OK, I'll admit it again, I am a sucker for well-made old-style games. The "Metal Slug" series is not especially old, but I love the way it has refused to adapt to the brave new world of 3-D gaming.

"Metal Slug 3," a new game for Xbox from SNK, is a rare return to the nonstop, two-dimensional, side-scrolling arcade action of the early 1990s. It is a game with a sense of humor and a sense of honor; the kind of game that challenges players without being hard simply for the sake of being hard.

In "Metal Slug 3," players lead one of four soldiers as they battle entire armies of enemies. Don't attempt to conserve ammunition in this game, the enemies come in all forms and they definitely keep coming.