When discussing his inspiration for the unique 1987 Metallic Gear sport, sequence creator Hideo Kojima has typically referred to the limitations of the MSX2 system it was designed for. With laborious limits on the quantity of sprites the machine might present on display and restricted help for scrolling graphics, the designer determined to make a sport that eschewed all-out fight in favor of the stealth gameplay that may go on to outline the Metallic Gear franchise.
I considered this design philosophy quite a bit whereas working my means by means of the Metallic Gear Strong: Grasp Assortment Vol. 1, a sprawling assortment of video games from the Metallic Gear sequence that spans almost 20 years. I performed the gathering on the PS5, nevertheless it’s additionally obtainable for the Xbox Sequence X and S, PC, Nintendo Change, and PS4.
Clearly, the {hardware} most of those video games have been made for was not almost as restricted as the unique MSX2. However all through his profession, Kojima has typically designed his video games with particular {hardware} in thoughts, whether or not it’s the wired controllers of the PS1 or the Blu-ray disc drive of the PS3. These options make porting a sport like the unique Metallic Gear Strong to different consoles trickier than your common rerelease.
However let’s again up a second. The $59.99 Grasp Assortment Vol. 1 doesn’t simply embody the unique Metallic Gear Strong. It bundles collectively anyplace from half a dozen to a dozen or so completely different releases from the sequence, relying on the way you rely them, protecting most (however not all) of the video games between the unique 1987 Metallic Gear and 2004’s Metallic Gear Strong 3: Snake Eater. So that you get the unique two Metallic Gears from the MSX2, Metallic Gear Strong from the PlayStation, and its two sequels — Metallic Gear Strong 2: Sons of Liberty and Metallic Gear Strong 3: Snake Eater — from the PlayStation 2.
Then there are extra curios just like the NES model of the unique Metallic Gear and its non-canonical sequel Snake’s Revenge, the graphic novel variations of MGS1 and 2, and three further Metallic Gear Strong releases containing further content material like VR missions (VR within the sense that the characters are in digital actuality coaching simulations, I ought to observe, not that they’re performed on a VR headset).
It’s a reasonably exhaustive assortment. Sure, if you wish to cut up hairs, it could have been cool to get the GameCube remake of the unique Metallic Gear Strong, Twin Snakes, or the Recreation Boy Colour sport often called Ghost Babel. However even I’m resigned to the truth that Konami had to attract the road someplace, and I suppose there’s all the time the implicit second quantity of the Grasp Assortment to look ahead to.
Twenty years on, I feel the core Metallic Gear Strong trilogy titles stay three of the best action-adventure video games ever made. They not solely pushed the boundaries of the form of cinematic storytelling that video games are able to, however revisiting them, I used to be additionally stunned by how effectively their core gameplay — that compelling loop of hiding, sneaking, and boss preventing — holds up. There’s even quite a bit to love concerning the relatively unloved middle child in the trilogy, Sons of Liberty, even when my wi-fi controller did sometimes fall asleep throughout its notably prolonged cutscenes.
It’s robust to speak concerning the particular modifications that Konami has made to those three video games as a part of this Grasp Assortment launch as a result of except you’re actually paying consideration, it’s straightforward to overlook them.
Typically, that’s a great factor due to how well-integrated the restricted modifications are. There are button prompts which have been up to date to match fashionable controllers whereas conserving the model of the unique sport. For example, simply take a look at how period-appropriate and low-res the PS5 substitute for the “Begin” button immediate on the primary menu for Metallic Gear Strong is.
However, as I alluded to in my introduction, there are limits to how far this restrained method can take you with Metallic Gear Strong, a sport firmly designed with the unique PlayStation in thoughts. Characters will verbally inform you to press buttons that don’t exist in your controller and use controller ports that don’t exist in your console. And, naturally, there’s the notorious puzzle that asks you to look in the back of the sport’s unique PS1 CD case for the answer.
Konami has accomplished sufficient to make sure that none of Metallic Gear Strong’s fourth wall-breaking options aren’t additionally game-breaking within the Grasp Assortment. You possibly can toggle a menu overlay to change the digital controller port that your gamepad is plugged into if want be, and there are even digital variations of the video games’ retail containers so you possibly can take a look at their backs.
(Plus, as a quick apart, I do need to point out what may be the good inclusion in all the Grasp Assortment, which is that it’s doable to create dummy save information for a variety of Konami PS1 video games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night time and Vandal Hearts to take a seat in your digital reminiscence card when you play by means of Metallic Gear Strong. The choice is a bit of buried within the “Handle Saved Information” menu, nevertheless it’s price doing earlier than you begin the sport.)
From a technical perspective, Metallic Gear Strong feels each bit like an unique PlayStation sport. Konami could have listed its body price as 30fps, however in apply, it typically feels a lot slower, and its unique decision is so low that working it on a contemporary 4K TV offers its graphics a shifting, wavy high quality.
There’s one thing to be stated for prioritizing an genuine recreation of the unique sport somewhat than trying to improve and enhance upon it. Simply take a look at the messy Grand Theft Auto remasters for an instance of how this method can go unsuitable. It’s, I feel, an excellent factor that Metallic Gear Strong is now playable in its (principally) unique kind on fashionable {hardware}.
However it’s fascinating to check this method with the variations of Metallic Gear Strong 2 and 3 which have additionally been included on this assortment, that are an important instance of how one can remaster and replace traditional video games whereas conserving true to their unique imaginative and prescient. These two video games are each based mostly on the HD remasters from Bluepoint launched in 2011 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Though Konami hasn’t upgraded them to help newer options like 4K, I felt like their HD presentation held up simply fantastic on a contemporary TV.
Clearly, there’s a much bigger gulf to cowl should you have been to attempt to modernize the unique PlayStation-era graphics of MGS1 in an analogous means — and that’s earlier than you get into all its express references to the unique {hardware} it was designed for. However it appears a disgrace to not see even technical enhancements like widescreen help, if solely as an optionally available further.
Past the video games themselves, there’s a bunch of extra Metallic Gear content material. There are scripts to flip by means of, a digital soundtrack, and a sequence of digital “Grasp Books” to browse that provide plot summaries, background info on the sport’s characters, and even guides to the various easter eggs they comprise.
However the odd factor about these Grasp Books is how they gloss over Hideo Kojima’s function in a franchise that he prominently helmed for nearly three many years till his acrimonious split with the company in 2015. In one of many Grasp Books, we’re advised that “within the late Eighties, motion video games have been designed round taking out enemies” and that “Metallic Gear turned this idea on its head,” however there’s no point out of the director and crew that truly made this occur.
This highlights my core grievance with the Grasp Assortment, which is that, within the absence of the artistic forces that shepherded the franchise for nearly three many years, Konami has chosen to play issues as secure as doable. Fairly than make artistic choices about the way to tweak and modernize these video games, the corporate has primarily opted out and pursued authenticity in any respect prices.
I’m not going to say I’m dissatisfied with the outcomes. I feel it’s nice that such an enormous swathe of Metallic Gear historical past is now available and simply playable on fashionable techniques. However there’s additionally part of me that thinks Konami missed a possibility to provide Metallic Gear Strong particularly a contemporary coat of paint and replace it for a contemporary viewers.
My hope, now that Konami has preserved the video games precisely as they have been earlier than Kojima left the corporate, is that this may permit the writer to take extra dangers with the way forward for the franchise. With a full-on remake of Snake Eater named Metal Gear Solid Δ ready within the wings, perhaps we’ll see some bolder swings sooner somewhat than later.