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1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 37
Date: November 12, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Although this isn't the absolute worst game I have ever played, it is certainly NOT the best game, which is why I gave it one star. I am completely amazed that out of ninety-eight reviews, it's still averaging five stars, so I'm trying to throw that curve off as much as I can. I want to offer a contrasting opinion, so that anyone interested in the game won't be sold hook, line, and sinker by these other reviews. The storyline is about as cheesy as it gets, and the dialogue is fairly stupid. But even I admit that those aren't the most important parts of a game. The camera angle is awkward, and the control just doesn't flow as well as many other high quality games. The graphics are by no means top of the line. I was attracted to this game because of its focus on stealth--but if you want a good stealth game, play the Tenchu games. If you want a good action game that makes use of stealth, try Fear Effect. Compared to these games, and others like the Tomb Raiders, this game is very, very weak. I'm not saying the other reviewers are wrong for having their own opinions, but I wanted potential buyers to be wary.

What is this?!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: April 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Metal Gear Solid one of the most ever overrated and hyped game ever.You play as snake who walks like he needs to go to the bathroom trying to use stealth. It's easy just try to watch the radars and memorize their paths and walk right by them . Snake is a cheetah compared to the genomes . And when you are spotted run around for 20 seconds and they'll get tired . THis game is short too . The Vr trainiing mode is actually very good .

Pros:
VR Training good
Mei Ling
Set c4 hide in air duct boom!

Cons:
Easy stealth
Very stupid soldiers
Mei Ling not real
More of a 2-d game
nothing compared to tenchu
short
People hype
expensive

overall:
not worth the hype, not worth the price. Worth a rent or $10 purchase.

Score:2

Metal Gear Solid= no good!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 24
Date: June 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you took a piece of a hamster's tail and stuck it into your PlayStation it would most likely have better graphics, and more involving story-line, and a better, more fun fighting system than MGS. It stink0r5

Predecessor to Syphon Filter, for better AND for worse...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 23
Date: August 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Let me start off by saying that Metal Gear Solid was a solid game (no pun intended). This is a limited text box, so I'll cut right to it. I've listed some good and bad aspects of the game below. Let's start with the good:

1. Smooth, flowing storyline

2. Great cinematics

3. Ability to flatten against a wall when you push the D-pad towards it.

4. Relatively smart AI (guards hear certain noises, see footprints in the snow and FOLLOW them, etc)

5. Ability to distract guards by tapping on metal.

6. Creative weapons (claymore mines, stun grenades, etc)

7. Ketchup :)

HOWEVER, having said that, I would like to point out I played the Syphon Filter series before playing MGS. While many people criticize Syphon as a knockoff of MGS, I found several problems with Metal Gear (compared to Syphon Filter):

1. The overhead view is maddening! Unlike Syphon (which is 3rd person, right behind your character), MGS forces you to stand vulnerably idle to look in first person mode (triangle button).

2. Inability to aim. Unlike Syphon, you can't easily aim in MGS (if at all), manually or automatically. What's worse is, you can't see what you're shooting at if the character is *just* offscreen (but definitely within sights). Again, back to problem #1.

3. Having to find two items to operate the sniper rifle appropriately: the rifle AND tranquilizers? That's a little overboard. If you can't find the drugs in the cave, your gun shakes uncontrollably, basically rendering it useless. Three more complaints about the sniper rifle: a)your scope can't zoom in or out; b)to operate it, you're vulnerably lying down in the open so your enemy can pick you off; and c) your scope moves *excruciatingly* slowly, which is a big danger when you've just been hit and need to re-aim the gun.

4. Inability to stand behind a wall/truck and strafe to shoot. That was the biggest drawback to this game. This was *especially* problematic with the sniper rifle (see #3). In Syphon Filter, meanwhile, you are able to stand behind a wall as you orient yourself and duck out when you're ready.

*My advice*: Borrow the game from a friend/rent it. Decide whether you like it before buying it.

Good game, for 10 minutes

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 19
Date: December 09, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Metal Gear Solid has its hits and misses. First, it has great gameply. Instead of playing John Rambo and killing everyone within site with a giant machine gun, Snake uses stealth, a silenced pistol and a neck breaking move he learned from watching WWF to infiltrate an enemy-infested base. The graphics are good for a Playstation games, and the controls are thoughtfully laid out. The music changes with the situation: slow and melodic for when you're walking around, but tense and fast when you start fighting some enemies.

So with all that said, what could possibly be wrong with the game? Let's start with the game length. For a game with two disc, you'd expect days, or weeks of action, right? Nope, it took me about 15 hours to finish the game. So what about replay? Nope, exact same mission, except you're wearing a tuxedo. Woohoo! Finishing the game against again and you'll get a stealth suite, so you can finish the game in a shorter time period.

Second, this game has more bad acting and campy drama then an entire week of soap operas. We're talking about prime grade, mid-afternoon soap opera drama here folks. Solid Snake is suppose to be the toughest, most experience, and most ruthless killer in the world, yet he comes this close (holding out fingers a inch apart) from crying in the game. And everytime there's a plot reversal or twist, Snake witfully snaps back, "What! " in a Clint Eastwood-esque voice. Every two minutes, someone's calling you on your radio and yaps for 10 minutes about world peace, how tough Solid is, or what they had for breakfast that morning. And what do you see for this 10 minutes? Two heads on a black screen barely moving their lips!

Then you have major plot holes. Add this together, and you'll get a game that will excite you for minute, and then make you moan and gasp at the horrible writing and acting the next minute. Spend your money on a much better third-person spying game, like Tenchu or Syphon Filter.

Somewhat overrated

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 18
Date: March 06, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Though I applaud the game designers' efforts to make a truly cinematic game, I'm afraid the effort failed. Okay, yes, with all the cut scenes and the linear plot, playing this game is much like watching a movie--but a BAD movie. The writing is pale, the voiceovers are wooden, and the graphics in the cut scenes don't pass muster. It all comes off as melodramatic, convoluted, and tedious. Minus the storyline and the cut scenes, the gameplay is pretty good, actually--maybe three and a half stars. Also, the whole thing is too easy to get through--you can do it in two days or less.

I suppose that my final judgement is that for gamers over age 14 Metal Gear Solid is unegaging. That can probably be said for the vast majority of Playstation games, though.

If you want a good spy story, go read a novel.

Who wants to hear a spy whining about killing.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 11
Date: November 27, 1999
Author: Amazon User

The main problem with this game is it trys to make a point. Its target audience doesnt want to hear about snakes love life or how meryl always wanted to be a soldier, (boo hoo) We want to Kill, Maim and Destroy. Every boss that has tried to shoot snake, as soon as he shoots them they start whining about their horrible past or their family. WHO ON EARTH CARES. Another bad point is there are no great cinema clips, they all use the in game graphics. I read all these great reveiws saying its just like a movie and I was sorely disapointed. It got 2 stars because if you press your buttons and fastforward the cinema clips, you can at least pretend that snake is a tough-guy.

Want to buy MGS?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 29
Date: April 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I came to Amazon to buy a "Sim" game, when I got sucked in by people saying this was the "best game", so I bought it instead. Now I wish I hadn't. It's not even as good as "Resident Evil".Rent MGS and then buy Command & Conquer! You'll be glad you did!

What is all the hype about?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: February 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

So I wasn't the first person to review this game. But after seeing all the glowing testimonials, I thought I'd buy it and check it out- after all, I enjoy good action games. Boy, was I sorely disappointed!!

Where do I begin? The graphics are awful. Not the worst for a game like this, but between the pixellation, the dim lighting, and sudden changes in camera angle as the character moves, it's hard to tell what's going half the time. The camera shifts make control difficult too, as your POV changes in different situations (against a wall, through a tunnel, etc). And although the variety of weapons is interesting, their control is mediocre at best.

My biggest gripe though, is the gameplay. There's not enough of it! For every minute or two of actual PLAY, there's a 5-minute movie laying out more of this intricate plot, or another extended animation to show the action. Every hour spent playing is about 40 minutes of watching these endless video clips! Yes you can click through them (missing most of the intricate plot), but then you miss your next assignment as well. These game designers should make movies instead, because they seem more interested in telling stories than good game play.

I was WRONG about this game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 25
Date: July 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Updated review- March 20, 2007

I was completely wrong about Metal Gear Solid. I've really grown to change my mind about the negative thoughts I once had and NOW I think Metal Gear Solid deserves 5 stars (4.5 to be exact). I especially grew to appreciate the main purpose of the game which is, as many have already mentioned, being encouraged to AVOID the guards that appear on your radar. The idea of the game is to find ways to avoid enemies- not just go in and attempt to either shoot or break their necks. No wonder I originally gave the game a low rating. I went in expecting to kill everything that walked in my way! The gameplay is a radically different approach from anything I've ever experienced before.

I originally said Metal Gear Solid was one of those games I respect more than I enjoy. I said this because so much thought and energy went into the storyline and voice acting, that I felt the game deserved to be respected, and Konami deserved credit for making it.

However, playing the game today for the first time in months, I don't know what happened. When I hit the triangle button to put myself in first-person mode, and looked across the hallway to see if a guard happened to be standing there (or walking towards me) I got caught up in the excitement and the quiet atmosphere of trying to find a way around him. It was addicting. I finally figured out how to break their necks and that was a lot of fun, too. The boss fights are actually the very best thing about Metal Gear Solid. Every single one of them is fun, not to mention they all require you to figure out the best way to defeat them using your rather large selection of guns and figuring out which gun is the correct one. I love fighting that ninja without using weapons and hearing him speak between the action segments. Hearing enemies talk while you're fighting them makes you want to kick their butts even MORE!

I also love when everything is nice and quiet, and then you accidentally walk right by a guard. When this happens, a loud sound effect comes in that gives off a feeling of "Oops, my bad!" because now the guard is chasing you around. You now have to run for your life. I didn't realize last year that this is actually a lot of fun. This IS a really good game. I'm sorry for saying it was average last year. Sometimes I need to actually PLAY a game before speaking my mind.

Metal Gear Solid is the revolutionary Playstation game that showed the world a new, life-like way to play video games in the late 90's. The influence this game had on the future of video gaming is simply astounding. Metal Gear Solid showed how you can take stealth fighting and wrap a gigantic, memorable story around it. While I'm not a big fan of lengthy twists and turns in video game storylines, I will give Konami a lot of respect for putting an *incredible* amount of time and effort into the game, and in the process, having the Metal Gear Solid series continue to do well on the Playstation 2, and soon, Playstation 3.

I especially like the quiet atmosphere while you try finding ways to walk around guards. It comes off like you're watching a movie instead of playing a video game, or, to put it another way, you're "playing" a movie. Not many people can create an atmosphere quite like this. Good job Konami.

Sometimes the guards aren't as intelligent as you'd like them to be (you can actually walk into an elevator and they will walk right by, without noticing you) and apparently none of them can see you if you're standing only a couple feet away, but you know, these problems are actually pretty nice because it allows gamers to finish Metal Gear Solid without any major difficulty problems. I can only imagine how hard the game would be if guards were extremely observant all the time.

I still have a problem with the overall darkness of the game, though. More often than not, an important health or ammo pack is located in a hidden dark area, like near a corner, behind a crate or somewhere you can't see. It's really not a big deal, though. Just remind yourself to always check every dark area you come across. If you're still having trouble finding items, just press the triangle button to put yourself in first-person mode, and hit the left or right buttons on the directional pad to scan around. This works really well. In fact, the whole first-person camera angle was a great idea from Konami.

Even though 20 minutes of cutscenes and conversations isn't really my thing, at least you are given the option to skip through them if you want (by pressing any one of the four main buttons, plus the Start button). I hate when game companies FORCE you to watch them. I don't think the storyline is bad in any shape or form. It's actually decent. You see, my whole life I've had a belief that a video game should be more about actually "playing a game" and less time should be devoted to storyline segments (I'll make an exception for RPGs). The storyline in Metal Gear Solid is so big and lengthy that if you were to sit there and listen to the whole thing you would be sitting there for HOURS. Honestly, Metal Gear Solid focuses more on storyline than actual gameplay.

With changing times and technology, people began to prefer the realistic aspects of video gaming. Metal Gear Solid will go down as one of the originators.

I DO have one complaint- there doesn't seem to be an option for you to lock-on to your target, so YOU are forced to find and face the target. For example, if a guard is located south/east of you, you have to actually use the directional pad to face south/east and THEN you can shoot him. You have to face him directly or he'll continue shooting at you until you're dead. This can be a pain because turning correctly is a bit of a challenge. This could have been fixed with one simple "lock-on nearest target" feature.

Sure, you have guns that can zoom in on a target, but to use THESE guns you have to get into a special position (which changes the angle of the camera). By the time you get into that position the guard will have already killed you because it takes a few seconds to get into that position, and believe me, you don't have a SECOND to waste once a guard spots you. I want a gun that features a QUICK lock-on target (such as a gun with high amounts of firepower and frequently-available ammo packs). That way it won't feel hopeless when a million guards are after me.

Besides a bit of overall darkness, a lengthy storyline and sometimes unfair situations regarding aiming and shooting, I have no other problems with the game. These are really minor problems and it's easy for me to look past them. A game that I SHOULD have given more attention to before attempting to give a final verdict. Metal Gear Solid is a classic game. It just took me a while to see that.

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