A Bad Translation, but still worth it for a Metal Gear Fan
The original MSX version of Metal Gear had all the hallmarks of a great stealth game: Plotting the best route to avoid detection, sneaking past guards when possible, solving intricate puzzles all with one goal in mind: to reduce that walking tank Metal Gear to a pile of scrap metal, only to be hit with one hell of a plot twist at the end. This version had everything a Metal Gear fan would want.
However, in 1988 Nintendo gave the fans of Metal Gear the ultimate slap in the face when they released an NES Port of the game WITHOUT Kojima's input on the port. As a result numerous changes have been made to the game, many of which are unnecessary, and Kojima himself has been reported to loath the NES version of Metal Gear with the utmost intensity.
Like it's MSX counterpart, the game picks up in 1995, 31 years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater/Substance, and marks the first appearance of fan favorite character Solid Snake, this time at the beginning of his career, who's mission is to infiltrate the fortress nation of "Outer Haven" and destroy Outer Haven's new super weapon: Metal Gear.
However the storyline has been completely altered, instead of Outer Haven being under the control of a mysterious "legendary mercenary" like the MSX version, the NES port has Outer Haven being controlled by dictator Col. Verman CaTaffy, which effectively destroys any sense of mystery the game has. However the biggest slap in the face to Metal Gear fans, is that there is NO Metal Gear in the game, instead of a walking tank armed with nuclear warheads, we are given a static super computer, that is more at home in the movie WarGames then a Metal gear game, and CaTaffy himself never appears in the game at all, except in the manual.
Over all the game play is completely altered from traditional Metal Gear games, which have more an emphasis on avoiding combat and only engaging the enemy when there was no other option. In this port, even if the enemy has fallen asleep you still wake him up just by walking past him. In fact most of Metal Gear's trademark stealth play has been removed, effectively making this port of the game more of a run and gun type game then a stealth game. So far the only stealth element I've noticed is sneaking up behind the enemy and punching them. Which brings me to another problem, in every Metal Gear Game I've played, Snake is always equipped with one or two items from the start, namely a knife and a tranq gun, however in this game you start out with nothing more then your bare hands to fight with.
Despite these flaw, though the game play is still as fun as ever, which is thanks in no part to the game's simple and responsive controls. The fact that Snake only has his fists to fight with, does add to the game's challenge, and can be extremely effective when facing off against one enemy at a time, but when faced with multiple enemies it's all but suicide.
The Menu Controls are probably the worst aspect of the game, instead of just having two buttons to access the menu and select items, you end up having to use three, and each time you access a menu the button actions change depending on what you want to do, the only redeeming fact about the menu controls is that game play actually pauses when the menu is activated.
Sadly gamers in North America would have to wait almost 20 years to play the real Metal Gear, when the game was released as a bonus feature on the Substance version of Metal Gear Solid 3.
Had Kojima actually had a say in this port, then many of the flaws that plague it could have easily been avoided, instead we are given a game that while fun and challenging to play, but feels more like a Contra/Zelda Clone with the Metal Gear name slapped on for marketing reasons then an actual Metal Gear Game. But this game will still appeal to Metal Gear fans.