Metal Slug X

Metal Slug X is what Metal Slug 2 should have been. SNK rebuilt the previous year's game from scratch, fixed the slowdown that plagued the later stages, rearranged the enemy placement, and added a new set of weapons.

It is a remix rather than a sequel, and knowing that is the key to enjoying it. The campaign follows the same six-stage structure as Metal Slug 2, but the enemy positions are different, the vehicles appear in different places, and three genuinely new weapons arrive: the Iron Lizard, which sends a rocket-propelled lizard along the ground; the Enemy Chaser, a homing missile; and the Drop Shot, an arcing grenade. Each of them is strong enough to change how you play, and the slowdown that made the original board genuinely hard to play is gone. If you are picking between Metal Slug 2 and X for a first playthrough, X is the better game in every respect - and the two together show how much enemy placement alone can change a run.

• ▸A full rebuild of Metal Slug 2 with slowdown fixed
• ▸Three new weapons - Iron Lizard, Enemy Chaser and Drop Shot
• ▸Rearranged enemy placement throughout the campaign
• ▸The best version of the Metal Slug 2 campaign to play