Metal Gear Solid

The Good
Since the late 1980s, there have been two action adventure franchises that are almost universally acclaimed every time they release a game. Both series are highly influential to gaming as a whole, and each new installment is looked forward to with great anticipation. The first is Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda. The other is Konami’s Metal Gear.

1998 was the year that both franchises entered the third dimension, Zelda with Ocarina of Time, and Metal Gear with Metal Gear Solid, and these two titles, exclusive to rival systems, are widely considered among the best games ever made. For many people, Game of the Year 1998 seemed to come down to these two games.

Metal Gear Solid has the player take on the role of a soldier who goes by the codename of Solid Snake. Solid Snake is tasked to infiltrate a nuclear test site called Shadow Moses, in an attempt to rescue an arms manufacturer and the DARPA chief, and stop FOXHOUND, the terrorists who have taken over, and a group who Snake just happens to be a former member of. Things get a LOT more complicated from that basic setup.

Admittedly, there’s not much more to the plot than kill the bad guys, rescue the girl, and save the day, but the way it plays out is a lot more complicated than that. There are themes running throughout the game’s extensive script such as the purpose of nuclear weapons, the value of life and how to go on living after a great loss, technology gone wrong, and the eternal battle between fate and free will.

in 1998, most video games, outside of role-playing games never really tried to deliver intricate storytelling. With numerous twists and turns and a cast of weird but wonderful characters, MGS was a knowing pastiche of Hollywood action and science-fiction films with a bit more substance underneath the surface. It delivers in both smart and dumb. Plenty of explosions and shootouts mixed in with philosophizing about genes and nuclear warfare.

For a game released in 1998, the voice acting is incredibly impressive, and there is a lot of it.

The gameplay of MGS involves Snake sneaking around various areas, collecting weapons and resources needed to solve problems in his path and complete the mission, and above all else, trying not to be seen.

If a guard spots Snake, an expression mark appears over their head and the game goes into “Alert” mode, The player can either use the tools he/she has on hand to attack or otherwise impede the guards and surveillance cameras and find a new place to hide. When the player can no longer be seen, the guards enter evasion mode, where they make a more heightened effort to try and find Snake. When evasion ends, the guards resume their patterns as normal.

Snake has several ways he can avoid or manipulate guards. He can crawl under some objects or through vents to observe the guard’s paths. Snake can lean on corners to check for any distant guards. The player can also tap on walls or other objects to make noises which will distract guards, allowing Snake to slip by. If worst comes to worst, Snake can sneak up behind a guard and either knock him out by throwing or punching him. He can even kill a guard by choking them and snapping their neck.

Along the way, the player will find a wide variety of tools and weapons that he/she must use in certain situations to help Snake overcome whatever problems are in his way. Chaff Grenades can be used to disable surveillance cameras and turrets for a limited time. Thermal Goggles can be used to spot enemies in the dark and see lasers. The Mine Detector is used to spot mines on the radar, crawling on top of them will allow Snake to pick them up. The most famous of these tools are the various cardboard boxes that Snake collects to disguise himself. You’ll need to choose the right box for the right location of where you are in the base so that the guard won’t be so suspicious. There are many of these devices that you’ll find throughout the game, and it’s important to hold on to them and not waste them unless you absolutely need to use them, especially on higher difficulties.

Metal Gear Solid’s graphics were praised at the time of its release, but the blocky characters, clipping issues, and that classic PlayStation texture warp do little to impress in 2015. Nevertheless, MGS’ visuals do have great art direction, and there’s a real sense of playing in a game world that is incredibly detailed: puddles of water reflect the ceilings above, Snake’s breath is visible due to the cold climate, and footprints get left in the snow when someone walks over them. MGS was definitely trying to push the limits in terms of how realistic PlayStation graphics could be, and for what they had to work with, Konami did an alright job.

I also want to note that Metal Gear Solid has a really underrated soundtrack. From the mysterious themes that play during normal sneaking, to the fast-paced music when under alert, every track in MGS is catchy and well suited for the situation. It has a cool “techno-orchestral” sound that fits in well with the game’s espionage theme. <br><br>**The Bad**<br>For a game that is so heavily praised for pushing stealth games to the forefront of mainstream popularity, there’s surprisingly little stealth involved. Much of the actual sneaking takes place during the first third of the game, but from the Psycho Mantis boss fight onwards the game basically becomes a progression of boss fights and action setpieces. There are several times you’ll backtrack through areas that have practically no guards or even hazards to speak of. Even the stealth itself is highly simplistic and rarely stretches beyond the capabilities of an 8-bit game. The Soliton radar is an almost invaluable tool for your first run through the game, but it also reveals MGS’ limitations: Guards have a very small field of view and a very poor memory. Killing or choking them causes their bodies to simply disappear and have a new guard spawn elsewhere in the room to replace him. It all feels very “gamey”, which does slightly break the game’s sense of immersion.

There are a number of clunky mechanics which make the game slightly awkward to play. Using the sniper rifle, for instance, is really awkward since there is no way to control the zoom on the scope, nor is there a way to effectively take cover. There are also parts where it almost seems like the developers expect you to take damage. A particularly painful example is a scene near the end of the game where you are shooting enemies from a turret on the back of a Jeep. Since there is no way to dodge the bullets, and the turret rotates incredibly slowly, you just have to take damage like a man and pray that you are lucky enough to hit all of the targets you need to. While the game’s variety is certainly commendable, it sometimes results in less-than-stellar moments such as this, though you’re never doing one thing for too long, which is always a plus.

Metal Gear Solid made its plot a huge part of the experience, sometimes to its detriment as a game. Metal Gear is well known for being a series where the characters simply won’t shut up. Every time you meet a new character, they strike up conversations that can seriously reach into the 10s of minutes. You can’t take more than a few steps without someone contacting Snake on his codec, though you have the option of not taking the call in most cases. As it is mostly very entertaining, I didn’t mind listening in, but I did leave the game feeling like I wanted a little more when it came to the gameplay.

The Bottom Line
Metal Gear Solid is one of the earliest examples of the “cinematic” action game that many AAA developers attempt to create. It’s easy to see the influence MGS had on later games such as Deus Ex, Uncharted, and Batman: Arkham Asylum. So many games these days are attempting to blur the lines between game and film that it’s easy to forget that there was a time when developers were not doing this. MGS was a pioneering hybrid of games and film, and pushed the industry in a more “Hollywood-ized” direction, for better or worse. As influential as it is, parts of it do bring a rough ride for players who are more used to modern gaming conventions. Despite it’s somewhat dated gameplay, what is there is still pretty enjoyable, with a really entertaining plot that keeps the player hooked throughout. MGS is still a worthy title for anybody who is interested in seeing the beginnings of modern gaming as we know it today.