Gaseous Snake not included. Review

Gaseous Snake not included.

Ah, Metal Gear. Metal Gear Solid 2 is about a year away, but

some of you out there still haven’t played the first one. You know who you are.

Those who have sworn off the Playstation to cuddle up to their power guzzling

PCs. Well, no excuses now. It hath been ported!

Metal Gear Solid for the PC includes both the

original Metal Gear Solid, as well as the ho-hum Virtual Missions.

While Virtual Missions was a nice little bonus that helped up the ante

of the whole package, you’ll be playing this game for the main story mode. What

has always been the beauty of MGS was that, like few games before, it

felt like taking part in a movie. The PC version is no different.

You are Solid Snake, retired Special Forces agent and former member of Fox

Hound. Tired of the pain and strife of being a soldier, you have taken to a

rustic life in Alaska. Not much there but unadulterated forests and woodland

creatures, until your torrid past catches up with you. Former members of Fox

Hound have returned, threatening to launch a weapon of limitless destruction.

You get yanked out of retirement and sent to extinguish the threat.

The life of a government operative isn’t easy. It’s not like those Bond movies,

what with all the women and cars and women driving cars. As Snake, you can’t

just saunter into a crowded room full of baddies, blurt out some innuendo and

get out scot-free. Since its early NES days, Metal Gear has been about

stealth. So, you have to do like the real spies do – lurk along the walls and

use evasion to get past the enemy. If you get detected, you have to hide until

the enemy gives up their relentless search for you.

Though sometimes hiding just doesn’t cut it, and you’ll need more than a few

weapons to help you out. MGS is all about reality – no magic John Woo

guns with unlimited bullets. Ammo conservation is key for the harder settings

of the game. There are also a plethora of items that you can find clever uses

for. A pack of cigarettes isn’t just a source of cancer, but also useable to

spot laser detectors.

All environments and characters are rendered in polygons. And with the increase

in graphical mojo from the Playstation to PC, you can take advantage of some

sweet high resolutions. It’s tasty, but if you’ve played the Playstation version

already, it’s still nothing more than digital MGS. The hi-res doesn’t

change the game in any way besides making everything crispy and sharp. But fonts

don’t get the same makeover as the polygons; to most, they’ll appear noticeably

jaggy.

There’s still detail aplenty – footprints in the snow, a foggy warm breath

hitting the icy Alaskan air, and an Alaskan timber wolf peeing on you. Suffice

it to say that this was a REALLY good-looking game for the time it came out.

It stands the test of time more than decently, but like I said – this is a port.

PC gamers are also able to play the whole game from the first-person perspective,

which was actually included in the Japanese PSX iteration MGS: Integral.

While not nearly the kick-ass fragfest of Unreal

Tournament, it’s still a nice addition for the US market.

The sound still comes out very well, with movie quality orchestration. And for once, the voice talent is actually talented! Whoah-ho-ho!

There’s

something about Metal Gear that demands a controller. Even trying to

take it into a new frame of mind, the keyboard is simply lacking next to the

ol’ PSX Dual Shock. The greatest losses are the trigger buttons. The index and

middle fingers are usually used for compulsory actions; selecting through weapons

and equipment work perfectly for that. Look around, though. I think Gravis makes

some controllers that should do the trick. However, you can’t replace the rumble

feature that added to the whole experience of the original.

As a port, this is everything it should be. Nothing has been lost, and all

that Metal Gear goodness is still there. But that’s just it. It’s a port

– nothing more. Of course, when you port a game and don’t do anything to update

it, you’ll port over all the flaws and inadequacies as well.

MGS has always had the ability to bring you into the game with its

tremendous cinematic quality. But some of the movies just go on for too long,

and you’ll often watch two faces talking to one another on com-units for a while.

At times they pull you in, but other times they put you off. Like that whiny

scientist talking about love…ugh.

Don’t swallow the line that there are new features and gameplay modes, because

it’s pretty much untrue. What they really mean is that VR Missions have

been tossed into the mix. However, VR Missions has always been, well,

boring. The gameplay is still fun, but there isn’t the driving plot to keep

you going. After a few plays, you’ll get tired and go back to the real goods.

This is still a great game, and I didn’t expect anything more from this well-done

port. They certainly didn’t do anything to screw up the game. But then there’s

another part of me that really wishes they had put in some extra effort, perhaps

a brand new gameplay mode or a bonus side story. And while it doesn’t change

the grade, I wish the price were as cheap as it is now on the Playstation. Still

a great game, but just wait until next year for the real show.