Gameplay: Good
Story: Good (Funny)
Controls: Good
Graphics: Good (for its time)
Length: Great

Note: Played on RG35XX Retro handheld console. lol

A huge step back for the Metal Slug series.

The slide mechanic is extremely frustrating and will lead to frequent missteps and severely limits your ability to jump from crouch (which is very common).

The bosses range from underwhelming to infuriating, with frustrating randomized patterns, way too much health, spending majority of the fight untargetable off-screen, and being very buggy, even unfinished.

The level design is just all over the place, with new enemies that add nothing to the game, long sections where you just crouch shoot repeatedly, waste of time Slug sections that last less than a minute and pose no risk of ever dying, elite enemies that have gargantuan healthbars, and constant grenade spam.

It's carried purely from the assets it's reused from previous games and just because Slug games are just inherently hectic and fun. Most of these complaints are compared to the high bar set by the rest of the series, and if no other Metal Slugs existed, this would definitely be a great action game, but it just feels amateurish compared to all the previous games.

(I played this on Metal Slug Anthology on a PS2 emulator)
Metal Slug 5 is the sixth main line instalment in the Metal slug series. Playing any of the previous games is not required. The Metal slug series are 2D run-and-gun arcade games that ran boast an impressive artstyle. Metal slug is no different. In fact, throughout its lifecycle Metal Slug has stayed mostly the same, the only difference between games are levels, sometimes weapons and vehicles. Now that’s not a bad thing per se, but if you are like me and were hoping for something different after 5 games, then you will be disappointed.

Story
There is no storyline. I don’t count anything outside the actual game. However, the way characters are animated gives them quite a lot of personality.

Mechanics and gameplay
Metal Slug 5 has fairly standard 2D controls. If you’ve played any other game of this genre, then you will have no problem getting used to the controls. There is one mechanic that you won’t find in the previous entries – sliding. In every level you start off with a week pistol, there are more powerful weapons scattered throughout the level, but they have limited ammo. There are also vehicles you can find. They are much more deadly, but their biggest advantage is being able to take damage.
That’s right, if you take any damage, you die. At least you get 3 lives, however after that you have to restart not just the level, but the whole game. There is another option – just to respawn with 3 more live where you died, no progress lost. I am guessing that since this was an arcade game, that was their way to suck out more money. Also, yes, the game is really hard.
Level and enemy variety is great. There are some foes from the previous title, that have been reused, but overall, I never felt like I was playing though the same area.

Graphics and artstyle
Metal slug is a standout series that has always managed to deliver an incredible artstyle. Background, explosions, bosses – everything is well animated and detailed.

Atmosphere
Due to it being an arcade and not taking itself seriously, there is hardly any atmosphere.

Soundtrack and sound effects
SFX are great, every important event (enemy dying) has a sound (scream).
Music is another thing that metal slug always gets right. Favourite part is “RUINS EXCAVATION”.

Final Thoughts
OKAY!!!

It's better than Metal Slug 4. That game felt like a janky rom-hack. This one at least tries to pull things back to a more natural progression of levels. But if we're honest with ourselves the first three games are a coherent trilogy and the two afterwards just feel lost. The big bad this time is something occult, but you still spend the entire game fighting tanks, mechs, and soldiers. I'm not crazy about some of the wackier, drawn-out aspects of the second and third games, but there was a level of commitment and elaboration there that was charming and impressive.

Getting into some finer points: the vehicle sections in this game are mostly yawners. Weapon placement is stringent, enemy arrangement feels bland, and there isn't much in the way of fun bonuses or easter eggs. There's little environmental damage or atmosphere, and levels sometimes change locations abruptly, leading to them feeling a bit incoherent. The difficulty feels about right for Metal Slug though, and some of the bosses, like that bastard sand-submarine, are fun to fight.

In some ways it's the most forgettable Metal Slug title, with the previous game taking the bullet for being such a step back and this one slipping away for being such a small step forward. Overall it feels like it was crafted out of forgotten mid-game levels from other entries.