Metal Gear Solid

Overview

Metal Gear Solid is a 1998 action-adventure stealth game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation. Directed, produced, and written by Hideo Kojima, the game is the third mainline installment in the Metal Gear series and serves as a sequel to the MSX2 game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990). The game's story follows Solid Snake, a former Special Forces operative who is pulled out of retirement by the U.S. government to infiltrate Shadow Moses, a nuclear weapons facility that has been taken over by rogue unit FOXHOUND, led by Liquid Snake. Solid Snake must liberate hostages and prevent FOXHOUND from using Metal Gear REX, a mecha capable of delivering a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world, while confronting his own origins.

The game is played from a top-down perspective from where Solid Snake must navigate the environment. Stealth is optional but highly encouraged, with a cover system and radar utilized to avoid sight from guards. Getting detected triggers an "Alert" mode where enemies will attempt to kill the player, and is usually deactivated if they evade guards for long enough. The player obtains various items and weapons through the game, including key cards which are used to unlock different areas of the base, typically obtained from defeating bosses.

Conceived by Kojima during the development of Policenauts (1994), Metal Gear Solid was initially developed for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1995 but was soon moved to the PlayStation. With a small team of 20 people, Kojima emphasized extreme detail, utilizing real-life demonstrations of weapons, individually-designed set pieces, and mocking environments using Lego building blocks. Artist Yoji Shinkawa designed the majority of characters, including Solid Snake, who was physically based on Jean-Claude Van Damme and Christopher Walken. Cinematic cutscenes were rendered using the in-engine graphics, and voice acting was used throughout. Metal Gear Solid was unveiled at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show and demonstrated at trade shows including the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo, to largely positive reception.

Official trailer

Gameplay Video. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Shooter, Tactical, Adventure

Developer

Konami Computer Entertainment Japan

Publisher

Konami

Series

Metal Gear Solid

Platforms

PlayStation 3, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable

Age rating

ESRB M

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Co op

No

Age ratings

GRAC

19+

ACB

MA 15+

ESRB

M

CLASS IND

16

PEGI

18

CERO

C

USK

12

Release dates

Trophies

Difficulty

7 out of 10

Playthroughs for platinum

1

Online trophies

4

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single-player only, with no online features.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 12.2 hours