Metal Slug-inspired shoot-em-up Mercenary Kings launched on the PlayStation 4 earlier this month as a part of the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection. What that means is Plus subscribers were able to download the game from its first day of availability without paying a dime to developer Tribute Games, a decision the company says it doesn't regret.
"I'm happy we traded a bit of risk for a PS Plus deal," co-founder Jean-Francois Major told Gamasutra. "Maybe we could've done better on our own, but the PS Plus deal was a safe bet. We'll gamble a bit more on the next project!"
Montreal-based developer Canari Games has announced their first title on Kickstarter, Lunark. Currently there is an estimated release window of April 2020.
This 2D shoot ‘em up is a mashup of Metal Slug and Monster Hunter. The story goes as follows: scientists were creating a bio-regenerating formula on a remote island when the chief engineer was kidnapped by Baron and his CLAW forces. A team with royal sounding code names were sent to rescue him. However, only your character and another survived the attempt. The deaths of your comrades are quite gruesome and portrayed vividly in pixel styled cutscenes.
Huh! A free upgrade to the previous ps4 version. Just redownloaded it again, acts like an update. Pretty amazeballs.
Chad writes: "By looking at the Mercenary Kings screenshots it’s easy to assume that it’ll be a Metal Slug copycat - and you would be right about that, the games are definitely similar in appearance. The gameplay, on the other hand, is vastly different: Mercenary Kings plays like Mega Man in a less linear environment."
This game is fun and addictive. But it crashes too often. I stopped playing it, can't stand wasting 20 minutes on a gathering mission and then a crash send me back to the home menu. Fun, addictive and a cool retro style, but still uninstalled.
This is a game that I didn't think I would enjoy at all, but I always seem to have a great time playing. It's hard as all hell, but man it gets addicting at times. I hope for only the best for Tribute Games in the future.
Sometimes the simple things in life are the best