One of the first times I felt like I was watching a movie while playing a video game (complimentary). There are some things that didn’t age well and are a little cringe-inducing after all these years (Mei Ling’s seemingly-forced stereotypical accent, I’m looking at you), but the meat of the game is still as good as ever. The action’s still fun, the boss fights are still interesting for the most part (damn you to hell, Sniper Wolf), and the plot is just deep and intriguing enough before it all got so bloated and tangled that even Kojima was struggling to tie it all together for MGS4.

"I think at any time, any place, people can fall in love with each other. But if you love someone, you have to be able to protect them."

Metal Gear Solid is a game that surprised me by how well it held up. Of course, many people have said this already, but, a lot of the time, for other games, it isn’t true. Thankfully, this is one of the few cases in which it actually does hold up well. The story is simple but engaging, thanks to some fantastic characters. And the gameplay, while it took me a long time to get used to, was pretty fun when I learned how everything worked.

Apart from the dated mechanics, there were some small things holding this back from a masterpiece, such as the near-hour-long backtracking at the end and the lack of context for certain objectives (the back of the CD case is a great example of this).

Other than that, though, this was a great game. One that I can see enjoying a lot more whenever I decide to replay it. I definitely understand the hype. I look forward to starting two right away.

the foundation of metal gear 2 is preserved to create an absolute masterpiece of a video game - one that expands on MG2's already solid (hold your applause) stealth mechanics by adding additional QOL such as visible enemy FOVs and the much-needed cutback on long-distance backtracking and tedious card management
but most importantly, metal gear solid further explores MG2's focus on the consequences of those who seek to profit off war and the lives that suffer because of it, along with the persistence and importance of individuality and the human connection even in dire circumstances - evidenced by snake's desire to fight for meryl's sake (setting aside the threat of a nuclear war, of course) and his individuality and desire to live for himself at the end of the game contrasting against liquid's goal of following in big boss' footsteps to satisfy his genes telling him to cause problems on purpose
i love the ending split - meryl's ending is, of course, the better outcome as she lives as a direct consequence of snake withstanding ocelot's torture for her sake, but otacon's directly shows the new lease on life he's gained in spite of sniper wolf's death, and is able to encourage snake to move on and not beat himself up over meryl's death knowing her love does not die with her - each ending i think is no better than the other because both of them do a lot for their respective characters

metal gear solid's just fuckin' awesome man, it's true

A groundbreaking game that has mostly withstood the test of time. This game is the perfect blend of what makes Metal Gear Solid as a franchise so special. It has great storytelling that doesn't overstay its welcome, it has great set pieces and environments that create an engaging gameplay loop. It has an extremely charismatic cast that help elevate the experience and make the player feel encapsulated in the story. It is the birth of the "cinematic" experience that you find in so many modern games today while also having engaging gameplay.

This game is the perfect balance of storytelling in any Kojima game. It explains its overall premise and plot in a way that is both intriguing but not overwhelming. You can tell that the story was a multiple-man team effort with how it keeps its story grounded but also having that sci-fi flair Kojima is known for, rather than the overly convoluted storytelling you see in later entries. You are never confused as to what is going on in the plot while also being curious with what's going to happen as the story unfolds. The characters are very iconic in this entry. Solid Snake, the codec crew, Meryl, Otacon, Foxhound, Gray Fox. Every character gets a great character arc, purpose, and are all charismatic that leads to the icon status that these characters hold in gaming culture. While later games have their great protagonists and supporting characters, they have never been able to live up to Foxhound. Liquid, Sniper Wolf, Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, Vulcan Raven (and Decoy Octopus) all have important roles and their boss fights characterize what the villain stands for. Each of their fights are engaging and stand out from each other that tests the players combat in every manner. The themes of genes and destiny are perfect for this game. It was intertwined with the story with the perfect subtlety; it was never telling the player what to think.

Gameplay is unfortunately where this game shows its age. There are many downright frustrating sections. The laser room to grab the PSG-1 is so needlessly complicated due to the poor movement in this game. The Communications Tower is infuriating if you're not sure what to do as it's all about gun combat in a game that does not suit gun combat. Metal Gear Rex is a trial and error fest, still the best fight in the game in my opinion even though it can be frustrating. With that being said, the level design and enemy AI encourage the player to rely on stealth. Each room is memorable and you can visualize the entirety of Shadow Moses Island in your head. The game gives the player a surprising amount of freedom for how to approach any given situation for a game released in 1998. Backtracking while annoying, is definitely overblown. It is definitely now as bad as many will lead you to believe. The sandbox while small is definitely not limited. Each weapon you obtain serves its purpose and gives players freedom and decisions to how they will utilize their arsenal in any given fight. Most players will end up using every weapon given to them in their first playthrough. The excellent thought process in the level design allows the game to age very well despite all of its inherent flaws.

Music and sound effects are also very iconic, what more is there to say. It's Metal Gear Solid.

Overall, this game is still a masterpiece and holds up well enough for any gamer. If you call yourself a gamer or enjoy video games, I think it is essential that you play this game.

This is my first time playing the original Metal Gear Solid, and I was pleasantly surprised on how much it holds up to this day. It has some solid (sometimes silly) voice acting, great map designs, and some excellent characters.

Shadow Moses Island was a joy to explore, behind every nook and cranny you can find some good secrets that can help you stop Metal Gear Rex. Each area is easily recognizable and you don't get lost going back and forth in these corridors. Dealing with the baddies are not either too easy or too hard, there was a right balance of difficult for the most part.

The bosses are, for the most part, very memorable and pretty fun. And almost each one plays a little differently. Psycho Mantis for example, you would have to change to the controller to player 2 and just get a hit out of him. Sniper Wolf hits you from a distance and you have to either out snipe her, or find a clever way on getting hits on her. Meanwhile, the last couple fights were not easy in the slightest. The boss fight with MG Rex was very hard but actually fair, there's a pattern you must follow that allows you to get pop shots with your stinger and once you figure that out, its not as bad as you think. Liquid, however, had me pretty pissed. It's the type of fight that really highlights some of the flaws of the game, the CQC (close quarters combat) is not refined here, but you need to fist fight liquid in a time limit. The aiming and positioning can be grueling if you can't figure it all out, and it was driving me crazy!

The only other part of the game that was really tough to get through was the second part of the communication tower, with its unfairly places turrets in certain corners going up the long flight of stairs. But with knowing that it might be easier to deal with in subsequent playthroughs.

Other than those two things the game was great! You have a great ensemble of supporting characters you talk to through codec, you have twist and turns that will keep you on your toes, and its all wrapped around on what i felt was a very solid and good story! It still hold up to this day, and should be played by everyone.

This is a strong recommendation, this is a strong game to have on everyone's library and to appreciate how far Metal Gear has come since 1998.

I'm not going to review this game because you all should know by now how great it is. It's my third favorite game of all time. That being said, I think that at least some quality of life improvements could have been added to the Master Collection, even little things like skipping the end credits would've been appreciated. Nevertheless, I'm just happy it's playable on modern consoles and with trophy support.

Speaking of trophies, I'm abandoning my platinum journey for the time being. I beat it four times, the last one being my Fox/Big Boss run and I was left utterly confused when it told me that I hit all the qualifications except I killed 37 people, and you need to kill less than 25. This left me a bit baffled, as I feel I only killed who I had to to advance the game. Anyways, I'd rather play other things than play through this a fifth time for an arbitrary platinum trophy. As much as I love them, I'm not the trophy hunter I once was.

A groundbreaking classic and an awesome game, there is so much I love about this one, I played the Integral PC version and this was before the GOG release so I used that patch found on reddit, FMVs were broken but I just missed stock footage so oh well, good thing GOG release fixed that and DuckStation is as awesome as it is, Ironically this wasn't my first MGS, that'd be MGS3 and MGR as my first MG in general, after that its pretty much in chrono order. I don't care much for VR Missions, not my thing.

I also ended up getting both endings, didn't knew that was a thing, good thing they didn't keep it for the other games lol

SNAKEEEE ITS NOT OVER YET!

"Do you think love can bloom even on a battlefield?"
"Yeah. I do. I think at any time, any place, people can fall in love with each other."


Metal Gear Solid is quite honestly the best PSX game the console has to offer and I say it with utmost sincerity. I believe that is a tall order because you have giants like Resident Evil 2, Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, Final Fantasy 7, Crash Bandicoot the list goes on and on! What I believe separates those games and Metal Gear is its impressive 3D environments and cinematic ambition. Couple that with some Meta related actions (looking for the codec number on the back of the box, Controller Port 2, HIDEO instead of VIDEO) and you got yourself a game that really thinks out-of-the-box.

I played this on the PS3 coupled with the MGS1 Download voucher code that came with the MGS Legacy Collection so I believe I am playing a faithful US port COUGH MASTER COLLECTION COUGH. Anyways, I’m still impressed by its presentation this game offers. Truly looking back this was a groundbreaking game for its time and really revolutionized not only the stealth genre but how was see Single player stories. Hideo Kojima is brilliant! The Story is gripping and the cutscenes are deployed very well considering the PSX limitations. Can't forget the great characters this game offers from Otacon, Meryl, Roy Campbell and the Legendary Solid Snake. All unique in their dialogue and easy to tell apart.

The Bosses this game offers are all unique mechanically and often making you think how to approach each situation without taking damage before it's too late. There is so much flavor to this game that this was certainly a labor of love.

Now this game as much as I ooze the love for it, certainly is not perfect. Really the only gripe I have with is honestly the backpedaling of objectives. I feel like mechanically did not age well. I feel like they really kill the overall pace of the game considering that one of the segments is really close to the "Final Boss" and it adds about maybe 1 hour of filler gameplay which is fine but I just wanted to continue to move forward in the story,

Overall I HIGHLY recommend replaying MGS1. I had a playtime of about 7hrs 2m 0s, considering this is my 3rd playthrough of this game. This game still holds up incredibly well, albeit some of the graphics maybe look blocky or pixelated but that is just the hardware limitations. Genuinely one of the best games ever made. I would easily put this in the top 10 best games I have ever played but not as good as say my MGS3 lmao but MGS1 had to walk so MGS3 could run, so I owe it to this game. You will be surprised how meta it gets with all the talks about nukes compared to our real world political talks.

Metal Gear Solid, even after over two decades, remains one of Kojima’s most innovative, out there and forward thinking games, even if the game can’t help but show its age. While story, cinematography and themes held up incredibly well, the gameplay hasn’t survived the years in quite the same way.

7,5 / 10

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This is one of those games where I’m kind of struggling to come up with unique things to say about it, namely because a game series so ubiquitous and influential as Metal Gear Solid is bound to have been discussed to death for close to 25 years now. There are countless think pieces and articles and video essays about its role as a cultural juggernaut, about how innovative a game it was for its time, about the genius of Kojima, etc. So, instead I’ll try my hardest to simply talk about what I liked and didn’t like about the game, what I think held up well, didn’t hold up well, or was never all that good in the first place.

I think I should start with saying that I have no nostalgic connection to this game, or even this series as a whole. I played MGS1 in April 2023, after only having played 2 other Kojima games the year before, namely MGS5 and the often maligned Death Stranding. (I also played Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance but that one isn’t even a Kojima game) I did enjoy both of these games quite a bit, even though both of them are rather divisive, Death Stranding in particular. I mean, I did have more than my fair share of problems with both, and I even though I had a lot of fun with them, I could also see the points of the many detractors of Kojima’s extremely idiosyncratic style of making games. Personally, I’m somewhere in between the two camps of “Kojima is god” and “Kojima is a hack”, often wildly flipping between them on a whim. Often, I’ve heard old school Kojima fans say stuff like “he fell off with MGS4” and that “the first 3 MGS are flawless”. While I can’t speak about those games and related opinions, I can say that MGS1 fit surprisingly well with my impression of the games I actually did play. Which is to say, great in some parts, not so great in others. On the one hand, you have some fantastic stuff that survived the ages in a way that is only possible with Kojima, and on the other hand I have rarely been as frustrated by haphazard design decisions, extremely blatant padding, bad stealth mechanics and lots of other stuff that soured my experience with MGS1 - also only possible with Kojima. But ultimately, like MGS5 and Death Stranding, I did end up liking this game over all, despite its flaws.

I think easily the most impressive part about MGS1 today is its fantastic sense of cinematography. For those not familiar with the PS1-era, it needs to be stated that at that time video game cutscenes - if a game had any cutscenes - were often times not very good, quite short, lacked quite a bit in terms of cinematography and storytelling, and beyond that, were almost always simply FMVs. (“full motion video”, = pre-rendered video files) Even Silent Hill 1, which had absolutely fantastically animated cutscenes at the time, had to fully rely on those FMVs to give the game a feeling of “big budget Hollywood” stuff. Metal Gear Solid 1 is extremely cool and forward thinking in that, not only does the game not use any FMVs whatsoever, but the way the animators used the actual in game graphics and models to direct really compelling and interestingly staged cutscenes is unprecedented.

Not only do the movement of the characters and their delivery of dialogue feel very natural, the camera is almost always placed in interesting positions and even utilises movement during action sequences or otherwise tense moments. This gives the game a far more cinematic feel than just about anything else up to that point. Game designers back often didn’t know all that much about cinematography and story telling, and had to rely on their limited understanding of these things to make everything work. At some points in MGS1, I forgot I was watching highly abstracted, polygonal versions of real people talking and interacting with each other, and fully bought into the illusion that I was watching a film. It really feels like a movie/game hybrid in the best of ways.

Of course, another thing that adds to this is the surprisingly good voice acting. “Surprising” insofar that, once again, at the time video game voice acting tended to be pretty bad. Most of the time the “””actors””” were literally just staff members and programmers without any experience in acting or direction what so ever. While MGS1’s voice acting wouldn’t be anything of particular interest today, this was as close to Hollywood levels of acting you could get in video games at the time. David Hayter as Solid Snake is obviously legendary and immortalised through his “dummy thicc” copy pasta. Oh, and for playing the main character in one of the most acclaimed video game series of all time or whatever. But besides him, the other performances were also really good. I particularly liked Robert Aktin Downes as Master Miller / other characters.

So far so good, great cinematography and voice acting. These are things that Kojima is known for even today, perhaps to the point where this unique selling point itself even kind of became almost flanderised. “Kojima wants to make movies, not games.” And, you know there is a point to that. However, here’s the thing; I don’t really mind it all that much if the story I’m witnessing is actually interesting and told well. And I think, that’s the same for most people, because somehow I don’t hear anywhere near as many people make this complaint with MGS1 than they do with MGS5 and Death Stranding. MGS5 is infamously an unfinished game with an unfinished story, and you can tell. It doesn’t help that the story it tries to tell positions itself as a prequel to over almost every Metal Gear game, retroactively setting up a lot of plot points for the rest of the series, meaning the story makes even less sense if you haven’t played the others first. Death Stranding isn’t unfinished per se, but its story makes no fucking sense and feels like it should be way simpler and to the point than it ended up being. The fact that both of these games also suffer from the most severe case of “Kojima story telling” yet (meaning: and excess of incredibly drawn out and unnecessary information dumps that don’t evolve the plot or characters what so ever and only serve to give the world a fake sense of depth) doesn’t help matters at all.

Needless to say, I expected MGS1 to be just as much of a confusing, nonsensical mess with plot lines that ended nowhere and didn’t really have much of a point. Well, I can happily say that I know understand what old-school Kojima fans were on about when they say the newer games kinda sucked story wise, because unlike the aforementioned games MGS1’s story isn’t just really good, it’s by far the best part of the game.

While we can just jump straight into the actual main plot of the game by hitting new game, the devs provided multiple ways of catching up on the previous games’ plot lines as well as gain more context for the mission you’re currently on. Lingering in the main menu for a while will give you the typical main menu cutscene which will fill you in on some details we’ll get into shortly. The other option comes in the form of a “mission briefing”, in which you’ll be thoroughly informed of the player character’s mission, goal, potential threats, ways in and ways out. You’ll also get a bit of character set up for both Snake and the colonel.

We play as mercenary, freedom fighter and super soldier extraordinaire Solid Snake, aka Snake, aka David, aka Iroqois Pliskin etc. The game takes place some years after the events of both Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, in which Snake invades the private military station / micro nation called “Outer Heaven”, and kills its leader; the greatest soldier of all time, god of combat and patron saint of mercenaries, Big Boss, aka John, aka Jack, aka Naked Snake , aka Ishmael, and so on, who spearheaded all kinds of military organisations, secret government programs, etc. all for one singular goal: to create a nation for soldiers alone. Why? I don’t fucking know, I don’t think I’d be able to comprehend the entirety of Metal Gear Solid lore even IF I played all the games. The reason for our conflict with Big Boss is the titular military tech called “Metal Gear”, which are essentially big old anime mechs, but set in a world basically like ours, where they would undoubtedly be weapons of unbelievable mass destruction. There are a whole lot of details about the story of both MG and MG2 I don’t know about because I haven’t played them yet.

Anyway, back to the plot of MGS. A few years after the events of the aforementioned games, living in isolation somewhere in the Alaskan frozen wastes, Snake is, uh, “contacted” by his old commander, Colonel Roy Campbell. Our guy has achieved legend status for his previous missions and is known as the greatest living warrior, after having defeated and foiled the man who previously held that title. Like I mentioned before, you can choose to receive some extra context by selecting the mission briefing, in which the following happens:

We open up on Solid Snake, stripped naked to a chair inside of a military submarine, being greeted by a mysterious voice which turns out to be the Colonel. Snake, previously having been the top soldier for the US Military special forces, is now retired, living in Alaska, and finds himself detained by a couple of armed soldiers, for the purpose of coercing him to go on one final mission for the US military. We also get introduced to a bunch of other NPCs we’ll get to talk to a lot during this game, namely Dr. Naomi Hunter, Mei Ling, Master Miller, and so on. So, what is the problem, and why is Snake the one who has to solve it?

Our goal is to invade the fictional Alaskan island and former US military outpost “Shadow Moses”, which has been taken over by FOXHOUND after rebelling against their employers. The leaders of FOXHOUND have since threatened the US government with nuclear strikes from the new iteration of the game series’ eponymous fighting robots, the American-produced Metal Gear REX, over the remains of Big Boss and 1 billion dollars cash. Our job is to infiltrate the base, free the various hostages taken by FOXHOUND - including Colonel Campbell’s niece Meryl Silverburgh -, check whether or not Shadow Moses DOES possess the capabilities for said strike, and destroy Metal Gear should the need arise. While we’re there, we’re also tasked with saving both the DARPA chief Donald Anderson, and the ever infamous Dr. Hal “Otacon” (abbreviated from “Otaku-convention”, yes, seriously) Emmerich. Simple enough. Snake isn’t exactly super quick to trust the colonel, and asks for full disclosure regarding the mission details. After getting to know the other characters, and being injected with a healthy dose of nano-machines who will turn out to have a whole bunch of different uses, we set out for the frozen military base.

This is where we should briefly talk about this game’s signature game mechanic you’ve seen referenced a billion times in other games or other media without ever knowing where it originated from: The Soliton radar system. At its most basic it’s a radar system that lets you see enemies from farther away, as well as their effective line of sight / range in the environment. This is what basically makes the stealth system, other than the level design. But the Soliton is also a communication device which let’s you ring up various NPCs back at the home station, who all have different fields of expertise and will give you varying advice depending on the situation - and depending on whether or not they are even qualified to help you in the first place. The amount of different dialogue that these NPCs can present you with depending on the situation is seriously impressive, even for today’s standards. And it’s not all just strictly gameplay related either. Sometimes, especially when any given NPC can’t really help in a situation, they’ll often give you more story context or background on their own character, sometimes even giving away a little too much for their own good - at least, if you’re perceptive. The single biggest thing I’ll praise about the codec calls are that they are a great way to find out what to do in certain boss fights, that would probably have you Google the solution in any other game. Once again, incredibly forward thinking and a fantastic way to future proof your game.

That’s enough set up, we’ll get back to the story in a bit, but for now we ascend from the waves and make our way into the enemy base. So, let’s take the opportunity and talk about the incredibly iconic Shadow Moses:

The game takes place entirely within its confines, and is made up of several smaller sections. The outpost is constructed a bit like something you’d see in a Metroidvania game, with many unlockable shortcuts and doors that are locked from one side, and has some areas that aren’t necessary to complete the game, and instead have upgrades, supplies or other stuff that makes exploring the whole of Shadow Moses worthwhile. Level design is quite good for the most part and works well for a game based around stealth, and surprisingly does more for the experience than the actual mechanics the game provides you with. I will say that it’s nothing too crazy though, and that I’ve seen plenty of stealth-based games do more with similar set ups and mechanics. On the other hand, most of these games came well after this one. Mostly it comes down to stealth being practically necessitated by a lack of useful combat mechanics, more than the designated stealth mechanics in this game being particularly fleshed out.

In either case, the thing that really makes Shadow Moses work for me is the atmosphere. The rough and brutalist metal and concrete structure jutting out from the rocks of this Alaskan island, penetrating through the thick snow and fog. The sound of machines whirring and snow falling and Snake’s footsteps walking through it, the incredibly iconic musical themes in the background… great stuff. It really makes you feel like you’re breaking into a place you’re not supposed to be. The fact that you can switch to first person mode to take a look around, once again underlining the three dimensional nature of this place makes this even more immersive. The many levels inside Shadow Moses are all rather small and quick to traverse, at least at first, and give you plenty of stuff to find if you’re curious enough - and it turns out, you really SHOULD explore, because while a lot of the stuff you can find is optional, some other stuff isn’t, and the game WILL make you go all the way back to retrieve it.

This is kind of a perfect segue to move on to one of the things that exist on the other end of the Kojima extreme for me; the boss fights. I cannot say that I was a big fan of them.

I felt that they are all extremely gimmicky and some relied heavily on the player finding very specific items that would hard lock you out of completing the boss fights until you find them. Sometimes they might require you to find a specific weapon that, like I alluded to before, you could have found if you were observant enough, like one of the mid-game bosses, the first battle against Sniper Wolf. Story context; after having freed Meryl (who is also Snake’s love interest in this game), we lead her through parts of the level until she gets shot by the aforementioned boss while walking through a narrow hallway to a different part of Shadow Moses. Bleeding out on the floor, she’ll be at the mercy of Snake defeating Wolf as quickly as possible. However, should Snake not have brought a PSG-1 sniper rifle with him, the game unironically stops everything and makes you go back to the start of the game to retrieve it, all the while Meryl is bleeding out on the floor, in the cold of an Alaskan winter night, while a deadly enemy sniper is still aiming her sights on our girl. This is, frankly, absurdly out of place, tonally speaking. I get that this fight is hardly doable without a sniper rifle, but having to leave the encounter in the middle of a gunfight while your love interest is literally dying on the floor feels so incredibly off. I have to believe this was some last minute decision, as it makes no sense, dramaturgically speaking. What’s worse is that the game seemingly intends for you to go through whole ordeal, as I don’t think that most people would’ve found the sniper without first fully understanding how this game even works.

Another example, this one particularly egregious for me personally, was Vulcan Raven during the second half of the game. While you don’t technically need a specific weapon to beat him, in praxis you kinda do. Structurally, the boss fight works by putting you in a small rat maze with a guy wearing a heavy mech-suit with mini guns equipped on each arm. Needless to say, if he spots you, he’ll kill you in seconds flat. While you can technically fight him with just about any form of explosive in this game, including the rocket launcher, what you REALLY want to use are claymore mines. The problem being that, once again, you have to go out of your way to search every nook and cranny of this map if you want to find some of them. You can potentially pick them up during a certain boss battle, and some in certain, short sections in between areas. Now, I’ll admit that not picking them up every chance I get was on me. There were plenty of instances where I stepped on some claymores and died, and therefore should’ve known about their presence. The game does tell you about the x-ray vision that lets you see invisible enemies and hidden explosives. However, the game does not tell you that you’ll practically NEED to use them during certain boss battles, at least if you don’t plan on having an aneurysm. I tried this boss fight so many times without them, because I didn’t feel like starting from an earlier save, when that save was at least an hour back. Eventually, however, I caved and loaded an earlier save so I could go up and farm those mines like you’re clearly supposed to. Usually this wouldn’t piss me off so much, but the obtuse way in which this whole strategy is relayed to you, alongside the fact that you’re ostensibly given multiple angles for any boss fight here made this whole section almost unbearably frustrating for me, and made me drop the game for a couple of days. Having one option that is significantly easier and more practical than ANY of the other solutions you technically could use isn’t good design. The worst part is that, even with the intended solution, this fight is still a tedious chore.

And that is sadly true for every single boss in this game. I’m not going into detail on every single boss fight here, but I can confidently say I didn’t enjoy a single one of them except for MAYBE the final one(s). Not even the legendary Psycho Mantis did it for me, but that’s mostly due to the intended solution - switching the controller ports - obviously doesn’t work on emulator. I had to go for the less interesting solution of shooting the statue and then running around the room like crazy trying to get a hit in. I don’t think having access to the intended solution would’ve massively benefitted the fight though.

Something that remains true for every boss fight; if you walk in without enough heals (that is, typically a full stack of them) or god forbid, low health, you’re gonna have a bad time. I understand that this was usually not considered a design flaw since “you could just start from an earlier save”, which was genuinely considered a valid design decision in the late 90’s. For all the shit that the late 2000’s hand-holding design epidemic gets, making it so players don’t lose hours of progress for very simple mistakes was a pretty good thing. Maybe going so hard on the boss encounters isn’t really warranted, but they do present themselves as a rather important part of the story, there are quite a lot of them and most importantly, the regular enemies really don’t offer anything in the way of challenge. This is only a stealth game as long as you feel like playing a stealth game. You can absolutely just walk through and, with enough patience, simply shoot all the enemies without utilising any stealth what so ever. The boss fights are the only instances where the game actually gets a bit challenging, but sadly most of them go about it in the most obnoxious way possible.

Sadly, the boss fights aren’t even my biggest problem, which says a lot because they already pissed me off quite a bit. No, it’s actually the entire second half of the game I have some serious gripes with. The first disc of the game (which is also the first half) is generally paced very well, with good level design, nice stealth sections, and a continuous feeling of progressing forward while also making those little Metroidvania-esque connections in your head about how the map is structured. While backtracking is a thing, it’s kept to a minimum in favour of constantly presenting you with new stuff. The second half is the complete opposite of that.

Backtracking does not only become noticeable, but excessive. The game also isn’t going about implementing it in a way that I would describe as “elegant”, either. Honestly, it’s one of the most offensively obvious examples of padding out a game’s length for no reason other to increase its “runtime” I have ever seen. It is beyond belief to me that this keeps getting ignored in all of those nostalgia-drenched 5 star reviews that go on and on about how beautifully this game has aged, and how it’s one of the best games of all time. This is bad design, and it was bad design for its time as well.

Easily the most infamous example of this - although sadly not the only one - would be the whole ordeal about using the PAL key to deactivate the nuclear launch sequence. Now, the set up is actually quite clever. You spent around half of the game looking for three distinct PALs (permissive action link), knowing that you need them to shut down the launch, since there are three colour-coded modules on the launch console. Thus far you’ve only found one, and time is running out. But then Otacon informs you that you already had all three keys the entire time. Turns out, that one single keycard you found actually includes the other two codes you need. How? The key turns into a different key depending on the temperature. Conceptually, this is really cool and one of the smarter ways to go about it. Gameplay wise, it’s fucking horrible and by far my least favourite section of the game. What’s worse is that it’s right at the end, dragging out the moment you finally get to the final boss even more.

Basically, you’re supposed to go to an area with a certain temperature, stay there for a couple of minutes so the key changes colour, and then get back to the final room. Sounds simple enough. But there are some things that utterly destroy the pacing of this final stretch. First, none of the areas you go to are new. You are required to backtrack to places you’ve already been to hours ago, just to stay a few minutes there and go back. There are no clever shortcuts to make traversing the second half of the map more interesting. You have to fight the exact same enemies every time you go through EITHER way. There is no way to effectively circumnavigate them without being a speed runner or other gamer god. And, on top of that, each trip takes significantly longer than the one before it. Depending on how you play, this could take you anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. This is legit some of the worst cases of padding I have ever seen. This is just straight up filler bullshit. I’m sorry, but I’m gonna call it like it is. It’s dogshit game design.

Now, I think I understand why they did it. Apart from the obvious point (just make the game a little longer), I think it’s structured like this go give the absolute load of codec calls you’ll be receiving a bit more room to breathe. This section is basically where the entire story of MGS1 pulls a complete 180° and makes you realise you didn’t have the full picture. I understand that there needed to be a big focus on that, and that cramming them into a very short gameplay section would’ve probably just overloaded players with info. However, artificially padding out the game just so a few cutscenes have a little extra room to breathe is akin to a cardinal sin of game design for me. Surely there had to have been a better way than this. I’m not gonna harp on for it more than I already have, because I think I’ve made my point.

Luckily the actual story of the game keeps up its quality up until the credits. The final boss is also really fucking cool, story wise. Gameplay, it’s more of what we already got, albeit slightly more thrilling. A good hand-to-hand brawl is just what this story needed, even if Kojima can’t stop shoving it into literally every game he makes. The final turret section is not my favourite but it works well enough and builds tension right until the climax of the story. I’m not gonna go into great detail concerning the overall story; a.) because it’d take way too long and this review is too long as is, and b.) in the slim off-chance that someone who hasn’t played the game fully read this review (If that’s you, hi. What’s up?) they won’t get spoiled too much, at least not about the good parts.

Before I sign off, here are some other notable parts about the game that didn’t fit into the text so far:

The music is generally fantastic. It strikes a nice balance between James Bond-y, funky bass guitar and synth driven tracks and some droney, almost industrial sounding stuff. The standard combat theme is literally iconic, alongside various pieces of sound design in this game, most notably of course the “!” sound. (You just heard it in your head, admit it.) I especially love the song “The Best Is Yet To Come” by Aoife Ní Fhearraigh, absolutely beautiful anti-war song.

While I wasn’t a huge fan of the actual boss battles, I loved the actual characters’ monologues. And that’s saying something, because usually I’m not the biggest fan of overly indulgent monologuing - and no, the irony of saying this while writing a Bachelor thesis’ worth of text is not lost on me. They tell so much about their respective characters and philosophies, and they’re fantastic stand-ins for various aspects of warfare and the ideologies behind it. Their designs are all extremely memorable and iconic.

Speaking of characters, I loved all the codec call characters, and the whole concept of it more than I would anticipate. Having to speak to Mei Ling whenever you want to save gives it so much more meaning. Discovering more and more about both Naomi and Dr. Miller, finding out who (or what) is the enigmatic “Deepthroat” (yes, that’s his actual name, don’t laugh) and being amused by all of Otacon’s weird weeabo antics. The only thing I wish was that maybe ignoring the codec, or at least being able to fully skip certain sections (esp. if you’ve already seen them) was an option sometimes, especially after you died and have to watch a whole 5 minute monologue again.

Snake himself is also a great protagonist. He’s witty, he’s badass and he has a surprisingly fleshed out personality with a lot of nuance. He loves to smoke and he hates being lied to. An appreciator of beautiful women, but not a womaniser. A battle compatriot as well as man with a heart with the size of a mountain. David Hayter is literally perfect as Solid Snake. You can also really tell that Snake really grows as character throughout his mission. Really makes me wish I played the previous entries to have a little more story context.

CONCLUSION:

Ultimately, Metal Gear Solid isn’t a game I would say I love, but it’s definitely a game I deeply respect. It brought so many great innovations to the gaming world. It was one of the most important steps in giving games as a whole a more prestigious connotation than simply being mindless entertainment. It kicked off what could be considered one of the most influential and greatest video game series of all time. But the actual, well, game-part left me exceedingly frustrated the more time I spent on it. While some things aged brilliantly, others aged horribly. It surprises me just how close this game comes to both Metal Gear Solid 5 and Death Stranding for me. All games with great individual moments, overall good systems but a lot of excess fat and unnecessary nonsense that really drags the game down more than it adds to it.

It’s definitely a game that’s a lot more fun to talk and write about than it is to actually play. It tries so many different things, and it’s surprisingly good at a lot of them, but sadly simply overdoes it. If I ever wanted to experience the story again, I would most likely just watch a YT video of it. However, it did make me even more curious to finally fully work my way through this legendary series, and I can’t wait to give Metal Gear Solid 2 a try.


7,5 / 10

This is one of the rare games that I replayed more than once. Why? Short answer is it's because it's metal gear solid after all. Long answer is really long tho.

I came across mgs franchise when I wasn't engaged with games like right now. One day, when I was looking up to tv to find something interesting, I realized there was a gaming program going on, I said why not check it even tho I won't play it. There was a trailer for mgs4 in it. I was mesmerised with it. There was an old man on top of a boat, saying "bang" "bang" and after that all of the helicopters start falling around him. I was like: WHAT THE HECK!? HE CAN CONTROL METAL WITH HIS HANDS??? Dang... I wonder how the gameplay is like??
After that I saw mgs4 again in top 10 saddest death in gaming videos, but it didn't stick in my mind.

Years later, I learned there was a ps1 emulator released for the android phones. I had a great time with ps1 when I was a kid so I wanted to try it again. But also wanted to try something "new". So I looked up best ps1 games and saw metal gear solid in everywhere. Like every "everywhere". I was like, wow, I wonder why it's regarded that highly? Then I went and tried it and fell in love with it.

Quick stealth gameplay with it's fast movement, big variety in challenge that they kept fresh in every new corner in it's map, highly memorable bosses that I still can't forget about and get teary when I remember their sad stories, story that is both suprising and emotional. What can I want more from that?

Only things I can say bad about it is, it does have back tracking 2 times that felt unnecessary and one section you need to look back of the box(that I don't have). But it's not a big fault for me.

So yeah, this was my first impression of mgs and I fell in love with it. After getting the legacy collection with ps3, of course I replayed it immediately, it's that good. I can recommend to anyone that doesn't insist on graphics and just wants to have a good time.

Undoubtedly ahead of its time. MGS1’s greatest strength lies in its ability to make their cinematic vision seamlessly thrive in a time of such unadvanced & unpolished technology. Every cutscene has a clear cinematic approach, and while some may say it looks goofy due to the aged animation, I still believe it to be masterful & worthy of appreciation because of the commitment & confidence present in the execution. The game’s exceptional quality definitely deserves a remake that would allow players to fully grasp the sheer brilliance of this revolutionary PlayStation masterpiece.

Finally on my 3rd time attempting to play this game have I finally stuck with it to the end without any random errors or dropping it over simply not enjoying it, having heard that it is carried heavily by its latter half I chose to stick with it in order to see if the payoff was worth it, to which I would have to agree, however, the ending segments cannot fix an abysmal start.

The boss cast was a devastating let down, with only about 2 maybe 3 bosses being even something I'd consider decent, the plot and story is pretty interesting which is the major reason I'd agree with the second half carrying this game upon it's back, but it is not anything absurdly profound or anything even then, leaving a sort of underwhelming feeling after having finished.

The level design within this game is fairly intricate and cool to see, besides that damn staircase... so annoying going up and down it each time. The first couple areas within the game also aren't the greatest, though that may be a critique due to my own personal annoyance at having to do it for a third time with my save files randomly messing up the previous two times I've tried to play this game.

As stated previously, the ending hard carries this game on it's back and takes it from a negative 2 star to a just mid 2.5 star for me, the final fight along with the final bits of dialogue are truly the only real memorable moments within this game.

Post-credit scene was interesting too, will continue MGS sometime to see what that's all about.