Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Metal Gear Solid was released a long long time ago in an era called the late '90s. In this time the only online gaming was done on PCs and A man named Hideo Kojima was called to make a new game in his Metal Gear series. The title was Metal Gear Solid and it defined stealth gameplay and storytelling in a way that wouldn't be matched for a few years. Then after meeting up a resturant with Shigeru Miyamoto a few years after the release of the sequel, Kojima began work with Eternal Darkness developer Silicon Knights to port the PS1 classic to Nintendo's GameCube. The result is a masterpiece that brings the gameplay of Metal Gear Solid 2 to the story and setting of the original.

The major element that dramatically changes the way Metal Gear Solid is played is the first person view. Otherwise the game is played fairly identically to the original. You walk around, crawl around, and sneak around like in the original. To shoot you simply hold the A button, use the control stick to choose your direction and release the button. You can switch into first person view by holding down Z but there are very few times I ever felt the need to go to first person view. Another differnece is that to replace the pressure sensitive buttons of the DualShock the game uses the Y button and A button tohgether to aim automatic weapons without firing.

Another dramatic change is the graphics. They are better. They're not as good as other games released in 2004 but you can't complain after all it is a remake of a PS1 game.

The sound is excellent without terrific sound effects and an amzing soundtrack composed by Norihiko Hibino. The legendary theme from Metal Gear Solid 2 also sneaks its way in giving fans another reason to fall in love altough the best MGS players probably won't hear it as it only plays during the Evasion stage.

Speaking of which, the game is stealth based. That means when an enemy spots you you're advised to hide as opposed to fighting them head on. When you are caught is switches to an alert phase where the guards actively look for you with guns, then the evasion phase where they tactfully look for you in hiding spots such as lockers and under carboard boxes, then the caution phase where a large number of enemies patrol around. Afterwards it returns to normal and the extra guards leave so you can kill or knockout their comrades as you see fit.

One of the things that can be said about Metal Gear are the bosses. In this game you encounter a gunslinging cowboy, giant robots, a cyborg ninja, a psychic who can read your mind (not Snake's, your's) and knows what buttons you'll press before you can press them, a shaman with a minigun, and a tank. I know I'm missing one or two but the point is each boss encounter is as memorable as the last and they all play drastically different from each other save for two fist fights. Oh plus there's a kickass story.

The story takes place in 2005, 6 years after Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and the death of Big Boss, a legendary soldier, Snake's mentor, and the antagonist of the first two Metal Gear titles. A terrorist group and former army special forces, FOXHOUND, with an army of genetically enhanced soldiers take over a nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island in Alaska. The US Government wants to take care of the whole thing without alerting the public so they bring Solid Snake (the protagonist) out of retirement. He's sent in to rescue the DARPA cheif and the president of a large weapons company called ArmsTech even if it means killing FOXHOUND's members: Revolver Ocelot, Sniper Wolf, Decoy Octopus, Vulcan Raven, Psycho Mantis, and Liquid Snake. Also he needs to investigate whether or not the terrorists have the ability to launch a nuke, which they threaten to do. Along the way Snake encounters the neice of old friend Colonel Roy Campbell, Meryl Silverburgh, and a scientist  at the facilty: Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich.

The story is filled with plot twists and there are puzzles that will shatter the fourth wall so while playing just remember: Anything can happen and you will never see it coming.

A definite must have for any GameCube or Wii owner with a taste for good stories.