a first-aid kit. The Big John's eyes will turn blue, and its second hand appears from the right side of the screen, attacking by sending a rocket to the left side of the screen and a large number of propelled virus vials that turn the players into zombies upon contact. From the mouth of the actual face until the end of the battle, a Rebel soldier will periodically jump out to aid the Big John in its battle.
Once the metal claw is destroyed, the Big John's actual face will be revealed once its metal claw from previous phase is destroyed or after the initial face mask suffers sufficient damage. It will attack either by descending to smashing the player or by shooting an electrocuting laser downwards but also you can get on the claw when it strikes down only for a few seconds until it retreats back up.Īfter the metal claw is destroyed, the opening will periodically release purple energy spheres to attack the player. It will move sideways until it attacks when it stops right above the player. The Big John is composed of three phases of attacks.Ī metal claw is suspended at the top of the screen.
It tries to turn the player into a zombie which, if successful, could end up being its undoing, as this opens up the possibility for the player to attack via the powerful virus vial "grenade". The Big John was originally an amusement park robot, but its control was taken over by the Amadeus Syndicate and converted to a weapon, turning everyone in the park into zombies using a virus similar to what The Ten Commandments of Moses used. The Big John is the fourth boss of Metal Slug 4.