Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection

"Perfect score for a perfect series - Nuff said"

What a great collection for one of the greatest, if not THE greatest series of all time. The ever popular Metal Gear Solid series first debuted on the Playstation one to great success at selling six million copies worldwide. The others followed a similar success with Metal Gear Solid 2 selling seven million copies and Metal Gear Solid 3 selling 4 million. Now some games consider breaking one million to be lucky. What makes this series so successful and special in the eyes of the millions and millions of fans? Well, you're about to find out.

Metal Gear Solid One:

The first game in the epic series splashed with a giant debut worldwide being one of the first games to successfully create a link between cinematics and gameplay. There was a new reason to beating games now, instead of giving yourself a pat on the back, you're immersing yourself in an ocean of a deep and riveting storyline. Even though Metal Gear Solid's gameplay is one of the best and most unique out there, you actually have very good reason to progress: the suspense of learning what is about to happen as you move through the game is entirely satisfying, and a more immersive and unique experience than what you actually watch in theaters. And although Metal Gear Solid was originally written in Japanese, the writing is still one of the best. You'll find many memorable and widely used quotes in this series.

Graphics: 9/10
I'm judging this in comparison to all of its other contemporaries at the current time. Metal Gear Solid has aged quite well in comparison to many other PSone games out there. There is still plenty of detail here for a PSone game: smoke coming out of a gun, animations, maggots, grime, rats, etc. Still looks really great for a PSone game though.

Story: 9/10
Quite possibly still one of the best in any video game whatsoever. The plotline consists of a bunch of terrorists who want Big Boss' remains, or they'll launch a nuclear attack. Sure, it sounds like you've heard it a bunch of times, but the strength of Metal Gear Solid lies within the brilliantly fleshed out characters, the twists, the turns, the writing, the humour, etc. This is what made Metal Gear Solid so successful – fans get so attached to the characters as well as finding various humourous jokes throughout the whole game to make this world more immersive even further.

Gameplay: 10/10
Another place it shines is the fun, quirky, and outstanding gameplay. Finally, something unique for a change besides the approach of shooting anything that moves. In this game, you sneak. Each enemy has a line of sight and you're basically supposed to avoid them. However, there are many ways to dispose the enemies or rather, not dispose them at all. Beat them up with a punch, punch, kick combo. Shoot them in the face with a SOCOM or a stinger missile. Or even snap their necks into two. There are plenty of weapons here, and each of the weapons have a specific use – from sniper rifles to nikita missiles to claymore mines. Boss fights are interesting and fun too – you'll fight a masked psychic, a muscular shaman who can speak with the dead, a cyborg ninja, etc. Although Snake has many weapons rivaling a small militia, you'll end up using all of them. This is the type of game that really appeals to almost everyone. It can become a run and gun if you want it, or it can become a stealth game where you don't have to kill anyone. It's all about choices, and that's the greatness of Metal Gear – giving you plenty of it.

Metal Gear Solid 2:

Graphics 10/10:
Wowza, these graphics still impress me today. The whole game could be passed as a PS3 or Xbox 360 game. There are virtually no jaggies in this game. Character models look fantastic with specific detail to facial structure, wrinkles, and animations. With how great everything looks, the game runs incredibly smooth. I don't think I've ever encountered anything less than 60 frames per second in this game. Not to mention that there is incredible attention to detail in this game including Snake slow stepping whenever he's over a dead body, running up and down the stairs with accurate animations to each step, etc.

Story 10/10
This is perhaps the most ambitious game in the series, and maybe one of the most ambitious of all games of all time. The characters here are well thought out, and the twists are brilliantly put together. The story of MGS2 is like a puzzle. They give you some pieces, you think you know what's going on and think you've solved the puzzle. Later on, those pieces didn't actually fit, now they give you some more pieces, and some more. Some people can't even handle all of these twists. It's not for everyone, especially those who are used to simpler and straightforward stories. But it's certainly strange (in a good way), well thought out, deep, serious yet filled with moments of incongruous humor. A truly original experience.

Gameplay: 10/10
Again, MGS2 hits the nail on the head with the gameplay while still being incredibly smooth. This time, the environment is more interactive, there is so much to do with the enemies. They added the ability to sneak behind enemies and hold them up for their items. They give up their dog tags and whatever they're carrying, and having dogtags could unlock you some cool items. The AI is better too, and they were modeled after real SWAT teams. The attention to detail is definitely worth noting: Even if your shoe sticks out, enemies can still spot you. The bosses are still very fun and interesting: You'll face a bomb expert in roller skates, a vampire like human, and a woman who just always seems to have the best luck.

Metal Gear Solid 3:

Graphics: 10/10
The jungle setting works really great here. Grass moves when you walk through it. Trees look lush, vibrant. Rabbits and snakes are hopping and crawling along. Although the graphics are way better than MGS2, the frame rate suffered a bit. It runs at 30 frames instead of 60 frames per second. Still there are virtually no slowdowns, and that's impressive, considering everything that's on screen. Explosions look way better. Although its a PS2 game, this could easily pass as a next gen PS3 or Xbox 360 game.

Story: 8/10
MGS3 is a bit less ambitious than the other two. It's pretty much a straightforward mission. Although the story is good, and some hail it as the best in the series, I just didn't feel the wowza or the uniqueness that had me compelled like the other two.

Gameplay: 10/10
Survival stealth is the name and you start out basically naked with nothing but a knife and a mk22. You'll have to hunt for food and eat. One funny thing is, if you leave the food out too long, it'll rot, and will do more harm than good. You'll have to utilise camouflage to try to avoid the enemy. Or you can just take out the enemy with a gun or using the new combat system: CQC. With CQC, you can interrogate enemies, slit throats, or even do takedowns to knock them out. And also, what's MGS without unique bosses? You'll face a foe who controls bumble bees, a terribly old sniper, a flamethrowing madman, and many more.

Conclusion:
If you already have the games, then this collection isn't worth the dough. There isn't much here to warrant an extra purchase, but for those that don't have it, or have never played it: What are you waiting for!?? Buy it!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/08

Game Release: Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection (US, 03/18/08)