Simply The Best! (New and Improved) (Metal Gear Solid (PS))

Member Name: steveymacca

Product:	Metal Gear Solid (PS)
Date:	08/10/00 (384 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing, one of a kind

Disadvantages: Not many!

I have to say that this is one of the best games that I have ever played. I first played this game when it was leant to me as a mate, and I forced him to ring up days after demanding why I had not returned it. This was simply because I refused to be torn away from the screen and hand it back, I was facinated. The storyline had gripped me from the start and as the new twists in the plot made it more and more facinating, I grew more and more transfixed. For the first time in a long while, here was a game that I was prepared to sacrifice my social life for until I had completed it, and I just about did as well!

You play the part of an agent named Solid Snake, and in the true spirit of computer games and films, you play the part of the one man army against a terroist action, in this case the threat of a nuclear strike imposed by a rather impressive stealth robot. Before the game actually starts, there is a lot of information available, such as a mission briefing which can be selected from the main screen, accompanied by a detailed instruction booklet to help you get to grips with the features and ins-and-outs of the game. This game contains some truely excellent features which help to make the game stand out, such as a first person view mode, which can be obtained by holding triangle (the game is played in the third person mode apart from this) and the different modes that the game can go into. The game is played in the 'normal' mode, where the guards are oblivious to the fact that Snake is there and go around protolling a certain route. If Snake is spotted by an enemy, the game enters 'Alert' mode, where all of the guards are actively searching for Snake. In this time, you have to escape their field of vision, and when you do the clock counts down. When it reaches zero, you enter Evasion mode, where the guards still know Snake is around but do not have a clue where. When this clock goes to zero, the game goes back to normal. I know this sounds
very complicated but once you get used to it it is basic and adds a nice, realistic touch to the game.

Snake starts the game,following a swim, at the back entrance to the base. This area is patrolled by two guards and is the perfect place to get to grips with the basics of the game, even if you do die numorous times-the continues are endless so it doesn't really matter! The guards can be dealt with in numerous ways, ither by studying their pattern of movement and avoiding their route, sneaking up behind them and strangling
them and later in the game, desposing of them via weapons. The guards can also be punched and kicked to stun them momentarily, as well as flip them onto their backs. One of the things that makes this game more special to me than the likes of goldeneye is the fact that the enemy actually show some signs of intelligence, to make the player feel that they are really part of the game. These include searching when they hear noises, following footprints and responding to gunfire shots. On games such s Goldeneye, the guards do not seem to care if you go around throwing granades or not, but do that on this game and you will instantly have a series of guards on your tail!

Our hero Solid Snake starts his mission equipped with nothing but a 'Codec', a pair of goggles and a packet of ciggaretes (which actually come in quite useful later!). The Codec is a system that allows Snake to communicate with people such as his boss and various other people who will assist Snake with his mission. This device is somehow invisible to the enemy and only visible and audible to Snake, as it is supposed to stimulate a part of the ear or something. so doesn't any one here Snake talking to himself? LoL! Oh well, this must be the only flaw in the whole game which apart from that is totally out of this world. As the game progresses, our hero has several new items available to him, such as different types of gun todiscover and even things such
as boxes which can be hidden under to escape from guards and to travel via trucks, which ironically are driven by a soldier! The game is also riddled with some superb FMV sequences, which fit in nicely with the plot and are an excellent touch to the game, as they really bring out the players involvement in full and made me feel as if I was really there.

The amount of plot twists and unexpected turns make this game very tense, such as a number of friends turning enemys, an old enemy becoming a fighting companion and Snake also fights against the ringleader, his own brother, through a rather complicated program known as the gene therapy. If I went into great detail about this your mouse would probably point towards the not uesful option-I admit, I almost tore my hair out at the complexity of this and some of the other issues involved in the game. As well as these great twists in the storyline, the main character has to face a variety of different bosses such as guards with more armour and arsenal than others and of course the traditional 'bosses', which must be defeated in order to progress. These bosses all of their own strengths and weaknesses such as telepathy and master of disguise and it is up to you to figure out the best strategy and plan for beating them, which really is quite fun but can get frustrating when nothing works!

When you do finally get to the end of the game (it took me a staggering nine hours of non-stop gaming to reach this far), you find that the terroists have decided to launch a nuclear missile at China due to their demands of one billion dollars and the DNA of 'the greatest soldier that ever lived', Big Boss, who I beleive was involved in a previous game on the NES. As a result, you have to be the one to save the whole world (no pressure or anything, just the fate of the whole world riding on you, one man!) and you have to defeat the god damn machine yourself, which is very hard to do. Just when you think y
ou have defeated the boss for the second and final time, back he comes for a fist fight where he looks as if he falls to his doom. Not a chance! Back he comes for one final attack on a quad bike, before finally giving up the ghost by means that only those who have played the game will understand. so, let me get this straight, this man can survive falling in a burning helicopter, going down with a destroyed robot, falling several thousand feet and even crashing his quad bike and is eventually killed by a VIRUS! How bizarre!

A choice of two different endings available is quite good for a game developed over three years ago, and which ending you get depends on certain decisions you make during the game. This game really is the most excellent game that I have ever played, but I feel that it needs quite a lot of commitment to hang in when things get tough and to follow the increasingly complicated storyline right to the end. If you have the time it is certainly worth buying and completing as it is a facinating game and is simply amazing in my view. If you like action games and want to play a game of real quality, this is definetly the game to buy. The makers of this game, the great Hideo Kojima being a great influence, have certainly come up with a stroke of genius here. Thank you for this great game you have inflicted upon us gamers. May the sequel, available for Playstation 2 next year, be just as great and successful!

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