Metal Gear Solid

The Good
The story's so good and layered it leaves many multi-million Hollywood blockbusters to shame. You play as Solid Snake, the world's greatest super soldier who's like gaming's James Bond and Captain America rolled into one: he's suffered PTSD and this mission at Alaska's Fox Archipelago may finally bring some closure to Snake's perpetual guilt over his haunted past.

The story's topped off by some truly wonderful stealth action-adventure gameplay that inspired Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed, and when you get spotted by the genome soldiers, the iconic alarm sound (that's since become an internet meme) sets off and it always shocks you even if it's done deliberately. Get out of there or else you're screwed.

Metal Gear Solid showed that you can have Nintendo-level quality of games not on Nintendo systems at all and still make an experience to remember. From Raven's boss-fight in the tank out in the snow, Psycho Mantis and Grey Fox challenging the player's persistence, and of course Liquid Snake himself ready to kick some ass in Metal Gear itself.

The Bad
Though the game's graphics are dated by today's comparisons, it's still a technical marvel. With that said, it can be cumbersome trying to sneak around when enemies suddenly see you out of nowhere. Though the detection system in Metal Gear Solid was, and still is, groundbreaking, sometimes a simple slip-up as timing incorrectly would leave you vulnerable.

The Bottom Line
It's the game that changed video games forever: it's James Bond mixed with Mission Impossible, Godzilla and Neon Genesis Evangelion (or Mobile Suit Gundam and Robotech).

It's incredible. It's as quintessential as a movie you've been waiting to see for years.

The Good
Remember about 12 years ago there was this amazing 8-bit Nintendo game called Metal Gear? If you read a lot of Marvel comics in those days you'll remember the ads for the game which featured all the gear you'll need to beat the game all over the page. It had this crazy premise of avoiding combat! You'd win by using stealth and brains over brute force. Well over a decade later a sequel has arrived. The recent Playstation hit has landed on the PC and its got to be one of the best conversions ever.

The game has great graphics and sound and features some very slick cutscenes. I loved the way the credits pop as you move your character around the docks at the start of the game. It works in a way like you'd expect a movie. As you sneak your way around the base you will trigger cut scenes to propel the plot and a series of level bosses who have a variety of combat methods. The voice acting is pretty good, although, not Oscar worthy, but quite enjoyable. The voices really suit their characters. Your cool as ice character Snake, is quite funny, as he hits on all the girls.

Once you've beat the game, there are the VR missions to tackle. These are in some ways traing excercises but the more difficult missions are more like puzzles as you have to figure out how to reach a point or kill all the guards in limited time spans.

The Bad
The big problem with this game is that its too darn short. I was amazed at the speed that this game was over. Luckily the VR missions extend the life, poor Playstation owners had to buy them seperatly.

Another problem is that the game's story is really really bad. I guess in Japan they like melodrama and bad sci-fi but in North America things need to be a bit more believable. The plot starts out well enough but soon enough it gets so cornball you'll be hoping for the scene to be over soon. I won't spoil it here but think of the main character relationships of Star Wars, set in our near future, and written by Japanese man who finds the soap opera The Young and the Restless a witty work of fiction.

Minor complaint is how the guards go back to normal after 60 seconds in alert mode. If you just spotted an intruder in a secret base would you go back to sleep after not finding him for a few seconds? I'd have prefered to see the guards get noticable more alert and cautious if you get spotted frequently.

The Bottom Line
The game has graphics and gameplay, and while it is fun to play, the game is so short (and cheesy) that you might wish you had spent your dollars somewhere else.

The Good
The game has a full story that feels as a movie at times (I think this is pretty unique for that time. The stealth is nice and challenging. For those that played the first two Metal Gears (like me) it's an exciting next step, the new game is different but also still the same.

The Bad
The games story is a chaos. no clear line. The dialog's are about love on the battlefield and the death scenes that are just far too exaggerated becomes silly after a while. Basically you are going from one place to another in stealth, gather some stuff you need for the bass fight and try to defeat a boss 20 times until you do. Very frustrating near the end of the game The game is just not balanced very good, feels like a pain.

The Bottom Line
Nice and cool progression of Metal Gear 1 and 2 games, Focused on stealth, boss fights and movie like story. Becomes frustrating and silly as you progress through the game.

The Good
With amazing gameplay, memorable cutscenes, excellent characters this is one of the best games ever.

The Bad
Slightly short

The Bottom Line
Ever wanted to be in a movie. Well here is your chance. In Metal Gear Slid you play Solid Snake on a mission to investigate a grup of terrorists who plan to launch a nuclear bomb. As you play through the game the amazing gameplay is broken up by amazing cut scenes with the best voice acting ever seen in a game. You will be shocked as Vulcan Raven rides out in a tank and you will be touched by Sniper Wolf's memorable dying speech. You will fall in love with this game. As well as that there are 100s of VR missions that test your skills to the limit.