73| Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Released: July 20th, 1990

Definitive Version: Any; Available On: MSX2, Playstation Vita, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Playstation 2

It isn't uncommon when a traditionally 2D game series makes the jump to 3D that it takes a lot of influences from its previous two dimensional entry. Ocarina of Time took a lot of influence from A Link to the Past as it included many areas and situations from the previous game. The same goes for Metroid Prime as it took a lot of influence from Super Metroid. However, there is a certain other series that took a lot of influence from its pixelated predecessor. Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation broke a lot of ground with its cinematic tone, blockbuster story, unique gameplay, and several quirks in game design. The stealth gameplay, the theme of a mixture of Japanese anime robots and Western spy thriller, finding specific codec numbers by looking at the game's disc case, etc. What most people don't know, is that it turns out that many of these things really weren't that unique. In fact almost all of this was taken directly from the first two games in the series. Specifically from Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

The game plays exactly like Metal Gear Solid. You play as Solid Snake an elite spy for the U.S. government who's objective is to infiltrate the enemy base. In a top down perspective, Snake will be walking and crawling throughout the entire facility as he tries to avoid enemies. The top right of the screen has a map system that shows exactly where each enemy is. It's good to pay attention to this as much as possible because if an enemy catches sight of Snake an alarm will go off and every enemy on the map will attack him, as well as back up being called. If Snake manages to escape and remain undetected for a few minutes then the alarm will stop and the enemies will let down their guard again. Snake can equip himself with a variety of weapons ranging from pistols, to machine guns, to rocket launchers, to his bare fists. On top of that he can also use items such as key cards to open up doors, cigarettes to slowly kill himself, or a box to hide himself in.

As demonstrated by the previous paragraph, all of Metal Gear's core designs are perfectly present in this game. However, the similarities don't just end there. Many of Metal Gear Solid's unique "think outside the box" design decisions are present in this entry as well. For example there is a point in the game where you have to look through the game's manual to see a picture of a codec call that you have to enter to contact an important individual. Another part of the game revolves around the player trying to find a hollow part of a wall, so the player has to knock on all of the walls in a room to find it and use some C4 to blow a hole in it. Being honest I was halfway expecting to come across a boss fight where I'd have to plug my controller into the number 2 port.

If there is one thing that Metal Gear Solid has that Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake lacks, it is a quality presentation and story. Now don't get me wrong, for its time Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was on the bleeding edge when it came to story and cinematic presentation in games...for its time. Things changed a lot in regards to presentation and story from 1990 to 1998, and even more so from 1990 until today. For starters the characters are all very generic and one dimensional. They virtually have no personality what so ever. This shouldn't come to much surprise as the characters are completely ripped off from popular American movies, as thier portraits from the codec calls of the original MSX2 version demonstrate.

The story is also very straight forward. "Stop the infamous underground terrorist group from creating a super-secret high end weapon so they can't take over the world." To be fair, Metal Gear Solid uses the same premise, but manages to make things a bit more complex and interesting due to various side-stories and secrets told throughout the game. Really, what salvages the story is seeing various tidbits you hear about from subsequent Metal Gear games such as Big Boss's demise and Frank Jaeger's betrayal. You keep hearing about these things in even the most modern Metal Gear games, and it's satisfying to finally play through it.

Overall, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was a game way ahead of its time. It may not have all the flash and pizazz of its more contemporary entries; however that is also its charm. While modern entries of the series tend to be loaded with cutscenes and intense action segments, these things can also result in bloat and too much of a deviation from the core gameplay. One could view Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake as lacking substance compared to the other games in the series, while one could also see it as trimming the fat.