Commando: Steel Disaster (Metal Slug wannabe)

GSM

Look everyone! A new Metal Slug gam- no, wait. This here is Commando:Steel Disaster, for the DS. It was just recently confirmed for released in the US, and it's only a month away from being released in Europe.



Gamespot summarizes the press release: "Play as the agile 'Storm' while battling enemy hoodlums from the sinister organization 'Rattlesnake' in this side-scrolling shooter."

I guess it looks like it should be as fun as any Metal Slug game, if you like that sort of thing. It's kinda funny that the main character is very anime, with flowing spiky hair, but the resemblance to the MS series is still striking.




This seems very familiar... I just can't place it, though.





I can't shake the feeling I've been here before. And where did that German grenade come from?





That machine gun is clearly not very heavy at all.



After there being so many games in the Metal Slug series already, it seems awfully late for impersonators to get in on the act. What new ground will Commando break?

gamespot wrote:

Shoot, jump, throw and roll into action as you battle though each of the five missions and the two extra hidden missions. Each mission has various beautifully crafted environments all culminating in an epic boss fight.

Mow down wave after wave of animated enemies and use the various vehicles to destroy enemy gun ships and tanks in this extreme test of any gamer's skill.

Nothing new there. But I did like the checklist they provided, which briefly mentioned "Destructible terrain and weather conditions", and I can't wait to destroy some weather conditions. I do wish it meant something like worms or liero, but it looks unlikely. I'm also disappointed at the complete lack of humor in the footage I've seen so far. Metal Slug never took itself too seriously, but this game is all business:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2AMoccqc1w

Although at one point it looked like the player wasn't on a single linear (or branching) path, which could mean some metroid like exploration, maybe? Probably not. So does this look like a buy? I'd only get it if they announced multiplayer. I'll be sure to inform you of that event, as soon as April 1st arrives.

That Dave Fella

I really need to buy a DS and pick up some of these awesome games.

Sueve

That Dave Fella wrote: »

I really need to buy a DS and pick up some of these awesome games.

I dono if this is gonna be an awesome game.

More like a copy of an awesome game.

That Dave Fella

Well there are other awesome games too. This will just be a copy of one of them.

Zombiemambo

Does anyone recall that Spec Ops game for the GBA? It was a Metal Slug clone and I recall there being a sequel.

Centipeed

Zombiemambo wrote: »

Does anyone recall that Spec Ops game for the GBA? It was a Metal Slug clone and I recall there being a sequel.

Yeah, I owned it. The problem with that game, and likely this game, is that they'll try and introduce something retarded, like a life bar, or something stupid like that, when no-one wants different. They'd make far more money if they just released an exact clone of Metal Slug with different levels and sprite work. People might accuse them of copying MS, but they'll probably also love them for it.

EDIT: Yeah, I just checked the screenshots and right there in the top left corner is a health meter and an armour meter. I mean, what the fuck? Metal Slug was one hit kills, and it was better for it. You had lives instead of life. Alien Hominid got the formula perfect. Why can't other games do the same thing?

slash000

Centipeed wrote: »

Zombiemambo wrote: »

Does anyone recall that Spec Ops game for the GBA? It was a Metal Slug clone and I recall there being a sequel.

Yeah, I owned it. The problem with that game, and likely this game, is that they'll try and introduce something retarded, like a life bar, or something stupid like that, when no-one wants different. They'd make far more money if they just released an exact clone of Metal Slug with different levels and sprite work. People might accuse them of copying MS, but they'll probably also love them for it.

EDIT: Yeah, I just checked the screenshots and right there in the top left corner is a health meter and an armour meter. I mean, what the fuck? Metal Slug was one hit kills, and it was better for it. You had lives instead of life. Alien Hominid got the formula perfect. Why can't other games do the same thing?

I'm assuming that you both are referring to CT Special Forces, and CT Special Forces 2: Back in the Trenches, both for the GBA.

These games were very clearly Metal Slug clones, but they also had overhead vehicle-driven levels and SilentScope-esque shooting sequences


Anyway, these games were good, but I feel like they were trying to not completely rip off Metal Slug and give it more variety.

So while they're good, they don't appeal in the same way that Metal Slug's balls-to-the-wall pure 2D from the side shooting with the crazy enemies, vehicles, and bosses.


There was also a third CT Special Forces for the GBA that didn't come out in the USA, to my knowledge. Also Alien Hominid was fuckawesome, and got a EU gba release.



Lastly, I should mention because maybe some people but not everyone knows this, but Metal Slug 7 is coming to the NDS.

slash000

As far as Commando:SD, looks good from what I can see. Let's hope they can create a game as fast paced and action packed as the Metal Slug games.

We need more games like that, and the handhelds are the perfect place for them.

Sheep

More like a copy of an awesome game.

Which still has a pretty good chance at being awesome.

I mean, damn. They even lifted the bullet sprites it seems. Maybe they can lift the badassery of Metal Slug.

-SPI-

Wow, seeing the video it's even more of a blatant ripoff than even the screens convey. Someone from SNK's legal department needs to get on this shit. They barely concealed their theft of animations and graphics, not to mention that the entire game controls and mechanics have been lifted wholesale from metal slug.

Bursar

Not to mention a lot of the animations.

Re: life bars - I thought the later Metal Slugs had life bars as well? Certainly the GBA one does, and Commando certainly looks like a clone of the GBA Slug.

GSM

It is most likely all original art, albeit art made after studying Metal Slug extremely closely. But in the game footage, it becomes clear that they only studied still pictures. The animations are nowhere near Metal Slug smoothness. They're okay, but it was always the little touches on things like recoil and subtle inertia that made Metal Slug sprites come to life. In the footage you can see the protagonist's lower torso and legs are completely motionless while shooting. Compare that with Metal Slug and you see the difference immediately.

slash000

Bursar wrote: »

Not to mention a lot of the animations.

Re: life bars - I thought the later Metal Slugs had life bars as well? Certainly the GBA one does, and Commando certainly looks like a clone of the GBA Slug.

Only Metal Slug Advance has a life bar. (and also the Neo Geo Pocket versions.. also maybe Metal Slug 3d has a life bar, not sure)

And incidentally, the life bar is a mere superficial difference, as you only get 1 life with that life bar.

So instead of dying by 1 hit, and having to "Continue" after 5 deaths, you can be hit 5 times to deplete the life bar, and then you have to "Continue."

The only difference is that you don't lose your weapon in between.

It's a very minor difference in my opinion.



The most recent Metal Slug Proper - Metal Slug 6 - doesn't have a life bar at all; it's traditional 1-hit death (unless you're playing on an easy setting with an 'easy' character). What you do have is a 'special move' meter, though.

The Reverend Dr Galactus

Sueve wrote: »

That Dave Fella wrote: »

I really need to buy a DS and pick up some of these awesome games.

I dono if this is gonna be an awesome game.

More like a copy of an awesome game.

Or an awesome copy of an awesome game.

Or not.