It's always a risk to take a franchise that is built around one genre and try to bring it to another one. Sure, you've got the occasional Metroid Prime or Final Fantasy Tactics, but it can be tough to capture what makes a franchise work outside of its home genre. Metal Slug has always been one of the best arcade-style, run-and-gun games. Is it possible to take something so action-based and convert it into an enjoyable tactical game? Metal Slug Tactics answers this question with a resounding "yes."

In Metal Slug Tactics, some bad guys have escaped, and your group of cartoony mercenaries needs to hunt them down by shooting an absurd number of soldiers. The gameis laid out in the standard-for-the-era roguelike fashion. You're given a map to explore and several potential paths, with each path having a specific set of rewards, such as upgrades for your characters and weapons, money that can be spent to unlock characters and equipment, and healing. Each stage consists of selecting several smaller levels until you fight a boss, at which point you go to a new area.

Each area in Metal Slug Tactics is laid out as a small combat arena. You can position your characters freely as the battle starts and then move them on your turn, followed by the enemy moving on their turn. There's actually quite a bit of Into The Breach in terms of general feel and movement, with each stage providing a basic objective, such as killing all enemies, and then a secondary objective for bonus rewards. Like that game, the focus is very much on specific positioning for optimal effects and the chaining together of abilities, rather than feeling like Final Fantasy Tactics.

Each unit has access to two different weapons. The primary weapon is weaker but has infinite ammo, while the secondary weapon is stronger but has limited ammo that is only replenished at certain spots along the map. For example, one character might have a pistol and a machine gun, or a close-range tonfa and a shotgun. You have three units at once and can swap between them at will, but each unit has one movement and one action for each turn.

Perhaps what sets apart Metal Slug Tactics from other titles is its emphasis on mobility. Having mobility in tactical RPGs is always important, but Metal Slug places a premium on it. The distance your character moves isn't just important for actual mobility, but also defense and offense. The further a character moves, the more dodge points they get. These dodge points effectively function as armor for your character during the turn in which they are gained. The further you move, the more points you get, so you can lessen or even nullify the damage you take during that turn.

The cover mechanic doesn't work the way it does in other games. Certain objects provide an aura of cover, and as long as you end your turn next to them, you'll gain a further increase in damage reduction. This only lasts as long as the object isn't destroyed, and it applies to enemies as well, so it's a double-edged sword. If cover is still intact, it can sometimes nullify enemy attacks, but you don't want to waste one of your own turns destroying it. It's worth noting that HP is very low, so these precious few extra points matter a lot. Dying doesn't inherently end the game; if you have reinforcements (AKA arcade quarters), you can revive a downed character. Harder difficulty modes limit this significantly, though.

The offense element of mobility comes into play with the adrenaline and synchro mechanics. Adrenaline functions somewhat like dodge: the further you move, the more you earn. This can be spent on various special attacks that are unique to the character; attacks can range from powerful single-target attacks to damage-reducing buffs or huge explosions. Not only does maximizing your movement give you the best protection, but it also means you can freely use huge deadly special moves.

Synchronization is where movement and positioning come into play. If a unit attacks an enemy who is in the attack range of an ally's primary weapon, that ally will launch a synchro attack with the weapon for additional damage. This is bonus damage, but most units have special skills that only trigger from this. Classic Eri gains a bonus move after a synchro attack, which means you can move her close with a melee weapon, have another character trigger the synchro, and then she can move after the synchro to reach a safe location.

Most of the action in combat revolves around trying to move as much as possible while maintaining line of sight and close-range positioning to allow your team to support each other. It adds an almost puzzle aspect to the combat, which is genuinely a lot of fun. It's surprisingly addictive to try to achieve the maximum amount of movement and damage for every action. The game allows you to experiment, so you can reset movement as long as you haven't taken action. If things go drastically wrong, there's also an Into The Breach-style "turn reset."

It helps that there's a lot of variety to the stages. Most stages have a gimmick, such as having to protect an escort character, rescuing trapped soldiers, dealing with a tower that shoots homing missiles, the stage increasing in size partway through, and more. There are special gimmicks, like Metal Slug tanks that your characters can hop into to increase their firepower. There are big boss fights that make you do things like fight a giant battleship that is destroying the environment beneath your feet.

Metal Slug Tactics keeps players invested and interested by having players utilize different tactics for different stages. The aforementioned homing missiles can be nullified by a smart combination of dodge and cover, but they also create an AoE explosion around your character that destroys the cover. This means there's no specific safe area, but you can rush into a group of enemies and let their own ally team kill them. Some stages have an overwhelming number of foes, and trying to fight them all is foolish, but you instantly win if you complete the objective. The result is that each stage in Metal Slug Tactics is a nice, bite-sized piece of adventure.

I found it to be a ton of fun. It took a short while to get used to the combat, but once I did, I really enjoyed the twists and mechanics. There's enough variety to the gameplay that I never felt like I was resting on my laurels. I'd frequently be asked to come up with some ways to preserve my characters and complete my secondary objectives. There are enough unlockable characters and skills to make sure each round feels fresh.

It helps that the sprite work is lovely. Metal Slug was always known for its excellent 2D graphics, and the swap to a more isometric style of sprite work comes without an iota of loss of quality. Indeed, it does a pixel-perfect job of capturing the art style, tone and feeling of the Metal Slug games even if there's a shift in genre, and I frequently smiled at small animations. The music is likewise excellent, even if it consists largely of remixes and reuses of classic Slug songs.

Metal Slug Tactics is an excellent adaptation of the franchise to an entirely new genre. It doesn't play anything like the older Metal Slug games, but in some ways, it still does. It's fast paced, engaging, and frequently funny and clever. The core mechanics are instantly engaging and a genuine delight to experience. Perhaps the only real complaint I can think of is that the roguelike style might not be for everyone, but even that is true to the style of the original arcade games. Both fans of the franchise and those who can't tell a Metal Slug from a Metal Gear will find a lot to like in Tactics.

Score: 8.5/10