Metal Gear Solid Trilogy: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

After having completed all of the Metal Gear Solid video games, I have decided to take some time out and point out what I liked, what I didn’t like, and what was absolutely horrible in each of the titles. Also, since i played the games on every console, I can also compare the controls as they were throughout. Each one of the sections for the titles will be broken down into the three sections: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think that those headers are pretty much self explanatory. So, without further ado, I present to you my MGS perspectives.

Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes

The Good

This MGS game was easily the tightest of them all. The controls were done well, it had the best camera angles. The most logical story line. The best playable character. I also like the over all coloring, and lighting throughout the level. Furthermore, I probably like the location the most too. However, I do not thing that there were enough outdoor scenes. In my ideal world, you would have been outdoors as much as your were in Snake Eater. I guess that I am just a sucker for snow environments. I think that my favorite one was in Call of Duty. But, that is off topic.

The Bad

It is difficult to really come up with anything that I did not like about this one. My only real complaint is that the graphic did not really get much, if any of an overhaul from the PSX version. I suppose that I should almost make a note that I was not a huge fan of the GameCube controls. In generally they were pretty good, better than the PS2 controls. Unfortunately, the GC controller just does not have enough buttons, so it does not translate well.

The Ugly

As I mentioned earlier, this game is the tightest of all in the franchise thus far. So, there is not really anything to serious to complain about. Therefore, my only submission under this heading is: Liquid Snake. The character itself is not that bad. But, what I don’t understand is why he does not like clothing, and why he took Solid Snake’s shirt off at the end. I really found that whole sequence rather disturbing.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

The Good

The biggest thing that this game had going for it, what that it was the most fun to play. It maintained most of the controls from the first title so that felt good. And, there was not inane “realism” elements that made the game painful to play. Furthermore, I played this title on the Xbox. I have to say that of all the games I like these controls the most. This is probably because the Xbox S controller is more comfortable to me than any of the other systems, I contribute this to the fact that I have man hands, and not girly hands. Additionally, the Xbox controller offers more sensitivity on the analog stick than either of the other two consoles, so sneaking was considerably easier for me.

The story line in the game was also some what interesting, it not too overly convoluted. I will admit that there are threads that are just complete off the wall, and unpalatable. But, I felt that the story in this game had much more impact that the other two titles. Perhaps the biggest difference was the level of significance of the “weapon” that you try to destroy. In MGS3, the Shagod was essentially pointless, as it offered not strategic advantage. It was essentially just a really expensive tank. In MGS, the Metal Gear was a bipedal tank capable of delivering stealth nuke strikes to any target in the world. Metal Gear Rex offered a considerable strategic advantage, because you would be able to avoid MADD if you were able to complete destroy another country before they were able to launch a counter-strike. Good times. But, even this was topped by Arsenal Gear. Arsenal Gear was more significant than just a vehicle of war. It was also a significant political tool. Not only did this thing have significant military power, as it acted as a massive missile housing center, with a host of Metal Gear Rays to guard it, it also offer the ability to shape information. Control of the media, and press, and what not is not trivial, but entirely possible. At current times the entertainment industry essentially controls all media, and a massive chunk of the government. But, the one thing that they cannot control is the Internet. Damned if they aren’t trying then. How much do you think the MPAA would pay for Arsenal Gear?

The Bad

Raiden. From what I can understand, the only reason that you play as this nerdy piece of crap is to make Solid Snake appear even cooler than in MGS. This is a task that I thought they would not be able to do, but pulled off through admiration via proxy, and relativity. Raiden can do all the same stuff, but he is just a dorky idiot. However, this is also the root of most of the humor in the game, so it is not an entirely bad thing.

Holes. I do not understand what the deal is with this, but in the two other MGS games there were not so many places that you could just blindly fall to your death as in this game. I have never really liked video games that utilized this.

The Ugly

Apparently, the MGS series is quickly becoming a clothing optional series. In the first game, we see Liquid and Solid half naked. And, now in the second installment we see Raiden fully naked. This is both a terribly funny sequence, and eternally traumatizing.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

The Good

The visuals in this game were by far the best. I hesitate to call the in game graphic good, because they are only the best in the series, but not for contemporary video games. However, I can call the cut scenes some of the best available on any platform. There was good action, animation, and storytelling throughout. I can honestly say that I was very happy whenever the game switch into a cutscene, more so than any of the other titles in the series. Unfortunately, this is where the good ends.

The Bad

This game is easily the worst in the series. The camera angles are always just about the worst possible in every situation. The clipping is off, and the game is full of invisible walls. That annoyed me a lot. There is not way to aim weapons sort of putting a dot on the center of your screen. First person was clunky, the controls were clunky. Though, the controls just might be an issue with the PSX controls as they are. I have never like those controllers.

The story is this game is also completely pointless. It is overly convoluted, and the characters’ motivations make absolutely no sense. Little if anything was gained by having this game exist.

I could go on for hours, but this is just a tip of the iceberg post.

The Ugly

There are two systems in this game that are utterly horrible, and fundamental contradictory to their purpose in the game. The first is the stamina system. In order to attempt to add more realism into this title, they now force Snake to eat out in the wild in order to maintain a high level of stamina in order to function. This does nothing for the game but slow down the pacing and make gameplay a drag. Furthermore it does not make sense as to how you can instantly replenish stamina by eating food. And, it doesn’t matter when you eat, it could be in the middle of a battle, or alone in the quiet rain. It does the same thing either way.

The second system is the curing system. In this “heal Snake the annoying way” mini-game you must apply various medical acts to snakes wound in order to allow you to heal to full health. The biggest problem with this is that is completely lacks realism. In the middle of a boss battle you can just hit pause, and take half an hour to tend to your wounds. How realistic is that?

The camo system, though interesting lack realism, but I won’t go into that at this time, because that did not annoy me as much as the points above.

Parting Shot

So there you have it. Those are my in a nutshell opinions on the core areas of the three MGS games. Let’s hope the fourth installment is leaps and bound better than the third.