50. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
If memory serves me right, this was my third attempt at getting into Metal Gear Solid, and more so, getting into a video game franchise I know enough about to really want to enjoy the Metal Gear series as much as I feel like I should. Unfortunately, my previous attempts at playing through Metal Gear Solid were met with misplaced expectations going into it and also it belonging to a sub-genre I traditionally haven't been the biggest fan of (stealth games). The last time I played MGS I made it to the first encounter with Sniper Wolf and remember being so annoyed and frustrated with the game that I turned it off and wouldn't pick it back up until years later, earlier this week. Going into playing MGS this time around, I decided I was going to lean more on walkthroughs and also go in knowing there was going to be quite a bit of stealth as well as parts that required me to think in less intuitive ways to figure out what I needed to do. Playing Metal Gear Solid with all that in mind not only allowed me to enjoy the game more, but also allowed me to experience a story and characters I ended up really liking. Unfortunately, even with my expectations and attitude adjusted prior to this play through, it wasn't enough for me to overlook blaring gameplay issues with MGS that seem to be frequently glossed over by the series' biggest fans and defenders.
Metal Gear Solid's greatest asset is its story, writing, and presentation. For a game released in 1998, there was absolutely nothing like it in terms of cinematic quality. It was the closest thing we had to a blockbuster movie game at the time it was released, and likely held that title for several more years until the early 2000s. The influences of action cinema on MGS are undeniable and they are implemented masterfully to deliver a highly entertaining experience. While there is a lack of diversity in regards to the various environments in Metal Gear Solid, the game's ultra stylized graphics and art direction will hardly make you care as this game just oozes atmosphere. Even with the limitations of the PS1's 3D graphics, it's very impressive what Kojima and team were able to pull off in terms of the character models, animations, and other visual effects you'll take in while playing. I will say, MGS was definitely not the best looking game during its time, and various acclaimed PC games, and even a few console games had it beat, but its still at that upper echelon of visually amazing late 90s video games.
As mentioned, the story and characters are also why MGS left a huge mark on so many gamers in 1998 and why it still has that ability even to this day. Playing through Metal Gear Solid is like playing a well written (mostly), action anime, with characters and villains being fairly over the top as you'd expect in various 90s and 2000s anime. Some examples include a levitating psychic in BDSM leather and a gas mask, a seductive female sniper rifle, and a massive tank of a man covered in tattoos who's somehow able to wield a machine gun that looks like it weights as much as an ATV. Through its very memorable characters, this game definitely leaves an impression on the player and made nearly all of them unforgettable. The story is also pretty interesting with it revolving around stopping a massive mech, the Metal Gear Rex, from launching a nuclear weapon. Along the way, there are bunch of twists, revelations, double crosses, and other things that keep things interesting. Throw in some philosophical banter and discussion of government conspiracies, and this game lands right up my ally. There are some flaws in the writing and several moments that made me go wtf, and not in a good way, but overall these did little to distract from what was otherwise a very interesting story filled with even more interesting characters. The backbone to all of this was probably the best voice acted dialogue in a video game to date with MGS first came out.
The voice cast in MGS is outstanding. It's so good in fact that it made me forget about how limited the OST was despite there being some very memorable tracks in the game. Nearly every single character, not matter how over the top they were meant to be is voice acted incredibly well. It's to the point where it made me realize that this game could have easily been way more forgettable if the voice cast hadn't been as good as they were. Particularly the voices of Solid Snake, Revolver Ocelot, Naomi, and Cambell were all amazing, but none of the other performance were lacking either. It was just so good and really a game unmatched in voice talent for many years to come.
At this point, you'd probably think I'd bought completely into the MGS hype and that I now considered this game a nearly unrivaled masterpiece as many MGS fans would have you believe. While its presentation, story, and audio are hard to fault, MGS's gameplay is what not only kept me from beating this game for so long, but also what caused my first complete play through to be filled with frustration and annoyances far more than I would have liked. What's ironic is that the part of MGS's gameplay that felt the most polished and well implemented was the part that kept me from playing MGS for so long, the stealth. Between the enemy radar system and also the game providing mostly intuitive options for remaining undetected, the stealth ended up being the part of Metal Gear Solid's gameplay I have the least amount of complaints about, and in fact was pretty good overall. For better or worse, there was actually less stealth in this game than I was led to believe over the years, especially in the last third of the game which mostly just becomes a straight up action game where you'll be shooting things more than hiding from them. There are many different gameplay elements in MGS to discuss, but for the sake of not making this review any longer than it needs to be, most of these systems range from being okay, or pretty annoying and janky. Sections where you control a Nakita missile to destroy and power box and then later on to defeat one of the bosses are not terrible, but not great either. On the flip side a slow as hell sniper rifle scope mechanic made a few boss fights some of the most annoying and frustrating parts of the game for me. Then there are common mechanics such as shooting where are general inaccurate and stiff, and also some level sections which are just poorly designed and unintuitive. Perhaps the thing I hated the most about MGS are all the gotcha traps that you'd never know where there if you hadn't played this game before or in a long time. These take the forms of hidden traps doors on the floor, hidden land mines, including ones that somehow remain hidden in doors on solid metal flooring...not sure how that one works, hidden motion detector gun turrets, and blind spots where enemies or other obstacles are waiting to damage or kill unsuspecting players. I despise gotcha traps in games that more or less make you get killed or lose health to know they're there, simply for committing the sin of never having played the game before. I don't know how many times I simply rolled my eyes or just turned the game off in annoyance and one or more of these stupid surprise traps killed me or made me an easy target for later traps or enemies.
Of course, there are also all the quarky and memorable gameplay elements like you needing to look at the actual physical CD case for MGS to get someone's codec frequency, or having ti plug your controller into the second port during a particular boss battle. I found some of these esoteric gameplay flourishes to be clever and interesting, while others obnoxious and a bit try hard. Despite my overall good opinion of MGS after beating it, I still contend that Hideo Kojima is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest edgelord in gaming and this shines through more than any other place in these very weird, sometimes fourth wall breaking gameplay elements. But overall, I didn't hate the gameplay despite having a lot of complaints about it, but it does admittedly teeter on that fine line between being good and bad, with it leaning just ever so slightly towards the good side.
More than enjoying MGS and finally being able to say I beat what is widely considered one of the best games ever made, I'm thrilled that I liked the first game enough to want to play some of its many sequels. From my research, it seems like two thirds of fans seem to either think MGS2 or MGS3 are the best games in the franchise. The other third is a mix of other MGS titles, including the first game which some consider to be the best ever made still. My point is that I'm hoping that when I get around to playing MGS2 and possibly 3 if I enjoy the second game enough, that I'll just enjoy the series more and more until I too can consider myself a fan of it. Once again, I really want to get into this series, if for nothing else than its rich story and characters. I also sincerely hope the gameplay gets better as well, since if not for how meh it was in MGS, I too might have considered this game a absolute masterpiece. Instead, it's a game I mostly enjoyed, but is far from being the near perfect game it's made out to be, and I'd say is even, dare I say, a bit overrated. Still, I enjoyed MGS and look forward to playing more games from this esteemed series in the future. (4/18/25) [37/50]
