Watching Drew play through the original Metal Gear Solid has given me the itch to play through one of the Metal Gear games again, but having just played through the entire series (from the MSX games all the through Peace Walker) back when The Legacy Collection came out, I decided I'd instead go through a game I haven't played in years: Metal Gear Solid - The Twin Snakes. As an unofficial companion piece to Metal Gear Scanlon, I decided I'd chronicle my own adventure through the 2004 GameCube remake of the original, recording my thoughts and pointing out differences between the two versions, as well as including a few of the cutscenes with notable changes in each update.

Because some people are likely experiencing Metal Gear Solid for the first time alongside Drew, these blogs will be completely free of spoilers for Metal Gear Solid or any later titles in the series. I will however be talking about the mechanics of Metal Gear Solid 2 and how they relate to Twin Snakes, as well as more nebulous concepts like atmosphere and style, just without any of the story context. Also, try not to look at the related videos for any YouTube clips I post, as they might contain spoilers. Now, with formalities out of the way let's delve into Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.

Twin Snakes starts out with the same cold opening as the PS1 version, but with different choreography, music, and redone voice work. Twin Snakes is somewhat controversial within the fandom for its rerecorded voice acting. Many fans say the acting in Twin Snakes is terrible and doesn't hold a candle to the original. I will talk about any major differences between the voices in the original and Twin Snakes, and you'll get to hear parts of it yourself in the cutscenes I include in each blog post, but I won't be talking too much about the acting because it's subjective and also pretty hard to describe through just text. I will say I prefer the PS1 acting for the most part though.

Twin Snakes mixed things up a bit by showing Snake having to manually steer the SDV through an underwater laser field, after which he crashes into the wall, ejects, and starts to swim up to the surface. With that the scene fades out, and we are greeted by the title screen along with a remix of the PS1 title screen music. This is one of the few songs from the original you'll hear in this remake.

VIDEO - Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes - Title Screen

Most of the options from the PS1 version are here, though the VR Missions are absent. The briefing cutscenes have all been redone in-engine, and are a lot less static as a result. Characters move around and gesture, which makes the 30+ minutes of briefing videos a bit easier to sit through.

When starting a new game you're given the same difficulty selection as in MGS2: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard and Extreme, as well as a few options for the radar depending on your difficulty. Though the North American PS1 release had four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Extreme, the original Japanese release only had one difficulty, equivalent to the American version's Easy. The later Japan only re-release Metal Gear Solid: Integral added the Very Easy difficulty later found in Metal Gear Solid 2.

After a brief cutscene as Snake swings into the docks we gain control of him, and this is a good place to talk about the differences in gameplay. Twin Snakes doesn't just take the original Metal Gear Solid and make it look like Metal Gear Solid 2, it also incorporates the mechanics of Metal Gear Solid 2. First person aiming, enhanced guard AI, persistent bodies, holding up guards, evasion mode; every mechanical update from the sequel is in Twin Snakes. Despite this the level design is largely unchanged in Twin Snakes, with only a few minor tweaks here and there in order to better incorporate the new mechanics. You can also skip codec calls by pressing Y, and zoom the camera in during cutscenes with the shoulder button and move the camera around with the right stick, just like in MGS2.

The new controls are hampered a bit by the GameCube controller though. With one less shoulder button, no select button, and no pressure sensitive face buttons, a few compromises had to be made in order to fit every function. Additionally the face button layout isn't the same as the PS2 games, which can be confusing if you've spent a lot of time with them. A is the shoot/grab button, B is punch, Y is the action button, and X is the crouch button. The Codec is accessed by pressing Start and A at the same time, which isn't too bad, but pressing start by itself doesn't pause. Instead, you have to press Start and the B Button. Yeah, I don't get it either. Running with your gun out is done by holding B while holding A, as is locking on in first person. Lowering your weapon without shooting is done by holding Y while your gun is drawn, and then releasing the A button before letting go of the Y button. Once you get used to the control scheme it works pretty well, but it can be awkward at first.

In the Cargo Dock the only real difference is a few lockers placed in the upper left corner. Inside of one of them is the M9 tranquilizer pistol, a gun that completely breaks this game. Non-lethal and completely silent, you no longer have to learn patterns and slip by enemies without disturbing them. Instead you simply pop into first person and shoot a dart into a guards head, and they'll pass out. Even if another guard notices his unconscious buddy, he'll simply assume he fell asleep on the job and kick him back awake, and the guard waking up will have no idea what happened.

In addition to holding the most important weapon in the game, you can also use the locker to either stuff enemy bodies into or hide in them yourself. I decided to hide in the locker until the elevator came down, at which point I waited for the guard to move out of the way and hopped on board. At this point Snake takes off his gear like in the PS1 version, but it's shot a bit differently...

VIDEO - Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes - Title Card Sequence

The late title card sequence is a good example of the difference in tone between Metal Gear Solid and The Twin Snakes. The PS1 version simply has Snake rip off his scuba gear off camera, stand up, and then turn around to face the player as the game's title card comes up, all underscored by synth music that sounds like it was ripped straight out of an 80's action movie. It's understated and moody, and that's what makes it cool. Twin Snakes on the other hand has Snake dramatically ripping off his gear as bumping techno music comes in. We get white flashes with sound effects as the game cuts to different angles and close ups, and then cuts to Liquid walking to the Hind D, who dramatically starts to turn towards the camera. The editing gets more frantic as the game cuts between the two Snakes, panning across the characters, zooms accompanied by the sound effects of jet planes, until the camera zooms in on Liquid's face, followed by Snake's, and then zooms out as the music reaches its crescendo and the title card appears above Snake.

While the original felt like it was trying to be subtle, The Twin Snakes is trying to be in your face as possible, and in going so over the top often ends up being ridiculous. Though the two games tell the same tale, the redone cutscenes directed by Japanese filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura give the remake a completely different tone. These cutscenes are the highlight of Twin Snakes, and I would definitely recommend you click on any video links in these blogs as I'll be including all of the ones I find the most stupid. Though this difference in tone makes it hard to recommend The Twin Snakes as a replacement to Metal Gear Solid, as a companion piece it is the most interesting part of the experience. Things are going to get really dumb as the action starts matching the editing. After that completely ludicrous late title card Snake contacts the Colonel over Codec, and is introduced to Naomi and Mei Ling, along with their new accents.

VIDEO - Introduction to Naomi and Mei Ling

When recording Twin Snakes, Naomi's British accent and Mei Ling's Chinese accent were both changed to generic American accents, though both are still voiced by the same actresses from the original. Naomi's new accent is generally hated among the fan-base, while Mei Ling's is more mixed, as a Chinese girl who was born and raised in America having a Chinese accent didn't make much sense. Love them or hate them, they are what they are.

The game moves on to Snake surveying the base for openings with his binoculars. This part stuck out to me because I remembered Drew saying the way the PS1 version had a short gameplay demonstration where Snake equipped the binoculars, looked around, and zoomed them in and out was a natural way of conveying information to the player. In Twin Snakes this is instead a normal cutscene, and thus players might not derive the same information they did in the PS1 version.

The front of the base isn't much different from the original. I ended up being caught almost immediately as I ran between the searchlights to grab the chaff grenades and was promptly spotted by a guard on the other side. Because the MGS2 style AI can see farther than their vision cones on the radar it was impossible to avoid being spotted as I reached the end of the helipad, so after being shot to death and reloading from the start of the area I promptly shot the guard from across the map. Twin Snakes had a lot of wide open areas, which paired with the tranq gun makes it trivial to take out guards from almost any point of view.

I tried going in the same entrance as Drew, but walking across a noisy grate alerted the guard sleeping in front of it to my presence, so I hid underneath the truck until he went back to his post and then, once again, shot him in the face with a tranq. This is going to be a running theme in this playthrough.

Not much to say about the Tank Hangar, other than the remix of the Tank Hangar song is nice. For the most part Twin Snakes has an original soundtrack done more in the style of MGS2's music, both in cutscenes and gameplay. Each area also has its own unique music for caution, evasion, and alert phases, unlike the original which had a single track for alerts and a single track for cautions regardless of the area you were in. Most of the original music in Twin Snakes is forgettable, with only a few exceptions, but it's by no means bad. Like the cutscenes, the new music gives Twin Snakes quite a different atmosphere from the PS1 version.

I tranqed the two guys on the ground floor pretty easily and headed straight for the elevator. The path to the DARPA Chief is pretty straight forward. Snake drops in on Anderson, and the two talk for a bit as the woman in the next cell eavesdrops in from the other room, at first putting her ear against the wall and then later starts pacing about the room while listening. At one point the guard overhears the DARPA Chief talking and comes by to tell him to shut up. In the original game Snake pressed up against the wall next to the door to avoid being seen. In Twin Snakes...

VIDEO - The guard checks in on the DARPA Chief

...Yeah. This is another running theme in Twin Snakes, and another thing that's controversial among fans of the original. While in the PS1 version Snake is just a really skilled solider/spy, in the remake Snake is some kind of Neo-esque superhuman who will show off increasingly ridiculous physical feats as the game progresses. Some people get angry when talking about Snake's portrayal in Twin Snakes, but I just find it hilarious.

The DARPA Chief eventually dies, prompting the woman in the adjacent cell to call for the guard. After beating him up off camera she opens up Snake's cell door and tries to hold him at gunpoint.

VIDEO - Snake and the female soldier face off

The ambush is made incredibly easy by, say it with me, first person aiming. After the initial group you can pick off each individual soldier as he runs into the room before he even has the chance to draw his gun. You can even shoot the guy who throws a grenade into the room before he pulls the pin. There's also a fire extinguisher on the wall you can shoot to temporarily daze enemies, but it's unnecessary.

Looking around the room at the scattered corpses and blood strewn everywhere, the woman runs off and Snake attempts to follow her. As he does, a man in a cloak and gas mask appears above her, and Snake has some kind of hallucination. After he snaps out of it, the woman begins to shoot at him.

VIDEO - Psycho Mantis Appears

At that's it! This blog had to cover a lot of the mechanical differences between the two versions, so future entries should be a lot more condensed. From here on out it'll mostly be boss fight differences and ridiculous cutscenes, with the occasional note about level design differences. I'm gonna try to catch up with the videos as fast as I can, at which point I'll try to get a new blog out a day or two after each Metal Gear Scanlon episode is posted. Enjoy!

NEXT PART - Part 02 - Flip Kickin' Concrete