Review: Metal Gear Solid – Master Collection Vol. 1
Konami may be a shadow of the company it once was with its gaming output reducing dramatically over the years. But it’s hard to argue that their contribution to the video game industry, and their legacy with gamers over the last 40+ years is nothing short of remarkable! Like many of you reading this, I could name many games that mean something to me that Konami has either developed or published, but this isn’t a list of my favourite Konami games.
The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 isn’t the first time Konami has revisited its back catalogue, with other compilation titles released in recent years including, Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, Castlevania Anniversary Collection, Contra Anniversary Collection, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection.
As with these other collections, the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is packed with content including the following:
- Metal Gear from 1987
- Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- Metal Gear Solid (including VR Missions/Special Missions
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
All games also include a digital screenplay book and a digital master book.
Before I get into reviewing the collection, I thought it would be good to revisit my memories of the games that are included in the collection.
Metal Gear Solid – 1998
It’s hard to believe that it has been nearly 25 years since I originally played Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation! My friend introduced me to it and said it was one the best games he’d ever played, and he wasn’t wrong. The game was bursting with ideas and felt genuinely fresh and exciting. I can still remember how impressed I was with pretty much everything about it, and it created some lasting memories that have stuck with me to this day including:
- The game over screen – The music when you die and the cries of “Snake? Snake, Snaaaaaaaakkkke”!
- Codec conversations – Chatting with your team who provided backstory, as well as hints and tips was a lot of fun. I’d often find any excuse to check in with them.
- Inventive characters and boss battles – Solid Snake (slightly pervy super soldier), Revolver Ocelot (gunslinging torturer), Sniper Wolf (sexy dog-loving sniper), Psycho Mantis (deranged mind reader). The list goes on, but these are some of the main characters I remember.
- Torture scene – Mashing the circle button to keep Snake from dying was torturous but getting a well-deserved massage from the vibration in my controller made up for it.
- Psycho Mantis – The memory card reading of other save games on your PlayStation, swapping controller ports to confuse Psycho Mantis, the blank Hideo screen which made you think your TV was broken. Genius! Absolute genius!
- Hidden codec code – Hiding the codec frequency for Meryl on the back of the video game case was another stroke of genius.
- The alert noise – The noise when you are discovered by enemies has become iconic!
These are just a few of the memories I have from a game I played a long time ago, so I was looking forward to playing through it again. It’s worth saying that I’ve also played the remake of Metal Gear Solid, which was called The Twin Snakes and was released for Nintendo GameCube in 2004. The graphics of this version received a massive overhaul from the PlayStation game, so it was kind of jarring going back to the original version of Metal Gear Solid. I knew it wasn’t going to be the Twin Snakes version, but let’s just say you can tell this is a game released in 1998.
That being said, once my eyes had adjusted to the original graphics, it felt like putting on a comfy pair of slippers as I entered the world of Solid Snake. My honest assessment of Metal Gear Solid playing it now is that some things have aged better than others. The music is still amazing, and the characters and story are a lot of fun. On the negative side, some of the boss battles are annoying, and the controls are a bit fiddly, but overall Metal Gear Solid is a classic game that rightly deserves all the plaudits it has received over the years. Metal Gear Solid took me about 9 hours to complete.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – 2001
I seem to remember the hype surrounding the release of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was off the charts! I was one of the many who was also very excited to see if the sequel would be as good (if not better than the original. Whereas I’ve played through Metal Gear Solid a few times in the past, I’ve only ever played through the sequel once, so my memories are a little hazy. Nevertheless, here is what springs to mind when I think of MGS2.
- The opening – The introduction of Snake as he walks across the George Washington Bridge before embarking on his mission, by jumping onto a ship as the rain hammered down and lightning flashed was truly epic.
- The improved graphics – Released on the PlayStation 2, the visuals received a massive improvement over the original and looked superb!
- The Soundtrack – Employing movie composer, Harry Gregson-Williams to provide the score created one of the best video game soundtracks of all time.
- New Bosses. Like Metal Gear Solid, there was an eclectic selection of new characters. I seem to remember a fat dude on roller skates who threw bombs and a vampire who was a pain to kill.
- Porn-addicted guards – Distracting guards by leaving adult magazines lying around was a stroke (no pun intended) of genius!
- Raiden – The game splits in two with the first section being a typical Solid Snake adventure, and the second half where you control rookie soldier Raiden. It’s fair to say Raiden was a polarising character that you either loved or hated.
- First-person mode – Playing certain sections in first-person mode was another technical improvement over the original.
- Confusing story – I honestly had no idea what was going on by the end of the game as there were codec messages from characters who appeared to be dead, screen glitches, and all sorts of strange shenanigans.
As you can probably tell from my recollections, my memories of MGS 2 are mixed, and because of this I was looking forward to revisiting the game to reassess it. First up, the graphics are a big leap when compared to the first game, and it’s amazing how much a difference of 3 years makes going from PS1 to PS2. Playing in 60fps also makes a positive difference with the game feeling a lot smoother than MGS1. I still find the controls fiddly as they don’t feel very intuitive. For example, looking around a corner and holding up a guard in first-person view should be a relatively easy thing to do, and yet I found it a pain due to the multiple button press combination.
Overall, I enjoyed revisiting MGS 2, but I’m sorry to say that the story is still utterly baffling and makes no real sense to me. You could argue that it quite literally goes up its arse as towards the end of the game Raiden and Snake are fighting their way through Metal Gear Arsenals rectum! No, I’m not kidding. The cutscenes are overly long and generally nonsensical, which is a problem as there are quite a lot of them. My daughter highlighted this as she happened to walk in during a cut scene. She stopped and watched for a moment and then said, “Are you playing or watching Daddy?” For better or worse, this is a trend that would continue in future Metal Gear Solid games. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty took me about 11 hours to complete.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – 2004
By the time Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater came out, I was 28 years old and on something of a gaming hiatus. As such I never played it upon its original release. I played a few hours of it a few years ago, but never finished it, therefore I don’t have any real recollections, other than the song “Snake Eater” which was completely amazing. The forthcoming remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is being developed for modern PCs and consoles, which will no doubt be devoured by feverish fans of the series.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a prequel taking place in 1964 during the Cold War. The basic storyline follows Snake who must go behind enemy lines to rescue a scientist. As this is a Metal Gear Solid game there are an assortment of weird and wonderful characters that Snake meets along the way. There are twists and turns, and more cutscenes! Lots more cutscenes. Speaking of characters, it was nice to hear the voice of Jim Piddock who plays Major Zero. Dave and I interviewed Jim back in 2022 before the release of his book, ‘Caught With My Pants Down and Other Tales from a Life in Hollywood. You can check out that interview here.
The fundamental gameplay is the same as the previous games, but there is a lot more involved in making this a survival-style game. Snake now has a stamina meter which must be replenished by eating food otherwise it will affect his performance. This can include catching or killing animals such as frogs, bats, and snakes (hence Snake Eater) as well as finding other fruits and food supplements. Snake can also be injured and must use a specific type of healing item(s) to ensure his health doesn’t deteriorate. If you’re crap at sneaking (like me) getting caught in a firefight means you get injured a lot, so pausing the game to go into your backpack every time can be quite annoying. Speaking of sneaking, Snake can wear different types of clothing or use camouflage to hide from enemies. This is shown by a meter that lets you know how much Snake is blending into the environment.
Other new additions include your equipment (such as night vision goggles or radar) requiring batteries otherwise they will run out of power. You can find batteries, otherwise your equipment will recharge when not in use. Items such as silencers also degrade after being used multiple times and will be rendered useless after a while. Snake can only hold a certain number of items and weapons at one time, so these must be swapped from your backpack.
As you can probably tell, there are a lot of new systems to learn, and to be honest, I found quite a lot of them annoying to the point where it hindered my enjoyment of the game. This is mainly down to the way I play stealth games. I try my best to stay hidden and play these types of games the way they are intended, but it quickly goes out of the window. As a result, I found most (if not all) of the new additions annoying. I understand people who love MGS 3 will be shouting at me right now, but I can only explain my experience with the game. The cutscenes and codec conversations can now last for a considerable amount of time which can also be a problem when you don’t have lots of time to play. For example, I had a couple of hours to play, and it felt like I’d only played for about 45 minutes, as the other time was spent on cutscenes or codec conversations.
That all being said, I had a love/hate relationship with MGS 3. There were plenty of times I was frustrated and not necessarily enjoying my experience. However, by the end of the game, I gradually started to become drawn more and more into the story and characters. The biggest compliment I can make is that I would play Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater when it is released. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater took me about 14 hours to complete.
Summary
Overall, The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is another great addition to the recent Konami compilation collections. It gives players the chance to revisit, or experience for the first time a series of games that have received a huge amount of praise and notoriety over the years. Love him or loathe him, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is responsible for some classic games, but he isn’t perfect in my opinion. I’ve often wondered as his career has evolved, ‘Does he want to make video games or movies’?
Part of the reason I included how long it took me to complete each game was to demonstrate how the games have become bigger, mainly due to cutscenes and codec conversations. Bigger isn’t always better, and to use another cliché, sometimes less is more. Infamously, there is a 71-minute cutscene in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots which tells you everything you need to know. This is even more problematic when the dialogue and story are quite frankly garbage and nonsensical. Kojima appears to have reigned this in slightly, but his recent game Death Stranding contains a cutscene that is 31 minutes in length! The trailer for Death Stranding 2 looks set to continue this trend, which some would say is style over substance. Playing through these games now I also realised just how pervy they are which could be a problem for some. I came away thinking that Kojima is a bit creepy with the way he views his female characters.
That all being said, The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is an important set of games, and love them or loathe them, they are now available for everyone to experience on modern consoles.
Review by Chris.