Metal Gear

I first came across the Metal Gear series with the release of Metal Gear Solid on the PSOne. It was being raved about by reviewers as revolutionary and the greatest PSOne title to date. And, its safe to say, I wasn't disappointed by the stealthy game play, gripping storyline and some of the best graphics on the PSOne. I believed it to be the beginning of an excellent series. However, I soon learned that it wasn't the beginning, and that in fact the original Metal Gear had appeared on consoles man years before. With this in mind, I began to hunt the original game.

There are two versions of Metal Gear: one for the MSX, which is in fact the first version and a version for the NES. The NES version, however, is quite different from the original MSX version, so I will be concentrating on the MSX version.

The story follows a young Solid Snake, the hero of Metal Gear Solid, who is a rookie member of the Special Ops team known as FOXHOUND. Under the orders of the FOXHOUND leader, aptly named Big Boss, Snake is sent to a terrorist strong-hold known as Outer Heaven, were he is to make contact with, and rescue, veteran FOXHOUND member Grey Fox.

The game play is simple enough, however revolutionary it was at the time. You make your way around the Outer Heaven base, avoiding conflict with enemy soldiers as much as possible. Between areas there are intervals were Snake must battle with various 'boss' characters, before reaching the ultimate(and surprising) final boss, who is controlling the ultimate weapon: a bipedal, walking battle tank called Metal Gear.

The controls are simple enough to master and the interface is quite user friendly. However, the restrictions of ancient 2D graphics mean that it is quite difficult to make your way from A to B without being spotted by the enemy. Also, when this does happen(which is frequent on your first play through) every guard in the area is alerted to your presence, making the idea of fighting back a rather dangerous one. This is really frustrating, and you find yourself restarting more times than you would like. But, persistence makes the game all the more rewarding.

Music and sound is used to good effect, considering the restrictions of the developers. The music provides a worthy atmosphere, and long spells of stealth can make the sudden sound of being identified quite frightening.

All in all, this game is really good, considering the ancient technology used to develop it. It is also interesting to see Snake's origin and the early battles that make him the warrior he is in Metal Gear Solid. A worthy purchase.

My first impressions of the game was that it was quite hard for a 8 year old to play let alone understand. Though I did play it quite often and it became one of my favorite games, but I never fully understood what was going on in the game mostly due to the fact that the NES version was a port. The game was originally released on the MSX. This version of the game was by far superior to the ported NES version. It wasn't till the game was re-released bundled with Metal Gear Solid 3 that I fully was able to enjoy the game. Metal Gear was much like the later ones in this long running series. Jam-packed with story and real world issues as well as running away from foes and hiding under boxes. Good game over all and I would suggest it to anyone who enjoys this series.

I should mention upfront that I beat this game about 20 years after it's initial release (on the MGS3: Substance bonus disc) and as such it was difficult to be wholly objective.

In the near future of 1995 (the game came out in 1987) a terrorist group has seized the Outer Heaven facility in order to acquire the newly developed super-weapon Metal Gear TX-55. Rookie operative Solid Snake is dispatched to defuse the situation, though the mission is not what it seems.

If the plot sounds like a hokey 80's action flick, that's because it's an 80's game based on hokey 80's action flicks. One of the game's bosses are a couple of cyborgs called 'the Arnolds' for god's sake. Compared to the rest of the games in the series, the plotting and story here are bare minimum. None of the long-winded speeches, none of the 20+ minute cut-scenes; for better or worse its all about the game play.

Judged strictly by modern standards, the game is woefully outdated. 8-bit color scheme, midi-style music and limited player functions. That being said the game has aged far better than most games of its era. Despite the technical limitations the title still holds up as a playable game even today, this is due to the obvious genius of the core mechanics. Many of the ideas set up in this entry will carry on throughout the series (stealth over force, inventive boss battles, big plot twists, huge assortment of items and weapons) and even some of the actual game play segments will survive (in updated form) all up to MSG2: SOL.

I can't really recommend this to casual gamers, as most will not put up with the dated structure and limited story/character development, but for fans of the series and retro-naughts, this is a must play.

7/10

This was one of the first really good games I played on the Nintendo. While I found some of the first parts rather challenging, the game is quite enjoyable to play once you get the hang of it. I had a lot of fun playing this game, and it was the first video game my dad played ever, even when I wasn't around (he actually finished the game before I did!). Sometimes I still wish I had it.

The first time I played Metal Gear I was about eight, I couldn't play it so I traded it for another game. Years down the track the urge to play the game again to finish it came up, so I bought it again.

If you like Metal Gear Solid, and you want to know about Solid Snake when he as a rookie, you might like it.

In terms of playability, Metal Gear is superb, while the graphics may not be on par with today's quality it still holds a firm standing as a great game.

The best part is the gameplay which holds its own against the gameplay of newer games.

A great game, buy it, you won't regret it.