REVIEW: Metal Gear Solid (PS1/PSN)

Now, I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable and experienced when it comes to video games; I've been playing them pretty constantly since I was very young, and have experience with most of the major series over the years. However, it will surely shock some people (and probably completely discredit me as a reviewer) if I mention that I've never played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and until last year I had also never played Metal Gear Solid. This all changed when I decided to download the original game from PSN and despite some astounding games in a very strong year, one of the games that blew me completely away in 2011 was this one. In short, I am an idiot for not playing it before.

When you first load up the original Metal Gear Solid you will no doubt feel a slight sense of revulsion over the archaic Playstation One graphics; the textures are blocky, murky and don't line up properly, character models are clunky and polygons tear at the seams all over the place. This is just what games looked like, but after being spoilt on modern games for so long it's something you have to acknowledge and accept going in. Fear not though, within the space of an hour you will have forgotten about this (sole) shortcoming and will be utterly engrossed in the story and experience of playing this game. 

First off, the voice acting and music are great, especially for a game made in 1998!! The cinematic eye of Hideo Kojima really draws you into the story and builds up the characters and their complicated relationships with each other. There are twists and turns and multiple levels of intrigue heaped upon each other until your head is exploding with plots-within-plots, but it is all told so masterfully that it is never anything less that utterly gripping. Some of the most memorable characters in gaming history, primarily the titular 'Solid Snake' take shape here and by the end of the game, you will be itching for more.

Gameplay-wise, Metal Gear Solid rewrote the rule book and lay the foundations for a lot of what later came to encapsulate the modern video game. There are even things that this game was doing back then that put modern games to shame. The boss fights for example are some of the best EVER MADE!! Seriously, you will never ever forget the time that you faced off against 'Psycho Mantis' or 'Sniper Wolf'. Rather than "shoot the weak spot", Hideo Kojima makes each encounter utterly unique and requires some ingenious thinking from the player to overcome. The game is relatively difficult, but not overly hard, it just requires patience, concentration and most importantly brain cells.

Metal Gear Solid was one of my favorite gaming experiences of last year, something that I simply did not expect to happen. If, like me, you've somehow missed this "back in the day", rest assured that the gameplay and story are so masterful that downloading it and playing this old game in today's modern climate is still an amazing experience.