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This is the definitive version of the original Metal Gear Solid. You will openly weep tears of joy.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Developer: Silicon Knights and Konami
Platform: Gamecube
First things first. Obviously, people are going to want to know how Twin Snakes stacks up against the original. I own, and played the original probably twice all the way through. I was never an MGS nerd, though. During the course of this review, you won't hear me bickering about how a few lines of dialogue were changed or how Mei Ling no longer has an accent. There won't be any nitpicking of that sort.
With that said, I personally consider Twin Snakes to be the better of the two. The graphics engine, music, sound effects, AI patterns, added gameplay elements, voice acting and scripting are all phenomenally better than the original. The production values clearly shine through, and because of this, the overall cohesiveness of the package is as impressive as it can possibly be.
Story
For those of you unfamiliar with the plot of the game, I'll indulge you. A nuclear weapons disposal plant on Shadow Moses Island in Alaska's Fox Archipelago has been commandeered by a rogue US Military faction. The group responsible is a team of high level operatives named Fox Hound. They have incited a sort of rebellion amidst a platoon of genetially enhanced soldiers referred to as the Next Generation Special Forces (aka the Genome Soldiers) and are insiting that their demands be met, or else a nuclear retaliation against the United States will occur. The disposal plant, being located on an island and boasting heavy defenses and surveillance technology, is impossible to directly assault and still fairly unlikely to be penetrated by a team of soldiers. With nowhere else to turn, the US Government calls upon one of the greatest stealth operatives the United States military has ever known: the legendary Solid Snake.
Snake's mission is relatively straighforward. 1) He is responsible for locating and rescuing two high-priority hostages. Kenneth Baker, the president of ArmsTech, a high-profile weapons R&D corporation, and Donald Anderson, the chief of the US military's DARPA agency (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). 2) He must investigate and determine whether or not the terrorists responsible for this act are capable of launching a nuclear weapon. If so, it is Snake's job to prevent any sort of nuclear attack from occuring.
Throughout his mission, Snake will encounter a number of characters ranging from the advantageous (Prof. Hal Emmerich, for example) to the enigmatic (The Ninja). He will have to slip between the cracks in the terrorist faction's armor and destroy their functionality from the inside. But, standing in his way is a legion of genetically enhanced super-soldiers, and six rogue members of the military special tactics force, Fox Hound. Each one possessing great strengths from Psycho Mantis' telekinetic and psychokinetic powers, to Vulcan Raven's immense physical attributes and viciously heavy firepower, to Sniper Wolf's ice cold persona and lethal aim. The team is lead by a man known only by his codename: Liquid Snake, the man who carries the same codename as our stealthy protagonist.
It is into this frozen deathtrap that our man, Snake, must delve into and emerge from victorious.
Gameplay
For those of you familiar with the original Metal Gear Solid, fear not, all of Snake's classic abilities and equipment have made a return, with a few extras thrown in as well. Snake can still crawl, sidle against walls and knock on them to attract a guard's attention, choke an enemy into submission or snap his neck entirely, as well as all of his original abilities as well. Some new additions have been made, however. Snake can now hang from railings and ledges to avoid his enemies, he can hide in lockers, stuff dead or unconscious enemies into lockers and aim and use his weapons in first person mode. All of this makes for a generally more expanded and entertaining experience, however, I have heard complaints of the first person aiming ability making some combat situations too simple. I did not experience this myself, and as such, I cannot honestly say that the first person aiming ability makes the game any harder or easier than it was before. I can say that it adds another level of depth to the gameplay, though, and it's a hell of a lot of fun to use!
All of Snake's original gear is here, from his trusty SOCOM pistol with suppressor to his manually guided Nikita missile launcher. All of his secondary items have made the return trip as well, from his always-useful supply of health-restoring Rations to his aim-steadying supply of Pentazam tranquilizers (for some reason, they changed the name from Diazepam to Pentazam...beats me). There are also a few new additions to Snake's arsenal, most notably the M-9 Tranquilizer pistol from MGS2.
Aside from that, the gameplay is as fine-tuned as ever. Snake still has a wealth of abilities at his disposal for slipping into the shadows and beyond the reach of his enemies.
If I have one complaint with the gameplay, it's that Snake's actual walking controls weren't improved too terribly much. In the original MGS, Snake could run and walk, but there were no in-between stages of movement, and his walk command was mapped to one of the face-buttons. In TTS, Snake's running and walking commands are both mapped directly to the joystick, so there is a sense of analog control, where in reality it's not. Push the joystick less than halfway and Snake walks. Push it more than halfway, and he runs. While it's certainly a bit better than the original, true analog control would have been greatly appreciated.
EDIT - Dammit, I can't believe I forgot to mention this before. There is one other area where the gameplay has been significantly altered over the original version. Namely enemy AI. The Genome Soldiers in Twin Snakes are noticeably more intelligent than they were in the original. Now, enemy soldiers will search through lockers and bathroom stalls to find you. Also, if you haven't concealed yourself intelligently enough, and your shadow is sticking out from behind a stack of crates, they'll see it and immediately call for backup. On top of that, enemy responses to your presence are much more dangerous. Instead of just opening fire, if you are within close range, they'll just smash you in the face with the butt of their rifle, retreat and call for backup while you're down. If you attack a guard, and you don't kill or incapacitate him immediately (in other words, if you give him even so much as a split second to grab his radio) he'll start to call for backup. At that point, the commanding officer will ask why the soldier you just knocked off isn't responding. After hearing nothing, reinforcements will be sent in and you'll be in immediate Caution Mode, which will jump directly to Alert status if you don't get your ass out of there, or find a really safe place to hide. In short, the enemy interaction in the game is much less lenient than it was in the original.
Graphics
If you own the original Metal Gear Solid, I strongly urge you to re-play at least the first few minutes of the game before jumping into The Twin Snakes. One frequently recurring comment I keep hearing from fans of the original was that they had remembered the game looking, sounding and feeling better than it actually was. Go back and replay the first ten or fifteen minutes. Re-familiarize yourself with the entire presentation of the game, and then start up a new save on Twin Snakes. The difference will knock the wind out of you.
With that said, the visuals in The Twin Snakes are very impressive. While the actual in-game engine appears to be basically on-par with that of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, it's the cinematic presentation that is the true genius of the visualization of the game. All of the cinematic sequences in the game are presented with the in-game engine, just as was the case in the first game. However, the stylistic choices presented in these cutscenes actually drive the sequences into better-than-FMV presentation. All of the character animations, special effects, sound effects and voices are absolutely impeccable, which can combine to actually create a number of instances where the player's mind can be tricked into thinking that they're live action sequences. On top of that, the stylistic decisions used in these scenes are so impressive and so over-the-top that they will leave you slack jawed in moments. To put it as plainly as I can, The Twin Snakes has the absolute best cutscenes I've ever seen in a video game. Period.
Beyond that, the gameplay visuals are quite impressive. During gameplay, the real-time lighting engine creates realistic shadows and employs a number of very impressive light techniques. The character animations are extremely realistic as well. A guard knocked unconscious or strangled to death has a completely realistic weight and movement pattern when dropped, dragged or carried.
The character models are very high-polygon, meaning that the player can now plainly and clearly see precisely what Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, Psycho Mantis and Revolver Ocelot really look like. In the original game, Snake's face was extremely minimalistic, with no actual geometry or 3D construction being used. His mouth was a single dark line flanked on top an bottom by two lighter lines for lips. His eyes were no better, and he had no actual protruding nose to speak of. In Twin Snakes, Snake's face is plainly visible. No more ambiguity in regards to the character's appearances.
On top of that, numerous impressive special effects and texture techniques were used. For example, Snake's suit is mostly a matte-grey color, with no reflection or glossiness. However, his vest actually has a very effective and subtle gloss texture over it that gives it a very realistic rubbery appearance.
My only honest complaints with the visuals are that 1) most of the facial animations are a little too understated. The lip-synching techniques used are effective, but they could have been exaggerated a bit more. On top of that, the facial expression could have used a bit more variety. Not perfect, but still pretty damned good. 2) Occasionally some of the environmental textures aren't quite as hi-res as they should be. Some of the area textures can be a bit pixellated or grainy when up close, but 98% of the time, they're just fine.
Sound
Most notably, all of the voicework for the game was completely re-recorded for TTS. Now, while this may seem unnecessary, I actually prefer the redone voicework. The three most noteworthy changes that were made via this re-working of the voice acting are that Naomi Hunter's accent is a bit more subdued, not quite as obvious, Nastasha Romanenko's accent has been given the same treatment, only much more noticeably, and Mei Ling's accent has been removed entirely.
Many MGS purists will probably complain about it, but I prefer the newer approach to each of these character. Nastasha and Mei Ling in particular. I always found their accents to be far too heavy handed, and they came off sounding like charicatures in the original. Nastasha's accent is much more believable for a Russian woman who is 100% fluent in english, and Mei Ling's now-totally American accent makes more sense, considering that she was never raised in Korea, and as such, there's no reason for her to be spitting out stereotypical oriental speech patterns. And, in all honestu, Naomi's accent didn't change all that much. Her accent in the original had a very thin British flair to it, and in TTS, her accent is only minimally less obvious.
Beyond those three, all of the rest of the voicework is perfect, and nearly every one of the original cast members has returned to reprise their roles. David Hayter resumes his position as the snarling Solid Snake, Cam Clarke again adds his vocal talents to the egomaniacal Liquid Snake, and Paul Eiding returns as the gruff Colonel Roy Campbell. Just as in the first, the voice acting is astounding, and extremely effective.
The music is also a great asset to the game. The majority of the music in the original was both memorable and intense, and the situation is no different here. The one big change is that the central Metal Gear Solid theme has been essentially "re-mixed" for The Twin Snakes, and now has a darker industrial tone to it than before. Some MGS purists cry heresy, I think the remixed theme kicks ass.
The sound effects are also top notch. Bullets zing off of metal walls, snow crunches under Snake's boots and the necks of unwary soldiers snap crisply like so many dried out sticks. All in all, very realistic and atmospheric.
Flaws
I already mentioned the only flaws I honestly percieved, but I will reiterate them again for the sake of convenience.
1) Snake's walking controls should have had full analog movement. They employ a sort of "faux-analog" control in the game, and while it's effective, the full analog treatment would have been greatly appreciated.
2) The lip-synching animations and facial expressions could have used a bit more polish. While they certainly work just fine, it would have been nice to see a little more expansion in these areas, especially considering how phenomenally realistic all the rest of the animations in the game are.
3) Some area textures can be a bit blurry at close range. However, unless you're a nitpicker, you probably won't even notice them.
Overall
Metal Gear Solid is, was, and always will be a stealth action game. No doubt about that. But the genuine core of these games is not the actual gameplay, but the story. All of the gameplay elements are extremely well-done, I'm not arguing that. But, you didn't plant yourself in front of your TV screen for 8 hours straight the first time you plaed MGS because of the gameplay. It was the story that captivated you, and the plot presentation found in The Twin Snakes exceeeds almost every other cinematic accomplishment I've ever seen on a home console. In terms of cinematic presentation and story presentation alone, The Twin Snakes outdoes its predecessor tenfold.
On top of that, many new gameplay elements have been added to provide a more expansive and enjoyable gameing experience. However, there are some aspects of the game which remain generally unchanged, namely the movement controls and overall layout of the game. There are no giant changes that have been made to the architecture of the Alaskan Base, such as were found in Capcom's recent remake of Resident Evil.
Even so, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a technologically impressive, cinematically brilliant and structurally fine-tuned gameplay experience. If you were a fan of the original, you would be doing yourself a great favor to pick this up. If you never played the original, I would severely urge you to make this your next game purchase. This is the definitive version of one of the most legendary games ever made. You can't afford to pass that up.
Score: 9.0
 
Last edited by Raziel; 2004-03-21 at 01:11 AM.
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