Metal Gear solid is something truly special. Its undoubtedly one of the greatest games ever to have been created, innovated on so many levels, and created one of the most beloved stories in gaming. Yet, i am conflicted on what to think of it. i feel like to accurately describe my feeling for it, i need to get the bad out of the way first, so here goes:
As you might expect from a shooter game made this long ago, the aiming and gun controls feel very jarring to use today, and aiming can often feel like mashing the button and hoping it works. This is made worse by the fact that aiming outside of first person mode means you can only aim in the directions you can walk, witch is very limited.
The game is very cryptic and often barely tells you where to go or what to do or doesn't at all, meaning there will be situations where you will have no idea what to do. this is made worse by the fact that many objectives in the game require you to backtrack to much earlier areas that you would think you would be done with. the game would be extremely frustrating to play without a guide, and still can be with one.
More on this later, but the stealth game-play is actually very good, and so are most boss fights, aside from the fact that at the start of most of them theres a gimmick to defeat the boss that the game doesn't tell you so your left scrambling through a few game overs to figure out what to do. The major problem with the game-play is more prominently shown on disc 2; any time not on a stealth or boss fight, the in game combat is extremely clunky, and scripted evens barely work, the worst examples of this being the rage inducing fight with liquid snake and the machine gun battle that follows after, every button just doesn't quite do what you want it to do and you'll get several deaths that don't feel like they were your fault.
That was just the beginning of flaws that this game has, but if your able to overlook and struggle through those sections, believe it or not, you are indeed in for one of the most special gaming experiences of all time. Everything in this game feels so ahead of its time in everyday. to this day i get chills or would even tear up while watching some of the cut scenes. the dialogue has its flaws, but overall the games story is extremely dedicated to the direction it takes, and the anti nuclear weapons awareness and messages hold true to this day.
Now to touch on the technical aspects of the game itself,(aside from scripted segments) this game is a masterpiece. the mood on shadow Moses island is set the moment you reach the docks at the beginning of the game. the use of fog, lighting, animation, and incredible textures make this one of the best looking play station games ever, and it still looks great to this day. The game-play (aside from the shooting controls) is also incredible. the stealth sections work incredibly well and are intuitive to control, and super engaging. the score of this game is also incredible.
Overall, MGS1 is an imperfect and aged masterpiece. despite its flaws, no other game of its time came even close to what this game achieved, and i believe this game was one of the biggest steps to games being more than just games, but also seen as a form of art in every way. it may be gruelling and frustrating and make you want to through your controller from time to time, but if your able to push through, your effort is 100% rewarded. even if only once, i would recommend every person who likes video games to try this game at least once. its really something special, and i would go farther than to say its one of the greatest video games ever made, but one of the greatest pieces of art ever made. This game has definitely left a permanent impression on me and i will never forget it.
As you might expect from a shooter game made this long ago, the aiming and gun controls feel very jarring to use today, and aiming can often feel like mashing the button and hoping it works. This is made worse by the fact that aiming outside of first person mode means you can only aim in the directions you can walk, witch is very limited.
The game is very cryptic and often barely tells you where to go or what to do or doesn't at all, meaning there will be situations where you will have no idea what to do. this is made worse by the fact that many objectives in the game require you to backtrack to much earlier areas that you would think you would be done with. the game would be extremely frustrating to play without a guide, and still can be with one.
More on this later, but the stealth game-play is actually very good, and so are most boss fights, aside from the fact that at the start of most of them theres a gimmick to defeat the boss that the game doesn't tell you so your left scrambling through a few game overs to figure out what to do. The major problem with the game-play is more prominently shown on disc 2; any time not on a stealth or boss fight, the in game combat is extremely clunky, and scripted evens barely work, the worst examples of this being the rage inducing fight with liquid snake and the machine gun battle that follows after, every button just doesn't quite do what you want it to do and you'll get several deaths that don't feel like they were your fault.
That was just the beginning of flaws that this game has, but if your able to overlook and struggle through those sections, believe it or not, you are indeed in for one of the most special gaming experiences of all time. Everything in this game feels so ahead of its time in everyday. to this day i get chills or would even tear up while watching some of the cut scenes. the dialogue has its flaws, but overall the games story is extremely dedicated to the direction it takes, and the anti nuclear weapons awareness and messages hold true to this day.
Now to touch on the technical aspects of the game itself,(aside from scripted segments) this game is a masterpiece. the mood on shadow Moses island is set the moment you reach the docks at the beginning of the game. the use of fog, lighting, animation, and incredible textures make this one of the best looking play station games ever, and it still looks great to this day. The game-play (aside from the shooting controls) is also incredible. the stealth sections work incredibly well and are intuitive to control, and super engaging. the score of this game is also incredible.
Overall, MGS1 is an imperfect and aged masterpiece. despite its flaws, no other game of its time came even close to what this game achieved, and i believe this game was one of the biggest steps to games being more than just games, but also seen as a form of art in every way. it may be gruelling and frustrating and make you want to through your controller from time to time, but if your able to push through, your effort is 100% rewarded. even if only once, i would recommend every person who likes video games to try this game at least once. its really something special, and i would go farther than to say its one of the greatest video games ever made, but one of the greatest pieces of art ever made. This game has definitely left a permanent impression on me and i will never forget it.