So many of us old school gamers have fond memories of all the original titles in the Metal Slug franchise. Since 1996 the six games - seven if you count the later upgrade of Metal Slug 2 as Metal Slug X - have provide countless hours of hardcore traditional shooter gameplay for legions of fans. One would think that repackaging them all together in a single anthology title for the Nintendo Wii and slapping an incredibly cheap price of less than forty bucks on it would make for a no-brainer purchase. As you'll see, for the most part this is true, but there are also a few drawbacks to consider before making your purchase.

Although this anthology collection does stay perfectly true to the look and feel of all the original titles in this arcade classic, you might have expected something a little extra, since this anthology was made as a tenth anniversary collection and it was made to play on a next-gen gaming console. Unfortunately this is not the case…

First the positives. Yes, all the original awesome graphics are there. Yes, it's still an action-packed shooter with blood and guts and dirty words. And yes, the incredible boss designs you remember are present too. If you enjoyed playing this scrolling shooter before, you'll still enjoy it now - if you can figure the controls out.

You see, players are already finding that the attempt to incorporate the Wii remote and the nunchuck into the control pad options just isn't panning out. To state it simply, they just don't work well with the game. The original game wasn't designed for a motion sensing and other advanced controls, and the efforts the designers made to incorporate them just don't cut it. For example, players are reporting that using the motion control for tossing grenades results in a really obvious lag-time. For a fast paced game like this, that's a no go.

Savvy players have already figured out the best thing to do is find some old game cube or arcade stick controllers and plug those in instead. You'll still have to play around to figure out the control pad configuration that works best for you though. Maybe it's not that big a deal - after all, these are old-school games. It just would have been nice if they'd added a few extras to take advantage of the new platform and the abilities of the new Wii controllers.

Speaking of not fully utilising the advanced Wii system, the developers were also too lazy to enhance any of the menu or loading screens. Let's not even get started on the bonus "creator interview" you get access to once you've earned enough tokens in game - there's not even any audio or video. If you're looking for enhanced extras that take advantage of the Wii's abilities, you will not find them in this anthology.

As far as your buying decision goes, it boils down to a very simple choice. Do you want to dive back into a classic gaming experience from the past with the look, play and feel of the original titles? If so, this is a great buy. If you were hoping that an anthology collection designed for a next-gen gaming console like the Wii would take the best from these titles and then build upon them to enhance the experience, you'll probably want to give Metal Slug Anthology a pass.