PixlBit

BaD #18

Hello Pixlbit how are you? Last Year I talked about the Jack and Daxter Trilogy, this year will be about 4 of the Metal Gear Solid games I have played, I might do a terrible job but oh well. I'll be starting with...

                               

Well I would. Back then, I had never played a Metal Gear Solid game, I knew of the franchise because my friends would talk about it, but that was it. When Snake was announced as a guest character in Brawl, I was familiar with him, somewhat. Back when I was in a hospital bed, there was this guy who was part of a division in the hospital, he was around my age and he was part of this division that went to talk to patients, about stuff like you would any person. He was really awesome and was the closest thing I had to a friend there. When he would come by, we would talk about games and stuff. It was the one part of the day I would always look forward to.

One day I wore a Mario shirt because I didn't really like wearing the gowns they gave you, he came by that day and then asked me what my favorite game was, I told him Super Mario Galaxy for consoles (at the time). I then asked him the same question, he told me it was hard to pick one, but he said his favorite franchise was Metal Gear. I then had to ask him something, it was about Snake in MGS4, I asked him why is he old? He said that it would spoil it for me if he told me. I didn't know if that year would be my last on the planet so I insisted. He did tell me that despite being 4 games, the 3rd was a prequel of sorts, with there being more games than just the numbered ones. But he said it is due to something in the first Metal Gear Solid that caused Snake to age faster. I asked what was it, and told me it was nanomachines or something. He told me how the games were and what do you do. I told him I would try them if I ever got out of this. He was always positive that I would and told me I might enjoy them if I ever did.

 It wasn't till I joined 1up that I got the chance to finally try out the game thanks to one of our staff members. When I finally got the game, I was really excited to play it. It was the very first game I ever played that came on 2 discs. I think this was around the PSN outtage when PSN got hacked so I guess I thought this might be perfect for it. He sent me a DM via 1up and had an image of the back of the original box and told me to keep it somewhere because I'll need it at a certain point in the game. It is because the version I was getting wasn't the original jewel case version. I still have it saved on my pc actually.

                     

I was really excited because it was my very first Playstation game and was always interested in the franchise. I popped the first disc in and once the game started, one of the first things I noticed is the graphics. I know we shouldn't judge games because of graphics, but they aren't the best thing ever. I guess I might have been spoiled by the fact that I owned an N64 in the era this game came out. But then I really shouldn't judge it since I knew that the N64 had better graphics than the PS1. That and the game was obviously massive to come on 2 discs so something had to be sacrificed. Plus to be fair, the graphics on F-Zero X aren't the greatest either.

When I played it, it really felt like an action movie of sorts, like an 80's action movie where the action hero goes against all odds and takes down everything in his path. Except more from the 90's cause a thing about 80's action movies is that the action hero had alot of muscles. Not to say Snake doesn't have muscles but he doesn't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. But not that much of an action movie, but more like an action spy thriller? I don't know.

                          

However it really doesn't work like that and you just can't Rambo your way through. You have to use stealth and sneak around towards the enemy. You can dispatch an enemy in different ways, like use a tranq gun, take them down silently, or just gun em down. Though that last option isn't recommended, but if you get spotted then it is a must. Until you can find a safe place so they wont see you hide.

The bosses themselves are something else. I'm not sure how many have played the game but I'll try not to spoil it. All the bosses were really interesting but my favorites are definitely a boss fight were the boos you fight can rebound their bullets from the walls, another one were you have to out snipe a master sniper, and theres this one were the boss can read your movements. 

But sometimes there's something like a hint you might need and Snake can call an ally with your codex for advice on the situation or a hint on how to defeat bosses. You can contact allies via codex frequency and remember that image? It turns out that the image has a codex frequency that you'll need in some part of the game, the game itself even mentions it to check the back of the box. I love that little attention to detail like that.

                       

Final Thoughts: The game is a classic. The game looks dated and probably plays dated too, but the game was most likely a technical feat at the time and proved games were much more than just time wasters. I think looking back, it still is an impressive game. The story itself feels like a big Hollywood movie, the plot of the game itself can most likely be adapted into one. It's one of the few games that made the transition from 2D to 3D quite well (I think) as the next games from there definitely improved on that formula that this game established.

One thing I do regret is never getting MGS: The Twin Snakes on the Gamecube as it is a remake of this game. I remember I saw it back when the Gamecube was still a thing and saw copies of it for 20 bucks. That version is most likely hard to find, though the original version is on the PS Store. So if you never played this classic, then definitely give it a go. I really enjoyed it and made me want to try the other games in this franchise.

So that's about it for this one, did you ever play MGS on the Playstation? Thanks for reading and...