It's strange that SNK has Metal Slug 3 on Steam already, but they're just now adding Metal Slug 2 to the line-up. Metal Slug 2 been recently added to the ever-growing catalog of digital games offered on Steam. This includes all the main gameplay modes, characters, and weapons that players loved from the original arcade and Neo Geo release.
Shacknews spotted the recent entry onto Steam's storefront, reporting that gamers can get their hands on the 1990s classic for only $6.99. The port was handled by DotEmu and offers gamers the main arcade story mode, as well as a separate mission mode where players can pick and choose which mission to play at their own whim.
The game contains six different missions as you battle against the evil general and his various henchman in a highly animated, visually splendid action-shooter romp.
Given the resolution display of the game back in the day, if you run the game in its native resolution on today's hardware and monitors, it will look absolutely dreadful. Thankfully, the developers have implemented some video options for the re-release of Metal Slug 2. I can't completely remember, but the last time I played the Steam version of Metal Slug 3 on PC it had some options for sprite smoothing and graphics filters not unlike standard console emulators out there that clean up the resolution and sprites on larger displays.
While graphically the game may be rich and smoothly animated, the jagged resolution can sometimes soil the gameplay experience... especially for the high-quality titles that SNK put out during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
New to this re-release of Metal Slug 2 on Steam is the cloud support for online storage of saved games, as well as leaderboards and achievements. The only major drawback to this release is the lack of cooperative play.
Yes, one of the most iconic features in a Metal Slug game is not present in this PC re-release. I'm not exactly sure what happened in the porting process, but while some gamers are forgiving of the lack of multiplayer, many would probably prefer if DotEmu at least adds the local co-op back into the game. Online co-op would be a cherry on top.
Metal Slug 2 making a return to form is a nice gesture from SNK as they continue to move through development of King of Fighters XIV for the PlayStation 4, which is due out sometime later this year. The company is slowly stepping back into the hardcore gaming arena, and they're trying to (re)build their clout as a major player in the fighting game space. Re-releasing their classic shooters and action games is also a nice way to get gamers to recognize how invaluable some of SNK's past titles are, and hopefully translate into some extra eyes on their upcoming release of King of Fighters XIV.
For the time being, you can get a hold of the single-player rendition of Metal Slug 2 by picking up a digital copy from the Steam store page for $6.99.
