Gamecube (Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes) Playstation One (Metal Gear Solid) Playstation 2 (Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection)
10 out of 10
On the NES, Metal Gear was a different type of game than what the average gamer was used to. The focus of the gameplay was around stealth rather than shoot-outs with the enemy. It provided a fun, unique experience for those who played it. While an average, non-Kojima-made sequel hit store shelves in North America for the NES, after the 16-bit era came and went, it seemed as if Solid Snake’s days in video games were over...And then Metal Gear Solid was announced for Sony’s Playstation console and was, nearly instantly, one of the most anticipated titles of the year. But upon release did it live up to the hype?
Gameplay-wise, Metal Gear Solid is very similar to the gameplay of Metal Gear on the NES; some parts actually appear in both games. Your main focus is to be seen as little as possible, get in as few fights as possible, and cause as little death as possible. If you’d like to throw caution to the wind and just go on a killing spree, you’re always free to do so...However, if you do that, you may run out of ammo quickly and find yourself unarmed and surrounded by angry soldiers trying to share the fun of murdering you. While avoiding fights may sound like a boring concept, Metal Gear Solid does it in such a way that it’s very enjoyable. There are many ways to avoid being seen by guards in the game. You can make noise to lure guards away from an area they’re guarding while you quietly sneak in or lure them into a strategically placed mine. You can quietly sneak up on them and knock them unconscious or snap their neck, if that’s more your style. Heck, you can even hide yourself in a cardboard box to hide from an oncoming soldier or to quickly travel from one area of the game to another without being spotted via the back of a truck. It’s the variety in ways you can sneak around and set up traps for guards that really makes the stealth aspect fun.
So, what if you feel as if you don’t really know how to be stealthy? Well, MGS happens to have several ‘VR Missions’ on the disks for you to practice your craft in. These missions are more of like a bonus mini-game, but they are very fun. Since they’re eventually timed, you could potentially spend hours trying to master each level just so you can achieve a time faster than the computer. Without the VR Missions added in, Metal Gear Solid is still a very great game. However, the addition of them is just a nice little bonus for folks wanting to learn the basics before heading into the actual game and also for folks who have beaten the game several times over but can’t get enough Metal Gear.
The gameplay is enough to keep most folks wanting to play more, however Metal Gear Solid also has a very interesting and entertaining story that will almost make you feel as if finishing the game is a necessity so you can see how it all unfolds. The plot is full of lots of twists and turns...Some of which you’ll never see coming. From the moment you shed your scuba gear to the memorable confrontation with Psycho Mantis to the final few minutes of gameplay, you’re constantly left with the feeling of ‘this is really awesome’. The story may be one of the best and most beloved within a video game of all time.
Graphically, for its time, Metal Gear Solid really pushed the Playstation hardware to its limit. There was so much detail in the environments and such that the game had to be placed onto two disks rather than one. Jaws often dropped upon seeing Metal Gear Solid in action back when it first came out...Those graphics were unbelievable. The graphics don’t look to special now, but they’re still good enough to get the job done. As far as audio goes, Metal Gear Solid is an absolute treat. From the background music to the voice acting, everything is top-notch. While the graphics of MGS haven’t really aged well, all of the audio does. The voice acting in particular is easily some of the best you’ll hear on any game you’ll ever play.
Overall, Metal Gear Solid is a masterpiece. It is a classic in every sense of the word. When it first came out, there wasn’t a whole lot that could compete with it. It was the total package; it was fun, the story was great, the graphics were amazing, and the audio (the voice acting in particular) was probably the best anyone had ever heard in a video game up to that point. This game set up a fanbase to rabid and crazed that when Konami released Zone of the Enders on PS2, packed in with a demo for Metal Gear Solid 2, may fans made the claim that they had bought a fifty dollar demo and got a free game with it. Metal Gear Solid is easily one of the all-time great games and while it doesn’t hold up well in the graphics department anymore, anyone who takes the time to give it a try will likely fall in love with it just like everyone did when it was released ten years ago. - Ape
October 21, 1998
September 3, 1998
February 26, 1999
