METAL GEAR SOLID - Master Collection Version Reviews

Metal Gear Solid is one of my favorite games of all time. It has fantastic stealth gameplay, amazing boss fights, a cold and brooding atmosphere, lovable characters, and an amazing story full of twists and turns. This "port" of the game, however, is really poor. It isn't even a port; it's a straight up emulation of a PS1 game. It's cool that it comes with the original game, the VR missions, and the Japanese integral version. But you are better off emulating these versions instead of playing the Steam version. The in-game resolution is stuck at the same resolution that it was on PS1. You can't upscale it without mods. There is an option for smoothing and a scan lines screen filter, but these don't make it look much better. The geometry and character models have this wobbly effect that many PS1 games have. If you do end up playing this version, I would recommend installing MGSM2Fix. This mod allows for some nice changes to make this version of the game a lot better. https://github.com/nuggslet/MGSM2Fix The main reason why I purchased this collection was for MGS2 & 3, but this is not the best way to play MGS1. I would recommend the original Integral PC port with the mod launcher or emulating it using Duckstation. The only reason I can think to play this version over the others would be for achievements. Getting the Big Boss rank is a really fun challenge imo.

This game was obviously designed for the piece of shit PSX controller, and every mechanic is colored by the battle between Kojima's ambition and technical realities. There are some moments where the gameplay is completly unintuitive and frustrating, but when it clicks, it's really satisfying and enjoyable. The story and atmosphere of Metal Gear are also worth playing for.

Just recently I was impressed by the arg elements in the horror game Who's Lila, so imagine my surprise when I see very similar elements in Metal Gear Solid, a game just about 27 years old. Although there are design elements and writing choices (I like the romance with Meryl and the sexual tension with Sniper Wolf but every single woman in the game flirting with Snake was too much)which I did find grating, I spent almost the entire runtime impressed with how fun and innovative it still felt.

This was my first time jumping into the main metal gear franchise. The only other game in this series that I played before was the masterpiece that was metal gear rising revengance. After beating the game, I can definitely say it surprised me a lot. I really like the cast, and while the controls are a bit dated, it's still a good pick for people who want to jump in this franchise. Once you pass that learning curve, you will understand the hype.

MGS1 was a great game that made me nostalgic for old school single player games, despite never playing this game specifically before. All my prior Metal Gear experience was the first hour of MGSV like 6 years ago and playing Snake in Smash. The gameplay is a bit jank, for example the sniping, and machine gun during the car chase at the end. I really liked the metroidvania game design overall. There are a couple moments that sucked though like having to (SPOILERS) leave Meryl bleeding out on the ground to run back through half of Shadow Moses for the sniper felt REALLY bad. Like its a climatic moment and your love interest/friend just got shot like 4 times by a sniper so you have to leave for like 10+ mins to go grab a sniper. Other than that rant, the stealth gameplay is very fun and allows for lots of creativity. I played on normal and the difficulty felt just right, regardless of jank controls sometimes. The story is the best part of the game, its weird and complicated and convoluted but I think most of it is very intentional and played up as a joke sometimes. It all makes sense by the end. The characters are all very cool or memorable, even the ones that only exist on the Codec. I have already played a bit of MGS2, up to the Olga fight. It improves on almost everything gameplay wise, so once I finish it I will review it too.

Cannot believe how disappointed I am to be playing a port of the PS1 at release. With ZERO bug fixes or any considerations for modern players. I absolutely loved the Metal Gear series but Konami did it dirty with this port. It really feels like we were rug pulled with this so called master collection.

This game has tested me with it's janky controls, this game is kinda of good but it's aged like milk if this had a remake that made game smoother and maybe a tad more forgiving it would be a great game.

My first Metal Gear experience was a demo for Metal Gear Solid on a PS1 demo disk. Oh man, what a game changer. There just wasn't a ton of games with decent voice acting and story presentation like this back then. I used to just play this over and over, I was so taken with it. Playing it now still brings me a lot of joy, some of which is no doubt colored heavily with nostalgia, but I think it still hold up in a lot of ways.

Metal Gear Solid 1 is an incredible game that still excels in various aspects, making it a true diamond in the rough. The music is iconic so much so that people can recognize it from just the first chord. A prime example is the alert theme that plays when you're spotted by an enemy, instantly sending adrenaline through your veins. Other unforgettable tracks include the main menu theme and even the simple yet effective sound cue when you're discovered. The characters are remarkably well-written, feeling realistic and deeply engaging despite being brought to life with only a few pixels. It’s astounding how these low-poly models exude more personality and depth than many modern game characters. The English voice acting is phenomenal, delivering a performance that elevates the game’s storytelling. While I haven’t played it in my native Spanish, I know the dubbing in that language is also highly praised. Beyond its gripping narrative and memorable cast, Metal Gear Solid explores profound themes that were ahead of its time. Kojima was a true visionary touching on topics like information control, nuclear warfare, and terrorism. The game makes you reflect on the real world consequences of unchecked power and the ever-looming threat of destruction through nuclear weapons. It’s impressive how relevant these themes remain today. Gameplay-wise, while some mechanics may feel outdated by today’s standards, the experience is still incredibly enjoyable. Some boss fights could have been refined, especially given that the Master Collection is being sold at €59.99, but overall, I had no issues. While some players reported performance problems, my experience was smooth from start to finish. In the end, Metal Gear Solid is a masterpiece flaws and all. This game, and the entire series, hold an irreplaceable place in gaming history. Everyone should experience them at least once. Just play it, and you won’t be disappointed. Kojima, you’re a genius,never stop doing what you do best!

What I'm about to write is a criticism of this port rather then the game itself. While I want to say that Konami did a good job with porting MGS2 and MGS3 (specially after many updates later) the said can't be said with MGS1. The biggest problem is the fact that it's an emulated rather then a native port. This comes with problems, mainly the fact that you can't play the game in "true" 60 fps or the fact that it isn't mod-friendly. But even if it's emulated, while it's superior then the old PC port when it comes to controls, content and graphical glitches, it's inferior in terms of other things. This port has the exact same low resolution of the PS1 versions without any options to upscale it to 4K. Another problem is the "wobble" effect that the PS1 is known for. Another thing that the version could benefit is adding 16:9 widescreen (without stretching the screen) and subtitled cutscenes without black bars (just like how the HD Collection and Master Collection of MGS2 and MGS3 removed them when they were originally there on the PS2 version) Duckstation emulator did a pretty good job when it comes to these issues. You can play the game on the emulator with PGXP (From Google: an enhancement for PlayStation emulation that produces high precision fully 3D geometry data that was not available on the original console hardware) which removes the wobble effect and correct game geometry, you can play on 16:9 without screen stretching and you can play the game in 4K. I wish Konami focus their efforts on updating MGS1 more then MGS2 and MGS3, since these two games are now near perfect.