Metal Gear Solid - PSP review

An edited version of this review can be found at gamepeople.co.uk

Metal Gear Solid - PSP review

1998’s 3^rd person action adventure Metal Gear Solid by Konami is the game that popularised the concept of stealth based gameplay and birthed a whole genre in its wake. Without the influence of MGS gamers would, arguably, never have had the pleasure of games such as Hitman, Splinter Cell or Thief; all games that used stealth as a selling point and discouraged combat wherever possible, much of the gameplay being taken up by lurking in a shadow until an opportunity arose for evasion.

But that was last century and, a few key titles aside, gamers quickly tired of pussyfooting around; turns out, all they want to do now is to overcome their enemies graphically and violently. So, recently, stealth as a genre has become something of a dirty word in video games. Recent successes like Bulletsorm, Gears of War, and the forthcoming Duke Nukem Forever are currently leading the charge in a torrent of all-out, gung-go, run-towards-the-enemy-screaming types of games. Even Metal Gears latest instalment, Metal Gear: Rising, has sensed the changing wind, having recently seen its development taken over by Platinum Games; the studio responsible for Bayonetta and Vanquish; two very high octane video games in which hiding in a cardboard box is tantamount to suicide.

But despite the leaning trend towards ultra-violence, Konami and Sony have made a very bold statement by making the original Metal Gear Solid available for download from the Playstation Store. The Japanese goliaths are evidently still confident that Solid Snakes original Playstation adventures not only still have a place on today's gaming landscape, but have a place worth paying for. So, having very fond memories of the game, I gave it a shot to see if the games patient hero, Solid Snake, still has what it takes to go toe to toe against the shirtless, greased up heroes of the 21^st century.

   

A possible nail in the stealth genres coffin was that, in this time of multiplayer, being an agent of stealth is a very solitary affair and doesn’t lend itself to cooperative play; indeed, a games social aspect is developed right alongside its single player campaign and given equal importance; more importance in some cases as a games multi-player features are what can keep a disc spinning in a console instead of stagnating in the preowned section of the local gaming boutique. This re-released PlayStation Classic offers no such multiplayer thrills, being, as it is, a carbon copy of the 1998 original, albeit shrunk down to PSP size.

In fact, nothing new whatsoever has been added to this ageing relic; no effort has been made to improve the control interface; selecting a weapon, particularly during the heat of battle, has been rendered clumsy and unwieldy, bizarrely requiring the player to reach across the screen obscuring the action while trying to press four buttons at once (you could go under the screen… if your thumb had an extra knuckle). The product has not been streamlined or adapted for the PSP in the slightest. Example; to combat piracy in 1998, Konami hit upon the idea of hiding a crucial piece of information that was required in order to progress, on the CD case itself. No official game case, no chance of completing the game. Obviously the 2011 downloadable version of Metal Gear Solid has no game case and you can see where this is going. Admittedly it only took two minutes to use the internet to find the information but, come on, I really shouldn’t have had to leave the game just because of a lazy console transition.

The boss fight with Psycho Mantis also highlighted Konami’s inattentive shifting of one of their most popular games to a handheld console. Thirteen years ago defeating Mantis required a little out of the box thinking that no player had previously had to contend with (and as far as I know, not since either); the player could not beat the mind reading Mantis because he could predict the players every move. The solution? Remove the PlayStation control pad from port one and plug into port 2. Psycho Mantis is no longer able to ‘read your mind’ and is rendered powerless. Absolutely, bloody ingenious. It was little touches like that that made Metal Gear Solid such an innovation and stuck so fondly in players’ minds.

But that ground breaking gameplay deviation comes to nought when transferred to the PSP. The concept of the solution doesn't make the slightest bit of sense; the PSP is one unit, with no removable parts. The player who has never played this version of MGS before would be forgiven for finding Mantis completely unbeatable and giving up there and then. The player who, on the other hand, has previously beaten Mantis then has to figure out how it is even possible to ‘change the controller ports’ on a console that has none. It’s possible, obviously, but requires another five minute break from the gameplay to figure out how.

So, who is this ‘reissue’ intended for? Gamers who have never played before will quickly tire of the obtuse puzzles with no obvious solution like the ones described above (and there are more where that came from). Players who played the game first time round have already seen all there is to see. But, like I said earlier, my memories of this game are fond.

I found the story engaging; one man infiltrating a nuclear facility to disable a weapon capable of launching a nuke (the titular Metal Gear) and bringing the terrorists responsible down one by one; alluring characters with fully fledged back stories; and some truly epic battles that deserve to be fought more than once. I was willing to forgive its shortcomings because I knew what rewards Metal Gear Solid had in store for me as I progressed.

Shortcomings such as scrappy graphics that have not aged well, a pace so sedate by today’s standards that few may have the patience for it; the story mode can be completed in around twelve hours but close to seven of those hours (and I’m not pulling your chain there) are purely cut scenes and voice acted communiqué between Snake and his various contacts. There is a LOT of plot in this game. Like I said, each character is fully fleshed out through the course of the story and the game director, Hideo Kojima’s clear love of soap opera shows in every dramatic, long winded speech by the games many supporting cast members.

I am completely on the fence here regarding who to recommend Metal Gear Solid to. New players should expect a tense, gripping thriller that IS worth your time as long as you don’t mind frequent trips to the internet to avoid dead ends. Seasoned gamers know exactly what to expect and will, more than likely, be disappointed by the lack of care in the transition from home console to hand held.

In a stealthy move worthy of Solid Snake himself, Metal Gear Solid snuck into the Playstation store unnoticed among bigger, more visceral examples of action/ adventure and without any additional features to warrant any gamer paying £7.99 the game will remain unnoticed and be destined to lurk in the shadows of gaming history. Maybe that’s just the way Snake likes it.