PlayStation
Metal Gear Solid
| Graphics: Sound: Gameplay: Overall: |
8.41 8.71 8.70 8.67 |
| Votes: | 94 |
| Reviews: | 2 |
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| Reviewer: OilFreak | Date: May 10, 2025 |
| One of the most overrated games I've ever played. The controls are clunky, the story isn't special outside of the novelty of being innovative, and the gameplay itself fails to drive any tension.
Graphics: 10 The silver lining for MGS is that the graphics are some of the best on the PS1. The game really excels at its dark and industrial tone. The handy brightness test screen made me realize that the brightness on my CRT was set way too low and that I'd been playing all of my retro games with it set like that. Sound: 7 I give sound a 7 not because it's bad, but simply because I can't remember any of the songs from the game. You might be able to chalk that up to me not enjoying the game and thus not forming as many neural connections with it. The opening credits chime and the title screen theme are fantastic and I can vividly play them in my head. Gameplay: 4 Metal Gear Solid stumbles with its gameplay. It's aged. Very poorly. I think Dualstick control like Enter the Gungeon would've gone a long way and might've been able to save this game, but obviously they had to make the game playable with the standard controller.... or did they? I can't imagine playing this game with the standard controller. The aiming is already extremely sensitive. They should've gone all in and required dualshock, and let you aim anytime with the right stick. Stopping to shoot is clunky and dates this game. Overall: 4 Metal Gear Solid's biggest fault in my opinion is the story. For how big of a deal it supposedly was and for how much it's front and center, it's shocking how cheesy it is. You deal with bird whisperers and bosses that are defeated by switching controller ports. The main antagonist's main motivation is vague daddy issues. And of course, there's a shoe-horned in love interest. It's so disappointing to me because there are moments where MGS can shine. Kenneth Baker's rant about the corrupt weapons regulation in the American government is surprisingly powerful, and the real-world connections ARE what made MGS stand out. Similarly, hearing about the capabilities of Metal Gear is jaw dropping. I wish they hadn't put so much emphasis on their silly little ensemble of characters instead of the giant nuclear-armed robot that has the capability to end the world. MGS has good ideas, but it doesn't do good with any of them. Rather unfortunate, but it is what it is. |
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| Reviewer: Blake | Date: Mar 26, 2023 |
| Metal gear solid was the first modern video game. By that I mean that it had everything a modern game needs. Deep characters and a great story. Sure, games released before still had great stories, but this game told it in a way that no other game had successfully done. The game centers around Solid Snake, a retired soldier, brought back to infiltrate a nuclear weapons facility in Alaska. Basically some guys from his old team went rogue and are preparing to launch a nuke. The story goes a hell of a lot deeper, but any more and I'd be spoiling a lot.
Graphics: 7 The ps1 graphics actually work well with metal gear, as most of the environments are rectangular rooms with big metal crates and tanks. However, the outside areas such as the snowfield look a lot more dated, along with the biggest problem with the whole game, character faces. Oh Christ, the character faces look like play-doh. This somewhat breaks the immersion however, that issue is saved by some of the greatest voice acting to ever grace gaming. Sound: 10 The voice acting was revolutionary and is still better than a lot of games we have now. Imagine going from the chaos that was the Resident Evil voice acting, to the near perfection of this. Iconic performances from David Hayter and Cam Clarke as well as some of the most well known sound effects in all of gaming. The surprise noise used in every meme in the history of YouTube is from this game. The soundtrack, specifically the main theme and alert theme are amazing and work perfectly with the game. Gameplay: 10 Despite the original 2 Metal Gears being released on obscure computers and having very similar gameplay, this is where the stealth genre was truly born. There are 3 states of gameplay, infiltration, which is where you are not being actively hunted. Evasion, where your enemies have heard a noise or barely seen you and are investigating. Then there is alert mode, where enemies know your location and are hunting you down. To escape alert mode, you must hide and wait for them to return to their usual patrol. Weapons include pistols, FAMAS rifles, sniper rifles, grenades and RPGs. Overall: 10 This is one of very few ps1 games to hold up incredibly today and should be on modern platforms. Despite this, Konami's greed and hatred of Hideo Kojima has kept this game from being re-released outside of a GOG port. This is easily better than Ocarina of Time and half life which are far more often celebrated as the GOTY for 1998. |
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