Metal Slug Wars Preview

The Metal Slug run-and-gun series slows down in the name of strategy for Metal Slug Wars.

What do a metal slug and a regular slug have in common? Neither should come in contact with salt. Seriously though, the Metal Slug series has long been regarded as some of the best run-and-gun offerings the industry has to offer; in the ’90s, some genre enthusiasts even dropped more than $600 on a Neo-Geo console to play the arcade classics at home. Luckily, you no longer have to give up a kidney to get access to the Metal Slug series. In fact, Metal Slug Wars, a real-time strategy (RTS) game for iOS, will be free to play.

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Metal Slug Wars puts you in command of a charge to stop the rebel scum that populates General Morden’s troops. You can cooperate with other players to neutralize the threat, or you can make war just a teensy bit more miserable by fighting against them.

However you choose to ally yourself, expect an intense RTS experience populated with lots of bad guys and giant bosses that are the favored pets of said bad guys. If you’re a Metal Slug fan, you should recognize many of the characters and weapons that you gain access to. You need to contend with weather conditions and traps while figuring out how to best utilize your infantry, engineers, aerial weapons, animal weapons, and other units. Different situations and hazards call for specialized troops. The better you do in battle, the further you can expand your army’s reach. Er, all in the name of peace, of course.

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Metal Slug Wars is currently available on the Canadian App Store, which means there’s a good chance it will release worldwide soon.

Nadia Oxford

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In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.