Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for Xbox 360 Reviews & Ratings by IGN

Asking a Metal Gear fan to pick his or her favorite Solid sucks. To many, these titles are more than just games. Raiden, Snake and Big Boss are personal friends -- characters that have helped some players through troublesome times and created cherished memories of blowing off class to master close-quarters combat. Do you pick Sons of Liberty for its silky gameplay, Snake Eater for its masterful boss fights or Peace Walker for its touching story? If having to make a choice feels like picking a favorite kid, then the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is a cowardly -- and awesome -- way out.





For the first time ever, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker are on two discs -- the only real difference between the PS3 and 360 versions other than you can't "Transfar" your PSP save to the 360. HD graphics and Xbox Live Achievements bring the titles into the modern age, and the beefed-up version of Peace Walker in particular packs online multiplayer and a second analog stick for camera control.



Konami is truly trying to merge classic games with the modern age, and it succeeds for the most part. See, the content of each game is pretty much the same as its original format (notable exception: Metal Gear Solid 3's online mode), and the gameplay is exactly the same -- for better or worse.





Don't get me wrong, I love Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, but Peace Walker's refined controls sing -- moving and aiming at the same time, crouch walking, and using the shoulder buttons for shooting. Knowing that and doubling back to the original games CQC'd my brain with thoughts of what could have been. I'm sure adding Peace Walker's scheme to games that weren't designed for it would've taken tons of time and broken some elements, but it would've been nice and felt more natural as most modern third-person games control this way.



As if the "HD" in the title didn't clue you in, graphics matter more than ever, and for the most part, these games look great. I remember being blown away by Metal Gear Solid 2's looks when I got my demo disc a decade ago, and that feeling thrives in high definition. Same thing for Snake's HALO jump in Metal Gear Solid 3 and Big Boss' character model in Peace Walker.



However, the visual upgrade only goes so far in hiding the fact that these titles don't belong to this era or platform. Lip syncing doesn't match up, textures pop in here and there, and bland Peace Walker textures don't exactly light up the big screen. None of this made me forget how much fun I was having, but they definitely reminded me I was playing a game from another era.



The setup of the titles also reminded me these titles aren't from today. The joke's always been that Metal Gear is more like watching a movie than playing a game, and revisiting Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 really shows the origin of that jab. You move two feet and get interrupted by a codec call explaining what you're about to do. The second part of Metal Gear Solid 2 kicks off, and they re-explain everything you've been doing for the past few hours. Once you get out of the early missions, that aspect fades away, but it's definitely a rough start to the games and an intro I doubt you'd see nowadays.



But all that said, I wanted to keep playing the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, just as I spent my freshman year at Mizzou stealing dogtags from each and every enemy in a Metal Gear Solid 2. Sure the stories in Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 are convoluted and thoroughly confusing, but there's so much to do when you talk about the areas to explore, the secrets to find, and the bonus content to toy with. The VR missions and Snake Tales of Metal Gear Solid 2 make the journey, Metal Gear Solid 3 still packs the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 MSX2 games, and for the first time ever, you can natively play Peace Walker's multiplayer over Xbox Live with players across the county.



Not too shabby for a retail game with a discounted price.

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