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Pros & Cons:
Pertaining to My short list below.
Full Pros & cons re-review coming soon...
This is a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid for Playstation. It has the graphics engine of Metal Gear Solid 2, along with the added elements from that game; like the ability to shoot from first person, hide in lockers, drag enemies, etc. They also re-recorded all of the voice work and musical score, and extended some cutscenes. In other words, it's heavily improved from a technical standpoint in every way.
This is, in my opinion, more playable than the original Metal Gear Solid. It has great graphics, a more emotionally compelling story because of the updated presentation, and much better gameplay mechanics. The only negative is that some people could find the story to be a bit long-winded and/or bizarre (hey it's a taste).
Content review for this game:
Pertaining to the ESRB rating.
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Content sum up: The blood, gore, and violence is is quite extreme. And while you can turn blood off, and language is mild, it's still a very intese and violent game. So, I recommend this game for ages 17+. |
Full content re-review coming soon...
Blood & gore: There is a moderate amount of blood, mostly in the form of splatters and puffs when you or enemies are shot. Also, blood lingers in puddles and stains the characters' clothes. However, blood can be turned off under options, disabling it for gameplay and cutscenes—but static blood on floors and walls will remain.
Specific scenes of blood & gore:
- A very early scene shows the aftermath of a gun fight, with several dead enemy soldiers lying on the ground with blood smeared in heavy amounts on the floor.
- Snake (main character) comes upon a beaten hostage with a broken arm, tied and pinned to a wall of trip wire explosives. After defeating the hostage's captor (Revolver Ocelot), an unknown assailant cuts off the captor's arm, resulting in the limb falling to the floor—you see what remains of his limb with the bone, arteries and muscle showing—as blood spurts from the wound. Later in, the hostage also has an extremely violent heart attack, leading to his death.
- Snake approaches a door with a window that shows a long narrow hallway. As he looks through it, an enemy soldier's head violently hits the other side of the window, as it slumps down while his blood streaks the window. You then see a ninja (Gray Fox) taking down over half a dozen soldiers. At first Gray Fox flings the enemy into walls, resulting in the soldiers' bodies making crater marks in the walls, while they too slump to the floor smearing blood as they go. Gray Fox then knocks another soldier into the air and cuts him in half through the waist, with blood spraying from both severed sides. He then blocks an enemy's attack by grabbing his arm and breaking it, and slashes the soldier's chest, resulting in blood spraying from the wound. The ninja kills the last soldier by picking him up with his sword, holding him over his head, and skewering him through. To finish him, Gray Fox flings him over his shoulder, as the body hits a wall and falls to the floor. Gray Fox then approaches Otacon (a main character); apparently to kill him. Before he can, Snake shoots at Gray Fox. Gray Fox blocks the bullet by cutting it in half; one half grazes Otacon, causing him to wet himself in fear.
- Snake and Meryl (main female character) come upon an unbeknownst sniper (Sniper Wolf). Sniper Wolf aims and shoots Meryl in both of her knees and an arm. You hear her bones fracture as the bullets penetrate. You also see and hear the wounds spurt blood. She falls to the floor, as her blood soaks the ground. After you defeat Sniper Wolf, you must not have done a very good job because she and her men capture you immediately after. She proceeds to scratch Snake's cheek with her fingernails, resulting in the wound shedding some blood. She then says she now has him marked for later killing.
- Snake finds himself captured and in a cell. When he wakes up he sees that he is not alone. In one of the corners is a body, and it looks like it's been there for some time because it is starting to decompose with maggots crawling over it. Its blood has also been drained, giving its skin a pale grey appearance.
- The next boss is Sniper Wolf. After you defeat her, you find you've punctured both her lungs during the fight. It shows her lying on the ground, you see blood staining her clothes and hear her struggled breath. She asks Snake to put her out of her misery. He reluctantly does, as you hear the shot.
- After you defeat the next boss, a self-proclaimed shaman and raven keeper, he is visibly bloody from the fight. He then has his ravens eat him alive. You see as the ravens tear at his body and as the blood splatters on the floor from his wounds. The camera cuts away, as the rest of the process takes place.
- The last major boss is the game's name sake, "Metal Gear," and resembles a tank on two legs, or, Japanese anime Gundams, if you are familiar with them. Half way through the battle Gray Fox shows up, and for some reason, decides to give Snake a better chance of beating it by wearing it down some. He starts off well, by giving it a few slices with his sword and shooting it with his gun. But, eventually he wears himself down. Metal Gear then proceeds to shoot him several times as he rushes it, and then uses a laser to sever his arm from the shoulder, showing blood spurting from the wound, as his arm falls to the floor. You also see what is left of his limb, similar to when the other villain lost his. Metal Gear then impales him with the sharp end of its leg and pins him to the wall with very bloody results. To finish Gray Fox, it throws him to the floor and crushes him with its leg. You see, but mostly hear the impact.
Suggestive themes:
- Snake mentions to a doctor a time when she did a routine strip search on him. She says that if he makes it back, she might let him do a strip search on her.
- You can set "girly" magazines on the floor to distract guards. You also can look at the two pages after you set them down; the pictures are extremely mild, and only show a couple of females in semi-revealing clothing, like tank tops.
- Early on, if you look through a certain grate you'll see a man talking to himself while urinating in the bathroom. He says something like, "Ya, she sure is built"; referring to the main female character he is guarding as a prisoner.
- A later area shows an enemy guard, stripped naked and unconscious on the floor. However, his private parts and behind are blurred out.
- Snake breifly tells Meryl that she has a nice butt. Meryl then asks him of what relevance that is to the mission, and how she's been trained to resist men.
Use of Tobacco: (The ESRB didn't mention this in their rating) Snake mentions that he likes to smoke cigarettes. They're also selectable from the inventory, but are seen as a negative, and if selected, they start to slowly suck your health away.
Violence: This has some bizarre, almost mythological story elements, with villains having almost supernatural powers; from being able to control minds and levitate, to using ravens to mark prey for death. Add all this and a load of complicated politics, theology, and a little conspiracy theory, and you have Metal Gear Solid. Snake can kill with an assortment of weapons, and snap the necks of enemies. However, other than bosses, you don't have to kill in the game. You can use a non-lethal dart gun or sneak up on enemies and choke or knock them out until they go unconscious. In fact, this gives you a higher rating (at the end) if you kill as little enemies as possible.
Specific scenes of violence:
- A side character has an somewhat violent heart attack, leading to his death.
- There's a freaky villain in the game who uses psychic ability to control and read minds. Early in his career, he delved too deep into a serial killer's mind and lost his. Later in, he takes control of Meryl's mind, using her body to shoot at Snake; you see his psychically projected image, hovering eerily, before vanishing.
- The aforementioned psychic is the next boss. To start, he again uses his powers to control the mind of Meryl, resulting in her pointing a gun at Snake, and then telling him to make love to her, in a desperate and seductive voice. This gives you no choice but to knock her out. Afte she regains consciousness, the psychic takes control and makes her point the gun to her head. Snake saves her by knocking her out. After you defeat him, you remove his mask to reveal a pale, heavily disfigured face with stitches around skull and mouth, and no nose.
- Snake slowly wakes up tied to an electrocution table in an interrogation room. Revolver Ocelot then proceeds to torture the main character, which brings up a mini game where you have to press a button repeatedly, while he tortures you. If you resist and win, Meryl lives; if you lose she dies.
Language: (The ESRB didn't mention this in their rating) There are two dozen uses of d*mn, over a dozen uses of hell, four uses of bastard and one use of Jesus.
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