Putting together my list of the best PlayStation games, I realized that there were some important titles for the PSX that I had missed the opportunity to play as a teenager. I only knew of their fame and relevance, but had never experienced their gameplay. And the one that topped my list, above them all, was Metal Gear Solid.
I experienced a roller coaster of emotions while playing it: first I hated it, then I loved it, then I hated it again. In the end, I was left with a strange feeling. On the one hand, I thought "What an awesome game!", but on the other hand, "What a challenging game!". So today, I want to delve into this masterpiece of action and espionage that can cause more than one headache.
History of the game
Metal Gear Solid is an action espionage game released by Konami in 1998 that revolutionized the genre. With its cinematic style and innovative gameplay mechanics combined with a plot full of twists and surprises, it popularized espionage games in which stealth and patience are more important values than unbridled action. Although it has two predecessors, they are little known as they never made it to America. Therefore, Metal Gear Solid is the first game in this category that many gamers experienced.
The plot follows Solid Snake, a black ops agent working for the U.S. government. After infiltrating the FOXHOUND unit and killing the feared terrorist Big Boss, Solid discovers that his best friend Gray Fox worked for Big Boss and was also his real father. After living a quiet life in Alaska raising dogs, Solid is captured and forced to participate in an important mission that could be related to his traumatic past.
Shadow Moses Island is home to a nuclear facility held hostage by the terrorist group FOXHOUND, led by the mysterious Liquid Snake. The latter demands that the U.S. government hand over the corpse of Big Boss, threatening to launch a nuclear attack. Solid Snake is sent to infiltrate the base and neutralize the threat. The plot that follows is surprisingly complex and engaging, exploring themes of war and morality and breaking the fourth wall at times.
Gameplay
Metal Gear Solid is one of the most prominent PlayStation games, a work that constantly appears on lists of the console's best titles and is very popular among gamers. It requires a period of adjustment due to its gameplay and camera handling, but its length (two discs and an approximate play time of 16 to 18 hours) is a reflection of its rich and complex content. The game rewards patience and caution, demanding stealth tactics rather than direct confrontations, where being discovered can be synonymous with death.
Metal Gear Solid is a PlayStation game with a privileged position in top lists. It is an experience that requires patience and skill to advance without being discovered, but offers a captivating plot and a variety of challenges in each level. Some missions focus more on action, while others are more exploration and stealth, and the game features fights against enemies with varied abilities and weaponry, such as snipers, ninjas, psychic warriors and military vehicles. Although it can be difficult at times and the final battle can be considered unfair, Metal Gear Solid offers a top-notch gameplay experience.
Offers a balanced gameplay experience, combining moments of puzzle and riddle solving with moments of intense action. The radio device is an innovative aspect that allows communication with allies and receiving hints, while Snake's wide variety of movements, such as walking on his knees, crouching, sticking to walls, neutralizing enemies and using ray vision, adds depth to the gameplay.
Metal Gear Solid is a game that combines moments of thought and strategy with moments of action and survival. In some missions you will find yourself without your equipment and locked in a cell, and in others you will be tortured, leading to one of two possible endings. The game bosses are diverse, from Revolver Ocelot to Liquid Snake to Metal Rex, each requiring a unique strategy to defeat. Metal Gear Solid is a unique experience compared to other style games like Commandos. The radio device allows you to communicate with allies and receive hints, while Snake's range of moves include crouching, wall-clinging, knocking enemies down, and using beam vision.
Bad points
The game has a lot of backtracking which can be tedious at times. The entire game takes place in a large, giant area, and the events take place over the course of one night. Sections are accessed with levels of an electronic card, often requiring retracing paths to find items and progress.
This game has some frustrating aspects, such as the need to retrace your steps often. The large area of the game, in which the events occur in one night, requires the use of an electronic card to access different sections and find items to advance. This makes it often necessary to re-explore previous areas, but without a quick way to do so due to the lack of a "teleport" mechanism. Also, enemies respawn in previously explored areas, making it difficult to return to them with ease. In similar games like Tomba 2 or the Metroid franchise, revisiting previous areas is an interesting aspect that allows you to explore new areas and improve survival in the game.
In short, excessive "backtracking" and excessive amount of dialogues and cutscenes stop the game from progressing and take away the excitement and excitement of playing. Although the dialogues are important to understand the plot, they are often too long. Also, enemies are constantly respawning and there's no quick way to get back to previously explored areas, which is frustrating. Optional items are valuable in enhancing the gameplay experience, but it's easy to miss them because you don't know what they're looking for. In general, these factors affected the gaming experience in a negative way.
Also, it is not possible to skip scenes or speed them up, unless using an emulator. This means that even if you know the story and just want to play the game, you still have to watch all the cutscenes, radio dialogue, and character backgrounds over and over again. It seems that the creator of the game, Hideo Kojima, had ambitions to be a film director, but he chose video games as a medium to tell stories.
MGS has a strong narrative. Some narrative sequences can be up to 15-20 minutes long, which can make it feel like we're watching a visual novel rather than a video game at times. For this reason, I would not recommend it to everyone. It is important to be prepared to alternate between gameplay moments and lengthy dialogue, which can interrupt the immersive gameplay experience.
However, despite the aforementioned negatives, Metal Gear Solid is still an outstanding game. These details fail to overshadow its main attractions, such as its innovative story that plays with metatextuality and subtly presents comic moments. Although the game takes itself seriously, regardless of the situation, there are always hints and indirect references to the fact that we are playing a video game.
In Metal Gear Solid, metatextuality is an aspect that adds a fun touch to the story. The interaction with Colonel Campbell is one example, making tongue-in-cheek suggestions about the game's dynamics. In addition, there are cryptic winks and comedic moments that keep the plot serious without losing subtlety. A standout moment is when the colonel instructs you on how to keep food rations from freezing or when he gives you a tutorial without really being a tutorial. There's also a cryptic line about looking for Meryl's radio code on the back of the CD and the tense situation with Ocelot where "No continuations, mate" takes on a literal meaning. Should you die during torture, it is "Game Over" and you have to start from the beginning.
"Snake, it's been a long time since you saved your game. If your body can't withstand the torture, it's game over. Do you really want to go down that road again?" One of the most iconic moments is the battle against Psycho Mantis, a being with supernatural abilities of levitation and thought reading.
Before the battle against the Psycho Mantis, a being that can move objects with its mind and read your thoughts, Snake comments out loud that the background music has stopped. Then, during battle, the enemy surprises you by knowing which Konami games you're playing, thanks to their ability to read your memory card. At first, it seems like there is no way to damage him, but what you need to do is switch the joystick from Player 1 to Player 2 to confuse him. Psycho Mantis keeps having fun with you throughout the fight, like when he goes all black screen, like the game suddenly crashed. However, instead of rebooting, all you have to do is wait.
My conclusion
Metal Gear Solid is an impressive game, full of innovative ideas and with a high level of detail in terms of graphics. However, some aspects of the game are less accomplished, such as the endless length of cutscenes and the need to constantly return to previous locations in search of lost items. Still, it's a game that remains strong and solid, with clever level designs and surprisingly creative boss battles.
Despite its some details that don't seem perfect to me, such as the endless duration of the scenes and having to retrace my steps, Metal Gear Solid is an impressive experience that was worth playing. It is undoubtedly one of the key titles of the first generation of PlayStation and something I would like to come across again in the future. I'm currently picking up some of my favorite PSX games via an emulator, with the intention of updating my favorites list and remembering some memorable games. Although I have a clear list of my favourites, I still want to try a few others before defining my final list.
I don't know how many of you friends have played this gem, but if you haven't played it yet, I invite you to do so. Despite the negative aspects that I have mentioned, it is a great game that enters my top of the best games on the PSX.
I hope you liked the article Hiveans friends. I will be bringing you this type of reviews of old games that have been left in the box full of dust, but they are authentic legends. Greetings to all!
very revolutionary for its time, I got pleasant surprises with this game xd, I realized that the dialogues are not only important to continue playing, but they also became interesting to me at a certain point, I also became a conspiracy freak thanks to the game haha, i would play it again
The best Metal Gear ever!