Metal Slug Rush

Metal Slug Rush Review: The Right Sprites, the Wrong Game Around Them

Survive the Timer, Pick a Perk, Merge the Gear

The design is the survivors template with the licence's assets: a top-down field of Rebel Army soldiers, pirates and Mars People pours in, Marco fires automatically, experience gems level you up mid-run and you choose perks — while the objective reads survive for the time limit and the announcer shouts Heavy Machine Gun. Between runs, gear in a loadout grid is upgraded and merged by grade, supply boxes drop new pieces, and missions chain into stages and floors with bosses. The Metal Slug parts are what work: a July 6 App Store five-star loves the characters, music and enemies and the nostalgia; a July 31 three-star says the game makes good use of Metal Slug assets for what it is, and calls it a sloppy free-to-play survivors-like where you grind for mergeable gear, accidentally merge the pieces you wanted, and then farm ads for the rest.

The Wall, the Patch, and the Ad-Removal That Stopped Being Permanent

The most-voted Play review, a July 25 one-star with 16 votes, calls it the worst game in a decade and wonders why SNK risked the brand — unfinished, unbalanced, no tutorial, mechanics not done right, a helicopter boss that keeps itself just outside your fire range. The second, a July 26 one-star with 14 votes, is about a broken promise: on July 25 the lifetime ad-removal that players had bought was removed from its package and resold in a pricier bundle lasting only 30 days. Balance is the third: a July 14 one-star says the patch made mobs tankier and deadlier and lowered the chance of rolling a primary weapon; an August 16 one-star says damage taken rose about fivefold and a mission a day became none, calling it pay-to-win now; a September 10 one-star hits a limit around level 15 that only heavy spending clears, with side-mission gates every few missions. Ads that freeze and a September 2 build stuck on loading finish the list.

Stage Clear Packs, a Monthly Set, Anniversary Steps and $104.99 on Android

Both stores carry advertising and in-app purchases. The App Store lists a Permanent Support Set at $0.99, a Monthly Support Set at $4.99, Stage Clear packs from $1.99 to $6.99, event premiums at $0.99 and 30th Anniversary steps — a shop a July 28 two-star calls full of slop; Google Play's range runs $0.99 to $104.99, with chance-based items declared in the description. Data collection is heavy: Google lists personal info, financial info and three other types collected, with personal info, app activity and two more shared; Apple lists identifiers linked to you. The iOS build is 189 MB on iOS 15 or later, with iPad and Apple Silicon Macs; Android needs 6.0; English only; rated Everyone 10+ and 13+. Two and a half months in it shows 100,000-plus installs and 1,240 reviews at 2.9 on Play, 31 App Store ratings at 2.7. Prices are regional.