Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection

February 5th, 2012

One of gaming’s longest running heavy-weight franchises and brainchild of Hideo Kojima, one of the medium’s few household names, it was clear that out of this year’s glut of HD remake compilations, the Metal Gear Solid Collection was going to be one of the most eagerly anticipated. It’s a shame, therefore, that in some ways Metal Gear Solid HD collection is a little lazy. For starters the versions of the games Konami have chosen to port are missing a few things and half the series isn’t included. Luckily for us what has been included constitute some of the best games on the PS2, with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater being a genuine contender for one of the best games ever made.

This collection consists of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and the previously PSP only Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The versions of 2 and 3 are, however, the later special editions of the game, which included a few extras – but as mentioned previously not all the extras are made it into this release. Metal Gear 3 is missing its online mode and the Snake Vs Monkey mini game, which saw Snake battling against the monkeys from Sony’s Ape Escape series. Obviously it would be missing from the Xbox version but one would think it would have remained on the Sony release, and if achievements are your thing you’ll no doubt be sad to hear that Microsoft’s strict rules mean that the Xbox has a greatly reduced list compared to the PS3 version. Metal Gear Solid 2 is mostly complete but is missing the document of Metal Gear Extra.

Given its stature, it might have been more appropriate for this series to be released in a box set, including all the entries in the series, but unfortunately the collection is missing Metal Gear Solid 1 and 4 (imagine trying to watch lord of the rings with about three hours missing from the start and end). But enough of what missing; on with what’s here.

Metal Gear Solid 2 saw the series shift from mainstay Solid Snake to androgynistic hero Raiden. The game features a twisting plot that’s very hard to take seriously and relies quite heavily at times on the players knowledge of the first Metal Gear Solid released on PSX in 1998, so this title maybe quite hard for new players to fully appreciate. This labyrinthine plot is told through some notoriously long cut scenes, some of which veer on feature film length. However what it lacked in coherance and pace, it made up for in new gameplay additions, including the option to tranquilize the enemies instead of killing them, the first person aiming, hiding bodies in lockers and the list goes on. Many of the gameplay feature in today’s Metal Gear Solid started out here.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is a real high point for the series, shifting the time period back to the 1970s Cold War, we follow Naked Snake (the war hero that Solid, Liquid and Solidus snake were cloned from) in a very emotional story of patriotism and loyalty. The game was a very brave move at the time, abandoning what people knew about Metal Gear Solid including its main character; swapping the secret industrial bases of super villains for an incredible jungle and a new survival system, where you have to hunt food, toggle different camouflage settings and heal your injuries in the field.

As these are the special editions, Metal Gear Solid 3 includes the much improved free camera controls and the inclusion of the very first two Metal Gear games (before the Solid tag was added) in the form of MSX titles Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. These are of course the originals with no enhancements, and considering that Hideo Kojima himself doesn’t think too fondly of them, don’t expect too much from them other than a bit of historical context.

Lastly we have Peace Walker, which has gained a new lease on life with the addition of home console’s second analogue stick (the PSP has only one, making 3D shooters a chore to play). As a consequence the gameplay is much more streamlined and focused to suit the other games in the series. Peace Walker built upon the ideas established in previous PSP only game Portable Ops, which included building a private army of soldiers and researchers for Daddy Snake’s own mercenary unit; a system Assassin Creed borrowed from for Brotherhood and Revelations.

The collection has been given a lot of love in the visual department and is now looking very sharp indeed, which really helps this package come together. This is a very nice collection of most of the Metal Gear series and is fully recommended despite a few short comings.

Words > Jason Potter

Tags: Bluepoint games, Kojima Productions, Konami Digital Entertainment, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, Peace Walker, Playstation 3, Snake Eater, Sons of Liberty, Xbox 360