Metal Gear Solid Mobile

"The Cell phone was in MGS2, who knew MGS would be in the cell phone?"

Metal Gear Solid Mobile

Ever since Metal Gear Solid came out in the late 90s, a cult has formed around this game. Metal Gear will never be as big as Halo, but it will go down in gamming history as the father of the stealth genera. Now, in 2008, Metal Gear Solid makes its way into your pocket. Well God of War mobile and Assassins Creed Mobile were BIG let downs. Of course this game is bound to be horrible. But is it?

Story 7/10
The game has no fancy into but I didn't expect one. You enter an unknown building and are Solid Snake, the bad ass from most of the other games. You are soon called from Otocon, and told you must save Dr. Victoria Reed. She is on the Metal Gear project and will give you information in exchange for help out.

SPOLIERS SECTION:



I'm not gona spoil the whole game ya know but I must say one thing. This was an Assassins Creed ending. The whole game turned out to be a VR simulator that Snake was stuck in. On top of that, no real ending, it just fades to the credits. This worked well with Assassins Creed due to its nature, but not with Metal Gear Solid.


END SPOILERS..

On more complaint is that the story is driven to fast. Every few rooms it seems you got a call about something important. The story was nice, ending could have been better, and there should be another game to continue on what happened right after this.

Game Play 9/10
For a Mobile phone game I was REALLY impressed. Let me tell you first I have this game on a flip phone version of the Chocolate from Verizon. The controls moved nice, not much of a lag on the keys. The button configuration were one button does all action actually make it very easy, as I did not have to move my thumb away from the main buttons much.

Lets brake it down.
To play this game you must basically hid from guards and go from room to room, until you find a node to upgrade your Security Lvl to get through more doors, or until you hit a plot point. Do this several times and its set. Not much else different from other MGS games. Weapons like the SOCOM, FAMAS, C4, M9 and more return. There is also a nice little mini game where you scramble data. A new feature is the camo but I will get there.

The controls basically have the for arrows(or if you like 2,4,6,8) and the ok button(5) to move and do actions. The left soft key opens your options, where you can open your codec, change settings, end your game. The one on the right lets you choice your items. Its all in one general area so no moving you thumb up and down your phone like you did in the Metal Gear 1 port to phones.

However one flaw was the camera option. You see in this game you get a broken stealth camo and must take pictures to barrow there colors. This has very little strategic value, as the areas are so small, that even if they can see you form a distance with the camo, they are always right in front of you. Also taking pictures in real life can be a pain. Sometimes you don't get the color you want and other times your camera wont respond.

Your phone camera can also be used to aim your gun. What a joke. Place this in your car and the bumps will send Snake around in circles, and even when still, the aiming either doesn't react, or over reacts, but in the wrong direction! I chose to turn off the camera controls in the option menu, I was just garbage.

Length is not to much of an issue. My final time was 1 hour and 17 min and I am a metal gear vet so I knew what I was doing. Its a cell phone game and you cant gut it for everything. You get a decent story and great game play. And when your done with the main game, you can try again for a faster time, and try out the VR Missions though there are only about 15 or so of them and they don't time you, its still an extra boost.

Looks 10/10
Yes a perfect 10. Let it be known I usually don't look at the graphics in reviews but this game stands out, due to it being on a mobile phone. I found no real graphical glitches, the 3D models look great, the codec pictures looks as good as MGS2. I must say cell phones are now as powerful as the PlayStation One. Not much really to say, just look at a screen shot and see how great it is for your self.

Sound: 8/10
Old, but still great music is redone for Metal Gear Solid Mobile. The classic MSX theme is made great for sneaking around and the starting mission tune for VR is still there. I only dislike the winning theme not being there. If you like Metal Gear music you will like this, but there's not much else I can say about re used music.

Final Score 8
I recommend this game for every Metal Gear fan out there. This is a short but true Metal Gear experience and not just a cheep $3 spin off. Even for the $11 price it is definitely worth it. I hope every one will enjoy this like me and hope this makes you more hyped for Metal Gear Solid 4

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/08

Game Release: Metal Gear Solid Mobile (US, 03/19/08)