Metal Gear Solid

"This is the reason why you should keep your Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance."

I really doubt that I have to explain what kind of games the Metal Gear games are, if you have paid any attention to video games in the last 10 years, there's no way that you could've avoid the Metal Gear series. The series had a cult fanbase during the 80 bit era, since the first game got a port for the NES, even if the port wasn't the best. Then the series got a NES exclusive sequel and another sequel on the MSX2 system. After that the series was dead for almost ten years, until Metal Gear Solid got released on the Playstation and after that the series became one of the most popular series. However what many didn't notice that only one year after Metal Gear Solid got released the series got a new spin off released on the Game Boy Color.

The original title of this game is actually Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, but for some reason this game is also known as Metal Gear Solid in the US and in Europe, even if this game has nothing to do with the Playstation game, but I guess that anyone could figure out that the game would appeal to more people if it had Solid in the title. The best way to describe this game is that it's an alternative sequel to the very first Metal Gear. The story is in no way considered to be "canon", but as I aid before it uses the first Metal Gear as a prequel.

The game takes place seven years after Metal Gear. After what Snake did in Outer Heaven, he retired to Alaska and tried to live a peaceful life. But one day he gets contact by his old friend Roy Cambell who tells him that he has a job that only Solid Snake "The Legend" can handle. It turns out that a new Metal Gear prototype codenamed Gander have been stolen by a separatist guerilla group in the region of Gindra in Central Africa. That region is right now in a middle of a civil war and the group is going to use the Metal Gear prototype of acheive victory. Since Solid Snake have already dealed with a Metal Gear the goverment wants him to once again destroy the battle tank. At first Snake refuses to accept the mission, but when Roy Cambell tells him that the enemy's fortress is the same fortfress as Outer Heaven, Solid Snake changes his mind.

The game formula is almost exactly the same as the Metal Gear Solid game for the Playstation. You are supposed to avoid getting spotted by the enemy. Hiding behind walls or suprise attack the enemy from behind is the best way to avoid the enemy. Just like in the Playstation game, yo got a radar in the upper corner of the screen where you see where you are and where the enemy is. However if the enemy spots you, the radar won't work for a short period and it would be best if you tried to hide somewhere when that happens. Remember that your main job is to NOT BE SEEN, not to kill all the random guards in the game.

There are a total 13 different stages in the game, and in each stage you got on mission that you have to do. It can be anything from rescue a hostage to find and defeat a boss or to blow something up. When you have cleared a stage you can turn off your Game Boy and then start over on the stage since there's a stage select mode in this game. However when you do that you lose much of your equipment and you have to find new items, so it's better to save your game instead. Most of the stages also got different continue spots, where you begin when you have loaded a saved game. You also get to keep your equipment if you use this instead of the stage select feature, but keep in mind that there are only one save file, and the game doesn't warn you if you really want to delete your old save file.

Just like the Playstation version, the developers of this game have focused on bringing good boss fights. Most of the bosses are members from the team Black Shamber, which is a mercernary group just like FOX HOUND. Each of the members in the group has hiis own unique ability, and his good reason for fighting. In the easy difficulties most of them aren't tough, but at the more hard difficulties they are quite the challenge. While their background story isn't as deep as in the Playstation Metal Gear Solid, it's notable that it's much more than what you find out about the boss characters in MGS2 and MGS3.

Another cool thing that they included in this game is the CODEC feature. Just like in the other Metal Gear games it's possible to call someone in your support crew if you need any advice. While I barely use this feature, you can find out a lot of good stuff. The best in the crew is "Weasel" since he gives you helpful hints when you are in a middle of a boss fight. It's also good to call Mei-Ling since it's she who saves your game. Another cool thing is that there's a secret radio theater if call a secret frequence, and this theater is divided in 13 episodes. (One for each episode).

Beside from the main game, there are a couple of different modes. As I mentioned before, there is a stage select feature so you can replay your favourite stage after that you have finished that stage. However there's also a special feature where you take place as the soldier named as Jack who has to do this stages in VR training. The only difference is that you have to do something else to complete the stage, it can be anything from a different method to just finish the stage as fast as possible. (Some fans wants to think that it's the same Jack as in MGS 2 aka Raiden, but I don't know if it really is.)

Then there's regular VR training, which is great if you want to improve your skills in anything. There are about 180 different missions where you train to either reach a goal without being spotted by the enemy, learn how to fully master a weapon or any other thing. I guess that this mode is perfect for those who wants to try to beat the game on the hardest difficulty, but personally I skipped most of it.

Finally there's the VS Mode, which I have never been able to try since you need two games in order to try this mode. Apparantly it's contest between the two players. One player has to find 3 discs by defeating certain enemies on the stage and reach the goal before the other player does. Maybe it's fun, I wish I knew.

Maybe it doesn't deserve a full ten, but considering how great the main game is and how much extra stuff there is to do, I say that you can at least spend 80 hours with this game without getting bored, and that's a lot for an old Game Boy Color game. Anyone can enjoy this, and you are not a real Metal Gear fan if you haven't tried it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/07

Game Release: Metal Gear Solid (EU, May 2000)