After playing the original two MG titles thanks to the Master Collection, I was in the mood to revisit a classic I haven't played in years.

I've been a huge fan of Metal Gear since high school, Snake Eater was the first in the series I completed, then I went back and played the first two games (I tried MGS2 prior but wasn't into it) and my obsession began. Obviously this is a special game to me, so I'm happy to report that not only does it hold up, it's somehow even better than I remember. Revisiting Shadow Moses was every bit as fun and engaging as it was the first time I played through all those years ago. Obviously it took some relearning to get back into the swing of things, but once I did I played it over and over again.

I long maintained that this was the best MG title (I know 3 is the most beloved, but I slightly love this one more, and I didn't religiously replay 2 did the others), and I still feel confident in that opinion, although I'm likely going to set up my PS3 to play the HD collection since playing this again reignited my love for Metal Gear. It has my favorite story, my favorite cast, and several of my favorite lines and scenes in the series (plus the codec call with Mei Ling after the Hind boss fight is my favorite call in the series, still amazing after all these years).

I haven't played the VR missions until now so I wanted to try getting them out of the way before the main story (due to a misunderstanding with the trophy requirements, I ended up doing a few playthroughs on Integral to unlock a few missions). Some of the missions were super simple and straight forward, some needed trial-and-error, some were very funny (protecting Meryl from a Godzilla-sized guard was absurd in the best way). Many of them were rage-inducing horseshit that made me question whether or not it was worth it. To add insult to injury there were OVER 300 MISSIONS, I ended up taking almost 10 hours of playtime to finally finish them. I admit some of it was trial-and-error and a skill issue on my part, but many mission required you to play in ways that actively work against the gameplay loop (a good portion of them demand you kill guards as if you were Rambo, while still getting killed fast if you played poorly). Too many of the missions refuse to play to the game's strengths, and it leads to a very frustrating experience.

To say something else about my trophy hunting, my Fox playthrough was pretty funny. I did 5 (!) playthroughs in preparation and had most of it memorized, then the AI does things that actively tried to sabotaged my playthrough. In all my years of playing the game, it was the first time Mantis instantly shot Meryl before I had a chance to knock her out.

I admit this log isn't my most organized or most well written post here, but it's hard to post my thoughts on a game this special to me in a cohesive manner. I'll definitely replay it again soon, and likely will regularly replay it after. I think after revisiting it with the MC, I can safely say that this is my favorite game of all time.

10/10