It seems that as quickly as Gamefly won me over during the past two months, they've also let me down. "Catherine" was shipped from them on October 4th and still hasn't arrived (13th). It's been over 3 weeks since I returned the last game they shipped (Deus Ex). While I still believe I'm getting good value per month per dollar compared to what I would've paid for an outright purchase of these games, my gamer obsession grows restless as I wait for what seems like an unreasonable amount of time between rentals. At any rate, I thought I'd scratch the gamer itch by playing a classic that I never beat from the good ol' days.
One thing I like about reliving classic games is comparing perceptions past and present. When I played Metal Gear back in high school, it was rented or borrowed and I never had enough time to beat it. Not only that, the game was too large and complex for my young, impatient mind to fully comprehend. Something about it seemed too hard for me, and I think I eventually gave up after collecting Card 5. I remember being highly impressed by it, though. It's the first game I can think of that allowed the freedom to kill innocent people (POW's, with severe penalty for doing so) and the stealth aspect of it - more implied than essential - captured my imagination. What I remember most of all, though, is playing with my friend, Aaron, and that we took this game very seriously.
Today's perception of the game is actually better than before. Its not without its flaws, but it seems more innovative and forgiving than I remember it to be. Sneaking around enemies, the plethera of weapons, and leveling up are all balanced and ahead of the curve for its time. Metal Gear stands out to me now as one of the best games released on the NES, and the ingenuity found there laid the blueprint that outlines why Metal Gear Solid became so successful later on.
I played Metal Gear on my emulator and again used the "Save State" feature to avoid time-consuming backtracking and reptitive one-hit kill scenarios. I state this, because although I did indeed reach the end, I didn't beat the game exactly as was intended, and I take pride in not using cheats. I didn't want to spend too much time playing the game, and with save states and a few walkthrough references I managed to beat the game in about 7 hours.
The game is non-linear, and although it does fairly well in guiding you along the way, there are a couple spots that take pure luck in order to figure out. In particular is after collecting the compass and travelling north from Building 2 through the desert. Maybe I missed the clue, but there's no way I could've known to go west 3 times, north once, and west again to reach Building 4. That alone would've taken me hours to figure out, if at all.
Many clues are lost in translation. Some are humorous grammatical errors, like when a guard says "I feel asleep" after waking up, or when Snake says "Uh-Oh. The truck have started to move" after walking into specific cargo trucks. Other times, though, it's hard to understand exactly what is meant by "...the lock at the end,,,", ",,,I dropped off the compass. Come get it!", or "...the area above Arnold". God forbid one gets sidetracked and these cryptic yet valuable hints get lost in memory, or they'll be stuck, wishing they'd written everything down.
Feeling asleep feels very similar to being awake.
Another ticky-tack gripe I have is with Snake's movement. There is no diagonal, only horizontal and vertical. The game's still playable, but sometimes Snake gets caught on corners that are sharper than they appear, which can lead to taking major damage when trying to dodge alerted adversaries.
There are enough subtle touches of brilliance, though, that outshine these negatives. The remote controlled rockets. The transmitter that's inserted into your belongings after your capture that alerts enemies to your presence. Even the binoculars, which I hardly ever used, have a touch of brilliance in their inclusion and execution that I can appreciate. Metal Gear seems like a grandiose idea that would have been marvelous, but was only partially realized due to the limitations of the NES.
Now, the question is will "Catherine" arrive before I have a chance to play through "Snake's Revenge"?
What I liked:
Innovative for its time.
Subtle touches that add a sense of realism.
"I feel asleep" even though I'm awake.
What I didn't like:
Lack of guidance during a couple points of progress.
Snake's horizontal/vertical-only movement feels like it's on rails.
Arnold? Who's Arnold?
- 2
Comments (2)
No comments:
Post a Comment