Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GCN)
[ARCHIVE: This video game review follows the OldSchoolGamers website formatting.]
Content:
Game features realistic combat, gunplay, and political intrigue. While focus of the game is arguably on stealth and avoiding detection, the battle system is well developed and often intersects gameplay. As a result, there is a good deal of violence. What makes it more offending than say, a spy movie is that the blood is often right onscreen. Wait until the teenage years, by which they've past their "violence for violence's sake" phase.
Suggested Age Level: 17+
Rating: 8.0 out of 10
Review:
Snake Reloaded
When the original Metal Gear Solid was released on the PSone, it forever raised the bar in terms of quality. Here was a game with a truly cinematic feeling. Cutscenes rivaled theatrical action movies, with dynamic angles, superbly delivered voice acting and amazing plot reversals. As if this wasn't enough, the game engine allowed a large degree of freedom. You could dispatch enemies with traditional violence, but provided one had the skill one could simply sneak past them by ducking around corners or hiding under boxes. Game director Hideo Kojima boasted that it was possible to beat the game without fighting anybody but the bosses.
With the release of the much anticipated sequel, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, gamers were treated to a vastly improved game engine that increased the level of detail. Glass shattered, shadows gave away positions and tranquilizer dart efficiency depended on where you shot the enemy. Unfortunately, many people did not feel that the new story delivered as well as the original had. Jokingly, some suggested it would have been simply better for Konami to just remake the first game with the game engine of the second. Little did they suspect that that was exactly what Kojima would do.
Gameplay
Like in the original, you play Solid Snake, former agent of the American military and living legend. Terrorists have taken over a government nuclear armament facility in Alaska and are threatening to launch a nuke. Your mission is to infiltrate the base, rescue any hostages and eliminate the terrorists’ ability to launch a nuclear strike. The bad news is that you start off with only a radio, radar, and a pack of cigarettes. The good news is that you don't need to eliminate the competition, just avoid them. To this end, you can misdirect your enemies with sound, hide inside, or sneak up behind them and make them reach for the sky. If it comes down to it, you can use one of any number of weapons you pick up along the way to take soldiers out. Be wary, however, because the more you kill, the higher security will become. They've got numbers and equipment on their side ,so it's better to try that whole sneaking thing.
Graphics and Sound
The jump in visuals between the original and Twin Snakes is readily apparent. They difference between Sons of Liberty and Twin Snakes however is negligible. Silicon Knights, who handled the translation, could have attempted to make any number of small improvements (the ability to break limbs bare-handedly comes to mind) but decided instead to simply sit on their haunches. This does not mean that the game does not look great, but those looking for "the next step" will be sadly disappointed.
What has been improved, however, are all of the cinematics. The high polygon count and better textures mean that all the laughably pixelated closeups of the original have been refined to television show Game Over quality. The action direction is vastly improved, thanks to director Ryuhei Kitamura. Snake's combat prowess is now akin to Jet Li, even if it does go over-the-top sometimes. Careful attention has been spent on mood, however. You can feel the desperation in the Ninja's fight against Metal Gear, and Psycho Mantis is way creepy.
The soundtrack in Twin Snakes fits well with the game, but lacks the flair of the original score. Whereas before, the familiar melody would swell during intense moments, cinematic or otherwise, the new songs seem more subdued overall. Thankfully, Mantis' haunting chorus returns, but one would be hard pressed to hear anything else familiar.
Control
Mapping the Playstation controls to the Gamecube controller worked out pretty well, all things considered. The shoulder buttons handle inventory once again, and the Z-button is thankfully there to cover first-person mode. The control layout has been switched around to accommodate the A-button-centric scheme, with mixed results. For a while I found myself wasting bullets when I wanted to crouch. Lowering you weapon (without firing) has also be deprecated, so make sure you know what you're doing before you go on the dogtag hunt.
Flaws
The biggest flaw in the game is its almost-religious adherence to the original. The maps are exactly the same barring slight scaling differences. The enemies follow the same old patrol routes. The challenges are either as difficult as in the original or less so. There is a distinct lack of "new" in this game. The new freedom the MGS2 engine brings only further illustrates how bad this is. Areas constantly have a cramped feel to them, as if things are crammed way too close together.
Lasting appeal
There are some unlockables, so you might be able to squeeze a couple run-throughs before it begins to collect dust. Like its predecessor, the action movie, Twin Snakes is really more of an occasional play. You'll be glad to have it, and maybe pick it up again in the far future, but one completion is probably enough to satiate you for a while.
Kiddie play
This is not really a game for the young-uns. This is a game you should get for your high school upperclassman or college student if they haven't already. If you really feel ambitious, compete with your teen to see who can get the better end ranking, which involves more sneaking than kicking ass.
