Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is both a pointless, unnecessary remake of one of the greatest games of all time that is unfairly maligned and hated to an almost comical degree. Silicon Knights deserve better than to get continually dragged for a remake that plays up game and mass media tropes of the time. Sure it missed the mark, losing something crucial to Metal Gear Solid's identity in this sixth gen translation, but is it such a crime that Gamecube owners got their own twist on what was then still a "modern day classic"?
Yes it was the first Metal Gear game I played, what of it?
Maybe I'm too forgiving of The Twin Snakes many, many sins. Solid Snake's ridiculous John Woo inspired acrobatics and the frequent use of bullet time no doubt influenced by the still raging Matrix craze are not necessarily antithetical to Metal Gear as a whole, after all this is a series that wears its cinematic influences on its sleeve; for Metal Gear Solid specifically, it betrays the somber tone of the original for something more in line with Son of Liberty's Michael Bay-level theatrics. Same story, different flavor, and I can see why some don't have a taste for it.
Another point of contention is the first person aiming, a carry over from Metal Gear Solid 2 and a key feature that defined Metal Gear in the sixth gen. It does trivialize a lot of the game, making it far easier to not only get your bearings but dispatch an entire room of enemy threats from a safe position. This could have been helped by further changing enemy patrol patterns or redesigning some rooms to have less viable vantage points. It does, however, make the turrets along the stairwell in the communication tower easier to deal with, which I appreciate.
My preference is always going to be with the original Metal Gear Solid, which I feel is a much more effective both in terms of game balance and overall tone, but I'll always have a soft spot for The Twin Snakes for introducing me to Metal Gear. I also just don't particularly find there to be much bad in having a different interpretation of a game or story so long as the original is well preserved and still made accessible (by this point, Twin Snakes is arguably harder to play today than the game its based on.) This one is nonetheless a tough recommendation as all the negative qualities people are so hung up on certainly stand out even to me, despite my willingness to look past them.
Yes it was the first Metal Gear game I played, what of it?
Maybe I'm too forgiving of The Twin Snakes many, many sins. Solid Snake's ridiculous John Woo inspired acrobatics and the frequent use of bullet time no doubt influenced by the still raging Matrix craze are not necessarily antithetical to Metal Gear as a whole, after all this is a series that wears its cinematic influences on its sleeve; for Metal Gear Solid specifically, it betrays the somber tone of the original for something more in line with Son of Liberty's Michael Bay-level theatrics. Same story, different flavor, and I can see why some don't have a taste for it.
Another point of contention is the first person aiming, a carry over from Metal Gear Solid 2 and a key feature that defined Metal Gear in the sixth gen. It does trivialize a lot of the game, making it far easier to not only get your bearings but dispatch an entire room of enemy threats from a safe position. This could have been helped by further changing enemy patrol patterns or redesigning some rooms to have less viable vantage points. It does, however, make the turrets along the stairwell in the communication tower easier to deal with, which I appreciate.
My preference is always going to be with the original Metal Gear Solid, which I feel is a much more effective both in terms of game balance and overall tone, but I'll always have a soft spot for The Twin Snakes for introducing me to Metal Gear. I also just don't particularly find there to be much bad in having a different interpretation of a game or story so long as the original is well preserved and still made accessible (by this point, Twin Snakes is arguably harder to play today than the game its based on.) This one is nonetheless a tough recommendation as all the negative qualities people are so hung up on certainly stand out even to me, despite my willingness to look past them.
2 Comments
Yeah also under that same logic all it would've taken is this one game to totally warp my view of it nearly two decades ago, as opposed to giving me an in and finding out shortly after that the original version is better.
gruel
1 year ago