You know what one of the worst things to happen to gaming is? The internet. It's also arguably one of the worst things to happen to humanity in general, but that's a rant for another day. Between YouTubers and video game journalism sites spewing wildly exaggerated praises or criticisms in their write-ups for views, it’s led to a culture where certain titles either get hyper-glorified or mercilessly crapped on for no real reason and with no room for anyone to safely argue against whatever the general consensus may be for fear of reprisal. The Twin Snakes, a remake of the PS1 classic with mechanics added in from its sequel, hasn’t suffered as much from this as others, but there’s still a pretty vocal group out there actively pretending this is some absolute travesty and I really don’t understand why. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve heard their complaints. I just think they’re absurdly overblown.

My theory is that it’s all the result of a sort of snowball effect. Where years of people making perfectly reasonable deductions in online forums and comment sections about areas where the game came up short or could have been better has been regurgitated by the likes of video essayists (shout out to ProudLittleSeal for teaching me that term) in an overstated manner; leading to a hive mind cult that believes and is determined to convince everyone this is an insult to the original’s legacy. It’s not. It honestly wouldn’t bother me if they weren’t so unwilling to let anybody think otherwise, but I swear every time I’ve witnessed someone bring TTS up in a positive light one of its detractors goes out of their way to basically tell them how incorrect their opinion apparently is. Ridiculous, and because that annoys me going to be taking what may be a somewhat similarly antagonistic approach for this review as I discuss the various complaints from its critics and put my own two cents on why I disagree with them out there. Which will be interesting to do since it’s not like they’re stating anything explicitly untrue, merely exaggerated in my opinion.

The most common grievance I’ve seen leveled against this is that the variety of newly implemented gameplay features (first-person aiming, hanging off ledges, ect.) and items (tranquilizer gun, PGS1-T,…) actively break the experience by removing any difficulty from the majority of scenarios. Now, they certainly make things easier and there’s a case to be made that the Revolver Ocelot fight was cheapened as a result of the better aiming system, but I feel as though the brighter enemy AI and their ability to replenish their ranks counteracts your increased amount of capabilities a bit. I also think most don’t realize the challenge they remember from the originator was more a factor of its age than anything. The adventure here is less demanding due to the fact that all was introduced modernizes it so you’re no longer fighting (as much) against an aging design. They’ve made the actual act of playing the first Solid more natural, which is exactly what a remake is supposed to do. It’s not that the opposition was neutered, things are simply no longer as dated. Consequently, the whole narrative about these changes being for the worse doesn’t hold any water in my mind.

However, an area of its denigrators’ frustration I can partially agree with is related to the storytelling. Yet, just not for the reason most commonly cited. That stuff about the cutscenes aping the action of the early 2000s movies that were popular at the time somehow ruining the plot? Not buying it. I get the argument that the altered soundtrack robs the writing and world as a whole of some atmosphere, but my guys and gals are we REALLY moaning over an element of a MGS outing being absurd?! For me the more pressing issue (outside of them removing the sexy camera angles focusing on Sniper Wolf’s body in the torture room scenes) is the re-recorded voice acting. They got nearly the entire cast to return, but either through bad direction or a lack of enthusiasm for the project their performances are phoned in, flat, and suffering from a reduced sense of emotion. It’s still the same great tale of memorable twists and fourth wall breaking moments that have been slightly modified to better fit the GameCube, it only no longer hits as hard thanks to that unfortunate flaw.

As significant as the plot was to Solid’s acclaim back in the day, its weaker delivery here isn’t enough to make me to resent this update when the gameplay improvements are so strong. The question then becomes would I recommend this over the previous iteration? That’s where things get a little complicated, since the answer is no I wouldn’t. Not on account of me viewing it as a kind of adulteration, rather concerns with the modern price of entry. On top of the 1998 release’s retro polygonal graphics and clunky mechanics remaining an huge part of why it continues to be incredibly dang charming after all these years, this version is evidently something of a collectors item nowadays. Meaning that secondhand copies can go for stupidly high. You could honestly grab the PS1 discs and the console itself together for cheaper in most instances.

If you truly don’t care what you pay though, this is still a perfectly viable and acceptable way to get your hands on Hideo Kojima’s borderline masterpiece. The hatred and negativity you’ll find for it from a very outspoken portion of the Metal Gear community is unjustified and hyperbolic. Not to mention rapidly becoming harder and harder to take seriously each passing day in our current era of remakes. I mean, I don’t see anyone upset about RE 4 2023 smoothing out the survival-horror classic and enhancing its playability. Perhaps not the most fitting comparison and it’s tough to warrant why this take would prove valuable to those already familiar with the game in its prior format, but is also perhaps more apt than many would care to admit. Regardless, my ultimate goal has been to express why I believe the views of a group that are attempting to strip this title of its merits are excessive and overly pedantic, which if I haven’t been able to do that by now then no amount of further typing or elaboration is going to help me. So in closing, all I have to say is don’t buy into the opprobrium, ‘cause bad this ain’t.

8.5/10