Metal Gear Solid

"Stealthy combat has attacked the Game Boy Color"

OPENING STATEMENT
Metal Gear Solid is the usual game-milking Game Boy Color game that is released when a console game finds popularity. Unlike most of these milking games though, Metal Gear Solid is actually good.

GAMEPLAY--9
When I first played Metal Gear Solid I was utterly confused. I was running out into the open and I was purposely getting into wild west style gun fights. Then, I quit the game, and I headed to the VR Training missions. The game instantly made sense. Everyone should make use of these training missions before starting a game. It makes the game make sense, easier, and more fun. Once you have gotten your bearings, the depth and complexity of Metal Gear Solid’s gameplay begins to show. Hiding from the enemies is not a snap. You need to attract enemies to certain locations by wall-banging, and then sprinting for cover, before running past where the enemy was sentrying before you changed his location. You need to use items to get past mechanical sensors. You need to crawl, run, slide, creep, and walk your way to your destination. Although the mission goals are not as varied as you would first think, once you progress through Metal Gear Solid you will learn that they really are as diverse as they should be (and can be with only two buttons).

GRAPHICS--8
For a Game Boy Color game these are pretty impressive graphics.

GAME BOY-- Sorry you guys who are fond of the past. Metal Gear Solid only works on the Game Boy Color. That just depresses you out of your minds does it not?

GAME BOY COLOR-- I am pleased to announce that Metal Gear Solid does work on the Game Boy Color. It takes more than full advantage of the fifty-two color palette. I never knew how many shades of green there were in those fifty-two colors Nintendo chose. The graphics you will find very similar in style (not quality) to its PlayStation counterpart. They are a realism in style you would never expect from a Game Boy Color game.

MUSIC--10
SOUND--9
This is the greatest music I have ever had the privilege of listening to in a portable game. Metal Gear Solid provides us with hours of blissful listening with almost compact disk quality sound quality. The songs are all cinematic and atmospheric, and they convey the feeling of the scene you are in most perfectly. The tunes range from melancholy, to the more frequent, although never the same, war beats that prepare you for the difficulties of battle ahead. This would be a great soundtrack for a PlayStation game, and on the Game Boy Color it is absolutely amazing what Konami did. It is also amazing how quickly and efficiently the Metal Gear Solid music changes with the guards level of awareness. When they are on “Alert” it is a lot more desperate, a lot more urgent. The “Evasion” level does a great job of returning the music to normal.

The sound is also of the utmost sound quality, almost as if you heard it off a PlayStation game. The explosions sound a lot more realistic than they look. The gunfire does a great job depicting the rapid-firing of the Rs gun, or the slow, methodical pace of the Five-Seven, allowing you to quickly and easily determine which is firing, from within the Game Boy Color’s sound range. There is the clanking Solid Snake walking across creaky floors. There is the clinking of glass targets cracking. These are all amazing effects that make the game more atmospheric than it ever should be--which is a good thing.

CONTROL--9
This game has a very important addition that this rating would be much lower without. That important addition (or inclusion if you want to put it that way) is the ability two fire your weapons in all eight major directions. You can fire Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, and Northeast by pressing the two buttons that are on either side of those directions. So pressing Up and Right and A (which is fire) at the same time would cause Solid Snake to fire Northwest. This allows you to pick off guards at times that are convenient to YOU and it also allows the Weapon VR Training Missions to be completed A LOT quicker.

FUN--8
Although when I bought Metal Gear Solid I was expecting a two dimensional shooter, I was pleased with my purchase anyway. There still is plenty of shooting for shooting fans (Just do not get headstrong and get shot. Be a sharp shooter. Then the guards are less apt to notice your presence and enter the unfortunate “Alert” Mode.) and there is plenty of adventure and action for those fans also. Plus, Metal Gear Solid is chock full to the brim with strategy that is needed to bypass the always present guards and security devices, to get to your goal.

CHALLENGE--MEDIUM TO HIGH
No one out there can complain about Metal Gear Solid being too easy. It is one of the most difficult games I have ever played. Some puzzles will keep you puzzled for hours on end. I was especially stuck on one in the third level for a couple of days. But eventually you will notice something you didn’t, you will say “Aha!” and you will proceed with the game until the next difficult puzzle, where the process will promptly begin again. Metal Gear Solid also requires you to have a large vocabulary, or a dictionary handy, because it uses some fancy words to describe things you are to be looking for.

REPLAY VALUE--MEDIUM
I rarely replayed any of the mission from the normal game, but I found myself playing the VR Training Missions over and over again to get the fastest time. These training missions raise the replay value a lot. I did not play the multiplayer mode much, as it involves more stealth than shooting, and I did not find stealth too entertaining in multiplayer. Most people that I know though loved it. Oh well.

PROS
*Translates better to the Game Boy Color than most popular console games.
*Wide variety of weaponry.
*The Training Mode will keep you occupied for hours.

CONS
*The challenge at times is impossible.
*The multiplayer capabilities are not all that great.
*No incentive to beat the single player game again.

CLOSING STATEMENT
This is one of the greatest Game Boy OR Game Boy Color games around. It is great for fans of shooting, adventure, action, or strategy games. It is just a great game for people who like games.

OVERALL--9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/12/01, Updated 07/18/01