Snake, dear brother! (Metal Gear Solid (PS))

Member Name: Cassanova

Product:	Metal Gear Solid (PS)
Date:	13/03/01 (625 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Where do I start?!

Disadvantages: Too short

Metal Gear Solid: the game that shocked the gaming community. I doubt that anyone reading this opinion has never heard of Metal Gear Solid. It is regarded as one of the best games of all time, perhaps the best!

Background information

Metal Gear Solid appeared on the Playstation in March 1999. It had been in development for around 3 years (at least!) and although wasn’t as anticipated as games like Zelda 64 and Final Fantasy 8, was looking very promising.
Back in 1997 magazines were full of shots of the game, dubbed as a stealth/action game. Very little was known, apart from the fact that the game was part of a series of games that started on the NES.
The magazines that had played it were excited by the gameplay. The mere fact that you had to hide from guards and use tactics showed early on a level of detail that had never been exploited in a videogame.

The first time I saw this game was in a magazine, and at the time didn’t even bother to read it. I assumed it was another average shooting game. How wrong I was.
The next time I saw it, or talked about it, was with my brother. He had been reading a preview of it, and told me quickly of how impressive it sounded. My brother is one of those people who is not impressed by much, so suddenly I sat up and took notice.
He described how the player must ‘sneak’ around the guards and use extreme caution in killing them, as other guards can hear you!
Unfortunately I still wasn’t that excited.

The next time I saw it was just about 2 years later! There was a preview in the official Playstation magazine, and it finally got my attention. So I read about it and started to get a bit excited.
Then a couple of months later, another preview came, this time with a demo of the game. Unfortunately it was not a playable demo, but it showed me how great this game really was.

Finally a review and playable demo came, and oh, was I a
mazed.

First impressions

As I said earlier, the first time I played this game was via a demo CD.
You play as special agent Solid Snake. You have been sent out to an island in Alaska, to infiltrate a nuclear testing facility. The facility has been taken over by a terrorist group lead by members of the elite Foxhound Special Forces. They have demanded that be given the remains, or DNA, of Big Boss; the greatest soldier that ever lived!

To say I was amazed is an understatement! Firstly the graphics. They were incredible! Not only were they very smooth, but they were also detailed and atmospheric! The last time I has felt like this was Zelda 64!
The music was also incredible, and created the perfect atmosphere. The beginning was soft but at the same time tense. Also the game had real speech! This was so pleasing, as so many games use text! The game really excelled because of this.
The style of play was also very original and fun. You can attack the enemy with a hand-to-hand attack, which lets you kick them after you press it several times. You can also use different weapons like a pistol and other more powerful guns.
The story is really good as well, with the demo only giving you a hint of what’s to come later on.

Graphics and presentation

This is a real strong point for the game as the graphics have obviously been give a lot of time and effort. The look is usually quite dark and realistic. The scenery is well created and looks realistic. You are mostly inside the nuclear testing facility, but occasionally you get to wonder outside, and even then the graphics are of a very high standard.
The enemies look very detailed and smooth. They all look like they should, with the first guards and the outside guards dressed in white camouflage and other guards dressed in the usual green.
The animations are superb; with Snake able to perform several different actions like using items,
firing weapons and climbing ladders.

The presentation of the game is also excellent. From the beginning the menus and style are well layed out and look clear and smooth. Some games often have very poor menus and are sometimes annoying as they aren’t very clear. Anyway enough of that.

Music and sound effects

The game really excels in this department. Firstly, the music lovely. With real singers for the amazing cut scenes, and then the quiet but repeating background music while you play.
The main songs in the game are very well composed and show real talent.
But the really incredible thing is the fact that the game employs real speech! Although some games have used this, none of them has done it as good as MGS. The acting is great, with people expressing real emotion. From the happy voice of Mei Ling, to the frightened Otacon. From the smooth Meryll, to the sinister sounding Psycho Mantis!

Konami really deserve an award for this!

Gameplay

Well, you guessed it. The gameplay is also brilliant. It is simple, but at the same time full of scope. The controls are nice and easy to use, but have lots of different uses. You can punch, kick, throw, neck-break, fire guns, and even smoke!
You might think that being able to smoke is a bad influence on children, and it is, but the game never encourages children to smoke. Instead, allowing the player to smoke makes for some great puzzles. One bit sees Snake using his cigarettes to be able to see infrared beams that would other wise be invisible. Another great example is when you acquire the sniper rifle. Because it is hard to hold steady, if at the same time you smoke a cigarette, you can hold the gun steady and so use it more effectively.

The bosses are a mixed variety, with some very easy and some quite tricky. The first boss is a classical style boss: all you have to do is shoot!
Later bosses like Vulcan Raven and the Metal
Gear Rex are very hard.

Finally, if you have a Dual Shock controller, there are lots of extra features. As it stands, you should own one as they allow so much more, Metal Gear Solid being the perfect example. Not only do you feel the rumple effect when you get shot and when you die, but you also feel it in the brilliant cut scenes. The really great use of it is when you face Psycho Mantis. He tells you that he is psychic and you don’t really believe him. He says to you “still don’t believe me? Place your controller on the ground!”
He then (well not him!) makes your controller shake and obviously move!
You really need to see it for yourself, it’s so great!

Story outline

Basically, a terrorist group led by members of Foxhound have attacked and captured a nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island. You play as Solid Snake, a famous and retired war hero who has been called out of retirement for one last mission! Yeah right!

You are told that a guy named Liquid Snake, who turns out to be your identical twin, is the leader. He is really mad because he believes that he is the inferior twin, although it turns out that he isn’t right at the end of the game! Don’t ask me, you have to play this game to realise what on Earth is going on!
There are several other characters that get involved in the plot like a character from Snakes past who fights you, and then surprisingly helps you!

There are several other great and weird characters like the evil and sinister looking Psycho Mantis who can become almost invisible and read your mind!

The story is very complicated, or rather interesting. Alright, the story isn’t amazingly original, but it is enjoyable and makes for a great game!


Lastability

Unfortunately this is the games real weak point. It will take you only about 10 hours to complete. But it’s not all doom and
gloom, as there are two different endings to the game. This is possible as when you get to the torture scene, you have a choice of whether you resist the torture and thus get RSI from pressing the square button repeatedly, or whether you submit to the torture. If you resist you save Meryl and end the game with you and her riding off into the sunrise (rather then sunset!). Or if you give up and submit, you thus don’t save Meryl and you ride off with Otacon instead, or though in a slightly different way!

There are actually lots of secrets in this game, but I won’t spoil it too much for you!
Basically, as well as the special items, there are lots of funny secrets. For instance, when you find the camera you can take pictures of almost anything you want and then can look at them in the extra menu at the title screen. The best bit is that the developers have put in some pictures of themselves into the game over the top of the scenery. You can’t see them unless you take a picture of them! So when you take a picture of a particular spot and then view it via the extra menu, you might see a weird transparent image of a designer or somebody like that. It looks like a ghost!
This is quite hard to explain, so experiment and maybe read a guide to the game!

Overall

The game is fantastic. The only downside is the length of the game. People will be gagging for more when they complete it!
Luckily there is a sequel in development named (not surprisingly!) Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty.
It is being developed for the Playstation 2 and is probably the most anticipated game in the world!
If you haven’t seen anything of this game then go to:

www.Konami.com


Metal Gear Solid

+Great graphics
+Great gameplay
+Amazing story line
+Superb music
-Too short

Thanks for reading my opinion!
Go check out Metal Gear Solid now, and the add on pack Special Miss
ions.

Cheers!

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