Metal Gear Solid revisited, a review of the HD collection

Originally Posted by Red October1984

I've always been a Splinter Cell guy myself. I love Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. The first three of the series were great games. They took it in a new direction with Double Agent and Conviction that, while good, is not the same as before.

Metal Gear Solid always seemed strange to me. I played the demo of Peace Walker on my PSP a couple years back and I kind of liked it. The HD Collection is available on Xbox 360 but I never have bothered to look at it. I did not like the way that the bullets hit the target. Too many circles and numbers pop up on the screen. Hit Markers annoy the crap out of me. (They were horrible in Black Ops 2) It was better in Splinter Cell when you would shoot a target and it would slump over in pain or just keel over and die. That's the kind of thing I'd rather have. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory had the ragdoll physics that were GREAT! (Another thing for the CoD devs.....INCLUDE RAGDOLL PHYSICS!!!! It makes a world of difference. Instead of falling flat after an explosion, I'd rather see the body fly around a bit. Add SOME realism please.) You could shoot a sitting man and he'd slump at his desk instead of falling out of the chair. You could throw a guy down some stairs and create a "rolling snowball" with some people climbing the stairs. MGS Peace Walker didn't have good physics IIRC. The MGS Games seemed TOO farfetched and I couldn't get into the storyline. Splinter Cell is crazy...but MGS? Somebody was smoking dope at Konami.

Ubisoft. If you are listening, make Splinter Cell like you used to back in 2002-2005.

While I'm going to keep an open mind until I play a console version of MGS, I'll always be a Splinter Cell guy. It's much cooler IMHO. The first three games will always be in the top 10 Xbox games of all time. C'mon. Who doesn't love sneaking around in the dark with night vision goggles? Who doesn't love being a kick-ass spy? (Although you are NSA....and in real life, they just do SIGINT )

The Splinter Cell series even has good companion books to the series. I've read them all. They are some of the best that the David Michaels pseudonym has to offer. Tom Clancy's Endwar was also great. I'm reading the HAWX book now and it is actually rather bad. The characters are flat and the storyline is annoying and cliche. So...avoid HAWX and definitely read EndWar and the Splinter Cell books.

I think MGS has only Graphic Novels...which turn me off to a series. If you have only comic books to tell your story...well....count me out. I like reading...not fancy picture books.

Sam Fisher used to have the most awesome voice in the video game world until they ditched Michael Ironside for Eric Johnson. Splinter Cell Blacklist will be a total screwup in the voice department for me. It'll be like the voice acting in Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow but worse. Voice Acting in MGS was nothing special from what I remember. Splinter Cell started out with voices that you could really remember. Terminator Salvation came out and I was like "Hey! It's Sam Fisher!" when it was the General guy in the movie. I instantly recognize Ironside's voice anywhere. Jester from Top Gun....that kid's abusive dad in Major Payne....etc.


And to solve your problem about "fighting the game"....you are playing CONSOLE Games on a HANDHELD Device. I had the same problem with the original Rainbow Six on my PSP. The games aren't meant for handheld devices. If you are going to get the HD MGS Collection, I wouldn't bother with the PSVita. Get the console version and play it how it was meant to be played.


I guess I would be a Splinter Cell Fanboy.... Certain things will make my inner nerd tick....

BattleTech.....Military History....Splinter Cell.....Flight.....

This I agree with imensley (Sp?) although I did rather enjoy Conviction.

Please explain?? Do you mean that the way they you could take multiple shots? or the way they just 'physically' impacted with them? Besides peacewalker, MGS 2-4 did this effect fairly well, unless you mean after the died, which beyond MGS 2 they had OKAY physics, 4 was best though.

It was a pretty far fetched storyline, but the storyline it self had some great underlying meanings, and even the story as a whole had great meanings. I personally loved it.

Totally agree, had hours of fun playing SC: Chaos Theory back then with myself and friends.

MGS is far fetched, but it is a great movie/ game after watching the cut scenes and playing through it, it is one of those series that you really need to be emotionally, or at least some for mentally invested butwhen you do become invested, it is amazing.


PS: Please excuse my poor English, and/or gammar
, tonight was a night on the town. IM DRUNK. LOL

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by USNSRCaseySmith

Please explain?? Do you mean that the way they you could take multiple shots? or the way they just 'physically' impacted with them? Besides peacewalker, MGS 2-4 did this effect fairly well, unless you mean after the died, which beyond MGS 2 they had OKAY physics, 4 was best though.

Like in Chaos Theory or Double Agent. In the first two splinter cell games, if you shot a guy in his chest, he would just go stiff and lay flat on the floor. Chaos Theory and Double Agent, you would shoot a sitting man in the chest and he would slump over in their chair instead of falling to the floor.

As far as the "hit marker" thing goes, I don't like to see them. I like to see the human reaction to being shot. It makes for better SFX and detail. I don't want to see a big red X over where I shot the guy. I would rather see him grab his chest and gasp in pain. Not that I'm some sort of psycho, I just like realism. When I go deer hunting, the deer doesn't have a big red X over where I shot it. It's just how it happens in real life.

PS: Please excuse my poor English, and/or gammar
, tonight was a night on the town. IM DRUNK. LOL

Well, sounds like a personal problem.

Dowly can type awesome while drunk.

[Stealhead]

The Metal Gear series as a whole is much better than Splinter Cell in my opinion.The story line of MGS is simply far superior.The SP games are not bad they just are not on the level of MGS.Game play wise MGS is better SP did introduce some interesting elements but as the series advanced it lost any edge it had over MGS.You guys seem to have completey ignored the first two Metal Gears which where ground breaking games the first true "stealth" style games they created an entire genre.What more MG sticks to it roots while still staying relevant and fresh in my opinion only the first two SP games felt fresh after that they strayed to far from the core concept.

Oh and I really do not care what others think MGS2 did have a very good story.Which again is what makes MGS great they have great stories that are far fetched but at the same time they make you think about things.MGS2 in particular what it implied about the US government really does make you think.

How does USNSRCaseySmith being drunk and typing have anything to do with Dowly?

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

How does USNSRCaseySmith being drunk and typing have anything to do with Dowly?

Back in the day, Dowly was notorious for drinking and posting. We still tease him about it. While it was well before Red October's time, he seems to have picked up on it.

[Red October1984]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Back in the day, Dowly was notorious for drinking and posting. We still tease him about it. While it was well before Red October's time, he seems to have picked up on it.

I was on the Subsim IRC Channel one time with Dowly and HunterICX. Dowly was drunk.

It made for an interesting evening. The entire time, though, i don't think Dowly made spelling or grammar mistakes.

[Spike88]

Originally Posted by Red October1984

I was on the Subsim IRC Channel one time with Dowly and HunterICX. Dowly was drunk.

It made for an interesting evening. The entire time, though, i don't think Dowly made spelling or grammar mistakes.

Dowly's been drunk on Minecraft, at which point he tried to rape everyone, and was ultimately buried into a hole.

Originally Posted by Spike88

Dowly's been drunk on Minecraft, at which point he tried to rape everyone, and was ultimately buried into a hole.

AHAHAHAHAH! Thats classic.

Oh and I do agree about the hit marker. I don't like seeing hit markers in games that I am trying to be immersed in.

I also agree about the MGS series, I really do enjoy the stories either way, easily some of the best storylines in gaming and in movies. Kojima masterfully directs them all with underlying tones, and multiple metaphors. I also love the fact that they have so many Easter Eggs and/or nods to other games or series. Gives it some replay value to go back and discover them. All I was saying was that personally I did not like 2's story as well as the others. Three had a great story and gameplay I loved, even with the outdated mechanics now, and 4's was a BIT out there but ultimately an unbelievable story. You are definitely correct though, while good, SP even Chaos Theory (the best as a true stealth game IMO) will never reach the level that MGS did, because even while being the first series to break ground on the stealth genre, they kept evolving it and updating it each addition to make it fresh, but not in a bad sort of way.

[the_tyrant]

Ok, quick update for tonight.

When I say that the controls and mechanics feel archaic, its not because I am playing it on the Vita. The PSvita is actually an amazing piece of technology, in fact, many games on the Vita (the best example being MLB the show) is just as good as it is on the PS3.

After carefully playing certain portions of the game, I will say that it is truly the game itself that has aged poorly.

Metal gear solid 2 has probably some of the worst shooting mechanics I have ever seen. It feels like I'm back at playing goldeneye 64, and that game really aged poorly.

Splinter Cell has a very good set of mechanics. because when it comes to the action, Splinter Cell is a solid duel stick shooter. you move with the left stick, and aim with the right stick.

Unfortunately, Metal Gear Solid 2 is at its core, a single stick game. You move and aim with the same stick (a baffling design decision, since the duelshock controller has 2 sticks). An enemy can be 3 meters away from me, but for Solid Snake to shoot him, he has to go through up to 4 steps. (move into position with the left stick, go into first person mode by holding down the right trigger, aim using the left stick while holding down the right trigger, and finally, press a face button to shoot)

the cover mechanics also didn't age too well. Shooting from cover is pretty much impossible, and you can accidentally move from cover with an accidental flick of the left stick (something that will get you killed)

In fact, the boss fights in Metal gear solid aren't that hard if the mechanics are better. I can see myself easily defeating the bosses if the shooter mechanics were better.


However, despite my complaints regarding the mechanics, Metal Gear Solid 2 is still an amazing game.