Yes, no new games have been made in years but that isn’t why it’s dying. Metal Gear Solid was a masterpiece on every platform it was released. Starting with Metal Gear (1987) all the way up to Metal Gear Solid V which was released in 2015.
Metal Gear Solid Summary
Please note the below contains spoilers from the Metal Gear Solid Series. If you haven’t completed all of the numbered Metal Gear games, it’s best to skip to the next section.
Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation brought with it cinematics and an action movie feel. WIth a plot that had a lot more depth than most tiles of its era (Except JRPGs). Metal Gear Solid 2 brought improved graphics and the backbone that would link every title before and after.
Then, in my opinion, the best of the series, MGS 3 was released. We went back to the cold war era and played the original Snake. He was the catalyst of all that was to come, and the events of 3 shaped him greatly. The gameplay elements were also new such as a camouflage rating, hunger bar, and having to heal Snake using medical supplies rather than just rations.
MGS 4 brought us back to the near future, after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2. It was the closing chapter of Solid Snake. The original’s inferior clone (according to those that created the clones). Cinematically it was amazing, but it missed a lot of the previous games’ polish and consistency. But being a bad game in a series such as this puts it miles above anything else.
MGS V, is the final entry in the canon series. In the first half, you play as Big Boss (codename for the original Snake). In the second half, you play as Venom Snake. Unlike the other Snakes, Venom is no clone. He was his own person before the ending of the first half. To protect Big Boss, Venom Snake was brainwashed into thinking he was Big Boss against his will. But from what you learn of him, he would probably have volunteered if given the option.
Metal Gear Solid Series is Dying!
I was browsing reddit today and I found the below useful diagram. Click here for the original post.
The majority of the installments are only available on old consoles that are no longer being produced. They are also not available on Steam or are not very good ports. Now with Konami potentially coming back to the Western World to produce video games, this is the easiest opportunity for them to bring in a lot of money with very little work. They don’t need to change these titles in any way as they play really well.
Platform Deals
I would happily pay £35+ for a bundle of these games on Steam. I wouldn’t be so comfortable dropping that kind of money on a console. But Metal Gear Solid 4 and PeaceWalker may have an issue with being ported. This is because there may have been a platform exclusivity deal on them. So they can only be released on Sony devices. If that’s the case then maybe Sony may either be able to strike a deal that allows Konami to cross-platform publish to Sony devices and PC only. We can only hope. And it seems I’m not alone:
What’s the Big Deal?
Metal Gear Solid is a cornerstone for all single-player story-driven video games of the last twenty years. It set the standard for story-telling and also cinematography. The stories are well told and the elements normally are used throughout the series. It also made action games far more interesting. The twists and turns in the first Metal Gear Solid is amazing and I would recommend playing it if you can’t play the others.
The musical score of the game is also on par with another Japanese powerhouse: Final Fantasy. The score is there to emphasize and set the mood of each scene. In Metal Gear Solid 3, there is even a James Bond moment where the opening music is paired with a beautiful mish-mash of animation. Check it out here. Which makes you feel more like James Bond than any James Bond game. This is expected since Hideo Kojima is a big fan of James Bond films.
What Can We Do?
Reach out to Konami and ask them to create ports for these games. Especially on Twitter. Buy up all the currently available games on Steam. And upvote this reddit post.