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Metal Gear Solid HD Collection

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Is HD impressive, Snake?

Posted 26th January 2012, 11:01am in Games / By Michael J Fax
If you're of a certain age, Metal Gear Solid is likely to either hold a special place in your heart or a special place in your bin. It's a series that attracts and rewards the hardcore – those who put in the hours and have the patience to navigate around its tense, at times odd and, undeniably, thrilling stealth adventure. And if you have an itchy trigger finger, this series has never really been for you. And, so, with these remastered classics, you at least know what you're getting. If you didn't like them first time around, you're not going to like them all over again.

Hideo Kojima's stealth action series is one that's influenced so many of the games we play today with its cerebral thrills of sneaking through enemy territories alone, remaining undetected and remarkably outnumbered. Konami have unleashed the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection upon us and what do we get? Well, puzzlingly, there's no Metal Gear Solid 1 here. It's a generous bundle – Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, as well as the PSP's Peace Walker (and the ability to play the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2), but where's the PlayStation bombshell that started it all?

The convoluted and mind-farting twists of MGS2 and 3 may sort of negate the purpose of having the first one there, but the completists among us will be writhing in frustration.



Nevertheless, MGS2 looks sharp and handles well if you can get your mind around the old-school controls. It's still a classic and re-playing those ultra-blue environments and watching Snake being berated on the intercom while having the angriest face and biggest bandana you can imagine is still as great as ever. But the biggest visual improvement comes with MGS3: Snake Eater which still feels as powerful and tense as ever. Its camouflage system and open jungle setting all looks great remastered and the game really holds its own.

Peace Walker, undoubtedly the crappiest looking of the bunch, doesn't translate so well to the bigger consoles. It's almost MGS-lite at times, with tiny missions, but there's an intricate and involved system in which you kidnap and recruit enemy soldiers, offering a little more than your usual stealth affair.

Some will find the long (and we mean looooooong) cut-scenes and dialogue an endearing staple of the series, others will find it a dazzling bore – but all that aside, the sheer strength of the gameplay is what holds up over the years and the reason why this series is so fondly remembered is delivered with merciless force.



So was an HD upgrade really necessary? With Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, it seemed like it was a pointless and redundant remake of a game we all knew was great. Until you pressed that button and saw how awful it used to look compared to how it did now. While there's no trigger to the past with the MGS series, the fact we can travel through the series game by game allows us to see its improvements unfold before us.

Which is why not having the MGS1 here is a right pain in the tits. Regardless, this is a cool collection and one that merits an HD upgrade and stand-alone release like this. Don't get us wrong – all the games here benefit from the HD overhaul and fans will love having them together in one package, but newbies will want to start from the beginning. This collection is clearly for the old-school collectors, rather than an effort to bring new blood to a franchise that time may, otherwise, overlook.

It's easy to forget how inspirational the series has been and while its overly moody sincerity can feel a little off-putting at times, there's no faulting the structure and brilliance at work here.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is available on 3rd February for Xbox 360 and PS3.

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