Game 21 - Metal Gear Solid (PS1) - 11 HoursUghhh long review this time around! Let me begin by just saying that I have never been a particularly big fan of the Metal Gear Solid series. The only game I really enjoyed was MGS3, but after playing through 2-4, I wanted to see what the first game was like. It was after all the game that kick-started a lot of interest in the series in the first place.
+ First, this game did a ton of really interesting and innovative things. I loved how they took full advantage of the vibration and memory card features in the PS1. It never gets old and is still really cool to see. There were also some great moments in this game, like the credits and ending, and the big buildup in the first moments of the story. I also really enjoyed most of the boss fights and VR missions. There also are a lot of hidden secrets, references and replay value, which I can appreciate.
- There were two big things I do not like about this game. The first is the gameplay and controls. It is so hard to hit anything by shooting that I usually just drop a stun grenade and auto knock out all soldiers in the stage. In addition, the radar is wayyy to overpowered and completely breaks any difficulty the game has to offer. Being able to see enemy movement, looking cone, position and the layout of the terrain makes the game too easy. Taking the radar away in hard mode, however, makes the game impossible if your a first time player like me. So, most of the game was me running around keeping my eyes glued to the radar instead of the actual game, and throwing stun grenades to walk by enemies that I couldn't engage because the fighting controls are so unresponsive and inaccurate, it's not worth trying. It was overall very unfulfilling and boring to play this game, whereas later games in the series do have a lot better and more refined gameplay
The second thing I personally don't like about this game is the story: I have always had issues with storytelling in Metal Gear games, and this one was no different. It seems to me like every MGS story has:
1. Bloated, redundant, plodding, confusing and ridiculous writing that's not concise or centralized at all.
2. Plot twist after plot twist and betrayal after betrayal explained by information that's hastily added in after the fact to make it actually make sense
3. Multiple different central themes and ideas that dilute the main idea of the game. In this game in particular, nuclear nonproliferation conflicts with love on the battlefield, genetics and destiny, following orders and superiors, the cost of advancing technology and science... it's just too much content in my opinion; this game has many ideas to tell but excels at telling none of them.
After seeing all of the above again in this game and hearing Snake repeat the last word of whatever was said last with a question mark on the end over and over again, I gave up. I just couldn't enjoy the game anymore. I thought this game would be more like MG3 and scale things a little, but I was still disappointed.
So, TL:DR, I personally do not like this game. The issues I have with the storytelling in MGS games are still here, but now the gameplay sucks as well. I
would like to try out Twin Snakes and MGSV at some point, but I for me, MGS3 is still the best game in the series (I would argue it's the only good one, too
). This was quite the ranty post from me, sorry guys.
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