Facebook – Top 100 FAVORITE Games: 15

15: Metal Gear Solid (PS1/Gamecube… technically)
Developer: Konami
Year: 1998 (seriously?!)

This game is 12 years old. Think about that, for a second. Think about how old you were 12 years ago. I, for instance, was 13. I was into Zelda and the occasional Turok. I thought this game looked like some kinda crummy Star Wars ripoff game, based on the art on a cover of EGM. I had no idea what to expect from it, didn’t care much, either. Funny how 12 years of hard core gaming can change a man.

Possibly the funniest part about getting to play this classic is that I got it from a classmate of mine for nothing. He basically gave it to me, in exchange for a burned copy of The Sims, on PC. I got one of the greatest games ever made, he got a 25-cent CD with a copy of a game that was still cheaper than this one. Prior to this, I’d only played a demo in a Wal-Mart that featured – to the best of my knowledge – just the intro room, when Snake comes out of the water and has to sneak to the elevator. It could have been the whole game, for all I know, though… I sucked so much I got shot and killed every time. I didn’t know how to use a PS1 controller! But, upon placing the disc in my PS1 and booting it up, I got an experience that was more cinematic than any other game I’d ever played.

Metal Gear Solid is one of those games that I can now play without problem, and I can probably recall every step of the game from memory. Both the original and the remake (with its over-the-top, Matrix-style antics) feature the same action sequences, the same layouts for rooms, and the same boss battles to topple. And I’ve run through the game on both systems, total, enough times to make anyone shake their head and go “where did you get that much time in high school, Skyler?”- and you’d be right to. I got so good at this game that I actually video taped a run-through I’d done for the friend who’d “traded” the game to me, simply because he missed the game and he knew I was great at it.

But these are all personal things. About the game itself, it was and is one of the best stealth games in the history, of this there can be little real doubt. And while the sequel really took things to a ridiculous and kinda stupid level with the plot, this game’s epic narrative, interesting and deep antagonists, and breathtaking action sequences (for the time, mind you) provide me enough reason, even today, to go back again and again to thwart Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot, and the rest of Fox Hound special forces. I mean, the Psycho Mantis fight alone is awesome enough to necessitate a second play-through of the game, right? Right.

Its easy, now, to complain about lengthy codec conversations, cheesy accents, and cheap and sudden trap door deaths. And, I mean, these are things that – if nothing else – the series has only made more that a little bit more present (MGS2’s codec conversations took up over half the game. Seriously. When I skip those, I can beat the game – on hard – in about 3, 3-and-a-half hours), so to some degree that’s fair. But at the time these things weren’t as big a problem because when it was released, this game was the perfect example of how to make a stealth game. How many clones have we seen since then?

All in all, Metal Gear Solid is a game that stands on its own as a pillar of excellence. The remake, while fun, only really adds the excellent inclusion of a First Person mode for gun fights. But even without those things, this game is memorable sequence after memorable sequence. Is it taxing to toss grenades into Raven’s tank and miss, half the time? Is it tedious to go back and forth to change the PAL key from warm to cold? Is it stupid that – even after you kill him and FoxDie claims him, Liquid Snake is alive? Yes. Yes to all of these. But ask yourself this: do any of these things keep the game from being a classic? The answer is, of course, no. If you said yes, fuck you.

Classic Moment:
People always talk about this, but it really was genius; putting the codec code for Meryl on the back of the box and no where in the game was just cool and started the series longstanding 4th Wall demolition by actually informing the player of the fact that you have to get the code from the packaging. They carried this idea over to the Gamecube version, too, which is cool. Of further note, sneaking in on Meryl in the bathroom before she has a chance to change her clothes results in spotting her in her underpants. Why are the Japanese so messed up?

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Added April 6, 2017
I stand by my claim that 3 is better than the first one, but man… this is a great series of games. The biggest shame is that a chronological playthrough of the series would be difficult to stomach due to 5’s increasingly disappointing narrative.
Haven’t touched the original in many, many years. It’s always a good time for a return trip, though.