unfortunately, for the game that is easily seen as the best in the entire series, this one falls a little bit and is perhaps my least favourite of the original solid trilogy. that’s not to say it is anywhere near bad, there’s still very little in the entire medium that can compare to the heights that kojima and his team reach here, it’s just that i don’t think it would ever be possible to follow up the perfection of sons of liberty.
in terms of the story, i think that the bond pastiche that serves as the central stylistic idea allows for a lot of interesting character work. i loved every time ocelot was on screen, both his vocal performance and animation make him feel so magnetic he steals almost every scene he’s in. the whole cobra team is also very fun with all their weird powers and gimmicks, but i especially loved the sorrow, who’s “battle” feels like the moment where the game really switches gears into raising itself above the simple james bond motif and it fully becomes a metal gear game. it’s also when the boss and eva both start to become more well rounded and i feel become the best written female characters in any of these games, displaying so much pathos and feeling so tragic in their doomed affairs with snake. i won’t spoil anything if you somehow haven’t played this yet, but the ending is utterly amazing, it’s just somewhat of a shame that it takes that long for the game to really explore the ideas of sacrifice, exploitation, and grief that i know metal gear for (even if it is still done supremely well).
in terms of gameplay i think i’m somewhat spoiled by how the phantom pain really takes a lot of the ideas that this game innovated and iterates on them to utter perfection. it’s no doubt there’s a bit of a “seinfeld effect” thing going on here where, at the time it was released, the use of survival skills, more open environments, smart enemy AI, dealing with wildlife, and camouflage changes were incredibly influential, so influential that playing this for the first time now makes them feel a little stale. i feel though, that in coming back to this on a replay now that i’m more familiar with the systems i’ll be able to get more from them and have more fun with them, but on first blush i do kind of miss the more closed in vision cone centric gameplay of solids 1 and 2.
with all that said, this is still an utter masterpiece, just can not fully compare to the previous entries
in terms of the story, i think that the bond pastiche that serves as the central stylistic idea allows for a lot of interesting character work. i loved every time ocelot was on screen, both his vocal performance and animation make him feel so magnetic he steals almost every scene he’s in. the whole cobra team is also very fun with all their weird powers and gimmicks, but i especially loved the sorrow, who’s “battle” feels like the moment where the game really switches gears into raising itself above the simple james bond motif and it fully becomes a metal gear game. it’s also when the boss and eva both start to become more well rounded and i feel become the best written female characters in any of these games, displaying so much pathos and feeling so tragic in their doomed affairs with snake. i won’t spoil anything if you somehow haven’t played this yet, but the ending is utterly amazing, it’s just somewhat of a shame that it takes that long for the game to really explore the ideas of sacrifice, exploitation, and grief that i know metal gear for (even if it is still done supremely well).
in terms of gameplay i think i’m somewhat spoiled by how the phantom pain really takes a lot of the ideas that this game innovated and iterates on them to utter perfection. it’s no doubt there’s a bit of a “seinfeld effect” thing going on here where, at the time it was released, the use of survival skills, more open environments, smart enemy AI, dealing with wildlife, and camouflage changes were incredibly influential, so influential that playing this for the first time now makes them feel a little stale. i feel though, that in coming back to this on a replay now that i’m more familiar with the systems i’ll be able to get more from them and have more fun with them, but on first blush i do kind of miss the more closed in vision cone centric gameplay of solids 1 and 2.
with all that said, this is still an utter masterpiece, just can not fully compare to the previous entries