4/5 ★ – jdraco's review of Metal Gear Solid.

In 1992, Hideo Kojima decided to throw a party at Konami to celebrate the 2-year anniversary of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, his most recent project A game that sold quite poorly, but a game that Kojima was very proud of nonetheless And in that game he created a world that he wanted to delve into deeper and deeper and explore more ideas and characters and themes within that world And luckily, it just so happened that on that night, at that party, was the first time he tried crack And in his euphoric, cracked-out state, he had an epiphany, a realization that it was his destiny to create a follow-up to Metal Gear 2 A game that would be revolutionary and change the landscape of video games as a whole A game known simply as… Metal Gear Solid This game really was revolutionary in terms of narrative and storytelling in video games through cutscenes and voice acting, which are the absolute standouts of this game I mean, you’ve got all-star performances left and right You’ve got Paul Eding as Colonel Campbell, Christopher Fritz as Otacon, Patric Laine as Revolver Ocelot, and Cam Clarke as Liquid Snake, who also played Freddy as well as multiple other characters in the Nickelodeon show Back at the Barnyard… Okay, these definitely aren’t A-listers doing these voices, but they might as well be because everyone plays their roles perfectly, and the voice acting is great because of it And I’d absolutely be remiss not to talk about the absolute best voice-acting performance of the entire game… Dean Scofield as Johnny Sasaki, the soldier who shits himself when you’re locked in the cell… No, but seriously, though, David Hayter as Solid Snake is one of the best video game voice-acting performances of all time Every single thing he says is just so quotable, so memorable He has such a distinct way of saying things that makes me want to just listen to him talk for hours and just say random shit Which is why I love Snake in Smash Bros. Brawl because if you go to the Shadow Moses level and use one of Snake’s taunts, then he’ll have a codec call with the Colonel just talking shit about whatever character you’re fighting against, and it’s absolutely fantastic One thing I want to draw back to, though, that I just mentioned a second ago, was that every single thing that Snake says is quotable, which is true And it’s pretty much true of the entire game as well, because this game just has so many endlessly quotable and iconic lines I mean, you’ve got the classics like “You’re that ninja” or “Psycho Mantis?” or “It’s like one of my Japanese animes” But then you’ve got some little cheeky ones like “I can’t believe I’m being hit on by the legendary Solid Snake” and “You’ve got a great butt” But then there are also some deep ones in there as well, such as “Do you think love can bloom even on a battlefield?” which is just another absolutely iconic line And an iconic thing about this game's voice acting and dialogue as well is how Snake, throughout this entire game, always inquisitively repeats words that the person he’s talking/listening to just said Like, obviously there’s the “Psycho Mantis?” line, but then also there’s a line that I legitimately, no joke, predicted, and it’s in the beginning of the game when you’re sneaking around in the vents and you overhear 2 soldiers talking about a “woman in the cell” So naturally, after they say this, Snake says out loud to himself, “Woman in the cell?” It’s just so funny to me how Snake is just absolutely dumbfounded throughout the entire game He’s really just along for the ride, just like the player, and that’s what you’ve got to love about Snake So yeah, again, the voice acting is incredible and enhances the narrative so unbelievably much There’s really never a dull moment listening to the codec calls or watching a cutscene… Except for when they drag on for too long. Yeah, sadly, there are just so many cutscenes and codec calls that are so long And I’m interested in them for the first few minutes, but then when they get to like minute 5-10 is when I start to lose my patience Now, maybe it’s because I’ve played this game before, or maybe I just have ADHD or some shit, but, again, some of these really test my patience, and on this playthrough I got so damn close to skipping some of these cutscenes Especially the ones that play after you beat some of the boss fights, where the boss will give some sort of monologue expositing shit and then talk about how war is shitty and that they’re shitty and that they regret being shitty, and then they die That’s it, and after a while it got pretty damn annoying for me But if it was someone's first playthrough of the game, then I could see how the player might be more invested than I was I still was somewhat invested, though. I know I’m acting like I wasn’t, but for a good portion of the cutscenes I genuinely was And if I wasn’t at least slightly invested, then this game would have a serious issue, because Metal Gear Solid 1 (as well as most of the other games in the series) is really much more of a narrative-based game than anything else You play the game for the narrative, to experience the cutscenes and voice acting and dialogue, and not really so much for the gameplay Because in terms of pure gameplay, there’s really only about 2-3 hours of actual gameplay in this 6-7 hour game Which is pretty staggering So I mean, like I said earlier, if the player isn’t engaged in the story at all, then that person probably wouldn’t really care for this game Unless, of course, they’re a fan of backtracking and boss fights. Yeah, unfortunately this game does comprise mostly of you either having to fight pretty bad-to-decent boss fights or you having to backtrack for 8 hours to get a weapon or change the temperature of key cards It’s just not a very good balance, and when this game is specifically marketed as a stealth/action game, I just wish that there would be much more of an emphasis on the stealth rather than the action part Because the stealth that you do get to do in this game is pretty fun Especially that opening heliport area where you get to play around with the guards that’ll follow your footprints and can be lured to you by knocking on shit Basically that whole opening area is just a little playground to practice the stealth, and, again, it’s pretty fun, and I really wish there was more of it Obviously, though, sneaking through areas is still a major component of this game, but no area ever really feels as fleshed out as that opening area, and there’s very little to do sneaking-wise in most of the other areas of the game However, the real highlight of the gameplay comes from all the unique and wild shit that this game has you do Stuff like plugging your controller into the 2nd controller port in order to beat a boss fight or having to get a codec number from the game's physical case Or my personal favorite instance, which is when Naomi tells you to put the controller to your shoulder (in real life) to make it feel better, and then the controller starts vibrating That shit is just so goofy, and I love it And there are a ton of other goofy things, as well, that you get through the gameplay Obviously the cardboard box is a staple in the series, and for good reason, because it’s funny as hell to just see a cardboard box trying to maneuver around these areas without being seen And then a funny thing that you can actually do with the cardboard box is that you can get a baby wolf to pee on it for you so that if you equip it when walking near the wolves that attack you, they won’t attack you anymore because the box now has the wolves' pee scent See, again, it’s these hundreds of little details and unique things that you can do that truly make this series untouchable and unlike anything else Lastly, though, I want to talk about this game's story And to boil it down for me, Metal Gear Solid is a game that, above all the themes of identity, love, loyalty, legacy, betrayal, war, and many more, this game at the end of the day is a game about two brothers Two brothers who feel as though they’ve been destined to a life of war based solely on their genetic makeup Two brothers whose paths were different, yet their paths led to each other nonetheless Two brothers who are trying to figure out their place in the world and live as their own person In a way they’re one and the same, but they also couldn’t be more different This game’s story also has this incredible feeling throughout that you’re actively experiencing a legend And this feeling is enhanced by all the spectacle that you see throughout the game, like Snake singlehandedly fighting a tank, a helicopter, and a fucking giant nuclear-equipped mech And also, throughout the entire game, Snake is commonly referred to as “The Legendary Solid Snake,” making this mission feel like just another chapter in the legend of Solid Snake And this almost mythic feeling of this game’s story helps add to it so much and makes the narrative much more engaging to me So yeah, I love the story And I feel like at this point I’ve covered pretty much everything about this game except for a few little topics that I want to briefly mention Like for example, the humor of this game I did mention it briefly, just a little bit ago, but I definitely do it justice because this game is hilarious Obviously there are the iconic things like some of the dialogue, the soldier who shits himself, and the ketchup packet that you can use to pretend you died But then also there are a lot of fourth-wall-breaking moments as well Like, obviously, the whole Psycho Mantis portion, but then as well, before Ocelot tortures you, he looks at the fucking camera and says that there are “no continues” if you die Which, actually, that part really stressed me out when I first played the game because I legitimately thought that if I died, I would have to start from the whole ass beginning of the game But actually I’ve never died on that part, so maybe you do… I don’t know, and I don’t ever want to find out Let’s see, though, for some reason in my notes I have “beginning music” written down as something for me to talk about And I think I wanted myself to talk about that little song that plays over the Konami logo before the title screen But there’s nothing to really say about it except for the fact that it’s iconic and I like it Alright, what else… The graphics Which are pretty shit by today’s standards, but I actually really like the low-poly look of this game I think it’s very distinctive and surprisingly expressive for what it is Although I don’t like how the models don’t have eyes, that part freaks me out Their faces are just soulless husks Also, another thing is that I know I said earlier how the boss fights are pretty bad, but there actually are a few good ones in there Like the Ocelot fight is okay, the Psycho Mantis fight is fine, the Hind D fight is pretty good, and the Metal Gear Rex fight is pretty good too But, I will say, there definitely are no real standouts in terms of the boss fights And the hand-to-hand boss fights are the worst thing I’ve ever played in my life; I hate them both And another thing that I hate about this game as well is all the fucking cameras This game has so many cameras around every fucking corner to the point where you constantly need to use chaff grenades because if you don’t, then you will be shot by a camera every fucking 2 seconds It isn’t as bad in the early game, but once you get into the late game, it is absolutely atrocious Fuck the cameras… But yeah, that’s the review Hopefully I did a good job breaking down my thoughts on this game and everything that it has to offer And, yeah, overall, I think this is a great game And despite the negative things that I had to say about it, this game still does bring a massive amount of things to the table And it is just such an iconic and groundbreaking video game So me giving it anything less than a 4/5 would be absolutely sacrilegious So, as I literally just stated 1 second ago, I’m giving Metal Gear Solid, a 4/5