Metal Gear Solid's Biggest Weakness Was Also Its Strength

One of my all-time favourite and genuinely serious gaming experiences as an older teenager was Metal Gear Solid.

It was made by, among others, Hideo Kojima and Yoji Shinkawa, for Konami.

Not only did it feature a character inspired by one of my favourite actors in one of his most iconic roles—Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken from Escape from New York—but it was sophisticated, clever and challenging. A lot of its mechanics felt genuinely groundbreaking at the time.

However, before I fail Sasha's challenge straight out of the gate, it's time to analyse some of the less-than-positive aspects of this iconic game.

With the passing of time and older, wiser eyes, there are definitely some criticisms I can level at it.

Overly Long Cutscenes That Feel Like Mini Films

For the time, these cutscenes were a revelation. They helped give the game a far more cinematic feel than almost anything else available.

However, many of the scenes that didn't involve major plot developments or set up boss battles could make the game feel a little sluggish, especially on repeat playthroughs.

Considering there are multiple endings, you're actively encouraged to replay the game.

The cutscenes don't always make that as appealing as it should be.

Still Kurt, I mean Snake looks cool.

Even if you are spamming buttons in the hope it will move the fuck on because you want to attack someone's neck on stealth mode.

"Challenging" Is Putting It Lightly

One of the game's greatest strengths is also one of its biggest frustrations.

Some of the bosses were brutally difficult without either a walkthrough or several failed attempts to learn their patterns.

That sense of achievement when you finally won was immense, but it also meant that anyone expecting something a little more immediately accessible—perhaps coming from games like GoldenEye 007—might have found the difficulty spike a little unforgiving.

I still love fighting Psycho Mantis because boy did that freak me the fuck out the first time I played it when he started being sarcastic about my saved games on my memory card and then made my controller move because of telekinesis. Erm, I mean the rumble pack vibrator.

I wonder if anyone ever got off fighting Psycho Mantis and using the vibration in the controller. That would be a joypad.

But, I digress like Neil Tyson the astrophysics guy. It was a fucking nightmare to play at times.

Female Characters... Hmm.

This is probably the aspect that has aged the worst.

Obviously. Old fashioned games industry like old fashioned movie and TV industry.

Like a lot of games from the late '90s, many of the female characters are heavily sexualised and often exist more to support the male cast than stand alongside them.

That's a shame, particularly when the era also gave us strong female characters like Sonya Blade, Chun-Li, Lara Croft and Blaze Fielding. They were certainly sexualised too, but they were also capable, memorable and central to the action. They gave female gamers genuine heroes to identify with.

By comparison, many of Metal Gear Solid's women feel more like attractive plot devices than fully realised equals.

So while Metal Gear Solid was unquestionably a huge leap forward for gaming and remains one of the greatest experiences I've ever had with a controller in my hands, it's difficult to ignore its flaws.

Even the old defence of "it was a product of its time" only goes so far.

After all, the late '90s were already beginning to show that games could do better.

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Thanks for reading!

This is one of two entries in the Gamers community for Sasha's challenge.