The Biggest Game Project on this Planet

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes

So I own both the original Metal Gear Solid as well as this Gamecube Remake, and I figured, I'll be damned if I'm gonna play them both, so I just took this one, since I hadn't played it yet. So keep in mind that this is a review, not of Metal Gear Solid, but of the Gamecube REMAKE, which goes towards partially explaining why the score is rather low.

And let me get right down to it, this is easily one of the most disappointing remakes I've ever played. This could've been brilliant, but instead it just lingers around as a half-assed attempt at recreating one of the finest PSX games ever.

First of all, let's look at the graphics. I want to point out immediately here, that this game was released in march 2004, roughly two and a half years after Metal Gear Solid 2 on PS2, and only a half year before the magnificent Metal Gear Solid 3.
This means that logically, the game should sport graphics of a quality somewhere between MGS2 and 3, but closer to three. Instead, what you get is something that looks decidedly LESS good than MGS2. I've already started playing MGS2, cos it's the next game in line, and I was amazed at the HUGE difference in graphical quality, MGS2 looks SO MUCH better. And I'm not even gonna mention MGS3, it puts just about any game to shame.

Character models have a rather low polygon count, and they don't look very good in the first place. Environments are straight ports, only more solid (pun intended) 3D, but nothing to write home about. I was thoroughly unimpressed by this game's graphics. Sure, it's a big leap forward from the PSX original, but Christ, by all means it could and should have looked MUCH better. Also, there are occasional frame rate problems, nothing major, but it's there, whereas MGS2 ran at a constant 60fpm if I'm not mistaken.
Cutscenes have been redirected by Ryuhei Kitamura, of Aragami and Azumi fame, and what this basically means is that you get Metal Gear Solid + Matrix. Loads of those typical Matrix style effects and fight-scenes, bullet-time all over the place, you get the drift. It's nice to look at, even though it's been done a gazillion times before, but I'm kinda weary of these effects now, and it seems like the "easy thing to do" to me.

Music has also been spruced up a notch, but since I thought the original MGS had a rather boring lacklustre soundtrack anyways, I don't really care. Both sequels are FAR better in my humble opinion, especially Snake Eater.

But the one reason people look forward to remakes of their most beloved games is of course this: Additional Shit. Extra Crap. Bonus Faeces.
And marvel at the glory of Twin Snakes for it offers you: practically nothing.
Seriously, one of the coolest additions of the orginal was the VR Mission Mode, where you could practice and hone your skills by performing tasks and small missions in a Virtual Environment. Well, for the Gamecube version the VR missions are completely GONE, nothing here. A crying shame, since the PSX version already HAD a rerelease, Metal Gear Solid Integral (known outside of Japan as MGS VR Missions, or MGS Special Missions), which came with a separate VR mission Disc with approximately 300 (!) missions. But Konami (or perhaps Silicon Knights, the people behind Eternal Darkness, who are responsible for this remake) sends a hearty "Fuck You" to Gamecube owners and gives them ZERO missions, but in exchange gives us the stupidly pointless Dog Tag collecting that plagued Metal Gear Solid 2.
The main point of MGS2 is sneaking around the place, without being noticed by guards.
But if you want to gather Dog Tags, you have to look them up or lure them to you, threaten them with your gun so that they drop their dog tag, and then, well, you usually have to shoot them, unless you want them to alert the entire area.
This means the entire integrity of the game is destroyed, since you're suddenly going from stealth to pure killing, only for the sake of collecting some stupid items that don't help you in any way anyway. Hey, I like that sentence.
Oh, and you don't get any nice photo shoots with Mei Ling either. DAMMIT!

What also bothered me is how fucking DARK this game is, Christ, it's practically invisible if you play in day time, and the game even has a Brightness function, where you can check if your TV is set right. Mine was fine, but it was too frigging dark most of the time anyway. None of the other MGS's have this problem.

The voices have remained the same, although I think they have been rerecorded entirely. Same actors, same lines, just rerecorded. Some actors sound kinda different, Mei Ling has lost her cute accent, and Nastasha had a heavier accent in the original as well I think, but the others are the same.

Campbell and Otacon do a great job, especially Otacon's voice is WAY superior to the Japanese voice actor, who actually makes him sound like a tough man. On the other hand, and I have to be firm on this one, even though most people do not agree with me: Otsuka "overexposure" Akio, the Japanese voice of Solid Snake, is SO FUCKING MUCH BETTER than David "Hot Potato up my Ass" Hayter. God how that David annoys me.
Shit, he makes EVERYTHING sound like it's the worst and most serious thing to ever happen in the whole history of mankind, and he perpetually sounds like he's having some kind of Hyperventilation or Astma attack. The point behind Snake is that, although he's serious at his job, he has a very silly sense of humor as well (which is pretty much the point of the entire game series), and Mr. Otsuka is perfect at getting both points across. David is just NO good in the humor department, and he actually managed to make me hate Snake with his annoying voice and attitude.

Also, try getting voice actors with less recognizable voices. There is a major plottwist in the game, where a certain character turns out to be a certain other character in disguise, which, when it was revealed, made me go "Well, DUH. No fucking shit, Einstein, they only sound EXACTLY the same."
In fact, the guy has SUCH a recognisable voice, that I remember thinking, the first time I played this game: "Hey! That's Leonardo from the Turtles!"
Well, the game contains LOADS of other, less predictable plottwists, so don't worry. Actually the story is pretty damn good. The trademark Metal Gear kind of story, involving nuclear warfare based largely on facts, and completely nutty plottwists and characters based on Hideo Kojima's insanity.

The only real thing that bothered me about this game, and that was the same for the PSX original, is that there's a bit too much backtracking. Occasionally you will have to go back to some area you already visited, to pick up a weapon you couldn't get before, and most notably, at some point you have to use a keycard which you have to cool down and warm up and walk back and forth between the computer terminal several times which is REALLY annoying. From what I understand, this is something that plagued the original Metal Gear games as well, but it seems that recently they have learned their lesson.

That said, the PSX version would have gained a considerably higher score, but this Gamecube remake is just a totally uninspired affair. It's only for Die Hard Nintendo fans, who've never owned any other consoles, and are now able to get their hands on one of the Playstation's finest, and perhaps it's also for the extremely Die Hard Metal Gear fans, who are just content in seeing their favorite game with moderately improved graphics, but as a remake it's incredibly disappointing.

I can't help but compare this with the Gamecube Remake of another PSX smash-hit: Resident Evil. Resident Evil ALSO got a rerelease on PSX before this one, but the Gamecube remake is so much better. Not only do you get Eyepoppingly gorgeous graphics, but you get a revised game, with different object placement, PLUS a whole bunch of new areas added, new gameplay elements, an improved soundtrack AND a free Memory Card! Infinite Yay!
Capcom's fantastically executed project puts this half-assed attempt by Konami to complete and utter shame, not making use of the Gamecube's technical capabilities AT ALL and basically being a totally pathetic attempt at making some more money of an old game.

That said, the game itself is in essence still great. Nothing about the actual content has been changed, so that means you still have the same great game that made PSX's fly off the shelves some 7 years ago. I would strongly advise anyone interested in this game to go for the Integral version on PSX instead, since it's your best money's worth. This is really only for Nintendo fans too stubborn to get a Playstation, and for Die Hard fans of the original who are horny for some slightly improved graphics. As a game, it's great, as a remake, it's rather sad.
An 8.0, and that's me being nice.

posted by Ingen! @ 11:50 AM