This is the game that started it all…the first time we saw the well loved hero solid snake.
He is sent out on his first mission known as operation: intrude N313 by big boss, the former hero of the last games: metal gear solid 3: snake eater and metal gear solid: portable ops. He is sent on a one man sneaking mission into the mighty fortress known as outer heaven where it is rumored that they have started the creation of an ultimate weapon - mobile walking tank that can launch a nuclear warhead from anywhere on earth! After the last operative, grey fox, (which some people may know well if they have played metal gear solid 1) was sent in to the fortress to check it out.
Contact has been lost; his final transmission was two words ‘METAL GEAR…’
This game is quite different from the more well known metal gear solid games as it is played from a birds-eye view in 2D. The sneaking is a lot more basic than the others; it is simply hiding behind something until the guard moves on so you can make a dash for it and if you can find it the famous cardboard box can still be used (although this is the first game it was used in). If you do manage to get caught the trademark ! appears over the guards head and you go into alert mode where all guards on screen attack you but
all you have to do is just run off the screen and all goes back to normal, also though if you get caught by a camera or use an unsuppressed gun the guards get a double !! and you go into high alert mode where all the guards on screen attack and backup is called in, the only way to stop this is to kill all of the guards or make it to a different floor of the fortress. Weapons vary from basic handguns to machine guns, homing rockets and even c4 but ammo can be scarce.
Graphic was rather good for back then although it may seem quite pixilated compared to today’s games but it’s the game itself that counts more than anything. Sound was quite decent with the trademark high pitched screech when discovered and music all the way through. To sum it all up it’s a great stealthy action adventure for newcomers to the metal gear series or long time fans curious to find out the beginnings of a great series.
