Plot
Following the events of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Solid Snake descends into retirement, immediately awakened one day, and summoned to battle against an impending threat – terrorists who’ve infiltrated Shadow Moses, a remote island off the coast of Alaska, and are beginning to take control of Metal Gear Rex, a bipedal tank which, with help by ArmsTech, the USA has built, capable enough to launch a nuclear weapon at any place, any location, at any target. The terrorist’s demand before they blow up their targets; the remains of Big Boss, the greatest soldier who’s ever lived, for the sole purpose of building an entire army. Solid Snake, within 18 hours, commences an operation of infiltrating Shadow Moses, and override the ultimate weapon, Metal Gear!
Storyline
Metal Gear Solid is a complex narrative - meaning there's many characters, storylines, backstories, weapons, and scenarios, it basically requires you pay the utmost attention while playing through this game to understand everything that's going on and understand this story - being me, I've played this twice, which is enough to make sense of the storyline and it's characters - however, I'll be discussing the storyline it's self in this specific section of this review, with the characters somewhere else. Basically - Metal Gear Solid combines Sci-Fi, Stealth Elements and Drama to craft a near impeccable plot. This is a cutscene heavy game in comparison to modern gaming - the cutscenes mostly serve a purpose, however, there's a good amount of exposition which wasn't needed, meaning some cutscenes do drag on long. This is a minor flaw - throughout your first play through, it shouldn't be too bad, however, throughout my second - I kinda would've liked some of 'em to end. The game addresses a number of plotlines scattered throughout Metal Gear & Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MGX), meaning there's conclusions to character's arcs and much more backstory for Snake, which covers his genesis and the creation of Snake - originating from Big Boss's DNA.
This was cool - however, this requires the player to complete Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake in order to understand the storyline. I, for one, didn't complete either Metal Gear or Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, however, I was able to collect info from around places, and watch someone else play through Metal Gear (MSX), meaning I thankfully wasn't lost, so I'd recommend you either A) play the other games yourselves, B) watch through playthrough's or C) collect info regarding the first two games in order to be able to follow this one smoothly. However - I wont bother discussing any more of that. Much of the storyline is documented throughout the codecs, too, which you'll be able to access at the touch of a button - this is a smooth, unforgettable addition to the series, which is able to advance the story forward and offer additional info. You'll be able to do away with the codec conversations if you'd like, but doing so - you wouldn't experience the whole thing properly, because the codec communications are on the same level of importance as anything else in the game.
The whole story is structured properly - this thing is highly entertaining, meaning, besides the exposition, there isn't a dull moment - I was always curious on what'll happen next, and there's always twists and turns that keep the story captivating and allow it to maintain it's quality. What I like lots is the cutscene to gameplay ratio - which combines the two nicely, without an over focus on one or the other - if there's anything that bothers me, it was simply the exposition - and certainly not the pacing or the amount of cutscenes - many will argue the game is loaded with too many cutscenes, but every single one of them moves the story, characters and, heck, the gameplay, forward.
The narrative begins with Solid Snake thrown into Shadow Moses, searching for the Chief Donald Anderson, one of the men supporting the development of Metal Gear, in order to rescue him before the enemies are able to leak out information of him - within minutes of their conversations, Donald Anderson suffers what's seemingly a heart attack after pointing Snake to the President of ArmsTech, who's being held by the terrorists for interrogation by Psycho Mantis, with the terrorists, lead by Liquid, attempting to extract one of the detonation codes for launching the Metal Gear - by the time Snake reaches the president of ArmsTech, he engages in a boss battle against Revolved Ocelot, with the President of ArmsTech also passing out by what looks like a heart attack.
By the time you've reached this part of the story, you'll notice there's many paths to explore, meaning that sort of gameplay may bog the overall story down for a while, not to long once you've got the hang of it. What I like about this story was it's ability of every single scene simply serving a purpose to the overall - meaning there isn't a single second of this wasted. This storyline is a complete package, which was able to make me feel many emotions through and through... some which I've never experienced in any video game that isn't Metal Gear or Assassin's Creed - lots and lots of moments pack an emotional impact, and I wont exaggerate when I say there's parts of this film where I almost wanted to break into tears, and others where I cracked up laughing, and parts which were haunting and others which had be blank and emotionless - and if that isn't a sign of proper storytelling, I'm sorry to say I don't know what is.
There's also many anti-war messages scattered throughout the entire narrative - war is ugly, hideous and it's said there's nothing good about it - there's comic relief in the game, which doesn't erupt the story's anti-war nature and themes, which are all handled properly. Many games such as Call of Duty (minus that one mission with Makarov and the airport) glorify war, which Metal Gear manages to avoid and crafts a completely pro-peace plot, which combines many genres.
Characters
Metal Gear Solid's strongpoint is undeniably it's utilising of several characters, it's layered characterisation and it's conveying of empathy and it's ability to make the players connect with these characters - they're all seemingly living, breathing ones. Heck - the ones on the codec are also crafted with their own back stories and character arcs. Liquid Snake is easily my all time favourite antagonist of the Metal Gear franchise - simply because it's great to take note of Solid and Liquid being exact opposites - Liquid isn't in the game much, however, once the credits rolled, I completely understood Liquid Snake's motivation - there's also the element of jealousy which I have a thing for, which allowed me to appreciate the character of Liquid Snake. It also goes without saying that Solid Snake is a complex character, David Hayter is Solid Snake - and the script boosts a character which is against war. I quote there's a specific scene where Snake says "war isn't sport...", a singular lien which conveys the character's beliefs, without a doubt. There's also the theme of Snake being a tool, blindly following orders with little question and little control without the operation - which came into play in MGS4.
Despite repeating many words as a question, Solid Snake is an intelligent character - a caring, compassionate one, and I liked how he was able to go out of his way to save some of his friends and allies, and genuinely care for them through and through. Cyborg Ninja is also a powerful supporting character - there's around a trio of appearances with the character, which managed to connect him with other characters in the game, and build a back story for the character - in this review, I wouldn't like to spoil who this character is, so I'll keep it spoiler free with this one. There's also a mirror with Solid Snake and Cyborg Ninja - in which Snake is encouraged to infiltrate the place, silently, and Cyborg Ninja rampages through and stabs everyone straight into hell.
Naomi Hunter is a truly fantastic supporting character - and maybe the best of all of this game, being there's lots of depth to this character, and although we're only allowed to communicate with this character via all the codec conversations, she managed to be the most powerful of all the characters besides Snake, packing emotional value - she's a truly memorable character. One thing which bothers me with Naomi was the love triangle between Snake, Naomi and Meryl, which was under developed and bogged the story down in parts. It's something minor which was honestly worth mentioned - I'm glad it was somewhat resolved by the end of MGS.
By god - I was almost brought to tears with Sniper Wolf's back story, which was well crafted. Metal Gear Solid is a grand example of cinematic storytelling within it's medium - a number of character are sidelined, but, Hideo worked unbelievably well with them and built backstories for a sufficient amount of 'em. Master Miller, returning from Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, is a critical character to the story, which leads to a pretty cool payoff, and Colonel Campbell is also characterised - again, I wont share in this review to avoid spoilers, but there's damn fantastic characterisation with many of the characters. Um... I almost forgot Otacon >___> Otacon is a cool guy who is nice to have around the story, he emits this nice guy feel to him - he's also sympathic, which this game is incredible at doing, I sympathised and felt emotion with so many characters through and through - whether there was many screen time devoted with them or not!
Gameplay
Metal Gear Solid is highly addictive and friggin' fun to play - this was revolutionary once it was released, and thankfully holds up. Yeah, this's easily been outclassed by Splinter Cell and other Metal Gear's, however, the gameplay of this game is... kinda awesome. Snake's got the basics covered with stealth - cover, crouching, combos etc. MGS encourages players to take a stealth approach, which is a priceless payoff. Shadow Moses simply oozes atmosphere, and it's, without a doubt, one of the best settings in any Metal Gear - everything is so dark and cool. You basically progress around Shadow Moses island, taking out guards silently and advancing throughout the area, covering areas and collecting weaponry and taking on many bosses throughout. There's many features to get around, meaning you aren't limited to a singular gameplay element - one simple, and cool feature to get around is knocking on walls to attract attention and walk around the enemy to avoid conflict, which I was able to use a number of times - not many, but it's a nice addition. There's also a tranq - which requires precision and patience to take out your enemies - everything in Metal Gear is immediate, meaning there's always tension, with guards moving around at every corner - this is never too easy.
There's also crawling, which... um... is rarely ever integrated into modern gaming - this is a useful feature, simply because it's capable of making Snake crawl under vehicles and around snow, because the AI in this game allows the guards to track down your foot steps to your location. There's also the cardboard box - which you can use to get around areas unnoticed, and avoid security cameras if you're capable enough - the security cameras are a challenging obstacle which certainly made the game more difficult than it usually would be. The chaff grenades are a refreshing piece of equipment, and grenades in general, and guns... the game is built to incorporate all these equipment and give the player lots of options of approaching areas and avoiding guards - I generally avoided conflict most times unless it was mandatory to approach in combat, or I was silly enough to be caught.
Boss Battles are unforgettable, they're in the right difficult - there aren't too hard, and they aren't too difficult, and the encounters are unique, each and every one of them refreshing and offering something brand new - such as Ocelot's Boss Battle, which you were to avoid his gunshots and be encouraged to strike once he's reloading, or Sniper Wolf's boss battles, which you were to snipe or attack with a missile, and Liquid Snake's boss battle - one which was against a Hind, and another which is simply hand-to-hand (one of the boss battles in any MGS, it's iconic), or Raven's boss battle, in which you plant around, say, C4s. The Bird Eye's view thankfully works - my worry before going into this game was, well... it wouldn't age well and the bird's eye view wouldn't work. It, however, did work. This is because it's a tactical advantage which stimulates surveying guard's location - with the Soliton radar paying off... big time.
Visuals
Metal Gear's Solid's visuals are the weak point of this entire game... I'd like to stress, this was surely something innovative back in 1998, once it hit stores, however, this is piss poor in comparison to modern gaming. Yeah, it holds up, but despite loving this whole game, it's distracting... staring at 3D characters who don't bother to open their mouths when they speak. This bothered me when there were close-ups to the character's faces, and it was obvious there wasn't any motion to their speech at all. The car chase, however, which was unforgettable, was rendered nicely on these dated, dated graphics... and Snake's hair was damn stiff, which bothers me - it's like a, um... buzz cut? Not entirely sure which is the correct word, but the visuals of this game aren't a tick in the column. It hasn't aged horribly, it's certainly playable, but... to modern standards? Eh...
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid is a damn near perfect piece of gaming... the graphics are dated, they hold up well, but the game is somewhat distracting with it's old graphics here and there, however, this isn't something that affects my overall rating too much - the characterisation of MGS is it's strongpoint, and combines many brilliant qualities to produce a memorable story, a refined script, and unique, cool boss battles, packaged with addictive gameplay, awesome sound effects and a Shadow Moses that oozes atmosphere - the gameplay can also be frustrating with the back tracking. Specifically, there's a segment where you, Snake, crawl through a dark, dark cave... I could barely so anything, which bothers me... lots... that's only pertaining to that specific section - meaning the rest is damn near perfect. I'm rating MGS a...
9.5/10
- + Memorable Story
- + Addictive Gameplay
- + Shadow Moses is Unforgettable
- + Unique Boss Battles
- - Aged Graphics
- - Frustrating Backtracking
Thanks for reading, I appreciate the comments and views in general - don't forget to share your thoughts below, and I hope that you'll check out Metal Gear Solid if you've not done so already. I'll be reviewing MGS: VR Missions, meaning, don't forget to monitor for more stuff. Thanks, y'all!
- TAS
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