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Thursday, March 19, 2015

Metal Gear Solid: The Review

By SUPERDEKU - Read this Guest Poster's review about one helluva gem!

Metal Gear Solid is a game that's widely renowned, well-known, and loved for revolutionizing storytelling in video games and for "inventing" or pioneering the stealth genre. The game can out in 1998 for the PlayStation from publisher Konami, and is almost 20 years old, so a review nowadays is pretty common, apparently. However, one review can change it all, and I'll prove that point!

The North American boxart for the game.

In Metal Gear Solid, you control Solid Snake, a raspy-voiced retired war veteran, and is sent on a high security black op on Shadow Moses Island, where a group of terrorists are threatening to launch a nuclear warhead from the all new "Metal Gear." 

This badass over here is Solid Snake. And this psychedelic piece of art right here is official art from when the game came out.

Metal Gear is a weapon of mass destruction that can launch a nuclear warhead from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world, during a small portion of the game, an exercise to test Metal Gear's proficiency is conducted and proved well. Snake is controlled through Shadow Moses Island, collecting a grand total of 2, count 'em, two, cardboard boxes to hide in (they actually don't prove too useful...)! The terrorists that are behind the threat have given demands to the White House and a deadline of 18 hours for them to be met, which is stated at one point in the game. Snake learns that the terrorists have armed Metal Gear and are ready to launch it, so Snake must find a way to override Metal Gear. However, two vital people die in his search for codes that can disable Metal Gear and Snake is now left with the choice to find three card keys (which are also able to disable Metal Gear) or destroy Metal Gear himself. And I'll stop there 'cos then I'll spoil some shit, and I don't want to spoil shit, 'cos then, bad shit happens.

During the beginning of the game, you feel naked as you are given no arms or anything whatsoever to begin the game, you're left with a sense of desperation as you have to find your own weapons and ammunition to use against enemies. On top of that, you can't just walk around killing every single person you see (unless you have a suppressor for the specific gun you're using) since, incredibly, your score goes down for every person killed, and your score also goes down for every time you are spotted. The game implements many elements of stealth to avoid being seen or set-up a trap for someone, which includes pressing against a wall and knocking. That will alert nearby enemies and lure them in to the are where you knocked. It can be used as a strategy to silently eliminate enemies, or a strategy to lure your enemy somewhere so you can sneak past them without risking the chance of being seen.

Boss fights are something that is also implemented well in Metal Gear Solid, since it takes a good mix of stealth and non-stealth in them. A boss battle against a tank required the use of Chaff Grenades to disable the tank's radar and main weapon, leaving a gunner (your main objective to defeat) open and ready to be bombarded with grenades. Other boss battles would spoil some things, as well, but let's just say, Snake is so badass, that he shot down an armed helicopter.

Overall, the story was an amazing and beautiful thing that left me in the edge of my seat for the lost part. Metal Gear Solid as a series is mostly well known-for, and made fun of, for its extremely long cutscenes, which isn't true, for this game, at least. The cutscenes were just the right amount of time for it to be able to develop characters up from nothingness, to something you get feelings for. 


Otacon is one of those characters that's developed via cutscenes.
No matter what, you really can't not like him.

Some parts of the game really yank on your feels, they do. I cried twice while playing the game. The ending, of course, and one major turning point at the end of disc 1.

While I must admit, most of the dialogue was basically Hideo Kojima trying to see how many variations of people saying "huh," and "Snake!" he could fit into two discs, it's simple to look past that and focus on the characters, characters that I've grown fond of and grew to love in the short 10 hours it took me to beat the game.


Especially this guy.

All in all, Metal Gear Solid was a pretty SOLID game... Get it? Solid? I'll be here all week... I think! Bad puns aside, Metal Gear Solid was an amazing game because it just did a great mix of story, gameplay, and everything else, I often found myself yelling "SNAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" At my TV every single time I got a game over, and I'm sure you will too, if you play this game!

Metal Gear Solid was released on the PlayStation system in 1998 and is also available on PlayStation Network. If you haven't played this gem, I suggest doing so, as you'll fall in love.



SuperDeku thinks he might start to become a Metal Gear Solid fanboy and may even try to convince his Catholic parents to let him play the rest of the games in the series.


How many more games in the series will there be with Kojima leaving?
SuperDeku returns for another review, this time on Batman: Arkham Origins!
This review didn't even mention graphics. Why? Ludwig theorises here.

2 comments :

  1. I've never played the Metal Gear Solid games (or the Metal Gear games), but so many people adore the series I wonder if I should try them sometime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well according to the poster, you should.

      ...I have no comments.

      Delete

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