Though it’s the latest in a series that has barely changed since it began in 1996, Metal Slug 7 still has the capacity to stimulate anticipation. The fact that the DS hardware has decent sprite-handling capacity helps, giving this portable Metal Slug an intensity that stands up to the authentic Neo-Geo experience.

In fact, enemies and explosions routinely crowd the screen, along with MS7’s main new introduction: showers of bonus coins. Repeatedly hitting targets now fills a gauge at the bottom of the screen which, when maxed out, causes all destroyed enemies and objects to release coins for a short period. Collected one at a time, they’re worth very few points, but collecting many in a continuous run racks up their individual values at an exponential rate. The result is a more rigorous focus on score attack, a feature supported by the lack of infinite continues.

There’s a little slowdown, especially in the screen-filling boss encounters, but, more distressingly, MS7 lacks the pixel-for-pixel perfection that typifies the series, with a strange scaling effect betrayed as the levels scroll by. Backgrounds, too, fail to match the detail, variety, clarity and sheer distinctiveness of many previous versions, the levels comprising a mostly uninspiring collection of caves and mountainsides rather than the vibrant cities and jungles that you might expect. Of more annoyance are the holes which can be frustratingly tricky to make out and which, naturally, send you to your doom.

The action is wonderfully responsive, however, a necessity given the amount of ordnance thrown around. Though they were by no means unfamiliar to the previous games, here levels have a more marked tendency to be built around locked-in sections, in which all enemies must be destroyed to continue. Bad guys pile in with abandon, and with the right weapon these sections prove enormously cathartic, perfectly capturing the spirit of Metal Slug on the small screen. The game’s seven levels may not boast the artistry and meticulousness of its forebears’, but they boast action that at least equals them. As such, it’s hard not to recommend coming back for more once again.

6/10