Metal Slug 7 makes its debut on XBox Live Arcade under a new name.
The steep 1200 MS point price tag may scare off most potential buyers, but there's plenty of content to enjoy that might justify the price.
This game's packed with 7 new missions, XBox Live Multiplayer support, and a new Combat School feature which provides unique bite-sized challenges for those who don't have time aplenty to tackle the lengthy main missions.
Marco, Fio, Eri, and Tarma all return with new attacks and attributes. They are joined by 2 newcomers from the popular King of Fighters series: Ralf and Clark, who each have their own unique special attacks that can tear through the enemy forces with much ease.
The story goes that General Morden is back and up to his no good schemes again, only this time he's getting a little help from his new friends from the future. The huge, screen filling bosses (from Giant Train Driller Rockets to Detachable Jet/Tank Hybrids)have all sorts of deadly tricks up their giant metal sleeves, and defeating them is more intense and rewarding than ever.
While all these new features can easily take you off your feet, the sound effects sadly suffer. The delightful nostalgic screams of the dying enemy troops and the silly explosions of the Rocket Launcher are still grainy and washed out much like their DS counterparts, and just don't fit in well with the sound effects that actually DID get cleaned up.
The online multiplayer works well for the most part, but suffers greatly when either player has a slow/bad internet connection. There are new ways to search for an existing game or to create your own match based around what you choose. For example, you can set the game to give higher priority searches for players with equal or greater internet connections than your own, or you can even search for players with gaming skills equal to your own based on your overall arcade score from the 1-player game mode.
All in all, Metal Slug XX (a.k.a Metal Slug 7) is a great buy if you like shooting everything that moves in a frantic and engaging side-scoller action shooter with a friend online or offline by yourself. The 7 missions should take you about 30 - 50 minutes to complete in one playthrough, but hidden paths and special achievements will have you coming back for more.
The steep price tag might convince you otherwise, but there's too much fun to be had to pass this one up.