Lord Regal
Well-Known Member
I remember reading about Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for Gamecube in Nintendo Power, wanting to try it. I was far too young at the time though, so I missed out. Since my family only has Nintendo systems, I couldn't try any of the other games in the series. When this remake of the first Metal Gear game chronologically speaking came out, I knew I had to try it. Thus began my excursion into what is now one of my favorite 3DS games.
I will review this game in the following categories: plot, gameplay, graphics, music/sound, bosses, bonuses, and overall.
Plot: This game's plot is incredibly engaging. In addition to the traditional, "Bad guy wants to take over the world *evil laughter*" plot, there's many subplots. Snake's relationship with his mentor, "The Boss", who defects to the Soviet Union at the beginning of the game, is particularly engaging. The background on the events in the game, spy EVA's story, and Snake's relationship with his crew members all factor in as well. The plot gets fairly complicated at times, but by the end of the game I had no questions about anything that had happened. Everything I learned just made me want to know more, and it kept me engaged the whole way through.
Gameplay: This was my first "stealth" game, and boy was it an eye opener! There's so much to keep track of, and failure to watch even one thing can result in death. In addition to Snake's health, there's his stamina and camo index to watch too. Stamina falls just by living, and any hard exercise depletes it faster. The only way to replenish it is to eat, and the majority of the things you'll eat are snakes, insects, bats, etc. You can stockpile food for later, but it'll go rotten after a while. You can capture up to three animals live by using the tranq gun, and these you can either eat or throw at guards to scare them. This latter method I've never gotten to work, despite the fact I once actually hit the guard with the cage. Your camo index tells you how well you're hidden in the current situation, and you can accumulate a scary amount of camo suits (I have over 20 now). You start with a knife, a tranquilizer gun, and a pistol. The rest you find in the field, gaining access to a decent armory as the game goes on. The best part of the gameplay in my opinion has to be the choices. Do you sneak past the guards, knock them out with tranq rounds, grab them from behind and interrogate them, then strangle them or cut their throat, or do you run in, machine gun blazing? Every method has its ups and downs, and they all have ramifications. Stealth often means your stamina will be more of an issue, while attacking means more serious injuries. Serious injuries take the form of gunshot wounds where the bullets are still lodged in your body, deep cuts, broken bones, and other similar problems. These cause part of your health bar to turn red. This damage will never heal unless you operate on it, using bandages and other supplies to heal yourself. The choices are amazing. I've played through the game twice, and I had different primary methods of attack each time...the result was essentially two different games.
Graphics: I can't comment on how good the original's graphics are, but the graphics in this game are stunning. I'm scared of bees, and knocking a hornet's nest down for food makes me shiver as the hornets attack whatever's nearby. The 3D makes a huge difference, as it's easier to judge distances and the like, which helps in avoiding the guards. My only complaint here is when you're aiming a weapon in first person mode, the 3D suddenly turns off, then turns back on when you put the gun down. The transition is disorienting, as the image splits, then converges as it's turning off, and then reverses when it goes back on. Since most aiming is done in first person, this gets highly annoying, and before I got used to it it gave me a headache. There's also a cave segment that's incredibly dark, making it hard to find the small tunnel leading out of it. However, aside from those issues, the graphics are great.
Music/Sound: Nintendo Power stated in their coverage of this game that "this is one game you'll want to play with headphones on". This is incredibly accurate. Every noise made in this game has meaning. Unlike many games with flashy sound effects and other distracting sounds, this game turns sounds into a way to survive. You can hear animals moving through grass, guards' footsteps, and whirring of mechanical implements. Not only do these sounds vary in volume as you approach them, they're also directional. If a guard is to your left, you hear him there. A snake behind you, hissing as it prepares to strike, sounds like it's at your back. The headphones help make sense of the important sounds, and it adds another element of gameplay that's incredibly important. Music is very rare in this game. In fact, aside from boss fights, it's possible to only hear music a few times. This is because the only time music is heard is when the guards know you're there to some extent. Alert, Evasion, and Caution (the three states you're in when the guards know you're there) all have their own music, and it's helpful to hear them to know where you're at. However, this music, particularly in Alert (the highest) gets fairly loud, drowning out some of the sounds I mentioned above. This makes things extremely dangerous, as you now have guards actively shooting you with no way of hearing where reinforcements may be coming from. The boss fight music is decent, but only the final boss' theme is memorable in any way.
Bosses: This game prides itself on making everything that's happening seem legitimate. It really feels like the Cold War in Russia throughout the game. The bosses are the only exception to this reality setup, and even they have ways to make it believable to an extent. All but two of the bosses are from an elite unit of soldiers known as COBRA. Each of them have an emotion that they use as fuel in the heat of battle, and their code names reflect that. The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, The Sorrow, and The Joy (The Boss). The Pain uses hornets as offensive and defensive weapons, but his horribly stung face shows not even he escapes them. The Fear climbs trees like a spider, but he dislocates his elbows prior to the fight to make it possible. Only the Sorrow has no true explanation as to how he does what he does, but a supernatural explanation is given, and one that fits the story. Again, choice is everything in the bosses. The End, a sniper, is the best example. You can try and outsnipe him, run up behind him and whack him with normal weapons, wait for him to fall asleep and run past him, let him die of old age (he's over 100)...and there's even the briefest of brief chances to assassinate him before you fight him, after a cutscene where The Fear is told to kill Snake. The Sorrow's fight only has one way to beat him, but how you've played the game up until that point has a huge effect on how that fight goes...
Bonuses: The game may have a serious overtone, but there are still some pretty cool bonuses. There are hidden Yoshi dolls in almost every area. Shooting it causes the Yoshi to give his classic noise from back in Super Mario World several times. I believe it's to be used as a distraction, but I've never gotten it to work, as the guards go for the muzzle flash from my gun, not the screaming Yoshi doll. There're also several points where you can see nods to other companies. Several gaming magazines are featured showing the game, and there are several bikini posters featuring a Japanese girl (I have no clue where that's from) throughout the game. Certain radio wavelengths call off alerts, have random radio music, and can call in airstrikes. It's possible to obtain camo suits from each of the bosses...although the method I'll leave for you to find out. Beating the game certain ways unlocks new weapons you get from the start, as well as titles (I've only unlocked two as of right now) A ton of bonus content exists, and finding the Yoshis is especially fun.
Overall: Overall this game is stellar. The story is rich and engaging, the gameplay offers multiple ways to play, the sound usage is the best I've ever seen in a game, great graphics, memorable bosses (I LOVE The Fear) and plenty of bonus content to keep anyone busy, so the replay value works well. I'd love to see a multiplayer mode in which each person controls a different Snake and tries to kill the others while staying alive themselves, a la The End boss fight, but no multiplayer function exists. (It'd be especially cool if you got to use any weapon or camo you've ever found, giving dedicated players the edge). A few minor issues in getting certain methods of attack your radio teammates swear work to do what they're supposed to, and a couple minor graphical complaints keep me from giving this a perfect score, but it's a darn good game, and I'd recommend anyone who's able (or allowed) to play this M rated title a shot.
9.5 Golden Nintendans out of 10
+ .5
I will review this game in the following categories: plot, gameplay, graphics, music/sound, bosses, bonuses, and overall.
Plot: This game's plot is incredibly engaging. In addition to the traditional, "Bad guy wants to take over the world *evil laughter*" plot, there's many subplots. Snake's relationship with his mentor, "The Boss", who defects to the Soviet Union at the beginning of the game, is particularly engaging. The background on the events in the game, spy EVA's story, and Snake's relationship with his crew members all factor in as well. The plot gets fairly complicated at times, but by the end of the game I had no questions about anything that had happened. Everything I learned just made me want to know more, and it kept me engaged the whole way through.
Gameplay: This was my first "stealth" game, and boy was it an eye opener! There's so much to keep track of, and failure to watch even one thing can result in death. In addition to Snake's health, there's his stamina and camo index to watch too. Stamina falls just by living, and any hard exercise depletes it faster. The only way to replenish it is to eat, and the majority of the things you'll eat are snakes, insects, bats, etc. You can stockpile food for later, but it'll go rotten after a while. You can capture up to three animals live by using the tranq gun, and these you can either eat or throw at guards to scare them. This latter method I've never gotten to work, despite the fact I once actually hit the guard with the cage. Your camo index tells you how well you're hidden in the current situation, and you can accumulate a scary amount of camo suits (I have over 20 now). You start with a knife, a tranquilizer gun, and a pistol. The rest you find in the field, gaining access to a decent armory as the game goes on. The best part of the gameplay in my opinion has to be the choices. Do you sneak past the guards, knock them out with tranq rounds, grab them from behind and interrogate them, then strangle them or cut their throat, or do you run in, machine gun blazing? Every method has its ups and downs, and they all have ramifications. Stealth often means your stamina will be more of an issue, while attacking means more serious injuries. Serious injuries take the form of gunshot wounds where the bullets are still lodged in your body, deep cuts, broken bones, and other similar problems. These cause part of your health bar to turn red. This damage will never heal unless you operate on it, using bandages and other supplies to heal yourself. The choices are amazing. I've played through the game twice, and I had different primary methods of attack each time...the result was essentially two different games.
Graphics: I can't comment on how good the original's graphics are, but the graphics in this game are stunning. I'm scared of bees, and knocking a hornet's nest down for food makes me shiver as the hornets attack whatever's nearby. The 3D makes a huge difference, as it's easier to judge distances and the like, which helps in avoiding the guards. My only complaint here is when you're aiming a weapon in first person mode, the 3D suddenly turns off, then turns back on when you put the gun down. The transition is disorienting, as the image splits, then converges as it's turning off, and then reverses when it goes back on. Since most aiming is done in first person, this gets highly annoying, and before I got used to it it gave me a headache. There's also a cave segment that's incredibly dark, making it hard to find the small tunnel leading out of it. However, aside from those issues, the graphics are great.
Music/Sound: Nintendo Power stated in their coverage of this game that "this is one game you'll want to play with headphones on". This is incredibly accurate. Every noise made in this game has meaning. Unlike many games with flashy sound effects and other distracting sounds, this game turns sounds into a way to survive. You can hear animals moving through grass, guards' footsteps, and whirring of mechanical implements. Not only do these sounds vary in volume as you approach them, they're also directional. If a guard is to your left, you hear him there. A snake behind you, hissing as it prepares to strike, sounds like it's at your back. The headphones help make sense of the important sounds, and it adds another element of gameplay that's incredibly important. Music is very rare in this game. In fact, aside from boss fights, it's possible to only hear music a few times. This is because the only time music is heard is when the guards know you're there to some extent. Alert, Evasion, and Caution (the three states you're in when the guards know you're there) all have their own music, and it's helpful to hear them to know where you're at. However, this music, particularly in Alert (the highest) gets fairly loud, drowning out some of the sounds I mentioned above. This makes things extremely dangerous, as you now have guards actively shooting you with no way of hearing where reinforcements may be coming from. The boss fight music is decent, but only the final boss' theme is memorable in any way.
Bosses: This game prides itself on making everything that's happening seem legitimate. It really feels like the Cold War in Russia throughout the game. The bosses are the only exception to this reality setup, and even they have ways to make it believable to an extent. All but two of the bosses are from an elite unit of soldiers known as COBRA. Each of them have an emotion that they use as fuel in the heat of battle, and their code names reflect that. The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, The Sorrow, and The Joy (The Boss). The Pain uses hornets as offensive and defensive weapons, but his horribly stung face shows not even he escapes them. The Fear climbs trees like a spider, but he dislocates his elbows prior to the fight to make it possible. Only the Sorrow has no true explanation as to how he does what he does, but a supernatural explanation is given, and one that fits the story. Again, choice is everything in the bosses. The End, a sniper, is the best example. You can try and outsnipe him, run up behind him and whack him with normal weapons, wait for him to fall asleep and run past him, let him die of old age (he's over 100)...and there's even the briefest of brief chances to assassinate him before you fight him, after a cutscene where The Fear is told to kill Snake. The Sorrow's fight only has one way to beat him, but how you've played the game up until that point has a huge effect on how that fight goes...
Bonuses: The game may have a serious overtone, but there are still some pretty cool bonuses. There are hidden Yoshi dolls in almost every area. Shooting it causes the Yoshi to give his classic noise from back in Super Mario World several times. I believe it's to be used as a distraction, but I've never gotten it to work, as the guards go for the muzzle flash from my gun, not the screaming Yoshi doll. There're also several points where you can see nods to other companies. Several gaming magazines are featured showing the game, and there are several bikini posters featuring a Japanese girl (I have no clue where that's from) throughout the game. Certain radio wavelengths call off alerts, have random radio music, and can call in airstrikes. It's possible to obtain camo suits from each of the bosses...although the method I'll leave for you to find out. Beating the game certain ways unlocks new weapons you get from the start, as well as titles (I've only unlocked two as of right now) A ton of bonus content exists, and finding the Yoshis is especially fun.
Overall: Overall this game is stellar. The story is rich and engaging, the gameplay offers multiple ways to play, the sound usage is the best I've ever seen in a game, great graphics, memorable bosses (I LOVE The Fear) and plenty of bonus content to keep anyone busy, so the replay value works well. I'd love to see a multiplayer mode in which each person controls a different Snake and tries to kill the others while staying alive themselves, a la The End boss fight, but no multiplayer function exists. (It'd be especially cool if you got to use any weapon or camo you've ever found, giving dedicated players the edge). A few minor issues in getting certain methods of attack your radio teammates swear work to do what they're supposed to, and a couple minor graphical complaints keep me from giving this a perfect score, but it's a darn good game, and I'd recommend anyone who's able (or allowed) to play this M rated title a shot.
9.5 Golden Nintendans out of 10