Replaying the Metal Gear Solid games 20 years later
I fell in love with the Metal Gear Solid world in 2002. Twenty years later I dive back in to see if the stealth series still lives up to the fond memories!
Christmas 2001, my parents gifted my siblings and I a Sony Playstation 2. I’d grown up to love video games and read gaming magazines for much of my childhood and early teens.
For years, I’d read about the importance of Metal Gear Solid and how it became one of the most talked about and revered titles on the original Playstation, but I never got an opportunity to play it as I couldn’t afford one. So I was delighted to discover, in the Christmas package, a couple of games, one of which was the newly released Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
I was hooked on the game play and more importantly for me at the time, the story, and how it felt like I was playing a part in an elaborate movie. In a universe far wider than I’d ever felt before, with a lore that had been built and forged over the course of many years that had lead to this seemingly genius piece of gaming history. I loved every bit of it and was hooked from that moment.
Even the weird Colonel melt down and the “Fission Mailed” ‘Game Over’ screens couldn’t deter my love and admiration for Metal Gear Solid 2, they strengthened it.
In the years that followed, I found an old copy of the PC version of Metal Gear Solid and thoroughly enjoyed playing that, even after playing MGS2 first. There was a keen part of me wanting to play as the famous Solid Snake knowing how the heroes of both stories, Raiden and Solid Snake, ended up fighting together in the arc of the first two installments of the ‘Solid’ era titles.
Underwhelmed
2005 came and passed by and I was largely underwhelmed by my first few moments of playing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. After all, I’d come to love the futuristic, industrial and sci-fi nature of Metal Gear Solid 2. It was hard to regress back to the 60’s and the Cold War era setting of Snake Eater.
Seeing the almost bland, brown and green Codec pallette pitted against the greenery of the Soviet jungle felt a step too far outside of my particular comfort zone and it felt a long way away from what I enjoyed about the, at times, claustrophobic atmosphere created by that of the Big Shell in Sons of Liberty.
I think I let a year or so passed between completing the Virtuous Mission, MGS3’s prologue, and starting Operation Snake Eater, the main section of the game. I just wasn’t hooked.
But somehow, these games have a way of pulling you in and I think perseverance and intrigue as to where it would end up, lead me to pick it up again and I was once again captivated by the canvas they’d created and the depth, involvement and evolution of the story. The sheer emotion involved in every step Kojima and his team wanted us to experience with these games.
2008
In 2008, I took things up a level. I was a massive Metal Gear fan at this point. I had a collection of rare Japanese posters, figures and sealed limited edition games.
More importantly, I embarked on what I called at the time, a ‘Metal Gear Marathon’. I played each entry in the series’ release cannon. From the MSX’s Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, through to the then newly released Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
It didn’t take me long to get through each of the games. The early installments aren’t particularly long games and they’re immensely fun, if incredibly dated by today’s standards, and I’d played MGS and MGS2 countless times by now, including the much maligned Twin Snakes.
My initial impression of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was that it was epic in every way. Hugely sympathetic to the story arc up to this point and that it was largely an homage to the Solid Snake era and a fan pleaser in every way. From the ability to pilot Metal Gear REX, to Raiden making an appearance as a ninja, to catching up with Meryl and everyone (largely) getting the happy ending we all wanted. It was a great way to finish the story.
My love for the Metal Gear series was consolidated and fully justified after a rewarding playthrough.
The replay
Fast forward to 2021, 13 years after I finished that completionist-style, marathon, playthrough. A lot has happened, I’ve changed and I’ve played some great games since. Namely The Last of Us and its sequel, which I loved. Uncharted, which was fun. And I’ve obviously spent time playing Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, you’ll be unsurprised to hear. My life had changed significantly, too. I no longer had the opportunity to play games as freely as I could, I now had a full time job and family responsibilities.
My daughter was due to be born in September 2021 and like many fathers to be, I had a bucket list of things to achieve before it became hard too achieve them with a baby around.
I bought myself a Playstation 3 (quite cheap these days, as it happens) with the aim of replaying Metal Gear Solid 4 as it was the only MGS game I’ve played just once and I wanted to experience it again.
Of course, that lead me to think that it could be the last time I’d have the ability, time and appetite to replay MGS 2 & 3 again. So I did.
I know, many of you will question why I didn’t play the original MGS, but honestly, I couldn’t put myself through the regression of aged graphics again just to relive a story I’ve witnessed and even read about many, many times. I had no desire to replay that one. If there was ever a case for a remake of a Metal Gear Solid game, then the original Metal Gear Solid is the one they should remake and modernise, without a doubt.
So I familiarised myself with the first three installments by way of a quick YouTube recap (see videos below) and soldiered on with MGS2.
Metal Gear Solid 2, again.
I downloaded the HD version from the Playstation store, as it’s currently the only way to get a decent upscale of that original, without resorting to modded PC game antics, which I had no appetite or time to explore.
At first, the nostalgia kicked in and I quickly made my way through the Tanker episode. [Gotta love Kojima’s use of prologue’s to set the scene of a game.] The controls we’re clunky back in 2001 and they’re awful now. As is the fixed camera angle. Something that MGS3 fixed (to an extent).
But quickly and surely, the Big Shell section became tiresome and mundane, almost too slow paced for my ‘over the years’ acquired modern pallette. At least too slow perhaps, for a narrative and story driven game which brushes with the scale of a Hollywood movie from the early 2000’s. I found myself pressing triangle a lot, to skip the mundane quips and anecdotes that Rose and Jack would often find to talk about after saving a game.
Regardless, I loved playing it again and was eager to reach my favourite scenes of the game, mainly going underwater, guiding Emma Emerick and the scene that followed, sniping our foes and drones to ensure her safe passage from one of Big Shell’s struts to another. The lighting and atmosphere of that whole scene is as beautifully glorious today as it was when I first saw it 20 years ago.
The boss battles are still rewarding and even the ending isn’t as crazy as it once was…perhaps a sign of our times that MGS2 reaches some kind of normal!
This might be a controversial opinion, but if there was ever a case for making a Metal Gear Solid film, the storyline from Metal Gear Solid 2 is the one they should use.
Metal Gear Solid 3, again.
I think the experience of MGS2 fatigued me and I got bored of the early stages of MGS3. I think the seemingly endless back story that inevitably had to pave the way for this epic mission to play out took its toll. The codec conversations are long and the cut scenes that I once appreciated seemed to irritate me rather than engross me into the scene.
All negative out of the way, I soon found myself deep into the Snake Eater section of the game and you go past a point of no return with MGS3 which ensures that you complete it…I think that point comes when you encounter EVA for the first time, before that, it’s all a bit of a blur and meaningless. But EVA rides in on her bike and you’ve just taken out the Speznaz and put Ocelot in his place and everything seems to fit like an old worn shoe, you’re enveloped in this world of spies and intrigue.
This is when Snake Eater takes shape and it starts to get fun, the story begins and you know that your task is to eliminate The Boss and her group of weird allies. The boss battles are unique and fun and you get a sense of just how clever Kojima and his team are with thinking outside the box with these things.
The End, particularly, is a great boss battle. On previous playthrough’s of MGS3, I did the cheat trick of fast forwarding time so as to avoid the battle entirely by way of moving the story on, but I’m much more about gameplay these days, so I was interested to play through this much loved boss battle, and I’m glad I have experienced it at least once, it’s a great piece of game play. Chasing The End through vast jungle is a real treat that I’d have hated not to have at least tried. I think sniping is my favourite thing to do in any Metal Gear game. A massive sniping battle on the scale of MGS3’s The End, boss battle, is a great evolution of what’s gone before, with Sniper Wolf and the aforementioned Metal Gear Solid 2 moment where you assist Emma across Big Shell’s struts. It paves the way for some epic battles ahead, too, with Crying Wolf in Guns of the Patriots and Quiet in MGSV. Though my favourite on this playthrough of games was definitely MGS4’s Crying Wolf, more on that later.
On the whole, the latter stages of the game is where things get memorable. Looking out from the cliff with EVA of Groznyj Grad, knowing the journey it took to get there (massive ladders included) and the epic scenes that follow, including laying bombs that ultimately fail to get rid of the story’s bi-pedal tank, being chased by that very Shagohod and getting mown down on EVA’s bike. It’s just epic on so many levels.
This is the incredible origins of the Metal Gear universe. I love this game and will always remember it fondly. For me, it’s the pinnacle of Metal Gear Solid’s era of story lead games.
If there was ever a case for bringing a Metal Gear Solid game to a new audience, Metal Gear Solid 3 is the game they should use.
Metal Gear Solid 4, again.
By this point, I was pleased to arrive at the game I started this journey to play, in the first place. It didn’t take long to complete the previous two games, but anyone who knows the story arc to get there, it’s a pretty convoluted and in-depth chain of events.
MGS4 is the end of the line for Solid Snake. The hero that started the whole thing with those early MSX games. It closes an arc that has simmered away over the course of four games up to now and this fifth game tells us how Solid Snake’s story comes to a close.
Immediately I noticed that it lacked the clarity compared to the HD versions of MGS2 and MGS3, so it sat in a weird place where it was graphically superior but visually inferior to what I’d played for the last few weeks in those previous games.
If there was ever a case for a remaster of a Metal Gear Solid game, Metal Gear Solid 4 is it.
MGS4 is in desparate need for some TLC, though it may never happen given the situation between Kojima and Konami. That and the fact that this is a game intrinsically linked to PS3 controls, which makes a port difficult, apparently. Shame.
Once I got my head around the graphic inadequacies, I started my journey through the Middle East; don’t get me wrong, it’s still an impressive looking game, just dated.
What immediately struck me is how fast I managed to get through this game. It’s only 5 acts long. And although these take longer than the previous games, I was shocked by just how easy it was to play through. I must add that I use ‘Normal’ difficulty with every game I play. So I don’t go easy, but I don’t make it impossible either.
I felt the addition of Drebin was unnecessary (given the way that MGSV handles weapon acquisition, more on that later) and it added bloated narrative. It was unusual to hear Drebin teaching Snake about the fate of the Beauty and the Beast unit members after making my way through beating each of them. A small complaint, but his presence made little sense to me.
The first acts are fairly standard, you’re basically chasing Liquid Ocelot down, to an extent and come to realise the scale of events that are happening around you. It’s very cinematic and epic and you feel like you’re in deep into an all consuming story. The creepy Laughing Octopus battle and dodging the Gekko with Raiden’s first appearance are particular highlights.
But it comes to life, for me, in Act 3 where you’re in the smokey alleyways of what is possibly Prague. Following an informant which leads you ultimately to Big Boss’ remains, which are in EVA’s charge.
Things pick up from here and you find yourself back at Shadow Moses, where the atmosphere is perfect. Everything is quiet with the exception of many, many Dwarf Gekko’s which guard the remains of what’s left of a derelict and empty, snow filled fortress. This culminates in one of my favourite boss battles of the series, Crying Wolf. Which takes place on the same snowfield that Sniper Wolf dies in Metal Gear Solid. The two battles are only similar in concept, because they’re completely different in scale. Although it’s not as large a territory to hide in as it was against The End in MGS3, it raises its own challenges by being snow filled, which causes your vision to be less than optimal. Plus, all of these boss battles are creepy as hell, not least because the B&B unit are sinister, but because each of them has traits of foes gone by, this one Sniper Wolf, Fortune and The End, and the others from well known bosses in the other games. They have male and female voices merged together, too. This well thought out character development is down to Kojima’s genius.
We end the chapter taking the hot seat in REX, something that hasn’t been done up to now, but it’s been a rewarding wait. Though clunky at first, you soon get to grips with the controls of this robotic monster and the showdown with Ocelot’s RAY is quite a memorable battle.
In all, the game ends on a positive note and is a satisfying ending to the series. I was very pleased to have completed it for the second time and it capped my playthrough of the games perfectly.
…well, it capped my playthrough of what I’d come to call the core, story-lead and cinematic era of Metal Gear Solid games. Because it all changed after that…
Metal Gear Solid V, again.
I found myself lobbying YouTube for Metal Gear Solid videos and stumbled across a few playthrough video’s of the odd mission or two in MGSV. I was hooked and it brought back some fond memories, so I basically pined for the end of MGS4 to come so that I could get stuck in to Ground Zeroes and MGSV.
To be honest, my first playthrough of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phatom Pain was back in 2015 and 2017…again a long gap between them as I didn’t really have the appetite for it. And I’ll admit to rushing it through just to see the story. I didn’t soak up the gaming experience in the way I should have.
The irony of course, is that I should have enjoyed the game play more than I allowed myself to, because the story and its payoff is absolutely awful and is in no way complimentary to the series as a whole. In fact, I, like many others, attribute this to the breakdown in relationship between Kojima and Konami.
I think the game is unfinished in some respects and if there was ever a case for a Director’s Cut of a Metal Gear Solid game, it should be Metal Gear Solid V. It deserves to be finished.
I remember the prologue being one of the most intense gaming experiences I ever had, back in 2015. It was cool second time around but it was genuinely still confusing. My main issue with it was how Keifer Sutherland’s voice could be that of Ishmael and of Big Boss. And why you’re asked to change your face, so you change it to look nothing like Big Boss…but then you’re Big Boss for the rest of the game…but you’re not really, you’re a clone. Confusing, isn’t it.
I don’t like the idea of playing as a clone of Big Boss, but I do like that this is the person Solid Snake kills in the very first Metal Gear, when he thinks he’s killed the real Big Boss. Quite how Venom Snake (the version of Big Boss that you play as in MGSV) ends up in Outer Heaven in 1995 isn’t explained though, but if you want to tie up the other loose ends that this story leaves you scrambling around for then the rolling timelines that pop up before and after the end credits are a great way to work out how things evolved through the entire series.
There’s an argument that Metal Gear is all about clones of Big Boss. Solid Snake, our main man, being one of them, so it stands to reason that it’s okay to do this in an MGS game. But it’s not the same, there was a whole ark that lead to why you’d want to play as Solid Snake, quite cleverly tied up in the final conversations between Miller and Ocelot in MGSV ironically. Where Miller basically tells us he’s going to help the sons of Big Boss, which he does in Metal Gear Solid, helping Solid Snake. This is the best part of the MGSV story, in my eyes. Where Miller basically says “no, fuck Big Boss". At which point Ocelot tells Miller that if he goes back to Cipher, he’ll help the other son, Liquid. It’s at that point he and Ocelot part and choose their separate paths, which lead to the extremes found in the later games. MGSV is the only game we really like Ocelot, as a character, and his reasons for future endeavours are fully explained here. It’s a neat way to tie it up, I think.
The poor payoff of the story should be no reason to skip the game itself though. It’s not representative of the sheer epic, hugely scaled experience on a gaming level that you’ll find yourself in. It’s immense. You’re free to roam anywhere you want in an incredibly detailed and sunny Afghanistan and the green filled plains of Africa. Encountering or comfortably avoiding outposts and larger guard posts along your way. The missions are as short and snappy or as long and detailed as you want them to be. And you can plan them out before you start with expertly executed tactics or flat out non-stealth carnage with any weapon of choice.
The upgrade paths of mother base and importantly, weapons, like in Peace Walker, is paramount but to a much grander scale and importance, and ultimately, is key to coming out of battles victoriously. With each mission win, you find that you have newly gained resources that allow you to upgrade to weapons that you wished you had for that previous mission, it’s addictive. You almost plan to do a couple of side ops whilst you build up resources for that sniper rifle upgrade you need to covertly annihilate an entire base in the Northern section of Africa, for example. And that, again, is the point, you’re constantly thinking about the best way to achieve things and it really makes for an engrossing game play experience like no other, to my knowledge. For many reasons this wouldn’t have worked in MGS4, but that’s what I meant when I said I much preferred MGSV’s way of procuring weapons to MGS4’s Drebin enforced way.
I attacked the game fiercely this time around and reaped the rewards of enjoying a game more than I ever have any other. Primarily because I was playing the game rather than weirdly obsessing over seeing the story unfold, like I do in almost every other game I have played, including the aforementioned, preceding MGS titles above.
The only downside of this, of course is that once all the main missions and side missions are done, that’s it, there’s little else to do. It takes a long time to do that though and that’s why there’s plenty of life and numerous play through’s in this game, but I bled it dry. And that in itself comes with its disadvantages. In 2015–2017 when I first completed it, I reached mission 45 with little else other than a simple rank 2 rocket launcher and found things very difficult. It’s a mammoth mission that is probably the most difficult in Metal Gear history. Without the appropriate weaponry and inventory, it’s hard work. I think I forced myself to play a few side ops to upgrade a few of the things things I was missing. Fast forward to 2021 play through and I actively sought side ops. I’d got hold of the CGM auto aim missile launcher and things just got exponentially easier with that thing, even though it took a while to procure it. My point is that you reach a point of saturation with your arsenal. Missions become, as expected and rightly so, easier…much easier. I flew through the second half of the game because I had built a massive mother base and done a hell of a lot of weapons research before I even got to fight Quiet and leave Afghanistan. I enjoyed playing it that much.
Replaying the prologue again at the end was comparatively slow and frustrating though, and lazy of them to put it into the game a second time…they even left the tutorial bits in there telling you what controls to use — after you’ve racked up nearly 50–60 hours of game play using those controls. Lazy. It in no way makes up for the lost chapter (Mission 51: Kingdom of the Flies) that every single Metal Gear fan would have loved to have played instead.
Conclusion
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve played Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, at least three to four times each, plus Twin Snakes and the novels and the graphic novels portraying their own quirky takes on the same storylines. I’ve also now played Metal Gear Solid 4 and 5 twice, so I don’t think I could ever be accused of making knee-jerk, reactionary decisions about which of them is my favourite, whilst being in some kind of honeymoon period after a playthrough.
My favourite in 2008 was Metal Gear Solid 2, that was the one that started it for me, the one that made me fall in love with the world Kojima created. But 20 years on, what did I think now?
It might surprise you that out of all of them, none have been a more enjoyable game playing experience than Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, I’ll stand by that, I’ve enjoyed playing that immensely for the last two months solid, looking in every nook and cranny of the game, squeezing out every last upgrade and foulton extraction I possibly could. I bled it dry!
Story-wise and for the theatrics, it’s got to be Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and for the nostalgia, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is probably the one I’ll always be most fond of, due to those early memories.
If there was ever a case to replay or indeed play a series of games, Metal Gear Solid gives you everything you’d ever need to fully immerse yourself in a folklore that can only be described as epic, a cinematic experience that aims for Hollywood and genius gameplay that is unrivaled, in my opinion. Perfect.
