Metal Gear Solid - PS1 - Top 5 part 2

Metal Gear Solid came out of nowhere for me, I’d never played a game quite like it, the depth, the stealth, the action and a story so well thought out that it would make a cracking film. So many plot twists and developments and a main character who was an old school bad ass modelled on Kurt Russell.

I spent countless hours on this game, the PlayStation magazine’s had bigged it up for months scoring as high as 98% and I managed to get it on import early (I remember I needed a SCART lead as NTSC made it play in black and white). My pad skills were no match for the submission torture chamber, but my bro managed to do it without cheating on those 3rd party game pads. His face was a picture, he looked as if he was having a seizure but it worked and we saved Meryl (His skills also came in useful on FFVIII with the GF boost technique, cheers bro). It was one of the first games I played with serious replay ability, you finish it once, then want to go through it again with Bandana and then Stealth then unlock Snake in a suit!. I even once played it for so many hours I closed my eyes for a second whilst getting a drink and I swear I saw the binocular scope through my own eyes! Well that’s what you get when you play the game for countless hours on end, 2 feet away from the TV under a blanket so the sun doesn’t affect the screen. Serious overkill.

I can’t remember exactly how old I was when I played this (maybe 11 or 12) but I do remember writing a letter to Konami and Mr Kojima saying how much I enjoyed the game and what I’d like to see in the sequel and if it was in production, I got a huge pack of goodies back with loads of Konami posters and a nice little letter from the UK staff!

MGS had style, it had substance, it had a cracking script and played beautifully, what more do you need from a game. I surprised more games haven’t attempted to adopt MGS’s style, I remember Syphon Filter had a go but that’s it. Key Cards for the win, when I got my first job and a key card I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I recalled MGS.

Unfortunately for me the series never produced anything else that ever matched up to this. Sons of Liberty was a good game, but it just recycled a lot of MGS, the writing wasn’t as consistent and also some decisions made in this game just didn’t work for me personally. I don’t mind Raiden, but we all wanted to continue the journey of Snake not switching between the two, it was a brave move by Kojima. There was no alternate outcomes like in MGS with Meryl and Otacon and Kojima’s decision to bring in another ‘Ninja’ upset me, it was purely fan service. We didn’t need another Ninja, Grey Fox is a legend, he was a very important part of MGS and I believe because he was so successful Kojima felt the need to shove a new one in his place. It’s like Home Alone 1 and 2, the shovel guy and the pigeon lady are basically the same plot device, where was the originality? Olga was the pigeon lady.

I didn’t like the whole arm of Liquid possessing Ocelot, or Vamp as it made the series just too unrealistic, all explained by….nanomachines. It got worse with MGS3, a woman who can control bees with her arm…I mean really c’mon Hideo. I havn’t played MGS4 but I hear great things, my brother said it’s a good game but it’s not the MGS you love and remember and obviously due to the love of MGS and Foxhound he bases all his new boss battles on the originals, and then there’s the constant breaking of the 4th wall, Snake is not Deadpool!

The remake of MGS for the Game Cube went back and made all the original cut scenes over the top too argghhh. I don’t like the direction Kojima went with the MGS series but I will forever be grateful for what he gave us, I remember countless hours on that classic and it will always be one of my favourite games of all time, it’s not just a great game it’s a masterpiece.