14 DAY TRIAL // 
One of most awaited next-gen titles has got to be Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, surfacing on the PS3 console this year. But what about the past? Most of the folks who played the previous installments will surely enjoy looking back and having yet another taste of the best game in the Metal Gear series: Metal Gear Solid. The title was made available on the first PlayStation console in 1998 and was an instant hit, selling more than 6 million copies and becoming my personal favorite stealth game. If you ask me, it's even better than Splinter Cell or Syphon Filter and it doesn't even matter which title pertaining to these series you compare it to. Since this is a PS 1 title, you'll surely know by now that you can play it on your PS3 or PSP, thanks to backwards compatibility. Metal Gear Solid deserves a replay, together with the rest of the games in the series, in order to better understand the events in MGS4. And I did...
Story You're Solid Snake, a die-hard secret agent, infiltrating an Alaskan base seized by terrorists, who threaten the US government with nuclear bombing if they don't deliver the dead body of Big Boss, a famous mercenary, idol and leader of the terrorists. Leading the rebellious group is Liquid Snake, the protagonist's evil twin and this is surely not a metaphor I'm using, since they are genetical twins, having been cloned from the cells of Big Boss. The rebel group has claimed that it's ready to use the Metal Gear, a huge bipedal robot, capable of firing nuclear missiles. Snake is aided in his task by his superior, Colonel Roy Campbell plus Naomi Hunter, offering her medical support, Natasha Romanenko, providing tips on how to use various weapons and Mei Ling, well....providing the way to save your progress. Snake's mission is to infiltrate the base, rescue the hostages and make sure that the rebels don't fire up the Metal Gear... EVER.
At first glance, the story may not be that fascinating, since it resembles the plot featured in most modern stealth action movies, but its characters are brilliantly designed and fascinating, specially for the young mind of a gamer picking up the title for the first time back in 1998. As always, the most fascinating characters are the baddies, Liquid Snake's mates, like Revolver Ocelot, a cowboy gone wrong if I may say that, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven or Psycho Mantis, by far the craziest character I've seen in a while. Metal Gear Solid is not all war, war, war as it's also got a neat love story attached to it, showing its development throughout the plot. Solid Snake and Meryl Silverburgh are the protagonists, but you'll find out more by playing the game, that can either have a tragic or a romantic ending for the duo.
Through bullets and... codec Solid Snake is all alone in this mission, aside from the audio support from back home, delivered with the aid of a codec, a communication device that allows Snake to talk to his superiors and various other characters, including Mei Ling who will save your game if you ask her to. Well, if we really look into the story better, Snake won't be all alone, since he'll encounter doctor Hal Emmerich, lead developer of the Metal Gear REX, the bipedal robot I was talking about earlier. He'll accompany you as you progress, but your most vital ally will surely be Meryl, the Colonel's daughter, the woman that Snake falls in love with. She'll aid you, but she'll also require you to save her a bunch of times. There's that mysterious cyborg ninja too, but he's not much of an ally, because he rather hates the rebels ready to power up the Metal Gates and doesn't harm you.
Keep in mind that this is a stealth game after all, as far from the action and third person shooter genre as it gets, specially since it doesn't necessary require the shed of blood. As a matter of fact, Konami insists on the gamers proceeding while using stealth and avoiding any unnecessary kills. However, you'll have tons of useful weapons in your inventory, from Claymore mines to the classic SOCOM riffle, or a pistol that can receive a silencer as an attachment, plus a more than useful rocket launcher and a sniper riffle. This game's got it all, except for what some gamers want the most: cheap violence and waves of enemies constantly attacking you. Don't fret, as they'll arrive, as soon as you're spotted and your on-screen radar goes crazy, while your alarm meter turns red. These are to be kept under observation at all time, specially because the radar shows you the line of sight of your foes, while the alarm meter includes a timer that lets you know how many seconds are left till the terrorists stop looking for you.
Back to the vast weaponry, in case you didn't know good old Snake can also use physical moves to disable his enemies. He'll snap their neck from behind, use martial arts, knock them down and leave them fainted on the floor. You'll also be able to knock on various walls or surfaces in order to attract the attention of guards to your location, while you cleverly sneak behind their back. If this sounds like too much a task for you, there's always a neat VR training mode, that allows you to face virtual terrorists in a race against time. You'll have to sneak, shoot and run in the most original ways you can figure out, before reaching your goal. Snake can collect items during the game, usually health pickups, ammo and new weapons, but also key cards he needs to use to unlock certain doors. Those are usually available depending on the place where you get them and the soldier who has them.
The level of these cards is very important, since some doors need special clearance, obtained through higher level cards. Metal Gear Solid is an extremely realistic game, so realistic, that when you're using the sniper riffle, your hand trembles so much that you'll need to use a Diazepam or two in order to calm your heart beats. Want other cool inside tips from the life of the stealth warrior we know as Solid Snake? The man's a smoker, but he's trying to quit, however he can use the smoke of his cigarettes to spot laser detection systems. These and many other traps will be spotted by using Snake's goggles, be they thermal or night vision ones.
Guards and terrorists are not always you main concern, since there are cameras everywhere, but you'll be able to disable them by using Chaff grenades, that can also mess up all the other electrical equipment around. Snake can also uses various stun grenades that light the screen and confuse his enemies, so they'll become extremely useful when everyone's looking for our favorite secret agent. The action gets so good, that Snake can even eavesdrop or crawl through vents and chase rats outside, by mistake. These rats will alert guards, so you'll even have to be careful while dealing with them. In case our hero gets spotted, there's always the solution of jumping into the water and staying hidden till the threat passes.
Be careful as there's an oxygen meter that runs out at a certain point of your underwater adventure. Snake's life meter can quickly get depleted if you're into fighting terrorists, but thank God there are rations around used to recover health. Considering that you'll have to proceed stealthily, you can even use a cardboard box as a disguise, during the game, which is pretty cool (and funny) for a title pertaining to this genre. As a secondary feature Konami's also sending some pretty educative messages, specially since Snake's life meter will get depleted when he smokes.
Cyborg Ninja and Rex The bosses of this game are THE best I've ever seen in a videogame, specially because they're diabolical and troubled persons with mysterious and traumatizing pasts. There's the high-tech mystic Vulcan-wielding fellow, the demented Psycho Mantis, using his mental powers to control you, the strong Cyborg Ninja, the mocking Liquid Snake (usually using certain vehicles) and ultimately the Metal Gear REX, obviously being used by Liquid Snake. Solid's evil alter-ego sure has a way with machines, specially since he'll be a major pain when flying a Hind chopper and firing missiles at you, while you're on a tall rooftop. Then, there's that cyborg and his invisibility plus deadly sword... You'll have a hard time fighting this foe, when he's invisible and specially when he strikes you seemingly from nowhere.
Also, dueling Sniper Wolf can be a ball, when you're both using sniper riffles at the same time and zooming so close that you can see each other's eyes close to the scope. I toyed with Sniper Wolf by sending her guided Nikita rockets, which can turn out to be pretty useful when you're not in the mood for close combat. The Metal Gear REX is a fine piece of work, as it's basically a giant metallic beast ready to crush you with its feet, fire rockets at you, fire its cannon and deadly bullets toward you. It has a weak spot, but I guess that you'll find that on your own. There's one fascinating feature of these boss fights: if I remember well, while trying to kill Psycho Mantis, you'll be prompted to insert your controller into the PlayStation's second port, in order not to have Snake controlled by the mind-reader and thought-wielder.
Revolver Ocelot is also one hell of a shooter and one hell of an enemy, specially when he tortures you and triggers a quite interesting minigame. Well, it's all button-mashing, but Meryl's life depends on it. At some point, this button mashing was so difficult to pull out, that I had to use a controller with a Turbo option on it, without much of an improvement.
Graphics This game's graphics are class A, specially for a 1998 title and for a PlayStation One game, if you ask me. On rare occasions I get to play titles that are 10 years old and still look good. That's probably the reason why the game got ported on the PC, in 2000 when it wasn't as successful, but still a decent way to introduce Hideo Kojima's creation to the PC gaming world. You'll love the fact that the cutscenes are not as pretentious as those from a Final Fantasy title, because they use the same engine as the rest of the game's action, thus making the passage from normal gameplay to FMV in an extremely subtle way.
The character design deserves a standing ovation, as do the buildings and backgrounds plus that neat Metal Gear. Meryl is beautiful, if somewhat polygonal, an issue common to all the human bodies in the game, but it was 1998 after all... The camera angles are simply great, specially if we take into consideration the fact that you switch between first and third person mode, plus an extra third person mode when you get stuck to the walls or in certain pre-defined actions.
Sound The voice acting is simply great, specially in the Italian version of the game I've played, featuring passionate voices and lines that would make the best Tom Clancy novel green with envy. Add to that a superb soundtrack, filled with calm songs or the vivid action music that surfaces during combats and you've got a perfect audio package and an OST you'll be looking for, in order to purchase and listen to it in your spare time. The female voice's presence in the game's main theme is divine, giving you creeps and a huge sorrow that you've finished the game once it ends, a sensation that isn't yet gone, for me.
Conclusion Metal Gear Solid is the reason why the series is so popular, not that the other titles aren't great or anything, but this game was simply fantastic when it took over our consoles, ten years ago. I can't think of a flaw of MGS right now, specially because I'm a fan of the game, but I guess it's time to move on from this masterpiece and hope that the fourth title will change gaming history forever and set a new trend in this now boring industry. 2008 will be the last we'll be seeing of Solid Snake, it seems, because he's now a pretty old man and he'll either retire or....die in the latest installment.
