Close to hitting a decade without any sighting of a new Metal Gear Solid game, Konami decided to look into the past, again, undoubtedly a rich and successful one. To start with, a quick mention of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the upcoming Unreal Engine 5 remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and this Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 recollects the first three main titles and some additional content to serve as a videogaming history lesson that will be cherished by veteran fans of the series. As a compendium, the value is irrefutable, but how does it holds up as something that you want to launch and play once in a while?

Metal Gear Déjà vu

First off, it’s best to go into it knowing that it is a simple collection of hits and not any sort of remake with tons of added improvements, visual or otherwise. The elephant in the room here for long time fans – others may not realize it immediately – is that this approaches the status of a subtle re-release of 2011’s HD Collection, with the noticeable absence of Peace Walker. This will be the first divisive factor in such a release, but there are other aspects that will make gamers, fans included, think this through with care.

To begin with, having a collection that doesn’t include a single launcher for the full game selection is a detail that screams lack of care. You have to quit the game and relaunch the other ones from the Steam interface, bar one exception or two, which is far from the desired start to any compilation of major ambition. This is also in part due to some of the games from the collection being available for purchased separately, but still doesn’t make for a valid excuse.

Metal Gear is known as Kojima’s masterclass in cinematic gaming,and with that comes the good and the bad. The long cutscenes and seemingly endless comm dialogues are not to everyone’s taste,playing a big role in immersion for some but feeling bloated and over-hyped for others. This is something that could be attributed to the whole franchise itself, without denying its outstanding overall quality and significance for stealth action games.

The 2D games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake are the ones that put forth the basics of stealth for both the series and the genre alike. They’re not amazing to play nowadays, but still hold some weight in terms of story and immersion, with interesting touches and gameplay mechanics. They are more of a history lesson to any fan that missed them at the time than something most players would want to revisit nowadays, so their appeal is fairly limited. Besides, the loud chiptunes are painful to listen to, so beware.

Metal Gear Solid, the first 3D chapter, is where things started taking shape for the future of the series. This is an undisputed classic, a stealth masterpiece with some really clever mechanics and a camera that is at times your worst enemy. Controls are also a case of getting used to them or die, but it remains an immersive and atmospheric game with details that other titles rarely bothered with,such as the cold breath from soldiers.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is the obvious highlight of this collection, a prequel which throws other mechanics into the mix.Eating food for stamina, a deeper stealth system with some great new Snake movements, and enemy soldiers that amazed players by their surprising reactions to danger, this is a game with some fantastic encounters and a complex story. You need to be into this green and grey palette that isn’t for everyone’s tastes, but it’s all worth it for the hours of entertainment that it offers.

Good Old Snake

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 will go through the process that happens to most similar collections. To sum it up, fans are going to dismantle it and examine every single piece to exhaustion, good and bad, while other players who are eager to see how Metal Gear and stealth gaming history were created will have a different approach.

The lack of improvements over the HD collection released in 2011 are noticeable, a couple of the entries here haven’t aged well and are little more than classics that aren’t much fun to play. However, even considering the somewhat lazy (re)release, this is a good opportunity for players who have discovered the series late and would like to dive into the past of all these snakes. Pick your side and adjust the rating according to where you stand.

Pros

• A collection of stealth gaming history
• Snake Eater remains a lesson in the genre

Cons

• Mostly lifted from 2011’s HD Collection
• No full collection launcher

Rating: 6/10