Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Gamecube)
Created | Updated Nov 20, 2004
In 1996, Metal Gear Solid was released for the Sony Playstation. The Producer and director, Hideo Kojima went on to make Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty in 2001. He also created Document (2001), Substance (2002), and did some work on the Zone of the Enders series on PS2. In colaboration with Silicon Knights (A division of Nintendo), Konami developed a remake of the classic Metal Gear Solid. This incarnation was called MGS: The Twin Snakes.
WARNING: The rest of this article contains major spoilers of the game. I reccomend only players of MGS (or who know what happens already from the sequal) read on. It is a great game, and ANY spoiler would ruin the drama. Also, this will be relatively based from a viewpoint comparing with the original product. See the last paragraph for the final comments, which is an overall view of the game, not compared to the original.
Remake
Metal Gear Solid was a great game. The only major flaw was its length. Most people will tell you it was too short. I would agree, but stand by my belief that it makes MGS what it is. Anyway, Hideo Kojima was able to plant enough Drama, action, and story into this classic piece that would completely balance it out. This remake did not quite fulfil the greatness of Metal Gear Solid.Gameplay
The gameplay is made to mimic Metal Gear Solid 2, so if you played MGS, you may have a hard time fixing your strategy to accomedate the new features. I couldn't finish the early stages because I was so used to being in the MGS style, I play as if it were MGS. For newcomers, (Who shouldn't be reading this! IF YOU ARE STOP NOW!) I would familiarize yourself with the moves of MGS2. Acually, with the Alert modes, the guard doesn't exactly finish calling for backup before the alarm sounds, so don't take your time. (THOUGH HOW TACKY IT LOOKS IN THE GAME...)MGS PLAYERS BEWARE!!! One of the things dissapointing is the controls. It was designed for newcomers or for action gamers, obviously because of the setup. There are three big problems:
- PROBLEM 1: In Metal Gear Solid all controls center around sneaking, not fighting. Here, however, it is centered around the fighting controls. On Playstation, combinations of buttons to run while shooting are possible and easy because of which button you hold and which you press repeatedly. You hold the lower part of your thumb on the crawl button (To run with gun) and the upper part to fire weapon. This is difficult switching to repeatedly pressing the lower pert of your thumb while the end is kept on the button to run.
- PROBLEM 2: The "First-Person-View" button (Z) sucks big-time. There are to settings, and there are troubles in each. For returning players of MGS, you want to hold it while you want to aim. However, the mechanism is tougher, so you have to press HARD. otherwise, it switches out and you have to aim ALL OVER AGAIN. To avoid this, you can switch it to "toggle" mode, but that is very annoying, especially in battle sequences. You turn it on, take out your target easily, but if you are like me you are so used to holding it, you forget to un-toggle it and waste precious seconds. If you are in an important fight, you will have trouble. Newcomers not used to holding it could still forget to un-toggle.
- PROBLEM 3: On top of this, and in addition to the first flaw, the Gamecube controller's main buttons (A,B,X,Y) are NOT PRESSURE SENSITIVE! This can get annoying for returning gamers because it wastes ammo, or (If using unsuppressed weapons) gets you caught. To still let you put down your gun, you can use the action button as a "safety". This gets annoying, but can be conquered on handguns. The FA-MAS rifle, however, poses a challenge. To run without shooting, but still raised, you hold notonly fire and crawl, BUT ALSO THE SAFETY BUTTON! If you want to aim in First-Person-View, you have to hold your thumb not only in the wrong button order, but at a bad angle as well. Jeez, if PS2 gamers see this they will FREAK.
License
For one thing, PS2 gamers (LIKE ME, so sorry for the offense) should GET IT INTO THEIR HEADS THAT TWIN SNAKES WILL NEVER GET TO PS2. Silicon Knights developed the game for Gamecube because it is a division of Nintendo. NINTENDO won't develop a game for another console!Graphics / Detail
As we start the game, we can see the obviously that this is improved graphics-wise. (Duh, It's Gamecube compared to Playstation!) as we go through the game, we can see more detail emerge we may not have noticed. For example, I have played through MGS many times, but because of hardware limits, I NEVER noticed Solid and Liquid Snake had the same face. In this one I was totally shocked at their resemblance. They have the same face, but their outfit, hair, movements are so different. It's so weird that I never noticed it, I think Liquid should look different! Other than that there is a surprise if you have seen MGS. The graphics are so advanced compared to the original you would gasp at the new scenery. Detailed, yet true to the MGS style.Acting
This is going to be short. Acting is redone. I don't think it was done as well as MGS, because of a few things. Firstly, the Ninja's voice was better in the original, and the new guy has a little more mechanical sound. It's good, but I like th original sound better. The CODEC calls were not redone graphically, but still have new voices. This brings up Naomi Huinter's voice. Jennifer Hale (I think) Did not do such a good job as Naomi, since she sounds like a constipated and anal old bat. Well, not old, but Dull. I thought Naomi in MGS was better.Cinematics
Okay, well the director of Cinematics, Ryuhei Kitamura, did a good job. Very Good. IMPRESSINGLY GOOD. IN FACT, THEY WERE TOO GOOD. The cinematics were made in a Psuedo-matrix Style that does not fit the character of MGS. It is interesting to see how Snake actually wins a fight after some bosses, or how he COULD have gotten out of being captured, or how guards are all smart, stupid, and/or ON THE EDGE. Cinematics in this game were okay, but if you play through this as your first time through the MGS story EVER it will ruin the game for you. Here is an example of the "Overdone" sequences. When Baker Tells Snake he forgot Meryl's number, Snake goes ballistic, insane with rage, and points his gun at Baker. GREAT WAY TO TREAT THE INNOCENT, SNAKE! In the end, Liguid Snake can't resist showing off his physique by doing cartwheels and flips on the HANDRAIL near Metal Gear Rex's cocpit. Not to mention Snake just HAD to jump onto the Hind's last missile to change the course, do a few backflips, jump back off, and land on the ground WHILE HOLDING A FRICKING STINGER LAUNCHER and fire the last missile at the Hind in MIDAIR. I think the Scene with Meryl whe Mantis Controls her to "Arouse" Snake is too much. Something "Realistic" here. Anyway, the cinematics would be great if it weren't for some of the "Overdone" things. some of them are cool, such as the last fight against Wolf, and the fight witht the ninja in the beginnning. However, the scene with the death of the Ninja (FOX) is terrible. He dies, and they remove all of the Significance and drama of Snake's yell (FOOOOOOX!!!!!!) out of the game. There is one nice scene which makes you think Snake will pick up the sword and you can use it. well, HE PICKS IT UP, but you can't use it. Snake stabs it into the cement as a final memorial to Grey Fox. Touching, would've gone great in MGS, but not after we "Could" get to use the Sword.Music
This is my final area here. I think the music is good. If you look at this game on its own, the music is decent. I like some of the electronic / Synth tracks used, but in full the game loses some of the Drama. Listen to the alert mode from MGS and you'll see what I mean. There is a real loss of emotion in the cinematics music as well as the gameplay. Alert modes can be annoying because of the music. I've heard most players of Metal Gear (MSX 1987) say they would get into alert for the music. I don't blame them, not would I for any game but this one or Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (Just not as impressive, but still the drama and tension is there.). The Music will fit to the circumstance, yes, but you don't really FEL that you are really in trouble or danger. As far as I camn say, The music for the Themes is a style we haven't seen before but still not as impressive as Mr. Gregson-Williams's scores.Recap
This game is okay. For those first playing through the original MGS I suggest the classic MGS or Integral on PC. This game follows the storyline exactly, but is overdone in some areas (Cinematics), while others could still use some work (Music). Some parts rule (Gameplay), while some parts UTTERLY kick the bucket (Controls). Some will argue that this should come to PS2, but I will stand by the fact that overall, to imitate MGS it needs to be MGS. All that should change from the original are Graphics, Gameplay (MGS2 style), and, if the music HAS to be redone, get Harry Gregson-Williams to do the score.Final Score: 7/10
Official/Unofficial links:
Official Metal Gear Series WebsiteIMDB page
Metal Gear Online
Planet MGS
The Snake Soup
Guide Entry links:
Metal Gear (MSX)Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX)
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (COMING SOON! Releases on November 17th)
Omega 3 - The Mixing Dude
Email if you have questions/comments! I'd love to hear from you.
My Websites:
My h2g2 Space
My .mac site (Owned and Edited by Cmneir)
