The Metal Gear Solid Series - Part I
With all of the Metal Gear Solid 4 hype going on, I decided that I want in on the Metal Gear series. Unfortunately, I have never finished any Metal Gear game so I know little about the story. That is, until today. I am attempting to play through all of the previous Metal Gear Solid games to get a deeper understanding of the series and the story before playing MGS4. I just finished Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation, and will be going over some thoughts I had about Metal Gear Solid before playing it, as well as how I felt during and after the game.
I always thought the Metal Gear series was a stealth action game, much like the Splinter Cell series but with more cinematic camera angles. I thought there were some puzzle elements to it as well. I had actually attempted to play Metal Gear Solid when it first came out but lost interest after losing a few times on the second boss.
After getting past the second boss this time around, I learned that the game is not all stealth action. The guards seemed few and far between. The ones I did come across were fairly easy to avoid and kill. It felt like there were more bosses than guards. The boss fights all seemed to happen one after another with not much in between. This is not necessarily a bad thing mind you, just not what I was expecting. The bosses seemed fairly easy as well. The only thing that made the boss fights a challenge were the controls. I’m sure the controls felt spot on when the game came out, but a decade later, it makes me wonder if the game would be a challenge at all if the controls were better.
After finishing the game and thinking back on it, I realized that the story didn’t do much for me. Don’t get me wrong, the voice acting was great and the cut scenes were interesting enough, but I just did not feel attached to the character at all. In most cases, I feel a bit sad when I beat a good game and, in some cases, attempt to play through it a second time. I had no such feelings with Metal Gear Solid. I did enjoy the game while I was playing it, but as soon as it ended, I was glad it was over.
