Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1

Every few years, people are born with such a sky-high calibre of genius that it not only shapes the medium they work in, but their imprint sends ripples far beyond their actual field of activity. In the world of cinema, the term auteur is often used to describe these masters, who have a kind of universal finger in almost every part of their diverse productions, shaping them according to their particular quality. In the gaming world, it's easy to talk about Hideo Kojima, the mythical mastermind behind Metal Gear Solid, as an auteur, especially given his manic interest in film.

Since Metal Gear 1987, which Kojima wrote, produced and developed, he has, through a steady stream of high quality games, built up the persona that in recent years has almost earned him godlike status. The problem, or perhaps the natural consequence, is that wayward auteurs often make enemies. For his part, Hideo Kojima found himself at odds with his publisher, Konami. The owner of the Metal Gear brand.

If you take Kojima at his word, the story goes something like this: Creator Kojima wanted to make a "grand exit" with the fifth instalment of his Metal Gear Solid series, Phantom Pain, and went way over budget. Konami, which had plans to phase out its AAA releases in favour of brainless but profitable gacha mobile games and pachinko machines, eventually dismissed him as executive director of the game. This led, not surprisingly, to both a cancelled game and the resignation of the creator himself. Kojima has since moved on to become a global star that everyone wants to work with, from Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Winding Refn, Lea Seydoux, Mads Mikkelsen, and Norman Reedus, all while Konami has been busy releasing insipid blockbusters like Metal Gear: Survive and eFootball. Why this history lesson? Because Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 should first and foremost be seen in the light of Konami and their greed.

The Master Collection Vol. 1 consists of five games: Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, in a structurally not very well-packaged collection, with the first two games having their own title on the dashboard, and the other three opening separately. It would have been much more convenient if everything was in one place and actually justified the name "collection".

Once inside the games, however, the start menus are neat and relatively content-rich, if somewhat stiff. There are, in addition to the games, cartoons, soundtracks, manuals and master books in abundance, while at the same time it is easy to see through the smoke screen that is this clutter, and notice there are plenty of gaps in between. For example, where is the Gamecube remake of the first Metal Gear Solid, Twin Snakes? Where is the PSP's Peace Walker, which ties in with Snake Eater? For previous collections, Konami's defence is that Twin Snakes isn't great because of Kojima's lack of involvement, but that hardly applies to Peace Walker, which was included in the 2013 Legacy Collection. For a £50 collection of five at least 18-year-old games called the Master Collection, we should definitely expect more.

And the games themselves? The content is hardly worth mentioning. I replayed the first Metal Gear Solid for this review (and dipped my toes in the other titles) and it's still amazing what Kojima achieved in 1998, for the PSX. The adventure, which became known as The Shadow Moses Incident in Metal Gear history, could practically have been released today, with updated graphics, and no one would have had a clue that this was a 25 year old title! It has everything that Kojima has mastered like few others. A fast-paced, unique cinematic narrative with current and timeless themes, a varied gameplay that mixes genres such as action, stealth and puzzles, and a totally goofy-bananas tone that's not afraid to discuss genetic engineering and nuclear war. It's so ridiculously smart, cool, well-written and often tasteless - none of which has been removed - that you don't take your eyes off the screen for a second. But 99% of you know this.

However, it is not the content, but the form of these games that is really interesting. The first two Metal Gear titles are not much to talk about. To me they are curiosities, necessary in a collection as a document of the time but pointless to play. But the three Solid games, that's where the talk has been beforehand. Has anything been done to freshen them up? The answer is, in short, no. The first game boasts a frame rate of a semi-unstable 30 frames per second and 1080p resolution, while the two sequels are the exact same games released in the 2011 HD Collection, at 1080p and "aiming for 60 frames per second." The Switch version runs everything portable at 720p and 30 frames per second, but ups the resolution to HD in docked mode.

To me, it doesn't really matter that Konami has been transparent (all technical specifications are printed on their website) and that these are not remastered versions. Transparency is no guarantee. For higher ratings, in a Master Collection in 2023, we should have 4K support and both higher and more stable frame rates. That's just the way it is. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 should therefore primarily be regarded as the release of a pristine document of the past, something you can absolutely choose to celebrate and applaud, if you wish. Personally, I think that would be making it far too easy for Konami.

No, there's not much here to justify a purchase if you already own the twelve-year-old HD Collection, or the ten-year-old Legacy Collection. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is well-stocked but incomplete, containing great games that could have been updated, and putting money straight into the pockets of a greedy publisher. Buy, but only in an emergency, and at your own risk.