It holds up pretty good as a Zelda-like. Like a lot of 80s games, it can be esoteric to the point of cruelty sometimes; deliberately misleading you or gating progress by you writing something down hours ago.
The game was bought on GOG.com.
The first game in Metal Gear series. Though it's really good good game for the time, it just didn't age well. Item grinding, primitive stealth system with guards having the literal line of sight, easily cheesable bosses and unfair traps. Still, I really enjoy the game. Really good, though really short OST and competent map design help this game stay afloat. This game is truly a product of its time.
The first game in Metal Gear series. Though it's really good good game for the time, it just didn't age well. Item grinding, primitive stealth system with guards having the literal line of sight, easily cheesable bosses and unfair traps. Still, I really enjoy the game. Really good, though really short OST and competent map design help this game stay afloat. This game is truly a product of its time.
It's alright but pretty frustrating to play. A lot of backtracking to get items to progress so gets annoying real quick. Story was barebones but I'll let it pass. MGSV definitely helped recontextualized the plot so it's cool. Hope Metal Gear 2 is a step up!
(Played the PC port)
After playing Metal Gear Rising: Revengence I wanted to play the rest of the Metal Gear franchise, so obviously I had to start at the beginning โ Metal Gear.
So how does a game from 1987 hold up? (If I could capitalize numbers, I would) There is no point in even asking the question. Of course, it doesnโt hold up. The only reason to play it is to just see where the legendary series started.
Still, I donโt hate it. At the end of the day, I did finish it. (With a guide) While throughout most of it, I was quite bored, there were some genuinely intriguing moments where I thought that, had I played it when it came out, my jaw would be on the floor.
Honestly play it. It's worth it to see just how far gaming has come.
๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ
Apologies, I didnโt pay much attention during history class, so my Metal Gear lore knowledge isnโt that deep. I donโt know whether this game connects to the wider universe of the series.
You play as Solid Snake, a special forces operative, who is tasked with infiltrating the Outer Heaven to destroy a weapon by the name of Metal Gear. Getting dรฉjร vu?
There isnโt much of a story, but there is still more than I expected for 1987, and it did surprise me at a few points.
๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ
It attempts to be a stealth game, and it only succeeds when you have the patience to take the โstealthโ seriously. You see, the combination of multiple exploits, awful AI, and unexplained mechanics led to me becoming bored with trying to play as intended and just brute-forced the rest of the game.
The use of a guide is highly recommended. There is very little that is explained properly and unless you want the authentic 1987 experience of banging your head against a wall, look up the solution.
๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ก๐ข๐๐ฌ/๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐
2D-pixel graphics were the pinnacle of quality back then, the same can't be said for today.
๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ซ๐/๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง
There isnโt much of an atmosphere or immersion in Metal Gear. I do wonder whether the people who played it on release had a different experience.
๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ค
Back then the hardware used to play such games could make many sounds as such the soundtrack had to accommodate that. This led to it being a bit hard on the ears. Still, it is better than I expected. My favourite part is โRed Alertโ.
๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ
As for my quest to complete the Metal Gear series, I stopped at Metal Gear Solid (the first) as I realized stealth games just are not for me. Maybe someday I will return.
After playing Metal Gear Rising: Revengence I wanted to play the rest of the Metal Gear franchise, so obviously I had to start at the beginning โ Metal Gear.
So how does a game from 1987 hold up? (If I could capitalize numbers, I would) There is no point in even asking the question. Of course, it doesnโt hold up. The only reason to play it is to just see where the legendary series started.
Still, I donโt hate it. At the end of the day, I did finish it. (With a guide) While throughout most of it, I was quite bored, there were some genuinely intriguing moments where I thought that, had I played it when it came out, my jaw would be on the floor.
Honestly play it. It's worth it to see just how far gaming has come.
๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ
Apologies, I didnโt pay much attention during history class, so my Metal Gear lore knowledge isnโt that deep. I donโt know whether this game connects to the wider universe of the series.
You play as Solid Snake, a special forces operative, who is tasked with infiltrating the Outer Heaven to destroy a weapon by the name of Metal Gear. Getting dรฉjร vu?
There isnโt much of a story, but there is still more than I expected for 1987, and it did surprise me at a few points.
๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ
It attempts to be a stealth game, and it only succeeds when you have the patience to take the โstealthโ seriously. You see, the combination of multiple exploits, awful AI, and unexplained mechanics led to me becoming bored with trying to play as intended and just brute-forced the rest of the game.
The use of a guide is highly recommended. There is very little that is explained properly and unless you want the authentic 1987 experience of banging your head against a wall, look up the solution.
๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ก๐ข๐๐ฌ/๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐
2D-pixel graphics were the pinnacle of quality back then, the same can't be said for today.
๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ซ๐/๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง
There isnโt much of an atmosphere or immersion in Metal Gear. I do wonder whether the people who played it on release had a different experience.
๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ค
Back then the hardware used to play such games could make many sounds as such the soundtrack had to accommodate that. This led to it being a bit hard on the ears. Still, it is better than I expected. My favourite part is โRed Alertโ.
๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ
As for my quest to complete the Metal Gear series, I stopped at Metal Gear Solid (the first) as I realized stealth games just are not for me. Maybe someday I will return.
Liked Metal Gear classic way more than I expected. It's just a weird jank metroidvania and I appreciate it. I feel like this was amazing at the time like so many cool ideas here for a video game that came out in 1987.
the one song in this game gives me nightmares
So much friction that it's unplayable without a guide, but you can see the seeds of greatness and what was still undeniably an incredibly inventive game. I'm glad I played it finally.
This review contains spoilers
Metal Gear has aged really well in a number of aspects- there was clearly a lot of thought put into it in pretty much every aspect and it feels limited by its hardware rather than its creativity.
For starters, the plot is actually pretty alright- considering it came out in 1987 there being a solid narrative with a genuinely good plot twist is a shocker. This is only two years after Super Mario Bros and we have a game not only trying to tell a story but having the story influence the gameplay.
The twist of Big Boss being the head of Outer Heaven all along ties into the gameplay a lot more than I would expect- throughout Metal Gear I was frustrated that he often gives shit advice (He tells you to put a gas mask on halfway through the gas room and later in the game when Snake is progressing more than he expected he outright leads you into traps multiple times) and chalked it up to either a translation error that had been left in for authenticity or just not great design- to have the twist suddenly recontextualise parts of the game in a lightbulb moment was great. I did not expect a game that came out this early in the medium's history to pull something like that, even with the franchise's reputation of getting clever.
In general, Metal Gear is definitely ahead of its time. Manually punching in a few different radio codes to speak to different characters is charming and the huge amount of items with only a use or two is really cute- it feels much more immersive than having a small set of tools you routinely cycle through. It's a primitive stealth game, no doubt, but it does its best to feel immersive.
Unfortunately time has shone light on a few flaws, most of them fairly big and the only reasons the game isn't rated significantly higher. The combat is pretty bad, there are only a scant few tracks on the OST, most of which you'll hear on loop, and the stealth feels very dated. It's worth emphasising that none of these are due to any sort of fault in Metal Gear's design, which I think is actually fairly bulletproof as a foundation- it's just that it's 36 years old and the hardware is puny by today's standards. The MSX is just not sophisticated enough for a good combat system or good stealth.
Definitely worth a play, very excited to get into the rest of this legendary franchise.
For starters, the plot is actually pretty alright- considering it came out in 1987 there being a solid narrative with a genuinely good plot twist is a shocker. This is only two years after Super Mario Bros and we have a game not only trying to tell a story but having the story influence the gameplay.
The twist of Big Boss being the head of Outer Heaven all along ties into the gameplay a lot more than I would expect- throughout Metal Gear I was frustrated that he often gives shit advice (He tells you to put a gas mask on halfway through the gas room and later in the game when Snake is progressing more than he expected he outright leads you into traps multiple times) and chalked it up to either a translation error that had been left in for authenticity or just not great design- to have the twist suddenly recontextualise parts of the game in a lightbulb moment was great. I did not expect a game that came out this early in the medium's history to pull something like that, even with the franchise's reputation of getting clever.
In general, Metal Gear is definitely ahead of its time. Manually punching in a few different radio codes to speak to different characters is charming and the huge amount of items with only a use or two is really cute- it feels much more immersive than having a small set of tools you routinely cycle through. It's a primitive stealth game, no doubt, but it does its best to feel immersive.
Unfortunately time has shone light on a few flaws, most of them fairly big and the only reasons the game isn't rated significantly higher. The combat is pretty bad, there are only a scant few tracks on the OST, most of which you'll hear on loop, and the stealth feels very dated. It's worth emphasising that none of these are due to any sort of fault in Metal Gear's design, which I think is actually fairly bulletproof as a foundation- it's just that it's 36 years old and the hardware is puny by today's standards. The MSX is just not sophisticated enough for a good combat system or good stealth.
Definitely worth a play, very excited to get into the rest of this legendary franchise.