Metal Slug Anthology Comments by Simon Parkin

@disc

Maybe not from a technical standpoint, but then it's hardly fair to compare since they were designed for hardware released 14 years apart. The Neo Geo wasn't a particularly powerful machine but it did allow for some very elaborate sprite animation, and Metal Slug plays to this strength. It has a unique cartoon style that wasn't exactly like anything at the time (or since), and it's the quality of the animation that really brings it to life.

Even if it isn't your cup of tea it's hard to deny the artistry and skill that's gone in to Metal Slug - it's a beautifully crafted game with a great attention to detail. Especially the first three games, which all have a very clear and well thought-out vision from start to finish.

"Lumines 1&2 (the franchise actually was born on the PSP), Exit 1&2, GripShift (ported FROM the PSP to the PSN), LocoRoco, Syphon Filter Dark Mirror, KillZone Liberation, etc. ... the list goes on."

It only goes on if you're willing to include upcoming games of untested quality or b-list games. Or both as someone mentioned Chilli Con Carnage earlier.

And how long did it take the PSP to get to such an staggeringly short list of worthwhile, sort of exclusive, content?

The PSP is a very viable platform, but not really for new games. It's a nice multimedia device to play classic games on. And it's at it's most enjoyable when properly hacked so you don't have to deal with Sony's battle against the user.

And how long did it take the PSP to get to such an staggeringly short list of worthwhile, sort of exclusive, content?

The list is not short at all and you seem to be looking for reasons to criticise the PSP library... If you take the effort of checking Metacritic or GameRankings, you will find MORE PSP games rated at 80% or higher than DS ones.

And if I was to buy a handheld now, I wouldn't care about "how fast" or "how long" the games were released, I would only care to know that the games are available now, and that there are more coming.

"staggeringly short" my arse.

"Well I'll get this for the Wii anyway, can't put up with PSP controls anymore. "
------

Err, good look adjusting to the Wii controls then! Wii MSA has loads of different control combos, all of them flawed sadly;

-Wavebird control is confined to the left stick (the d-pad only works in menu's)

-the Wiimote can be used horizontally but, and its a BIG but, to chuck a grenade you have to shake the wiimote - beyond stupid in a precision 2d game

-loads of crappy Wiimote-nunchuck combos that feel totally unnatural

...and I'll save the best (worst) till last....

IT DOESN'T SUPPORT THE CLASSIC CONTROLLER!! AAAAAAAAARGH!!!! If ever a game was made for the CC, this was it. Playmore's excuse is they weren't issued with the CC early enough in the titles development. You could cling to the hope this'll be rectified for the PAL release but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Thankfully, although not ideal, the PSP version plays fine with the d-pad. It's noticably better on my newer white psp than my launch black one though, mainly because the d-pad is a lot more flush on my old black one.

"staggeringly short" my arse.

And mine. Wipeout Pure, MGS:PO, Daxter, and Ratchet & Clank are four other titles worth listing.

@Chtulie

How did you get so full of shit? Did you use some kind of pump?

Answers on postcard plz

I think I actually prefer bad reviews for PSP games. Not only does it save me money by keeping me from buying them, but the ignorant shit-wits who are incapable of letting a day of their empty bitter lives pass by without slagging the system off will usually content themselves with a simple "another shit PSP game then" and piss off precisely one post too late.

In the good reviews they have to pretend it's the first one there's ever been and that this one game won't make them buy a PSP (because we all know gaming systems only ever have one game), or go into lengthy detail about how even though it has a good game now (how generous a concession!), the hardware is fundamentally flawed.

I suppose if I were some freak with nothing better to do with my life than define myself by the things I hate, I might hang out in the bad DS reviews, there are a lot more of them after all. But that would require me to hate the DS, which I don't, as it has a great many strengths all of its own.

I don't even hate the desperate prannocks who think an obligation of being a DS owner is to make a pain in the arse of yourself whenever anything good is being said about its competitor. I'm staggeringly fucking bored of them though. Maybe the DS reviews are full of PSP owners acting in as cretinous a fashion? I can't say I've seen it if they are.

"What are you, some sort of illiterate fucking spastic? "

And people wonder why i think this guy is a dick?

I whould love to buy it, but I still don't have a single coin left from the arcade days...

"Lumines 1&2 (the franchise actually was born on the PSP), Exit 1&2, GripShift (ported FROM the PSP to the PSN), LocoRoco, Syphon Filter Dark Mirror, KillZone Liberation, etc. ... the list goes on."

What list is that? The Big List Of Mediocre, Widely-Overrated Games For Dullards? Gripshift is pretty cool, but Lumines is fun for about a week, Exit is a slow, boring, madly overcomplicated puzzle game that people like solely because it has really nice quirky graphics, and I fell asleep halfway through the *name* of Syphon Filter Dark Mirror, never mind when I actually tried to play it. And LocoRoco is cute and has fantastic music, but the gameplay is spongy and shallow. And these are your killer apps? Oh dear.

And no, I'm no PSP hater or rabid DS fanboy. Most people seemed to find this a fair and balanced account:
http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.co...

With custom firmware installed, the PSP is a brilliant console. But if you're going to spend nearly £200 on one just for exclusive PSP games - and especially the crap you mentioned above - you're out of your tiny mind.

Are you? I couldn't say.

I read your article, and have to disagree with the following:

1- You're blowing the square button and and the analog nub issues out of proportion. The D-Pad I agree, it sucks for diagonals. But calling this a complete disaster is a bit of an exaggeration. The touch-pad, while working fine most of the time, is not perfect either, and it doesn't suit a few games.
Couple of examples: I tried to play Starfox DS and found it an imprecise mess to control, whereas Ace Combat always responded well to the "disastrous" analogue nub on the PSP. While FPS are a PITA on the PSP, they're not that much better on the DS: Metroid makes people wish they had three hands.

2- I already tried playing with both a DS phat and a DS lite, and I have to say: the DS Lite feels VERY cheaply produced in comparison to the PSP. In fact, the DS phat actually felt more robust than the redesigned DS does. My PSP already fell to the ground twice, and survived undamaged. I doubt a DS Lite would have.

For the most part, it's really a matter of taste. I just prefer the PSP's varied games library over Nintendo's offering any time.

PS: "tiny mind"? Refrain from insulting people you don't know.

"I just prefer the PSP's varied games library over Nintendo's offering any time."

This was my position for ps1 and ps2 vs. other consoles- psp seems to be following suit.

I'm also just not very hip to this 'touch generation' thing. I am not a 'casual gamer'. I don't want brilliantly simplistic and commute-friendly puzzle games with deceptively childish graphics. I want evil bastard meatgrinder games with little respect for office deadlines, bodily hygiene or one's neglected sex life. I want STATS, dammit. I want grim anti-heroes spouting pages of densely written monologue, and labyrinthine control schemes that make me cry at night.

Now the DS does have some games that fit the bill, but it doesn't have MGS (Acid and PO), Valkyrie Profile or Syphon Filter. It also doesn't have Wipeout, which pretty much seals the deal for me :)

@Rev. Stuart Campbell

"What are you, some sort of illiterate fucking spastic?"

Oh man, you have made my day. Everytime someone who is supposedly a professional, with a degree of tolerance and maturity reveals themselves to actually be a petulant child, I gain an extra year of life.

With you on board, I'm good till 2086.

Seriously though, you are way to old to be reacting like that. Pretty pathetic stuff I'm sure we can all agree. Keep it up though, you make me smile :)

"For the most part, it's really a matter of taste. I just prefer the PSP's varied games library over Nintendo's offering any time."

Pretty much what I said in the feature, before giving the PSP a narrow victory in the "native games" category for the very breadth of catalogue that you cite above. I also agree that Starfox Command is a bit of a mess to control, but that's down to the game design, not the hardware. And how you can call a d-pad that only works in four directions anything less than a disaster, I don't know. I'm just glad I'm not a big Street Fighter fan.

You must have been very unlucky with your Lite, though - I've dropped mine half a dozen times and it's come to no harm. My PSP, on the other hand, was broken (useless d-pad, dead pixels) straight out of the box...

@Rev. Stuart Campbell

Man, I've just read through some of your other comments to other people on here. You really don't get enough love do you.

Go on, hit me with a playground insult, just for fun (I recommend calling me stupid, but saying my trainers aren't cool or my hair looks shit would be EQUALLY effective).

Why bother? You don't seem to be able to read, so you wouldn't understand it anyway.

@ kanga, Rev Stu

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

(Watch out, teacher's coming)

"Why bother? You don't seem to be able to read, so you wouldn't understand it anyway."

Smackdown of the week right there. My eyes are scorched.

I control the horizontal and the vertical. You are like my little remote control car. When I press a button, you jump. I just wind you up and watch you go. Think on it.


@dirigiblebill

Obnoxious people bring out the best in me :)

I'm considering writing a study of the way people bitch at one another on comments threads. The levels of vitriol on here are up there with bleedin' Juvenal and William Hazlitt.

/looks smug at literary reference

"How did you get so full of shit? Did you use some kind of pump?"

You're not frustratrated that a grand effort as the PSP is getting so badly executed? The biggest chance for there finally to be some strong competition in the handheld market and it get's bunged up like that?

Kanga: Outer Limits > Sandie Shaw

"From my outsider's perspective, the attractive thing about the whole DS vs. PSP saga is that the platforms are pretty well differentiated. DS gives you a bizarre but effective dual-screen touchy-feely set-up; PSP gives you the power of a ps2 in your pocket. There's a real sense of choice, and quality gaming on either side of the line."

Like SeesThroughAll, I agree completely with this statement.

+3

Chtulie, if you don't think the PSP is well served, that's a shame, personally I've got more excellent games on it than I have time to play, although I give it a good go, and I honestly have no issues with the control set-up other than the stupid no diagonals D-Pad Sony continue to inflict on us. I'm not saying it couldn't be better, but it's no deal breaker.

I withdraw any previous remarks of an insulting nature, as it appears cut-price celebrity prick Stuart Campbell is active in this thread, and while I've hit ignore every time his name has appeared for around the last 7 years, I know enough about his personal charm to know he'll be giving proceedings more than enough obnoxious bile to spare for everyone.

Mr Campbell was the reason I stopped buying edge.

I hate soup.

Campbell makes me want to give up gaming altogether, self important twit.

I'm about as important as a fly on an elephant, son. Any importance you attribute to me is entirely in your own mind. So thanks!

I refer you to your previous comment about being an "illiterate fucking spastic" aimed at another poster.

What does someone being an illiterate fucking spastic have to do with me being important?