The ‘Slug games form one of the more highly estimable series to have been released by SNK on their Neo Geo system, and a handful of the (five, to date) titles have seen a release on other formats. This fourth entry into the series (the sequence is 1 – 2 – X – 3 – 4) is the first to get a PS2 release. “Run ‘n’ Gun” is the key expression here, as the games are unashamedly old skool in their gameplay: make your way through the game’s many long and multi-branching levels, blowing stuff up and laughing at the crazy sprites and stupidly funny death animations. That’s it. It’s 2D, it’s really hard, it’s really funny and a total laugh from start to finish.

Taking control of your little avatars is simple: your pad moves you left to right, up points your weapon skyward and down makes you crouch. Three buttons control your other actions: fire, jump and grenade, and can be mapped to any of the buttons on the Dualshock. Up close to an enemy, fire will slash with your Bowie knife, and the grenade button acts as secondary fire when in a vehicle. There are four characters to select – Tarma, Eri, Fio and Marco, each with their own visual eccentricities and appeal. When you pick one of the fools….er…sorry – hardened soldiers – from the line-up, a little animation shows a snot bubble come from their nose, or their glasses break. Then you parachute onto a beach and get attacked by giant crabs…..

Your manner of progress changes from level to level: in the first, you make your way across the beach and into the jungle, battling giant locusts and killer molluscs, until you come to a diversion. Standing on an embankment, you can either drop down onto a boat on the river and fight some soldiers, taking over the craft in the process, or carry-on along the bank by jumping a chasm and stepping into a teleportation device that looks like a giant steel bin…..

No matter the route you take, you are always faced with a unique challenge that tests your skills. On level 1, taking the aforementioned boat trip sees you scoffing some pies and growing fat (wherein your belly sticks out from your clothing, and you use a fork and table knife to kill up-close), then shooting some flying piranhas out of the sky. However, if you take the upper route you face enormous lobsters, get to pick up a gun that fires rockets on roller skates and rescue a monkey that carries a gun and wears a nappy.

Enemies also come in a variety of flavours, and all die in amusing ways. The site of a man burning to death when you torch him with your Flame Shot shouldn’t be funny, but the way he waggles his little arms about as he burns is just so darn cute, you have to chuckle. Zombies pop like balloons as you rage like a mini Rambo; soldiers fly through the air like A-Team extras; aliens dissolve into icky goo…the amount of animation in the game, and the stylish and comical artwork, differentiate Metal Slug 3 from the rest of the crowd. The original Neo Geo version was one of the largest cartridges ever made (weighing-in at about 90meg), and all that ROM space was put to extremely good use. The hand-drawn backgrounds and diverse scenery – ranging from underwater caverns and giant snails - and maggot-infested caves to mummy-festooned pyramids – really set the game aside from its peers.

Of course, the game would be pointless if the weaponry on offer wasn’t as diverse and entertaining as the bad guys you are destined to destroy, so MS3 presents you with pick-ups that range from the Enemy Chaser to the Shotgun, with everything in-between. Rescuing POWs rewards you with these items, as well as occasional drops like fruit and medals that add to your points total. Ammo for the tools of death is limited (as are the number of grenades you can carry), so conservation and correct use is paramount. As well as being a humorous game, MS3 is also incredibly hard, and death is rarely more than a moment away. On foot, a single hit can kill, and the screen is often awash with enemy fire and flailing attacks that will have you whacking the continue option frequently until the pace of the game is assimilated.

Jumping into a vehicle, including the eponymous Metal Slug tank, means that a larger number of hits can be taken. Once the energy of your vehicle has been depleted, it will flash before explosion. Hitting fire and jump together sees you leap from the wreckage an instant before you are engulfed in its combustion, and this technique can also be used in another manner: leaping from an intact machine will see it charge directly at the enemy, causing huge damage. Over the course of the game, you’ll find yourself piloting a Mech, a Harrier jet and a chopper: use these lifesavers wisely.

The boss encounters in the Metal Slug games are an experience in themselves, and require patience and practice to overcome. From the initial giant Hermit crab fight at the end of level 1 to the toy robot battle at the end of level 3, patterns must be learned before these behemoths can be dispatched. There are five levels in all, although this figure is confusing: levels 1-4 are roughly equal in length, but level 5 is as large as the rest of the levels put together. It also contains the most variety, with a huge selection of vehicles, enemy types and even a vertical shoot 'em up section.

On the audio front, the sound is a marvel….for a Neo Geo game. PS2 owners might find the use of speech and sound effects a little limited and repetitive, but this is inevitable considering the original was released on hardware dating back over ten years. Still, a remixed version of the soundtrack would have been a welcome inclusion, even though the tunes are pretty hummable.

The original had significant slowdown on certain levels, noticeable particularly in two-player. The vast majority of this has been eliminated, although a touch still exists in two-player when the action gets particularly manic. This version also, naturally, runs at a higher resolution than the Neo Geo version. Unfortunately, the sprites haven’t been optimised to compensate, and therefore are much more pixellated than the original. This has the effect of removing some of the charm associated with the in-game characters.

Added bonuses for the PS2 version are the inclusion of two mini games, available upon completion: Fruit Island and UFO. Both are a fun diversion and a welcome bonus, but are hardly Earth shattering. The main game, though, compares with the 2D Contra games in terms of quality and is an undeniably fun experience, with loads to admire and laugh about. Brilliant in two-player, the only major complaint gamers can have with Metal Slug 3 is that it is too easy on PS2. In the original, players were restricted to 3 continues (making the game a huge test of skill and perseverance), whereas this version has infinite continues. If these are not ignored, and the player doesn’t restrict their use, the game can be completed in around an hour. It is also worth bearing in mind that the Neo Geo version’s default difficulty level is the equivalent of ‘Very Hard’ setting on PS2, and play on the ‘Hard’ setting or above is recommended.

Metal Slug 3 is one of the funniest and most amusingly violent comic capers you can imagine. Simple yet harmless fun, and demanding a lot of thought and planning by the gamer – as well as fast reflexes - it is one of the late SNK’s finest hours. More fun than a barrel of Pampers-wearing, Uzi-toting monkeys.