Title: Metal Gear Solid
Developed/Published By: Konami
Released: 1998
Consoles: Playstation
Background: One of the most successful games for the Playstation, Metal Gear Solid was regarded as one of the most innovative games of its time, with it popularising stealth in video games while featuring many lengthy cinematic cut-scenes, which was rare for a game at that time, causing many people to claim it was more of an interactive movie than a game. However, the game was a critical and commercial success, selling over 6 million copies worldwide. It has been eleven years since the game was released and since then we have had three sequels plus many spin-offs and a remake of this very game for the Gamecube. So, is it still a masterpiece of a game that many claimed it to be, or has it aged quicker than Solid Snake himself (see: Metal Gear Solid 4)?
Note: I'm going to try and minimalise spoilers in the story, BUT, there are some cases where I might mention something that is quite spoilerish.
Story: The game is a sequel to Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The main character of those games, Solid Snake, is forced out of retirement for a mission into a nuclear weapons disposal facility on an island called Shadow Moses in Alaska. His mission is stop Foxhound, his former unit, from launching a nuclear missile. They are demanding the remains of Big Boss, Solid Snake's former mentor and enemy of the first two games, within 24 hours or they will launch it. However, things are not as they seem, but I won't ruin it for people who have not played this game yet. Snake also has to save two important hostages, DARPA chief Donald Anderson and ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker. You are helped in your mission by several people over the codec, a radio-type device that allows people to speak to you without people around you being able to hear it. Colonel Campbell, who was the one who brought you into the mission, returns from the second Metal Gear game. His niece, Meryl, is on Shadow Moses as she was training as a soldier there before FOXHOUND led a revolt. She was one of the only ones who did not join the revolt. You arrive at the facility and you eventually find Donald Anderson, who *MINOR SPOILER* dies suddenly via what looks like a heart attack *END SPOILER* and not long after that you find Baker who *MINOR SPOILER* read previous spoiler *END SPOILER*. I won't go on about the story much further, if you have not played it then I do not really want to spoil much of it. FOXHOUND is made up of the leader Liquid Snake (who looks exactly like Solid Snake, but is not an evil twin, as you'll find out near the end of the game), Vulcan Raven, a shaman who is very physically powerful, Sniper Wolf, a *MINOR SPOILER* sniper *END SPOILER* who can wait for days for a chance to hit her target, Psycho Mantis, a psychic who can read minds and perform telekinesis, Decoy Octopus, a master of disguise and Revolver Ocelot, who loves to torture people and also loves a good old fashioned gun fight. Each of the main characters, from allies to villains, are well developed and the story is complex, epic and really good.
Gameplay: The gameplay is stealth orientated and it is wise to keep out of sight if you can. If you get caught you will have an endless amount of guards after you within seconds (which I will speak more of later). The controls are easy enough to understand and the gameplay itself is pretty strong. If you have played MGS 2 or 3 (can't talk about 4, since I haven't played it) then you might find it a little hard to get used to the fighting, as there is no first person view (which I always use for fighting in the later games, which made it hard to adjust). The lack of first person view also meant that I had to be careful and not run about everywhere. I found myself being stealthy in places where there were no enemies and no camera's, just in case there is one off-screen. Most of the boss battles are unique and epic, with each one requiring a different strategy or technique to defeat (again, not saying how to defeat them, not making it easy for those who haven't played it yet, but will eventually). Overall, pretty good, but it is was hard for me to get used to since I had played the PS2 MGS games before this one, but that is not anything against the game.
Graphics/Sound: Like all PlayStation games, the graphics are dated. However, at the time they were really good and not many games had anything better in 1998. The music is also pretty good, although I think future games have stronger soundtracks, but it's definitely not bad. However, it is the voice acting which really impressed me. While many games during this time struggled to have a great voice cast (some even struggling to find good actors for some of the live-action games that were around in the mid 90s), Metal Gear Solid has some great voices. David Hayter, who voices Solid Snake, is my personal favourite out of the cast, but Liquid Snake, Ocelot and Otacon all have great voices that match with their characters perfectly.
Criticisms: I mentioned earlier about how if you get caught, you get a mini-army on your ass in a matter of seconds, well although that is an exaggeration, it is still pretty annoying. Unlike future games, if you get caught you usually have to run, or else you will end up wasting bullets which are needed for boss battles on soldiers who are quickly replaced by another soldier. Luckily this is sorted out in the future games. Another criticism would be that there is a message in the story, WAR IS BAD! Problem is that at points in the game that message was as subtle as an elephant doing the Macarena. I do like the story and most of the dialogue, but I was not a fan of the WAR IS BAD AND EVIL AND ETC sections of the game. Also, early in the game your given a few codec calls that can annoy you (especially if you have read the instruction booklet, then you already know what they are telling you) .Luckily the rest of the game is strong enough that these flaws are very minor annoyances and do not take away much from the rest of the game.
Conclusion: Great game, age has not done anything to help it, but it still plays pretty well. If you are looking to get into the Metal Gear series, this would probably be the best game to start with(there is brief summaries of the previous games on the game to give you more of a background on the story). I am not really saying anything that has not already been said before, but there may still be that one person who has never played this game before. If you haven't...DO IT!
Final Score: 9.3 Cardboard Boxes out of 10.
Note: If you own a GameCube, but not a PS2 or PS1, you can play the remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. I have not played it myself, so I can't tell you if it's any good, but it's the same game as MGS1, but with gameplay elements and graphics as MGS 2.
In two weeks time, the Apocalypse will come. A Mutant Apocalypse that is, MUAHAHAHAHAHA...and by that I mean the review of X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse for the SNES...!
