Platform:

Gameboy Advance

Description:

Military themed run and gun action with an art style reminicient of Metal Slug, but less over the top with slower pacing.

Liked:

The graphics are outstanding. Smooth animations, a high level of detail and a great style, the characters are especially memorable. The basic gameplay is solid and fun, and there is some nice variety with overhead shooting levels and parachuting tasks for example. I also liked details like the sniper laser when ducking.

Disliked:

Enemies take too many hits, which makes the gameplay a bit too repetitive and tedious. Also sometimes it seems mandatory to take some damage which feels cheap. Also all collected ammo is gone when the next mission starts. I guess it makes sense in the context that sometimes you even start with a different hero, but still annoying. The sniper levels didn't make much sense to me since everything is black and you don't know where to aim next.

Summary:

It's a good game, and I can only assume that most of the bad ratings for this game here are for the PC version, but the GBA title is a completely different game. While it looks a bit like Metal Slug it can't really compete with that. Would benefit from a more inspired level design, but it's a solid start for a good series.