Metal Gear Solid

"A masterpiece"

Metal gear Solid on the playstation is without doubt my favourite game of all time. Metal Gear Solid 2 is without doubt my second favourite and Metal Gear 3 is already looking like beating the hell out of them both despite, at the time of writing, still being in development. Metal Gear Solid on the Gameboy however, takes us back to the time before things were ‘solid' and the world ran in 2d. It's not, as the name may suggest, a watered down version of the playstation game, but an entirely new addition to the series known as MGS in the west, and Metal Gear: Ghost babel in the east. Basically, it's an MGS spin off, translated onto the gameboy in the style of the original classics Metal Gear, and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Having taken some of the new elements of MGS, and fusing them with the old school classic gameplay of yesteryear, MGS is the best 2D Metal gear game ever, and easily one of the Gameboy's absolute top titles.

The plot:
Gameboy games traditionally have rubbish stories. Nobody bothers writing an epic script for the Gameboy (except those chaps behind the Zeldas). The normal gameboy plot revolves around one guy who has to a) rescue a girl b) escape from aliens or c) save the world. So when MGS comes along with its detailed, emotional, and gripping plot, you can understand how refreshing it is. Okay, so it's not on par with the rest of the MG games, but it's still arguably the best plot of any Gameboy game ever. Once again, you take the role of one of the best games characters ever, Solid Snake. He's been called back into action by the colonel despite having retired after a little incident known as outer heaven, the reason being that he's the only man up for the job. Of course it sounds simple when you're reading this, but the opening movie alone is ten minutes long. It seems colonel has heard about a new type of Metal gear being built in galluade- the area previously referred to as outer heaven, and he wants you to check it out. Backing you up on the mission are familiar faces in Campbell and Mei Ling, as well as new characters- Weasel and McBride, and later, Chris and Jimmy. It's a fast moving, complex plot involving death, vengeance, and betrayal, that's way better than most Gameboy games. The strangest thing is that the plot takes place neither before or after MGS on the PS, but rather parallel; Mei Ling and Snake have never met in either game for example. Ultimately, almost nothing can touch the plots of the other MG games, but for a Gameboy game this is probably the best I've heard.

Graphics - 8/10

MGS has mediocre graphics which are at the same time brilliant. Some of the detail looks a little rough at times, yet at others it's absolutely incredible. The animation is undeniably slick and the characters are all great looking, but there are some aspects that appear to let the side down just a little. At times it looks fantastic, let's leave it at that.

Sound - 9/10

Not all the tunes are very catchy, but you'd have to be death to criticize the noise this game comes up with. Some of the music is fantastic, and just as with the other titles, it's all been implemented at the perfect times for great effect. The music is as atmospheric as in any MG game and as always, captures the mood of areas perfectly. MGS fans should recognise the excellent VR tune from the Playstation, as well as the classic game over “dern dern dun dun dern... dun dun dern”.

Gameplay - 10/10

Back on the SNES, Hideo Kojima released the first game in which the idea was to stealthily take out your enemies rather than running in with a machine gun and hoping the enemy can't aim straight. You'll be happy to know that the classic gameplay has been translated fantastically well to the Gameboy color. For a gameboy game this is a breath of fresh air; the lack of stealthy competition making it a unique portable experience.

Just as with MGS on the PS the stealth sections are broken up with Boss battles which I can safely say, do not disappoint. Okay so the bosses themselves (a group known as Black Chamber) aren't anything too special, and come across as rejects from Foxhound - Living in Foxhound's shadow as one of them puts it- but the battles are brilliant. Some are very straight forward, involving lobbing grenades, and dodging, but it's the one's like the showdown with Viper in which you must make your way through a maze of trip wires that really get you.

MGS has tension, action, and much more so than on the playstation, a whole lot of thinking too. You're made to really plan what you're doing and where you're going with each section, introducing a real aspect of intelligence that makes this stand out from the other Metal Gears. This can result in a bit too much wondering for everyone's liking, but it also introduces some really great gameplay. Take the section with the boxes for example. Snake has to get from A to B by hiding in a cardboard box and riding on a conveabelt. You're constantly being made to think about which colour box to use and down which root you want to go. The Metal Gear fight is also for me the best ever. Why? Because instead of blasting it with stingers and dodging missiles, you have to hide yourself behind crates, planning every move and timing your every attack. It's strange to see a Gameboy game being the more intellectual, but when compared to the others, it is.

On a final Gameplay note, do not underestimate how good the action is. There's a great selection of weapons to use, but while some are implemented into tasks such as blowing up certain points, to be honest, there isn't quite enough opportunity to make the most of them all. Konami being the geniuses they are would never let them go to waste though. If you feel there was no opportunity to use a weapon as much as you'd have liked, they've given you a set of alternative missions to unlock, as well as absolutely loads of VR missions. The latter is like a whole other, more action packed game. Remember how you had to pay extra for the VR missions on the playstation? Here you get the entire package. A full length story and loads of VR missions tackling everything from weapon use to no weapon infiltration. You're effectively getting two fantastic games in one.

If there're any flaws at all with the gameplay, there's a) a few too many go there, do this, collect that sections, and b)the enemy AI is understandably weaker on the gameboy. For a Gameboy game, it's understandable, but there's no denying that it's pretty weak at times. Enemies occasionally walk straight past you when they're looking for you and you'll sometimes be safe hiding yourself round a corner even if they watched you go there. At the end of the day, these are minor flaws to a fantastic game. There's nothing much left to say.

Lifespan - 9/10

In actual adventure length, it's about the same as MGS and MGS2 (roughly ten hours), but there's more gameplay here and less cut scenes. Then you take in to account the extra missions and VR training, which add thrice as much length. Hardcore gamers will try the game on a harder difficulty setting for yet more challenge, and for real long term appeal, there's a little extra unlockable feature when you complete the game undetected. Warning: massive challenge. If it wasn't for games like Pokemon which really do last a lifetime, MGS would be a ten.

Overall: 10/10- 96%

There's almost no way that Konami could have made a better MG game for the gameboy. Nothing on Gameboy Color can top this game for Action, tension, storytelling and intelligence. An essential purchase.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/11/04