Metal Gear Solid (1998) review

Metal Gear?

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Info

Released: September 3rd 1998

Available on: Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch, Switch 2, PC, Playstation Classic

Recommended version: Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch, Switch 2)

Genre: Stealth Action

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Introduction

If you know anything about me, it’s probably the fact that I love the metal gear solid series (even though I’ve only played from mg1-mgs3 but shut up just wait till august). This review is going to focus on the 5th game in the series (yes it’s the 5th confusing ik), Metal Gear Solid for the Sony Playstation and is also the first review of this group so hurray ig.

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Review

MGS is a very story heavy game. It opens up with a cutscene explaining the situation, but if you want to learn more you can enter the briefing section on the main menu and watch the briefing files, which in total all round up to around 20 minutes of exposition. That may sound boring for some but I still highly recommend it they’re actually great. Another thing you can do is check the special section which has summaries of the previous two canon games, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX2.

A very important part of a game is the controls, and these still do hold up today, but may take some getting used to. Weapons are selected by holding R2, and using the analog stick or dpad to select your weapon. Then you can use them with square. The controls for them slightly change depending on the weapon, guns like the SOCOM pistol require you to hold square to aim, then let go to shoot. While automatic weapons like the FAMAS cannot be aimed since holding down square fires it. This is the worst part of the controls as I’m not even completely used to it today but you’re never really using the guns that much besides boss fights anyway so it’s fine.

The story is easily the best part though. There’s a lot of cutscenes and codec calls which can drag on sometimes but it’s all worth it imo. The voice acting is also great for its time and still holds up.

Some of the boss fights can be absolutely terrible on your first time though. The one I had the most problems with was Vulcan Raven in the tank. I could barely get the grenades in the tank because of the controls and he kept running over me. Sniperwolfs first fight is also really hard because of the PSG-1’s controls but both of these are easier on the second playthrough, at least for me.

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Ending

Overall I’d say if you want a game with a great story, don’t care for the graphics or controls, and are fine with long cutscenes, you should absolutely get this game. I’d almost call it perfect if it weren’t for the gun controls and some boss fights. It’s available on basically everything and you can even emulate it on your own phone if you don’t have the money.

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Ratings

IGN rating: 9.8/10

Metascore: 94

Metacritic user score: 9.2

My rating: 4.5/5