Really glad you decided to replay the MGS series, @Mikey2D, Metal Gear Solid is my favourite game. In its honour, I will write as much as I can about it! I've played MGS every few years since that first time back when I was 11, and it really never disappoints. That said, I found the SK GameCube remake pretty awful. It's totally lacking the heart of the first game, and they take liberties with the game's cutscenes that are just in poor taste. Don't be tempted. By comparison, MGS comes across as very mature and sedate in its delivery of story. The "action" moments in the game's videos - Snake jumping in time to dodge Revolver Ocelot's bullet and Vulcan Raven's tank shot, for example - are relatively few and far between. You play all the awesome parts. Fighting the tank, the harrier, rappelling down the wall, and of course, the fight with Metal Gear, are still exciting moments. The scale and drama of that fight is rare, to put it mildly. A special shout out to the original VR missions too: playing as Gray Fox was and still is super cool.
Metal Gear Solid 2 is conceptually interesting, but it really doesn't hold up today. I enjoy playing the Tanker chapter, trying to perfect stealth it, but the pacing of the "real" game is rough, and the brilliant moments ("Metal Gear only has room for one!") are intersected by swaths of meh (and yeah, the inner workings of the Emmerich family). The end is cool. The simulation revelations are cool. But they are, today, not worth playing through the game for. And Rose, man. ROSE. Worst character in the series. The gameplay may still be fun, but it's second fiddle to MGS3, the best playing of the PS2-era MGS games. It also has the better story and boss fights. The End, yes, of course, but also the Sorrow and the Fury and the Boss. Plus, do I need to remind you that at one point you hit a super long ladder, start climbing it, and as you do, the fucking Snake Eater theme song kicks in? That is a one time event in video games. Best late title card ever.
I'd recommend Snake Eater to anyone who has even a passing interest in that generation of games, especially if you are a stealth fan (yes, all 3 of you!). The camouflage system stands out as the most cumbersome element, but the game's other strong points are more than enough to negate its failings. For gamers who can't deal with the MGS camera, now you don't have to! Not that that camera is perfect either, but it's certainly better.
Brings me to... MGS4! As an experience, this ranks really high. As you can probably tell, I really love Metal Gear, and playing this game for the first time was an experience that I still treasure. There are some stinkers, some scenes that are too long, some characters that should have died a long time ago and others that should have died in 4, but really, as one Bradley Shoemaker argued during the 2008 GOTY, the top 5 moments in MGS4 are the game of the year. Shit 2008? That's when MGS4 came out? My god. Only goes to remind me how good this game looks and sounds. The gameplay was a big change up for the series, and at first I was worried they had ditched stealth when I heard all the reviewers talking about it like an action game, but in fact they made the stealth more robust then ever. Snake's stealth controls are flawless and the quick-press camouflage is brilliant: playing this game on the harder difficulties, killing few or no enemies, is a hugely satisfying experience that, I'm pretty sure about this, is unavailable in every other game that is not this game.
SO: THE PHANTOM PAIN. Looks awesome. I don't understand people who think it's the same game as Ground Zeroes? Maybe I'm missing something but I don't think they're the same game. Two releases. I have to say that as an MGS fan I found some of the trailer discussion about TPP hilarious. Super, super obvious it's a MGS game. Ground Zeroes looks like an open-world style of Metal Gear, something to really take advantage of that AI they have. In a way it feels like a Super VR Missions. I don't expect much relevant story to occur, moreso loose ends being tied up and a bridge being built between the time of Ground Zeroes and MGS1. Also have to say here that whoever decided to combine Ennio Morricone ("Here's to You") and Hideo Kojima is a king. Phantom Pain will be Metal Gear V, a linear, shorter game. I'm very excited to play GZ, and very excited to see more of TPP, which I believe will shake up Metal Gear quite a bit.
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