3DS review: Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D

Metal Gear Solid 3, the tale of how Naked Snake set out on the path to become Big Boss, and the effective starting point of the entire Metal Gear legacy, received a 3DS port early in the handheld’s life cycle. Much like Star Fox 64 3D, Ocarina of Time 3D, and Majora’s Mask 3D, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D is taken directly from its console version and reworked to fit the control scheme of the 3DS. However, unlike those other 3DS re-releases, Snake Eater 3D does not see any graphical upgrades from the Playstation 2 original. Which is not to say that the game is any less aesthetically pleasing or immersive than ten years ago, when it debuted – the jungles are lush and dense with greenery, the animals active, and the wandering patrols a constant threat to Snake’s location being exposed. The frame rate does, unfortunately, dip a bit during cutscenes where there are many characters or events on screen at the same time. Gameplay, however, is never hampered by this.

The touch screen is utilized wonderfully, as the stylus can be used to easily access Snake’s codec, medical supplies, and food items. Weapons and items have also been relegated to the touch screen, and nine of each can be set to be on-hand at any given time, while another icon allows you to swap those out with additional items that Snake picks up and stores in his supply pack. This cuts down significantly on switching up Snake’s loadouts, which were previously managed via a scroll wheel on the PS2 and HD Collection releases.

Snake can also draw his weapons and put them away with a press of the right shoulder button. However, a simple tap of the shoulder button will not suffice – you have to hold it down for a brief second, otherwise the input may not take. Given the stealth-heavy nature of Snake Eater 3D, this rarely proves problematic, save for a couple of the boss fights, wherein it can be mildly frustrating as you dodge attacks and attempt to quickly react to Snake’s supernaturally-powered foes. While not necessary for playing Snake Eater 3D, the 3DS’ Circle Pad Pro attachment is highly recommended for anyone already familiar with the button and joystick layouts on the home console releases. All in all, though, despite being a port of a game that whose original release was never designed with a handheld in mind, Snake Eater 3D runs very well on the system, and the new control scheme is handled wonderfully – far better than some would have suspected.

The voice acting is, of course, just as great as it was a decade ago on the PS2. David Hayter’s iconic Snake voice keeps players company for the majority of the adventure, with humor from support members Major Zero and Para-Medic often flying right over his head. Suzetta Minet portrays the sultry and quick-witted EVA, Neil Ross puts forth a commanding performance as sadistic villain Colonel Volgin, while Josh Keaton’s depiction of a young Ocelot is one of a lovable try-hard who often slips up in his own attempts to impress his superiors. A few new sequences of dialogue have been added to this 3DS release, covering the updated control scheme. All of the spoken dialogue, as well as the iconic soundtrack and titular theme song, come across clear and clean through the 3DS’ speakers.

Equally memorable to the voice work in Snake Eater 3D are the boss encounters with the members of the Cobra Unit. They remain as intense and varied as ever, seeing no alterations from their PS2 counterparts. More seasoned veterans of the Metal Gear series will likely opt for as stealthy a playthrough as possible, maximizing their camouflage percentage by pairing patterns and face paint to the surrounding environment to better avoid detection. The 3DS' camera can be utilized to make new camo patterns for Snake, though these are not as complex in nature as the game's pre-loaded camo options, and will always default to registering as the most prominent color within the picture that was taken, ignoring any less prominent colors that are a part of that same image.

For those new to the Metal Gear play style, there are plenty of weapons beyond the default silenced tranquilizer pistol that can be found in the jungle, including an AK-47, a short-barrel shotgun, an SDV sniper rifle, and a more lethal handgun, to name a few - just don't expect a warm welcome from Volgin's GRU forces if you fire loudly in their direction. Plenty of additional items and food rations can be missed, should you choose not to devote time to exploration. The 3DS' gyroscope is briefly used to balance Snake on branches and bridges, while the hidden collect-a-thon Kerotan statues have been replaced with the likeness of Mario’s green pal Yoshi.

A first time playthrough of Snake Eater 3D will likely push close to the twenty hour mark, while players who have beaten Snake Eater in the past and simply want a quick retread can finish the game in less than fifteen. Snake Eater 3D does see a few technical hang-ups, and some very minor control oversights, but more often than not it excels as yet another great handheld port of a console classic in the 3DS' library. And at the end of the day, it remains the greatest Metal Gear story ever told.

My rating: 8.75 (out of 10)

Xbox 360 review: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Nine years after the sabotage and destruction of Mother Base that acted as the cliffhanger ending of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain opens with Big Boss awakening in a hospital to the shocking discovery that there is a shard of metal lodged in his skull and his left arm is missing from the elbow down. As a doctor explains the situation to him, tries to calm him down, and ease him back into the land of the living, word that ‘V has come to' quickly spreads, and it is not long before the hospital is besieged by heavily-armed forces. Barely able to stand, Big Boss, aka Punished ‘Venom’ Snake struggles to regain his ability to walk, while a mysterious bandaged friend calling himself Ishmael acts as his guide out of the hospital.

The route is dangerous, as the militant forces have orders to shoot everyone in the hospital, and Ishmael and Snake encounter what appears to be a flaming projection of Volgin, the Soviet colonel from Operation: Snake Eater. This first leg of the journey is largely an interactive story segment which teaches players the basic controls as they pertain to The Phantom Pain’s stealth and combat techniques. The escalation of events beyond the player’s control is intense, and ultimately the two patients are forced to dupe their would-be assassins, steal an ambulance, and avoid a pursuing helicopter before crashing through a roadblock. Snake passes out for a brief period, and awakens to find no trace of Ishmael, but rather is introduced to Revolver Ocelot, his contact from the newly-reconstructed Mother Base. Ocelot and Snake board a freighter ship to waters near the Seychelles Isles, where XO Kazuhira Miller ordered the new Mother Base be constructed in Snake’s absence.

The first orders of business in setting the stage for events to come are equipping Snake with all of his familiar gear, as well as a new robotic arm, and explaining to players (whether they previously experienced Ground Zeroes or not) that Skull Face is still at large, commanding XOF as a rogue agency no longer tied to the United States government. It’s just the right amount of information and story content to dish out to players this early on. The massive open world exploration element is kept in perspective, for the time being, as Ocelot informs Snake that Miller ran into some trouble during his most recent operation, and likely only has a few days to live before his Soviet captors decide they are through trying to interrogate him.

Each mission Snake embarks on during the game’s first eight hours or so is set in Afghanistan, where tall cliffs limit the number of available routes, but large rocks and hilly terrain offer sufficient cover for Snake, even as he rides past enemy outposts in D-Horse’s saddle. Afghanistan is, as Ocelot informs Snake, a big place, and there is great deal of time spent simply travelling from one location to another early on, though destroying anti-air radar emplacements can open up new landing zones for Mother Base’s helicopters. This map is also a stark contrast in design to the later-accessible African border region between Angola and Zaire, which is technically smaller in size overall, but the open plains and dense jungle provide Snake with a greater freedom to immediately drop in and explore, take on side-ops, and scope out enemy patrols.

Any misgivings about the open-world gameplay adopted by The Phantom Pain should be put to rest. The ability to rely completely on stealth is just as strong as ever, and plenty satisfying to boot. For players who wish to go loud and shoot up a base of enemies with automatic weapons, however, The Phantom Pain does not punish this approach, provided you have something of a plan in mind before storming a heavily-fortified base. More than any Metal Gear title before it, The Phantom Pain offers some truly creative solutions for players who can think on the fly and adapt to the situation as it changes. While Ground Zeroes felt incredibly limited in its scope and restricted in its freedom of play, The Phantom Pain welcomes experimentation, and on the off chance that you are killed in action and receive a ‘game over’ screen, it is always fair, placing responsibility on the player and their choices both in the moment and prior to engaging the enemy.

Enemies are quite a bit smarter than in previous Metal Gear titles, and will receive helmets, shields, and full body armor as word spreads of Snake besting their comrades. The Phantom Pain is somewhat forgiving, though, as the moment an enemy spots you does not immediately put all nearby soldiers on alert. Instead, Snake is granted a brief window to tranquilize, kill, or (provided he is close enough) perform a CQC takedown on the soldier that spotted him. This addition is most appreciated when infiltrating fortresses with high walls that prevent Snake from properly scoping out all enemies therein. The weather and time of day also play important roles in the enemy’s visibility. Obviously, nighttime is ideal for infiltration missions, as enemy soldiers have a smaller field of view away from light sources, and rain storms in Africa further obscure their vision. Dust storms will occasionally whip up in Afghanistan, lasting approximately two minutes at a time, and practically cover the entire area in a thick, blowing cloud – this can prove a double-edged sword, as the enemy is practically blind, but if Snake has not scanned the area beforehand, so too is he.

There is also a great deal of freedom in which weapons and gear Snake takes into battle with him. Grenade launchers, RPGs, and explosives like C4 are generally best-suited to missions that require the destruction of heavily armored vehicles, as they are among the most expensive to equip. But the sheer number of these that can be developed, along with assault rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, pistols, grenades, and camo patterns is astounding, and further reinforces the notion that you can play The Phantom Pain virtually any way you like. The ability to develop certain items is restricted until you have added sufficient personnel to Mother Base’s R&D team, and of course, each individual item costs GMP, the game’s monetary value that is earned in large sums upon the completion of each main game mission and side-op. Some of the wackier loadout options, like the Rocket Arm and cardboard boxes decked out with supermodel posters or anime characters, prove the most entertaining, despite perhaps not being universally practical.

Mother Base is divided into more than a half-dozen struts, each of which can be further built up over time. It does cost a great deal of GMP and resources like fuel, metals, and biological materials to expand Mother Base, but the benefits are more than worth the lengthy wait times between each addition. Building more platforms for your Intel team means that they can offer you greater information about your surroundings, while R&D will develop new weapons and gear more quickly if they have the space to support a larger team, and so forth.

GMP is also spent calling in fire support from your helicopter and for retrieving prisoners, unconscious enemy troops, wildlife, and vehicles alike with the Fulton balloon system, and it is a good idea to maintain a healthy amount of GMP at all times, as dipping into negative numbers means that Mother Base soldiers may leave due to dissatisfaction with the way Snake is running the show. Conversely, the more Snake displays heroism and grows Mother Base, the more likely volunteers are to show up on his doorstep, requesting to join his Diamond Dog forces. Each and every Mother Base soldier displays a specific set of traits, making some better suited for particular teams, and ill-suited for others. Some also boast unique abilities that can lessen or increase the likelihood of fights breaking out, and even perform special moves should players choose to take control of these characters for missions over Snake. Mother Base troops will have their morale increased upon visits home by Snake, and while there isn’t a ton to do on Mother Base, players can scour each platform for diamonds to up their GMP, engage in shooting range side-ops, and stumble across some cleverly-placed easter eggs.

While D-Horse is the first ‘buddy’ character Snake is allowed to deploy with into missions, the trusty steed’s fast gallop can be swapped for three other buddies, each with their own unique support roles. D-Dog, a wild pup that Snake encounters in Afghanistan, grows up under the training of Ocelot, and can eventually be utilized as a radar for detecting the exact location of all nearby enemies, wild animals, and plant life. While D-Dog’s default loadout allows him the option to distract enemy soldiers, he can later be outfitted with a knife or stun baton for stealthy enemy takedowns.

Quiet, the voiceless Sniper, moves at inhuman speeds, similarly scoping out enemy patrols from a distance, and picking them off one by one per Snake’s orders. Quiet is best utilized by players who prefer direct intervention, or who want a backup plan in case the enemy bears down on Snake with everything at their disposal. Quiet’s standard sniper rifle can be swapped for a tranquilizer rifle, while her alternate outfits are more aesthetically amusing than they are situation-sensitive. Finally, Huey’s D-Walker offers a travel speed slightly slower than that of D-Horse, but with offensive options like a gatling gun and rocket launcher, as well as a defensive buffer to the front. Each ‘buddy’ will be recalled from the field if they take too many hits, however, and this will subsequently weaken Snake’s bond with them, while properly utilizing their abilities and ensuring their safety will strengthen Snake’s bond with them.

The main missions during the first act of The Phantom Pain are largely concerned with piecing together the puzzle of Skull Face’s master plan, one ‘weapon to surpass Metal Gear’. While the pacing of the game is spot-on, the story sequences – one of the Metal Gear series’ most popular and famous offerings – are sparse until the second act. While it is appreciated that The Phantom Pain does not bog players down with extensive cutscenes as Guns of the Patriots once did, MGSV cuts back on its narrative a bit too much. Metal Gear villains have long held a commanding presence in their respective games, and Skull Face is no different, walking a fine line between theatrically confident and cunningly evil. But when his plan is revealed in full, it is underwhelming, and offers too much room for error.

The second half of The Phantom Pain does increase the frequency with which the story is sprinkled in. Kaz becomes increasingly suspicious of Huey, believing he was responsible for the security breach that destroyed the old Mother Base. Quiet finds the soldiers on Mother Base are not all keen on her presence, calling her a freak and generally distrusting her. And Snake is forced to carry out some very heavy actions that, while perhaps necessary, are important steps in painting both himself and the forces of Outer Heaven as more of villains than heroes by the time the events of the first Metal Gear occur.

The Phantom Pain fills in the last major gap of time between the era of Big Boss and the era of Solid Snake, and as such, is less concerned with presenting grand revelations pertaining to the series at large than most other Metal Gear titles. The events of The Phantom Pain are guided in large part by what transpired in both Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes, and ultimately the endgame plays most prominently into the events of Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and Metal Gear Solid. Some of The Phantom Pain’s strongest moments lie in its second act, but so too do its greatest faults. Roughly half of the second act’s main missions are simply retreads of missions taken on during the first act, with higher difficulty settings or more specific rules in place. In addition, the penultimate chapter that would otherwise provide The Phantom Pain with a clean, complete finale is entirely absent, leaving a humongous plot point hanging with no resolution.

Boss fights are also quite sparse in The Phantom Pain, though the handful that are present pay homage to previous titles in the series. A sniper duel between Snake and Quiet mirrors that of the battle with The End in Snake Eater, and the general design and abilities of Metal Gear Sahelanthropus offer throwbacks to Metal Gear Rex from the PS1’s Metal Gear Solid. One particular close-quarters battle with Skull Face’s elite Skulls unit even incorporates quick-time reactions reminiscent of Metal Gear Rising.

Side-ops are entertaining, more relaxed distractions from The Phantom Pain’s main missions, offering up goofy scenarios like tracking down a legendary bear to tranquilize and bring back to Mother Base’s animal sanctuary, or infiltrating a Soviet-occupied base to rescue a sheep via fulton balloon extraction. Other side-ops are more run of the mill fanfare, such as extracting prisoners, and destroying heavy infantry or armored patrol units. Side ops typically require less careful planning of Snake’s loadouts beforehand, and it can be easy to find yourself burning through three, five, or ten at a time, in-between The Phantom Pain’s main missions.

While Metal Gear Online may not yet be up and running, The Phantom Pain does offer an online component in the form of an F.O.B. invasion. F.O.B.s, or forward-operating bases, can be constructed in waters beyond the main Mother Base, and serve to further establish Big Boss’ presence to the outside world. Snake can infiltrate an enemy base for a GMP reward, depending on how well he manages to sneak past the troops stationed there, but your own base(s) will similarly be potential targets for other players to invade. F.O.B. invasions are an interesting afterthought, but they lack substance, and do not return as high-value rewards as the deployment missions Snake can send Mother Base soldiers on against CPU forces.

Many fans were, understandably, disappointed to hear that longtime voice of Snake, David Hayter, would not be returning to reprise the character in MGSV. It’s difficult to fully accept Kiefer Sutherland as the new voice of Snake, not because of the quality of his performance, but because of how infrequently he adds anything to the conversation. On the whole, Kiefer Sutherland does a sufficient job of carrying such an iconic role, but would be far more memorable if he spoke more than a few words at any given juncture – a stark contrast to Hayter’s rather talkative portrayal of Snake in every other major Metal Gear entry. As a rippling effect of this, Snake frequently comes across as more of an observer of events unfolding on Mother Base and during his missions than an active participant, at least during cutscenes and other scripted sequences.

Robin Atkin Downes and Troy Baker put forth strong performances as Kazuhira Miller and Ocelot, respectively. Downes does a phenomenal job at conveying Miller’s desire for revenge, and the hatred he harbors towards Skull Face’s XOF forces for destroying the old Mother Base, yet still maintains a strong-willed presence and great degree of faith and respect in Snake, even if he does attempt to go over his head during a few key instances. There is a constant tension in the air whenever Snake and Miller are present in the same scene, due in no small part to Downes’ performance. Troy Baker, meanwhile, manages to present Ocelot in the prime of his adulthood, without sounding too similar to other middle-aged roles he’s performed in the past, like The Last of Us’ Joel or Bioshock Infinite’s Booker DeWitt. Baker gives the famous gunslinger an appropriately deeper voice than Josh Keaton’s performance of a youthful Ocelot in Snake Eater, but dials back a few notches from Patric Zimmerman’s famous raspy voice from Metal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty, and Guns of the Patriots.

As Snake explores Afghanistan and the Angola-Zaire border region, he will receive cassette tapes – some that are delivered by Miller and Ocelot containing mission-sensitive information, and others that contain musical tracks. Many of the audio tapes will prove a real treat to hardcore Metal Gear fans, referencing events from Snake Eater and Peace Walker, while others provide greater context to Skull Face’s motives and the origins of XOF. Playing Metal Gear theme songs of yesteryear while carrying out missions delivers a good dose of nostalgia, but blasting one of the many hidden 80s pop and rock tapes can make for some wacky, thoroughly amusing moments. Better yet, you can set any of these songs to blast from your helicopter’s speaker system, so as to bear down on unsuspecting enemies with rockets launching to the tunes of Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America”, The Cure’s “Friday I’m in Love”, Kajagoogoo’s “Too Shy” or Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell”.

As for the original orchestrated soundtrack, The Phantom Pain’s musical stylings deviate a surprising degree from those in previous games. The few reprises of classic Metal Gear themes that do sneak their way in to the mix are quite subdued. Sins of the Father, meanwhile, is a powerful and commanding vocal track, with lyrics that are among the most thematically-appropriate to a Metal Gear title since Snake Eater’s self-titled jazzy James Bond-esque number.

The Fox Engine once again outdoes itself, as The Phantom Pain looks shockingly good, even on a last-generation console like the Xbox 360. There are some minor shortcomings when compared to the PS4 and Xbox One versions, such as certain textures sporting less detail and requiring the occasional bump-in load. As the game installs on the system’s hard drive prior to your first play session, load times between missions are kept to a reasonable speed. Draw distances are superb, offering Snake the ability yo scope out vast distances, provided the terrain does not obscure his field of vision. The blurred distance effects are nowhere near as harsh on the eyes in the Xbox 360 version as they are on the PS4 or the Xbox One. I never stumbled across any noticeable dips in frame rate, and only encountered one odd, non-threatening glitch during my playthrough – very much appreciated, given the track record of other contemporary open world games.

In addition to catering to any play style you like, The Phantom Pain reflects player loadouts and time away on missions within cutscenes. When Snake begins an interaction with Ocelot and Kaz, he’ll be wearing whichever camo pattern players last dressed the legendary soldier in. If Snake has been taking to more direct means of intervention, shooting up enemy soldiers, his face will be streaked with blood, while even a long series of stealth ops will depict Snake with sweat dripping from his brow.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is far from a perfect game. The lessened focus on a complex narrative will likely leave veteran fans hungry for more, especially with the knowledge that the final leg of Snake’s journey is left incomplete. That said, the story elements that are at play prove, by and large, of the same carefully-calculated nature that Kojima is known for. The few major twists that come to pass are masterfully executed, and the nigh-on perfect gameplay The Phantom Pain sports certainly helps ease the pain of the elements that are absent. The Phantom Pain travels to some dark places, with plot points that teeter closer to reality than other games in the series. While The Phantom Pain may not be the definitive masterpiece fans had hoped would cap off Hideo Kojima’s nearly-thirty-year run of directing the Metal Gear series, it is still one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played this year. It’s a shame that the circumstances surrounding Konami, Kojima, and the game’s development process did not pan out more smoothly, as the full, completed vision for The Phantom Pain would have no doubt earned a considerably higher overall score.

My rating: 7.75 (out of 10)

Xbox 360 review: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

To tide fans over until the proper release of the fifth numbered entry in the Metal Gear Solid series, Konami released Ground Zeroes in both physical and digital formats. Intended as a teaser for all that is to come in the open-world Phantom Pain, Ground Zeroes runs on the Fox Engine, and even on the now-last generation Xbox 360, the graphics are damn impressive. The rainstorm that shrouds Big Boss’ mission excels at highlighting raindrops streaming down textures and assets like tarps flapping in the wind in highly realistic fashion. While Kiefer Sutherland’s takeover as the voice of Snake does reveal a noticeable difference to what fans have come to know and love from the efforts of veteran David Hayter, the experience is not a massive upset to the familiar, as Snake/Big Boss does very little talking for the duration of Ground Zeroes.

In short, Ground Zeroes does not feel the part of a Metal Gear game in gameplay or spirit. The heads-up display, while simplified, is highly unspecific and does little to give players any real indication of where enemy troops are or how many of them are patrolling an area. This is something that would not be terribly difficult to keep track of, given the tiny size of the map the main mission takes place on, were it not for the fact that there are so many structures of varying heights and widths. This results not only in enemies being difficult to keep track of, but also a degree of uncertainty with how well-hidden Snake is. And the slow-down sequences when Snake is given a few brief seconds to respond to his being spotted do virtually nothing but incite panic in the player, as Snake is most frequently spotted from a distance, and firing upon foes will alert anyone nearby, putting the whole area on alert status.

Because the main story requires no more than two hours to complete, it lacks any time necessary to develop Snake, Chico, or Paz, much less give players a reason to care about the supposed ‘high-risk mission’ or the brief appearance of Skull Face, whose voice actor provides deadpan efforts that imply he has as little interest in the character as most anyone else who will play through this glorified demo. The weird and goofy factors that make a Metal Gear experience so endearing and one-of-a-kind are gone – Ground Zeroes is gritty and serious, building off the Snake Eater and Peace Walker formulas, but lacking almost any creative end. While the finale does sufficiently set the stage for The Phantom Pain, there is only one moment at the end that will prove particularly exciting, or give fans of previous Metal Gear installments any real sense of fulfillment.

There are bonus missions to take on, and collectible cassette tapes and XOF badges littered around the environment that extend the lifespan of Ground Zeroes, if only as a thinly-veiled fetch-quest. The dialogue on the cassette tapes themselves reveal far more about any of the characters than the in-game actions do, and are overall better-scripted than the couple of action-heavy cutscenes. If Ground Zeroes is a genuine taste of Phantom Pain, I for one am extremely wary, due to just how bare an experience this is, and how much it appears to be adjusted for mainstream audiences.

My rating: 4.5 (out of 10)

"We've managed to avoid drowning!" - 25 Years of Metal Gear

Though Solid Snake officially debuted back in 1987 with the original Metal Gear game, his popularity did not gain major momentum until the release of Metal Gear Solid, which hit the Playstation in 1998. Since then, Solid Snake has become one of the most recognizable faces in gaming history. The series has also earned itself significant praise for the ways it changed the experience of gaming. While I have not played every single game in the Metal Gear franchise, the games I have experienced have all proved thoroughly enjoyable.

My first experiences with Metal Gear came in the form of the Metal Gear Solid Essentials Collection, which was released shortly before Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots as a means for newcomers to familiarize themselves with the series, or for veterans to revisit Snake's previous adventures. I knew very little about Metal Gear at that point in time, and I figured a thirty dollar price tag wasn't too bad a deal for three games - if I ended up disliking them, it would be easy enough for me to turn around and sell them. Thankfully, that was not what happened.

Metal Gear Solid is not a graphically pretty game. Even for the time of its release, it has some rather grainy textures and Snake's character model wears a bandana that covers his eyes instead of having a proper face. But what it lacks there it makes up for in some truly groundbreaking game mechanics and storytelling elements. The use of cigarette smoke to detect lasers, Psycho Mantis reading your memory card, and the placement of a codec number on the back of the physical game case are inclusions that are honestly quite simple in concept, but make the game so much more immersive and fun. Hell, the simple fact that Snake has to sneak around enemies instead of fighting them head-on is a welcome departure from the all-too-familiar run and gun routine of so many other action games.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty added a few new features that would have been helpful in the first game, such as the ability to enter a first-person view. I don't mean to knock the PS1 classic, but from a design perspective, MGS2 handles much more smoothly. Sons of Liberty certainly retained the masterful storytelling element, though it was handled in a different manner. Snake took on the role of a side character, with Raiden stepping into the spotlight. Like many other fans, I found Raiden to be quite annoying at first - not as nauseatingly so as his support/girlfriend Rose, but he was still whiny and immature. But patience yielded great results, as the final few hours of Sons of Liberty delivered a phenomenal ending that answered as many questions as it asked.

As far as I am concerned, though, the best of the bunch has to be Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. I have experienced few video games so perfect in their design. Snake Eater took everything that worked in MGS2 and improved upon while simultaneously adding in a host of new elements, each of which proves just as polished and helpful during Naked Snake's trek through the jungles of Russia. Only a handful of games have genuinely moved me so emotionally, and I'll be damned if Snake Eater does not have one the most beautiful and bittersweet conclusions ever written into a game. All of the MGS games rely heavily on cutscenes to deliver their stories, and though MGS4's may be the most Hollywood high-budget, I still feel that MGS3 does the best job of all the games in the series in weaving a story that trumps many a film and novel.

Though not as perfect a game as Snake Eater, Peace Walker did a solid job of continuing the story of Naked Snake as he builds his own personal and becomes involved in the late days of the Cold War. Hot Coldman isn't a particularly memorable villain when compared to the likes of the Cobra Unit, but the boss fights against the Chrysalis, Pupa, and so on are both challenging and varied. Peace Walker is a little more action-heavy than other MGS games and it is also shorter than the main numbered entries, but I felt it did a good job of bridging the gap between the era of Naked Snake and that of Solid Snake.

The series has such a wonderful cast of characters, from Psycho Mantis to Solidus and Otacon to Ocelot - I could list them all, but I think it's just easier for me to say that there are only a few select characters that I don't like. And as much as I enjoy exploring Hyrule and Zebes, the world of Metal Gear is also one of the best visions ever realized in gaming. It's a perfect blend of practical realism and dystopian science fiction. Though the storyline of the main games may have come to a conclusion, the upcoming Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes indicates that there is still plenty of story to be told in the Metal Gear universe. I look forward to whatever new directions Hideo Kojima takes the series in, because even when a Metal Gear game hits its lowest point, it is still a whole tier above most other video games.

Some of my favorite boss fights from the series include:

- Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid
- Harrier Jet in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- Metal Gear RAY in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- The Fury in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- The Shagohod in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- Chrysalis in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Some of my favorite songs from the various soundtracks include:

- The Best is Yet to Come from MGS
- Main Theme from MGS2
- Yell Dead Cell from MGS2
- Father and Son from MGS2
- Snake Eater from MGS3
- Debriefing from MGS3
- Old Snake from MGS4

Some of my favorite characters include:

- Solid Snake
- Grey Fox
- Otacon
- Solidus
- Naked Snake/Big Boss
- Young Ocelot
- The Boss
- EVA

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes debut trailer

A trailer for the newly announced Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes has debuted, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. The game runs on Kojima's FOX Engine, and features Naked Snake (aka Big Boss) in a post-Peace Walker era. There is still a great deal of mystery surrounding the plot at present, but considering how masteful the storytelling is throughout the entire series, I have high hopes for whatever direction Kojima decides to take it in.

Pre-E3 trailer for Zone of the Enders: HD Collection

Last year, Konami announced plans to release the first two Zone of the Enders games in an HD collection, much like they did with the Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill games. Now they have revealed the trailer for the collection as well as the new anime-style intro sequence, made by Sunrise. Zone of the Enders is a series that I missed out on during its original release, due in large part to limited releases of the games and the fact that the game did not gain the reputation it has today until quite some time after it came out. I'm a huge fan of Hideo Kojima's work with the Metal Gear Solid series, and I happen to enjoy mecha anime, so you can bet I will be purchasing this HD collection when it hits store shelves before the end of the year.



Here is the newly-animated intro.



Also, in case you didn't hear, Kojima is releasing the HD collection as part of the build-up to a brand new entry into the Zone of the Enders series. Freaking awesome.

Pre-E3 trailer for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Konami has released their pre-E3 2012 trailer for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. We get to see some more of the actual gameplay, and an idea of the direction the story will take since it is set post-MGS4. I really like the design of some of the envionments highlighted in this trailer. Here's to hoping Konami gives us more details on the game at E3 (like a release date, maybe?).

Get More: GameTrailers.com, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - E3 2012: Exclusive Trailer HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Xbox 360 review: Metal Gear Solid HD Collection

Back in 2008, Konami released the Metal Gear Solid Essentials Collection shortly before the long-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The Essentials Collection was comprised of the first three Metal Gear Solid titles, and served as a refresher for veterans of the series as well as an inexpensive means for newcomers to get acquainted with Solid Snake and Big Boss. Now Konami is at it again with the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, and gamers can revisit three games from the series on the current gen consoles. Included in the HD Collection are Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, and Peace Walker. For those not so familiar with the chronology of the series, Metal Gear Solid 2 is a direct sequel to the PS1 Metal Gear Solid, while 3 and Peace Walker act as prequels to the original MSX Metal Gear games.

Metal Gear Solid 2 is divided into two chapters. The first puts you in control of Solid Snake as he sneaks aboard a US Marine corps tanker making its way down the Hudson River. Otacon has uncovered information that the Marine corps has been developing a new type of Metal Gear, and Snake's mission is to locate it and snap some photographs that they can leak online and expose the military's unethical decision to construct such a machine. The situation quickly escalates as Russian soldiers board the tanker and take out the guards, and Snake barely manages to send Otacon the photos before Revolver Ocelot shows up, steals the new Metal Gear RAY, and sinks the ship into the river. The first section lasts an hour at the longest, and serves primarily as a tutorial section, allowing you to familiarize yourself with the controls, sneaking tactics, and a brief boss battle.

Two years later, Raiden is sent into a water decontamination facility known as Big Shell, in order to rescue hostages from the terrorist organization known as Dead Cell. This second chapter, known as the Plant Chapter, has Raiden sneaking around guards, disarming explosives, swimming through flooded areas of Big Shell, and going toe-to-toe with the four members of Dead Cell. The Plant Chapter has a greater variety of gameplay, and also lasts significantly longer. Many of the areas in Big Shell look similar, and it can be easy to get lost early on.

Raiden can be whiny at times, but he's nowhere near as unlikable as his girlfriend/radio support Rosemary, who can't seem to remember that Raiden is on an important mission and should not have time to chat about her feelings. Meanwhile, the odd behavior and unique abilities that each member of Dead Cell exhibits makes them quite interesting. The story may be slow-going at first, but the darker tone and multiple plot twists that unfold during the last few hours make it all worth the trouble. Metal Gear Solid 2 may not control as smoothly as the other two titles, and there are moments that prove rather frustrating. But the boss fights are epic and the story has a downright brilliant conclusion.

Easily the best of the bunch, Metal Gear Solid 3 follows Naked Snake as he is sent into Russia to stop a separatist group known as GRU and their leader the sadistic Colonel Volgin from usurping Khrushchev and developing the Shagohod, an all-terrain tank armed with nuclear missiles, in order to start a war with the US. Snake must make his way through the jungle and use various camouflage and face paints to blend in with his surrounding and avoid detection by the enemy. The rate at which Snake recovers health is determined by two factors - how hungry he is, and if he is injured in any way. Snake has a limited number of rations and medical supplies at the outset of Operation: Snake Eater, though wild animals can be killed and eaten, while bandages and splints can sometimes be found in warehouses and supply rooms.

Snake's mission is two-fold. While he maintains his focus on stopping Volgin and destroying the Shagohod, he is constantly reminded of the fact that he must face down the elite members of the Cobra Unit and The Boss - their leader and his former mentor. Snake also becomes romantically linked to one of his contacts, a blonde code breaker named EVA, and shares a rivalry with a young Revolver Ocelot. All of this culminates to one of the greatest stories ever told in a video game. What Hideo Kojima has accomplished with Metal Gear Solid 3 is unrivaled by many a novel, film, or television series.

Finally, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker sees perhaps the boldest undertaking by Konami, as it was originally released for the Playstation Portable and has been ported over to consoles. Peace Walker takes place ten years after Metal Gear Solid 3 as Naked Snake (now known as Big Boss) is in the process of training his own private army after having left the United States behind. He is asked to intervene in Costa Rica, where a series of AI-controlled mechs are being developed.

Peace Walker's level design is similar to that of Metal Gear Solid 3, with small areas connecting to one another, though Peace Walker shrinks these down and sets up barriers in order to make gameplay more linear. The game adopts an RPG element of recruiting troops and developing weapons, the results of which are mixed. On the one hand, putting the time and effort to experiment with this can unlock different weapons and make your experience different from anyone else's. On the other hand, it can prove annoying when a certain weapon or item is required to progress to the next mission and you must grind through the optional missions so that the research can progress.

Peace Walker's visuals don't quite hold up to the other two, but for a handheld game it looks pretty darn impressive. There's a great attention to detail, and colors pop nicely against the backdrops of different environments. Traditional cutscenes are thrown out in favor of a gritty motion comic style. Some of these sequences involve quick time events, and all of it plays out well - it's a great artistic direction for the game and provides an extra level of immersion. While the Metal Gear series has a long history of great soundtracks, Peace Walker's might be the best yet.

Not all HD collections are made equal. There have been some in the past couple of years that left players disappointed due to a lack of content or aesthetic alterations. With the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, it's a completely opposite scenario. Despite the fact that the first Metal Gear Solid is not included, the bonuses of MGS2's VR missions, Peace Walker's online multiplayer, and the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake provide plenty of replay value after the main three games have been completed. When other companies look into releasing HD collections of classic games, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection should be their primary reference.

My rating: 9 (out of 10)