This game is as good as you can allow yourself to imagine MGS on a primitive handheld system to be. Highly recommended!!
User Rating: 8.5 | Metal Gear: Ghost Babel GBC
Metal Gear Solid on the Gameboy Color is a terrific title for gamers looking for a portable game with a lot of substance to it. Not only is there a unique story in the Metal Gear universe that spans over a dozen missions, there is a lot of VR content and replay value that nets lots of goodies and keeps you coming back for more. The graphics of this game are fantastic, especially the animation of the characters and the cut scenes are pretty awesome too. They use the text under drawn sprites visual style for the narrative. A word of warning though; this is not exactly your pick up and play instant action style of game. Similarly to the console version, this portable Metal Gear Solid installment comes with a heavy emphasis on its narrative and thus, it contains long cut scenes and sequences of dialog that accompany each mission. The gameplay is very similar to that of the console versions and each mission has a new gadget or weapon for you to play with. Your various weapons and tools demand to be utilized properly lest you get stuck on a mission. Everything has a purpose and you will frequently be managing your inventory, though unfortunately sometimes to tedium. There are also a number of boss fights and very tense moments that break up the stealth action and the game is almost perfectly paced and balanced as far as the stealth action ratio is concerned. There is also a save feature but don't expect to save without Mei Ling giving you a lecture via the Codec. The music is also very good but like the visuals there isn't much variety to accompany the quality. Ultimately this game is a great portable title with a decently lengthy single player mode and an awesome story to boot. It offers a massive amount of bonus content and thus has a nice value despite it not having as long a campaign due to the limitations of the Gameboy Color. I can recommend this game to fans of the series and newcomers alike. 
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