[COMPLETED 3/14/24]
i've been procrastinating beating this game for years, going on and off of stating and switching between "this game fucking blows, i'm not beating it", to "i'll just plow through it" eventually. turns out i just REALLY think the intro is a slog, and thoroughly enjoyed everything else
i played 2 and 3 before this so my introduction has been a bit warped, but i genuinely did really enjoy this one -- i think playing the others kind of gave me more appreciation for MGS' gameplay and what it does in comparison to its later entries.
i think it's impossible to talk about this game without praising its writing and impeccable atmosphere. kojima managed to perfectly convey every single emotion he intended to through the stiff models and low-poly PS1 graphics; and the voice acting was (mostly) phenomenal. My absolute favorite scene was Snake walkin' off in the snow while otacon mourns sniper wolf. Beautiful shit.
gameplay is obviously dated in a few forms; and there's many points that feel either obtuse, useless, or just do not flow well with the game's gameplay structure at all. And fuck the cameras in this game. There are several areas where there's way too many for no reason; they're put in angles where it's impossible to see them while your camera is inaccessible, etc.
all in all though, it's very easy to see why people consider this game iconic and legendary; it's hard to believe this was a 1998 title. Holds up today, gameplay is still solid (albeit with flaws and dated controls), but I genuinely did really did enjoy my time with the game, despite my frustrations with the gameplay in many areas (fuck land mines).
a miracle machine of a game, 8.9/10
[THE SCORE!]
PLAY TIME: 21:48:10 (probably was more like 10-15)
SAVE: 27 TIMES
CONTINUE: Too Many Fucking Times
BEING FOUND: 75
ENEMIES KILLED: 234
RATIONS: 134 USED
i've been procrastinating beating this game for years, going on and off of stating and switching between "this game fucking blows, i'm not beating it", to "i'll just plow through it" eventually. turns out i just REALLY think the intro is a slog, and thoroughly enjoyed everything else
i played 2 and 3 before this so my introduction has been a bit warped, but i genuinely did really enjoy this one -- i think playing the others kind of gave me more appreciation for MGS' gameplay and what it does in comparison to its later entries.
i think it's impossible to talk about this game without praising its writing and impeccable atmosphere. kojima managed to perfectly convey every single emotion he intended to through the stiff models and low-poly PS1 graphics; and the voice acting was (mostly) phenomenal. My absolute favorite scene was Snake walkin' off in the snow while otacon mourns sniper wolf. Beautiful shit.
gameplay is obviously dated in a few forms; and there's many points that feel either obtuse, useless, or just do not flow well with the game's gameplay structure at all. And fuck the cameras in this game. There are several areas where there's way too many for no reason; they're put in angles where it's impossible to see them while your camera is inaccessible, etc.
all in all though, it's very easy to see why people consider this game iconic and legendary; it's hard to believe this was a 1998 title. Holds up today, gameplay is still solid (albeit with flaws and dated controls), but I genuinely did really did enjoy my time with the game, despite my frustrations with the gameplay in many areas (fuck land mines).
a miracle machine of a game, 8.9/10
[THE SCORE!]
PLAY TIME: 21:48:10 (probably was more like 10-15)
SAVE: 27 TIMES
CONTINUE: Too Many Fucking Times
BEING FOUND: 75
ENEMIES KILLED: 234
RATIONS: 134 USED