When Metal Gear Solid hit the Playstation in 1998, it was praised by fans and critics alike making it one of the most celebrated games in the past ten years. It catapulted Metal Gear series creator, Hideo Kojima, into a league of reveared game creators with the likes of Shigeru Miyamoto. Playstation owners have bragged about having the game on their platform for years and until recently, Xbox owners got their chance as well. Now Nintendo owners and fanboys who never got to experience the Metal Gear series on a next generation console can get their chance.

 

For those not in the know, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a very faithful remake of Metal Gear Solid that was released on the Playstation in September of 1998. You follow Solid Snake who is forced out of retirement to investigate a nuclear dump facility in Alaska that is owned my members of FoxHound, Snake's former group, who are threatening to launch a nuclear warhead. It's up to Snake to save a couple of hostages and find out if the terrorists have the capacity to launch the nuke. Along the way he'll learn that they're engineering a large legged tank called Metal Gear Rex to launch the warhead which Snake has to stop at all costs.

Needless to say, this game is very story driven but will most likely hook you in as it you get further into the game. You'll encounter a number of twists and turns as the story progresses resulting in some long cut scenes and paragraphs of dialogue. Those who played the game previously might be disappointed to find that there isn't anything new storywise aside from some altered lines of dialog here and there.

Metal Gear's gameplay is an emphasis on stealth, plain and simple. You're told multiple times during the game to avoid fights, so it's highly recommended to run up behind an enemy and break his neck or if you have a suppressed weapon, shoot them in the head from a distance. You're provided with an intelligent radar display that shows topography of the level and any enemies in the area along with their fields of vision. One big upgrade with the Gamecube remake is enhanced enemy AI, meaning the guards aren't as dumb as the original game and will go to great lengths to find you which can result in some rather tense moments. Thankfully, you'll have lots of cover and hiding places available to you as well as some new perks taken from Metal Gear Solid 2 like lockers you to hide yourself or enemy bodies in. Another addition from MGS 2 is the first-person aiming mode which allows you you to go into first-person view and aim to take head shots at an enemy. You'll also be able to hold them up at gunpoint and collect dog tags and items, though dog tags are only for collecting and don't offer any unlockable secrets. One problem with gameplay is the controls. The action button doesn't seem to be very responsive. You'll try to hide in a locker, and instead, you'll just close the door from the outside. This is also frustrating when you need to use elevator buttons quickly when you're in a pinch. You also have to press start and the A button to get to the codec when you want to talk to your superiors. Get ready to inadvertently fire your gun a couple times in the beginning of the game while you get used to this. It's not really the fault of the game, mind you, it's more of a fault of the Gamecube controller.

Obviously, Snake won't be empty handed during his mission. Though he starts out with only punches and kicks, he can get his hands on a variety of weapons like SOCOMs, machine guns, greneades, remote controlled Nikita missles and stinger missile launchers. Gamecube owners also have the addition of the M9 tranquilizer gun and the PSG 1T tranquilizer sniper rifle from Metal Gear Solid 2. He'll also have an assortment of equipment to help him out like thermal and night vison goggles and rations to restore health. You'll also get magazines to throw onto the floor to distract enemies a la MGS 2.

Though the grunts are recycled, the real fun of Twin Snakes are the bosses. Each member of the FoxHound group has their own personality and play their parts great. The game offers some great boss encounters with one being the prime example being the fight with Psycho Mantis, FoxHound's resident psychic. Once you meet up with him, he starts reading your mind and looking at your game progress, how often you save, then reads your memory card to see what you play. This battle is worth the price of admission alone and proves the creativity put into the game.

Obviously the game looks eons better than its Playstation counterpart. Owners of MGS 2 will notice this game looks about the same, which isn't a bad thing at all, since MGS 2 has been considered a graphical masterpiece on the PS2 and even after two years it sill holds up well. You'll also be treated to some more dramatic, and obviously Matrix inspired, fight scenes before and after boss battles that weren't around in the original game. Though all the environments are indoors, they never look the same and are broken up by some small outdoor areas. One noteable graphical issue is that you'll notice some slight artifacting, or blobs of color on walls or lit surfaces from time to time.

Twin Snakes also does a great job in the sound department. Almost all of the original voice actors reprise their roles and do it well. Fans of the original will notice that some characters are voiced by different people, and it's arguable whether or not they sound better or not in this installment. Regardless, the voice acting is great. Some of the music is also different resulting in some questionable placement where the original music might have been better in spots. Also missing are some of the enemy guard quotes, like when they're investigating a noise and you're hiding in a box, they don't say “hmph, just a box”. Consider this just a little bit of nitpicking.

If you're a Gamecube owner and have never heard of or haven't played a Metal Gear game since the NES, you're sure to be pleased with Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Even if you've never played a game from the series before, there's an option on the main menu that will fill you in on what's happened in the past. If you're fan of the original, you might find enough new content to please you here; though it might be nice to play through the original again with improved visuals to experience it all again. Like I mentioned, the game is a faithful translation. All of the levels are pretty much the same as the original game. Whether you're a fan of the original, or a newcomer to the series, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is still a great game with a great story and design. It's definitely worth checking out.

- Brad Hicks (aka Dr. Swank), SwankWorld Media