A linear top-down stealth action game and the first game in the Metal Gear franchise. The gameplay loop involves moving from screen-to-screen and outsmarting guards by moving past them without being seen and getting an alert, which results in several guards chasing you until you kill all the ones on screen. You progress through the game by finding key items that will help you fight bosses and get past blockages so you can access new areas. It's a very classic formula seen in later games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I'm not sure what game was the progenitor, but this title stays faithful to this style of progression, which I find immensely enjoyable.

There are several cool areas to wade through on Outer Heaven, and each areas has a unique palette to it, keeping the visuals pretty fresh on repeat playthroughs. The game only sports a few tracks, but I enjoyed them at best and found the lesser ones inoffensive at worst. The weapons here feel good to use, and the bosses are fun to figure out, especially when you're going for higher ranks on repeat runs. The only negative here is that sometimes the game can be unwinnable, or at the very least, will force you to backtrack to get items you need if you don't have them for specific situations. If you miss the antidote, you can easily die in the scorpion desert with its RNG. If you don't have the correct amount of plastic explosive, you can't beat Metal Gear. Since the game is so short, I really didn't mind, but I can see this annoying some.

The best part of the game, however, is the ranking system. This ranking system is reminiscent of the one in Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill, which are sister series when it comes to going for high endgame ranks. On Original difficulty, you need to beat the game in under 45 minutes, have no continues, only use a single ration, kill no one, and only get the 8 mandatory narrative alerts (so essentially, no player caused alerts). You also can't use the infinity bandana given to you on future playthroughs. You have as many saves as you want though, but the run I did only used one save, and I think the game is better when you limit yourself, much like you do in an arcade game for continues/lives.

The routing in this game is extremely satisfying and figuring out how to take care of tasks, run by guards, time cameras, find items, and kill bosses as fast as possible rules. The game does have a few sections that can be RNG, but I do believe you can somewhat mitigate a lot of the game with some skill. The scorpion desert still has RNG, and you can accidentally kill a guard in one part of the game, but those might be the only two sections where you can't at least get decently consistent at. I really enjoyed routing this one, and it's just an excellent game when you take the endgame into account. It's super fun even if you just play it once, but it really shines when you're memorizing exactly where you need to go.

I rate games based on enjoyment and especially replayability, one of the most important factors in games for me. This has both, and it's a super cool title, and get the highest recommendation from me.

My run is here (https://youtu.be/2LdHMbBhlrM) if you want to check it out. My timestamps also include the infamous roof, which is the run killer for many a Metal Gear Big Boss rank runner. This was my cleanest roof run by far. Funniest part about my run though is that I got stung by scorpion before I saved, and saving fixed that!