You know the score with the Metal Slug series by now: arcade platform/shooting gumph, filled with stunningly animated if spectacularly last-generation characters and a difficulty level perfectly pitched to rob you of every last bit of change in your pocket. Great stuff, assuming you're enjoying it in its natural arcade setting, of course.

But on Xbox you have a tired-looking game that, with the benefit of infinite continues, can be polished off in just over an hour. And even though it's only 20 quid, with online scoreboards the only real addition to the package, it's hardly value for money. As a compilation package of old Metal Slug games it would have been perfect, but as a standalone title this is desperately lacking in features let alone replay factor. Besides, Metal Slug 4 is hardly the high point of the series anyway, nestling uncomfortably as it does between the far more varied and entertaining Metal Slug's 3 and 5. But a 57 score is by no means representative of the game itself. Metal Slug 4 is still classic 10p-guzzling stuff, but there's just not enough here to warrant a score of your hard-earned readies.

It's definitely a fun game, but you'd need to be a huge fan to warrant paying £20 for such a feature-thin package.