Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is coming out this Thursday, and we’ve already had a taste of how great the game is thanks to early reviews from creators and media. With scores ranging from 8s, 9s, and even 10s, Snake Eater is shaping up to be a promising new reimagining of one of the best gaming franchises from Hideo Kojima and Konami.
In this piece, we asked some of the Gfinity Gaming staff to name their favorite Metal Gear Solid games. Here are their selections!
Alister, The Editor-in-Chief’s Pick - Metal Gear Solid
“While Snake Eater is the best-structured game in the series, especially the brand-new Delta remake, MGS 1 is still the one that holds a special place in my list of gaming greats. From that meta Psycho Mantis battle to finding codes on the back of the box after a codec call, MGS 1 was Kojima's masterpiece. Elements were refined in later installments, but nothing will take away the little things that made the original game so great. For a PS1 title, it broke new ground and did things lesser studios would consider impossible. It deserves a future remake (no, not you, Twin Snakes) so the new generation of gamers can experience the greatness for themselves with modern QOL improvements.”
You can read Alister’s review of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater here.
Nico, The Staff Writer’s Pick - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
“As someone who got through most of high school with a PSP, it was crazy having a game like MGS: Peace Walker on the system. It really looked like a PS2 game on a handheld. While the visuals were cool, it was the gameplay loop that kept me coming back. There was something therapeutic about knocking guards out and parachuting them back to your base. Add those gorgeous motion comic cutscenes, and it’s just hard not to like this game. Master Collection Vol. 2 can’t come soon enough.”
Nico is our resident JRPG guy, and he’s been waiting for Konami to drop Vol. 2 of the Metal Gear Solid Collection. He calls it his “White Whale.” Captain Ahab, much?
Kris, The Social Media Guy’s Pick - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
“The first Metal Gear game I played was the one from the original Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. Then in 1998, Metal Gear Solid was released on the PS1, and it blew my socks off. This could have been my favorite MGS game of all time, but Metal Gear Solid 2 was a huge upgrade from the PS1. The real Hideo Kojima weirdness came alive in this game, and the fact that Solid Snake becomes a supporting character made it even more exciting. Raiden might not be everyone’s favorite in the MGS series, but his character progression here, leading into MGR and MGS 4, made it the gateway to evolving this Konami masterpiece.”
Kris doesn’t write about video games, but you can see him on our official Social Media pages as the ‘Socials Guy.’
Feliciano, The Staff Writer’s Pick - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
I know nobody asked for it, but my personal Metal Gear Solid favorite is none other than Snake Eater. It was the first game where I truly understood Kojima’s vision when it came to video games.
I played it with a childhood friend who was a huge Metal Gear Solid fan, which made the experience even better. He taught me a handful of gimmicks that break through the fourth wall, like how to beat The End by switching the system time, as well as telling me to look for hidden Easter eggs in every cutscene, since The Sorrow sometimes makes ghostly appearances.
My PlayStation 2 days were full of games that had me bawling, especially after playing Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 for the first time. Then came Snake Eater’s iconic ending. It was one of those first games that really stuck with me. There’s an emotional weight to the relationship between Naked Snake and The Boss, and to this day, it still lingers in my memory as one of the most powerful moments in gaming.
While I won’t be playing the Snake Eater remake just yet, I’m saving my eventual replay for when we get a remaster or remake of Peace Walker, and hopefully a modern port of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
What’s Next for Metal Gear Solid?
Clearly, there’s no winner as to what the best Metal Gear Solid game is. Every game has its own set of pros and cons. But overall, none can deny that the Metal Gear Solid games are etched into the memory of most early 2000s zeitgeist. Like it or not, the franchise has highlighted the growing evolution of video games into more than just bite-sized stories going from point A to point B. The Metal Gear Solid games elevated the gaming medium into an interactive art form, with complex themes about politics and a dynamic cast of characters.
Now, the series has made a resurgence thanks to Konami’s renewed confidence in the franchise. With Snake Eater getting rave reviews before its launch, there’s a major chance we’ll see more Metal Gear Solid games receive the “Delta” remake treatment. And before long, we might even get the long-awaited true sequel with Metal Gear Solid 6, assuming Konami is ambitious and ready enough for what’s to come without Kojima’s involvement.
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