it's got a wonderful art style and aesthetic, the music and sound design is superb, the voice acting is great, and the writing/dialogue/story are all pretty damn good (good, but not quite great). by all means, it's an evolution of what metal gear on the msx was.

it's just a shame that the gameplay is horrific. frustrating level design, annoying forced combat sections, boss fights that range from "hey, pretty cool!" to "jesus fuck this is nails in my hands" all culminate in an experience that's just not very fun to play through at all. there are moments of brilliance in its gameplay--there is a cat-and-mouse bossfight that utilizes enemy pathing, the radar, and the player's own explosive tools and it is easily the highlight of the game. there are certain parts where it feels quite slick to slide by enemies and dip in and out of cover. but this is overshadowed by ridiculousness in difficulty and repetition that plagues the whole experience.

it's not very long, and it is worth playing. but it'll be for its storytelling versus its gameplay.