Metal Gear Solid HD Collection

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The Metal Gear Solid HD collection is just what it says it it. A remastered version of Sons of Liberty, Snake Eater, and Peace Walker for the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. The description does not say it, but you are actually getting the Substance and Subsistence versions of Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater, respectively. This includes all the extras included on those special re-releases (My favorite being the fully controllable camera on Subsistence), minus the Snake VS Monkey mini game in Snake Eater. The remaster looks great in 1080P HD. Frame rate from what I can tell so far is a steady and constant 60 FPS. Altogether, I would say that this re-release, despite the exclusion of Metal Gear Solid (which is only $10 on the PSN for PS3 owners), is a must buy for anyone who wants to experience Peace Walker, Sons of Liberty, and Snake Eater again in remastered HD.

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There have been a great deal of HD collections coming out lately. Most giving you trophy or achievement support along with the updated visuals. The Metal Gear Solid HD collection is not different. But the package seems worth it mainly because of just how much you're going to get from these games. By bringing you the Substance version of MGS2 and the Subsistence version of MGS3 you are getting much more than your money's worth here. Not to mention you are still getting Peace Walker.

There isn't much need to discuss the story of Metal Gear here. In the first place, we'd be here all day just trying to discuss what it all means. And in the second place, the majority of you getting your hands on this have probably already experienced these games once before. I will only say that the story of the saga is absorbing, confusing and a lot of fun. Gamers have been absorbed by the themes of these games for quite some time, but experiencing them again isn't always so bad. The cutscenes are usually good. Some of them are a little long, but they're very well done. Complete with great voice acting, humor, drama and action. The cinematic experience of Metal Gear Solid is a jack of all trades.

It is unique, however, to see how these games differ. Despite all being Metal Gear Solid titles they all look, feel and control very differently. With Metal Gear Solid 2 harboring the closest to the original game while Metal Gear Solid 3 gives you a ton of freedom to actually take several different approaches to each particular area. And while Peace Walker is much more straightforward than the third, it still allows for a lot of freedom gameplay wise. This means that each game is actually quite unique. And playing all three side by side by side in this manner helps to showcase that we weren't just getting the same old thing from one game to the next. They all retain their stealth elements but approach them in very different ways.

Trophy and achievement support has been added to the games. This is sure to delight some of the most hardcore Metal Gear fans. And it's nice to see that Hideo Kojima has a sense of humor about it in some regards. The visuals are also crisp in HD. Regardless of the HD or not, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 actually still look rather good even compared to todays standards. The aesthetic design is still unique in both games. It doesn't feel new, but it's easy to be drawn in thanks to the details. Realized in HD everything looks smoother and is now presented to players in widescreen.

The only downside to the visual structure is Peace Walker. It doesn't look as good as some may have hoped. It is understandable, however. The game was designed for a smaller screen than whatever it is you're playing it on. On the PSP it looks nothing short of fantastic. But blowing up the picture in this way is going to cause for some blurry textures. It also lacks quite the amount of detail due to being on the PSP as well. Likewise, since the experience was designed for a portable system it plays as such. On the other hand, however, you can use your PSP save data to play if you wish.

The best part, however, is that with the exception of Metal Gear Online from Metal Gear Solid 3, you get all the extras from the two games. The VR Missions from Metal Gear Solid 2 are still there. As are the snake tales. Metal Gear Solid 3 also includes the original Metal Gear 1 and 2 (something the essential collection didn't have). The extras were more than we expected then and they're still nice to have here as well.

The lack of the first Metal Gear Solid is somewhat regrettable but it is hard to imagine that the transition to HD would've been kind to the original game. Given how Peace Walker was treated visually, the first game might not really be that good to look at in HD. The limitations of the Playstation graphically don't make for a great transition to High Definition. For those who can't be without the original Metal Gear Solid, however, you can easily head over to the PSN and download it from there. It won't be HD, but you'll still be able to experience the game and story again.

More than likely those who pick up this collection will have already experienced these games before. And they're picking it up to re-experience them in HD. If you haven't experienced Metal Gear Solid before the HD collection is one of the finest ways to experience it. Given the cinematic quality of the games themselves, HD alone actually can justify a purchase. They're good games worth re-exploring for fans. And worth diving into for those who are curious to experience them. It's three games in one (five, if you include Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2) and a very enjoyable collection.

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I was 5-6 years old when Metal Gear Solid came out. Honestly, when I first played it, I couldn't comprehend the story. It all went over my head. But as I got older, I just fell in love with the series. Once I was old enough to understand the story, I just had to play every single game in the series. I even went so far as to play through the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 when they were released with subsistence. This marks the 4th time I purchase Metal Gear Solid 2, the 3rd time I purchase Metal Gear Solid 3, and the 2nd time I purchase Peace Walker. I would purchase them again if they were re-released. For fans of the series: do yourselves a favor. Don't hesitate! Purchase this set so you can play them in HD. Not too mention, that it is so awesome to be able to have almost the entire series available to play on the PS3, Portable Ops being the only notable exception. For those that are complaining about the lack of MGS 1 being included in this set, you can purchase it on the PSN. Once again, this set is spectacular in many ways and is totally worth buying even if it's a quadruple, triple, or double dip.

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In case you're wondering, these are "Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance", "Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence" and "Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker".

All of them Trophy-compatible, full HD and everything you remember (except the Metal Gear Online of SubSistence). This is one of the few games that show you 1080 quality.

For the record (No C.o.D. M.W. 2 pun intended), this is the game that made me jump from the PSX simulator for PC to the actual PS2.

For Substance you get almost everything you could remember from the PS2 ver:

-Snake and Raiden playing with sunglasses every now and then

-Everything is the same in the interactive menus/cut-scenes

-The exact game play (excluding that sometimes the R2 and L2 are to be pressed a little harder for the tact-reload)

-Every VR mission (yes ALL OF 'EM and getting that trophy is deemed to be virtually impossible).

-Every special (boss survival, casting theater, etc)

-Snake Tales

-And last but not least, the Previous history, that, if you remember, includes the paper clipping, which upon reading unlocks a story published by a reporter, which in order unlocks the book by Dr. Nastasha Romanenko telling the story of Shadow Moses from her perspective.

Only one thing missing (that I know of, will edit if find something else), Skateboarding, there's no skateboarding in the HD Substance. Besides that, everything else you could remember from the PS2 Substance is here.

For Subsistence is almost the same:

-Again the exact game play (this one with the slight difference in the pressure sensitive "CIRCLE" that if you remember, is required precision to grab hold of an enemy and not slit his throat, hard core Subsistence/DualShock 2 users will take a while to empty that cup of knowledge to fill it with Dualshock 3 precision)

-Metal Gear Online is out, and I believe only a handful will miss it (not me for sure)

-Snake Vs Monkey (or whatever it's name was) is also gone, you can get the E Z gun with the alternate method, the hard way.

-The "Special Conditions" boss survival (Duel Mode I believe it was) is gone too (although you get the DPM camo from the get-go)

-The Nightmare sequence (the one you get when Para-Medic talks to Snake about a book after the torture sequence), is not here, or at least I don't know how to trigger it. The scene where Johnny talks of his family is here though, with stomach ache and everything.

-Secret Theater is also gone (bad thing because that joke on "The Joy" was priceless), maybe because they would have had to reanimate them again from scratch as they are not scenes for the game and thus not generated with the game engine.

-All the camos that were available for download (even DPM) are available from the Camouflage menu.

-Again all the interactions in menus/cutscenes are here, also the ones in the intro sequence (I even think there are more in the HD intro than in the PS2 ver); even all of them in the "Press Start" menu are there.

-And last but not-in the-least the Specials "Metal Gear" and "Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake" original vintage games that were included in PS2 Subsistence are here too. That is: You will be playing a NES game on a PS3! at 1080p.

In both of them you can still use what I call the "Metal Gear reset method", which is only holding START SELECT L1 L2 R1 R2 at the same time to get out the game to the game menu.

Two things that bothered me:

-You tap the Konami code and nothing happens. Even when it held no significance if you did input the code in the Konami logo it made the screen flutter a bit, like just thanking you for remembering, in Subsistence it did that and made a marking sound, but in the HD, nothing.

-----------EDIT-----------

The Konami code, still holds some power thought, If you enter the code in the pause menu, viewing the map, fighting the End (assuming you didn't kill him earlier), the code reveals his location and points it out on the map.

Thanks to Smolderin' Stu for the clarification

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-American version button layout. Fans will remember that Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 were ones of the few that advanced on "CIRCLE" and backtracked on "X" in the menus, this appear to be "fixed" on the HDs. I particularly liked the exclusivity that this brought to this saga, it felt like it made you remember that this is a Japanese game.

For Peace Walker:

-I believe they did't take out anything (can't be sure since I didn't exactly completed all of those missions, just the main ops up to ZEKE, and a few of the extras after)

-Since it was made for PSP, you feel (or those of you who played it on PSP) that the menu is, like too big for the TV screen, big letters, big logos, but my brother got used to it after a while, as would most of us if we stopped playing it on PSP.

All three of them have the new "Transfarring" feature, that allow you to pause the game on PS3, save and continue on PSP or Vita (if you already have the PSP or vita version of the same game).

All in all still the best saga of video games I've ever played, and I consider this a must-have for all MGS fans

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Of all the collections and amazing game of the year contenders coming out this year this is the only game I have paid full price for (as opposed to waiting for it to drop price or buying it used). Even though I know these games are old, with the exception of Peace Walker, they hold a special place in my gamer heart. So I am biased for sure, but customer reviews are opinions and therefore biased, so there.

However, aside from my biased opinion, I should say that the compilation was fantastically produced. The sound effects, graphics, and (ridiculously drawn out!) voice-work is all intact, just as I remember it. Again, in my opinion, I feel that the graphics have stood the test of time due to their style. The quality of the graphics may be in HD, but other than that they are not upgraded. But I think it's funny that I remember thinking the graphics on MGS2 were so amazing when it came out, I was like "How could graphics get any better!". Ha! How spoiled we all are now.

The controls are still the same as they were for each respective game when they first came out. So this may be a shock for those who've never played a Metal Gear Solid game. But shame on you for missing out on a classic! Just kidding, if you as a gamer can take the time to learn the controls, then you are in for a treat. Snake would effing eat Sam what's his name for breakfast and then spin in circles with the left analog stick 'til he pukes and then get a trophy for it. The controls may be a bit awkward but once learned they are still tight and responsive. Except maybe the first person camera view on MGS2.

And the voice-work? Sounds great, if not drawn out (somewhat like this review is turning out...). I still love it though. Especially since I already know what stuff is just silly and what's good story tellin'. The dynamics between characters are still fun to listen to. Now the sound effects and music have always been clear for this series, and thankfully this title doesn't disappoint. The music is still beautiful and dynamic, perfectly fitting the changing tones of the storyline. And thanks to my time in the military I can say that those gunfire sounds are pretty accurate. Again no complaints here.

One last thing; some people are complaining about the lack of MGS1. To quote some random guy I met the other day "Some people always want something for free". Seriously, it's available for $10 on PSN. And I don't own an XBOX so I can't say anything for them. It is a foolish complaint, there is so much on this one disc alone that asking for any more content without charging full price for this game would basically be charity work. This is Konami, not Salvation Army.