Metal Gear Solid (1998)

Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Japan
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable
Genres: Shooter, Tactical, Adventure
Rating: 4.5 of 5, 1,682 player ratings
Main story: about 12 hours
Where to get it: Website

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A slow-burn infiltration where every footstep matters, wrapped in a dense, dramatic story that constantly interrupts the tension with lengthy but compelling cutscenes and codec calls.

tensecinematicatmosphericmethodicalimmersivenarrative-driventacticalsuspenseful

About

Metal Gear Solid is a stealth game created by Hideo Kojima which follows the MSX2 video games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Despite a transition to 3D, Metal Gear Solid's gameplay remains similar to his predecessors. The game utilizes a traditional top-down view and the player must navigate the protagonist Solid Snake through the game's areas without being detected. Detection will set off an alarm which draws armed enemies to his location. Conversations with Snake's allies and cutscenes are used extensively to advance the plot and gain more insight into it. Metal Gear Solid is regarded as one of the greatest and most important video games of all time, and helped popularize the stealth genre and in-engine cinematic cutscenes.

What players say

Remembered as a genre-defining, deeply cinematic stealth game that still holds up, with players praising the thick, claustrophobic tension of Shadow Moses, atmospheric lighting and ambient sound, and distinctive, personality-driven boss fights. It frequently lands on all-time-greatest lists as the title that blended film and games.

Screenshots

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This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.