MGS looks and plays like a good action film (read: without Arnold Schwarzawatsis). The characters are memorable, the plot is interesting, the humor is good, and the storyline features plenty of background, which is revealed during one of the many story sequences that show Snake conversing with his team via a tiny radio transmitter in his ear. Nearly half the game is either in-depth and interesting radio conversation, or in-game cinematics. The cinematography in the cutscenes is quite remarkable, on par with the best of the Resident Evil games.

A PC port done right

Metal Gear Solid is easily one of the most successful console ports to the PC. Not only is the game itself good, but in the PC version it supports high resolutions, a free save-game feature (save whenever you feel like it), and provides the option to play in first person mode (unlike on the Playstation where you could only look around in first-person view).

MGS for the PC also includes the VR Missions supplement (which was later combined with the original MGS and called Metal Gear Solid Integral), which is an add-on pack that provides a large number of training missions for every skill and weapon that the player will use in the game, as well as miscellaneous challenges and puzzles (and this time with no need to unlock anything).

Being old is like being a piece of cheese...

...you get finer with age. Such is the case of the graphics in MGS. Although the faces are blurred and have no animation (with the exception of the radio conversations, where voice-overs and hand-drawn animation is used), it does little to detract from the experience, and the body animation is quite good. The player must keep in mind, however, that in a game as story-driven as MGS, graphics are merely what separates the game from being a good book, and should not be the deciding factor in whether to buy it or not.

Innovation at its best

Metal Gear Solid is one of the most innovative games to hit stores. Many times I said to myself "Gee, I’ve never seen a game do that before!" An example would be when Snake is trying to find Meryl a female soldier that was captured. After Snake freed her, she dressed up as a male guard and fell in with the rest...the only way to find her is to hide in a box and observe how a passing guard walks...rather, see which one shakes his (or her) buns of steel. Another prime example is the way Snake must combat a boss with the ability to read minds, but to remark any further on the subject would give the secret away.

The game is played from a top-down perspective, with the exception of the first-person view option, when Snake is crawling through a vent, or when Snake has his back to the wall, in which case the camera shifts to a front view so that the player can see what’s around the corner.

Snake’s sneakiness is further enhanced by radar, which gives the layout of the area he’s in, where the guards are, and what direction they’re facing. The drawback is that when the game is in Alert or Evade mode, Snake’s radar goes offline. While in Alert Mode, the alarm goes off, and the guards are fully aware of Snake’s location. While in Evade Mode, Snake is hiding and the guards are searching for him, but they don’t know where he is.

Of course, not all of MGS consists of sneaking past cameras and guards. A good number of weapons in the form of guns and explosives will fill Snake’s arsenal, and Snake will need to snap a neck or three when needed.

All of this is accompanied by a suitable and intense soundtrack that changes with the action (without any modifications from the Playstation version). The voice acting is done extremely well, and matches the characters nicely.

The eternal debate: Realism vs. Fun

Up until now Metal Gear Solid has sounded pretty realistic, but at this point the game also makes a significant nod to the classic console game features: blinking bodies and spinning power-ups. And yet, this isn’t a bad thing. It’s not realistic that guards forget about you once the alarm resets, or that dead bodies blink and fade away, or that Snake doesn’t die after being shot once. But its fun. Also, it’s only natural that the big bad bosses that Snake encounters can sustain more damage than he can in their dramatic and exciting one on one encounters. At first, it might take a bit of getting used to, but once the player is able to suspend whatever preconceived notions he or she had about the realism factor, that’s when it gets really fun!

The Realism vs. Fun factor may only be a contest between the hardcore gamers, however. The action in MGS is so good and the gameplay so diverse and surprising that players should easily be able to jump in and enjoy the ride. Action in MGS is mercurial: one minute Snake is sneaking over infrared lasers using cigarette smoke, the next he’s throwing grenades at a hostile tank. One minute he’s in an area where firing a weapon would cause the building to explode, another he’s doing battle with a sniper, or (one of my favorites), rappelling off the side of a communications tower while its under attack. It’s a wonder the MGS Team didn’t include a part where Snake has to eat Spam topped with Cheez Wizz.

Solid Wrap-up

As stated before, Metal Gear Solid looks and plays like a good action movie, and like a good action movie, its length doesn’t put The Green Mile to shame. MGS is actually a short game, even more so if the cutscenes and radio conversations are skipped. This is not a flawed facet on an otherwise well-cut gem, however. Although the length of many recent games have been disappointingly short, MGS wasn’t made to take as long as, say, Baldur’s Gate I and II. In fact, the game encourages you to play through it more than once. MGS has two endings, and all the scenarios that Snake encounters can be played a different way. It has multiple difficulty settings, and when you beat the game, you get an extra bonus depending on what path you took (telling you would spoil it) =D

Metal Gear Solid is something that can be enjoyed by everyone, be they hardcore or casual gamers, new to the MGS scene or scarred veterans. The controls are easy to use on an 8-button gamepad, but are still very playable on the keyboard. The game has a good deal of depth, interesting characters, and fun action.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll go back to trying to figure out a way to fit this computer speaker in my ear so I can be cool like Snake...

· · · Mithril