Written by: Mark

 

 

 

It would be fair to say that the Metal Gear games deserve to stand up as one of the most iconic franchises of all time. This is mainly due to the direction and superb storylines from legendary Japanese designer Hideo Kojima and the fact that the games were the forerunners in introducing the stealth style of gameplay to the world.

 

Now in 2012 BluePoint Games who have recently done an excellent job in bringing the superb re-mastered versions of Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus back have decided to release three of the Metal Gear Solid games in one package for the next gen systems with a HD makeover which surely will prove to be a master stroke.

 

 

Throughout the franchise there has been many games in the series so it must have been a difficult choice as to which to include in this package. BluePoint Games have decided to include Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and previous PSP exclusive Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

 

It may seem a little strange that the original was missed, perhaps this was due to issues in obtaining licences but still lets not get too worried about that as the three games in the package represent excellent value and offer hours upon hours of captivating gameplay.

 

 

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty is actually the fourth MGS game released and sees the story revolving around an offshore facility which has been taken over by terrorists and hold the President captive demanding a ransom for his release. The player once again takes on the role of Snake as he is joined by other characters which can be interacted with or controlled as the player tackles each mission.

 

MGS 2 is a direct sequel to the original PS1 game and flows pretty well with some excellently designed missions and narrative which admittedly is not always up to it’s usual excellent standard but on the whole is still pretty good. A further gripe are the sometimes overly long cut scenes which do interrupt the flow of the action at times and speaking of action I just found that in this game it was a little over the top in comparison to it’s prequel.

 

I am being a little picky in finding these faults as the game overall is still an incredibly playable chapter in the MGS franchise and whilst maybe not up to the standards of several others in the series it never feels out of place in this package.

 

 

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a much better game all round than it’s predecessor and features much improved gameplay, controls and camera angles making the whole game much easier to play.

 

The story in MGS 3 is set in the Soviet Union during the cold war of 1964 and sees the player take on the role of Naked Snake who is sent to protect the innocence of the United States as they are becoming embroiled in a nuclear war with their enemy. During the early stages Snake is captured, tortured yet still manages to escape and sets his sights on revenge.

 

Overall the story is much less over the top than MGS 2 and features some excellent missions which are structured well and take place in some excellent surroundings with some superbly well designed boss characters. If I were to be honest this particular game is the highlight of the package and still holds up well today.

 

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is the only game which has never previously seen a console release and when playing you can see that it was designed for handheld gaming. This is not meant to be a negative and simply highlights that the game is structured differently with the story broken down into smaller missions which take much less time to complete. In many ways this works well and never noticably gets in the way of the story which sees the player once again taking on the role of Naked Snake who is now known as Big Boss and responsible for running his own breakaway unit of mercenary soldiers.

 

 

Set in Costa Rica in the year 1974 the game again flows well with some excellent cut scenes which accompany the game well and makes the transition from handheld to console superbly. In fact for newcomers to MGS if you were not told that this was a handheld title then you could easily be fooled into thinking it is a console release.

 

 

For anyone whom may be new to the MGS franchise you must be aware that these games are not all out action affairs in the vein of a game such as Call Of Duty. Each title in this package is about stealth action and this adds a tactical approach with how you approach missions. To be honest I welcomed the opportunity to revisit this style of game (of which there are not enough currently available) as they proved much more relaxing than all out intense blasting.

 

To say that the games had never seen the light before on a Microsoft console they each make the transition well to using the 360 joypad and never once did I feel that the controls upset the action. Even though each button is used for actions or selecting weaponry it soon becomes second nature and flows almost seamlessly such is the brilliance on the job done in introducing the classic series to a new platform.