The name Hideo Kojima has graced our consoles for over three decades. He basically became a household name, creating one of the greatest game franchises of all time, and easily the most exemplary stealth titles. While his departure from Konami eight years ago shook the gaming industry, he continued with his ventures into surreal, Hollywood inspired-storytelling, creating the indifferentDeath Strandingwith Sony. While he’s no longer at the helm, Konami is looking to bring back the series in a big way, and we’re not talking about pachinko. On top of announcing a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the Japanese released has created the first volume of a collection, hopefully bringing the series to a new generation of players. The one downside being that they have removed Peace Walker that was originally in the HD collection released in 2011, presumably to include it in future installments. Is Solid Snake back or has the old clone failed to stand the test of time?
Along with games such as Tenchu and Syphon Filter, the original Metal Gear Solid was a monumental step forward for the stealth genre moving into the 3D era. It featured a surprisingly-complex story that meshed technology and the supernatural together in a perfect balance of ridiculousness, producing some of the most iconic moments in gaming history. The story revolves around the legendary Solid Snake, the man who single handedly took down Big Boss and his nuclear weapon in Outer Heaven. He is tasked to infiltrate a base in Alaska who have taken numerous heads of state captive and threaten the world itself with nuclear annihilation. The first in the Solid lineup holds up shockingly well for a twenty-five-year-old title, with the stealth, environments and boss battles being incredibly engaging. The only thing players will need to get used to is the circle button being confirm. Even with the minimal first-person interaction, the gunplay is downright entertaining and the characters memorable. The Master Collection not only includes the original release, but also the VR Missions game, the European Special Missions, and the Japanese Integral, allowing the player to choose what they want to experience.
The second game was a huge leap for the franchise as it went from experimental 3D into a whole new generation of stealth action games. Controversially, though, it bamboozled a lot of players who expected to play as the legendary Solid Snake, instead passing the lead to series newcomer Jack the Ripper “Raiden” who was far from the most likable protagonist. He complained a lot, got into spouts with his girlfriend about relationship issues over the codec, and overall was the opposite of the grizzled and battle-worn Snake. He has changed since his introduction into a robotic ninja who can properly lead his own games again, but this wasn’t the best way to get players hooked back in the Metal Gear Solid series. With that said, despite Jack being an unlikable individual, everything else in the second game is near perfection in terms of evolution over its predecessor. It introduced first-person shooting (although the pressure sensitive face buttons don’t seem to be active in this version), more favorable camera placements, and the fact the compound doesn’t immediately go on alert when Raiden is spotted, but instead has to call it in over radio (which can be destroyed). There’s so much that was done to revolutionize things and it holds up even today.
While the first two games alongside Metal Gear, Snake’s Revenge and MG2: Solid Snake were all amazing, Metal Gear Solid 3 is the arguably the biggest release in this package. This is where Kojima and his team flexed their stealth muscles, putting players in the shoes of the antagonist of the original Metal Gear, Big Boss, as he traverses unruly terrains and jungles. It involved crawling through grass and blending in with the environment to avoid detection, as there was a much more involved injury system that has players scrambling for ointment and bandages. This is both a stealth game and a survival game, putting the player in a hostile environment and having them fend for themselves with limited resources. This includes ensuring Big Boss eats the correct food and watches his footing as getting bit by a poisonous snake could be lethal. All this is wrapped up in a spectacular espionage adventure that players won’t soon forget. On top of this, it introduces us to familiar faces from past installments, along with new ones that will become important in games moving forward. There’s a reason why this was considered a PlayStation 2 classic, and no matter how many times it’s released and played, it will always be considered as such.
This collection of games isn’t consolidated in a single launcher, but instead their own individual ones, which can be annoying to have so many applications on your console or PC. One of the best additions to the Master Collection is the extra content outside of the main game. We’re talking the inclusion of the Master Books from the Metal Gear Archive, along with Screenplays. The Master Books are extensive 87 to 128-page books that talks about the characters, events, inspirations and so much that went into the development of each game. Then of course there’s the screenplays which shows just how the stories and scenarios were written. These alone are some of the best additions to the Master Collection; it may not be the same as owning physical encyclopedias, but it adds to the overall appreciation of the collection, and if you’re an avid Metal Gear fan, these will give value to the package.
Unfortunately, the biggest issue with this remaster is just how technically flawed it is in terms of modern expectations. Considering the games in this pack span over thirty-five years, you’d expect them to easily reach technical heights we couldn’t see on their original platforms. While this is somewhat true, for a current-generation game, it falls below what we hoped for. The good is that the games, especially the later releases, hold up in terms of control and framerate. There are some framerate issues in certain cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid 2, and the intentional ghosting makes it feel choppy, but overall they run well. The bad is the resolution conundrum. It’s almost hard to call this a remaster, but instead a port of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 HD collections we saw over a decade ago. The resolution is upscaled to 1080p but run at a native 720p, which is baffling. We can maybe understand not being able to hit 4K60, but there’s no excuse for it to not run natively at the bare minimum 1080p.
Closing Comments:
Nostalgia is a powerful tool, and Konami is banking on it with the Master Collection. This collection houses some of the best games from the franchise’s history stuffed in one package, but the Japanese publisher has done a poor job in convincing players they need to replay these once more. The problem isn’t with the quality of content in the games themselves, as all six are iconic and near masterpieces; it’s the quality in how they have handled transitioning the series into the modern age, giving us far from 4K or even “HD” as in the titles of many of the games. If someone has the ability to play the HD Collection that was released over a decade ago, then there’s zero reason why they’d ever touch this outside of maybe mods on PC. For anyone who cannot get their hands on said collection, then this will have to suffice. Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid remain some of the best stealth action games on the planet, so it’s disappointing they’ve been treated with such disregard. With that said, at the very least the Maser Collection is beautiful time capsule of how the series has evolved, even including translated encyclopedias of the games. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 has plenty of technical frustrations, but at least it remains true to the classics.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1
Konami’s compilation package includes Metal Gear and its sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, along with Metal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty, and Snake Eater.
