A review of Metal Gear Solid 1 for the Playstation 1. This video contains spoilers for the entire game. Other videos in this series: MGS2: MGS3: MGS4: Peace Walker:
The Otacon ending felt more real to me, since in the sequels, Snake is defined more by his relationship with Otacon than he is by his practically non-existent relationship with Meryl.
when Kojima made MGS2 he wanted people to hate Otacon more because of how much he was liked in MGS1 (like how we felt bad for him etc) Kojima did this by making Otacon make some mistakes (tanker for example he went by an annomynous tip lettered E.E. which turned out to be ocelot anyways) and in the end when Emma actually dies he has blood on his coat (and how we simply ignored the last request from Emma) although this worked against his wishes, we respected Otacon more and he became even more real and likeable.
Oh man I can't wait to watch that MGS2 review and see Solid Snake again. There is absolutely no way I can be disappointed with solid snake as the player character!
The "Liquid manipulating you" thing tripped me up at first, but them actually trying to kill Solid actually makes sense. It's them just outright getting the Card Key through sheer force, and using it themselves. Tricking you into using it is the extent of Liquid's manipulation, but if he had made the path too easy, Snake would have known something was up, which the game makes reference to well when Snake finds the Metal Gear hangar to be "too quiet" when he first enters it. So by that token, Liquid was FORCED to essentially make it look good by actually going after Snake, 1) in the event that Solid was just too badass to fail, and 2) in the event they actually manage to kill Snake, they win anyway. It's actually a brilliant plan.
There's actually 2 ways you can defeat mantis, one is the switching of the controller ports, the other is to use c4 to destroy the masks on the 2 statues in the room, Naomia will tell you that mantis hate's seing his own face and that's why the mirror in the room has been smashed and the statues covered with masks.
"... that would have been far more realistic. And sexy. Particularly the thing about the bandana." I love your dry sense of humor. It's read so subtle and naturalistic that it just slides by and briefly checks if you're paying attention to the video.
"That would've been much more believable and sexy - particularly the thing about the bandanna." I think Matthew knows as much about fetishes as he does about the games he reviews, which leads me to believe he does all his reviews in a BDSM dungeon.
I would defend Liquid's use of the Foxhound unit and constant attacks in spite of the fact that he wants Snake to succeed is more of a fail-safe: by having Snake use the PAL key to set the events into motion (rather than stop), Liquid is assuring that, even if Snake makes it that far, it would actually be to his benefit, not detriment. If Liquid or someone from Foxhound kills Snake, he can just use the key on his own with no trouble.
@@CruelestChris i wouldn't worry about that when talking about the fights involving Foxhound members themselves or soldiers since they could just avoid shooting Snaked pockets and the like,but that wouldn't solve things like the Tank or the Hind D since those have attacks that could blow up Snake and everything his carrying onto hell
@@justbny9278 Ocelot deliberately shooting it out of Snake's hand, resulting in the card falling about fifty feet into a drainage ditch kinda also seems a little counter-productive. I mean the thing can apparently take a hit from a .45 Long Colt like a champ, but what if he hadn't been able to find it? Also there's the whole thing of the guards being quite happy to throw grenades at Snake.
Mr. Matosis, as of right now, I'm convinced that you just might be the most insightful, intelligent, entertaining and meticulous video game analyst/critic in existence. Your reviews and critiques are on another level entirely.
He is great, though I recommend you to watch Errant Signal's videos as well. Both are great at what they do and should be watched more. Jim Sterling is also quite good.
***** i would argue that mat's videos are not reviews either because he is also analyzing as well but more on the gameplay and mechanics than super bunny hops.
VictorFr0st Super Bunny Hop is pretty good, but he's a lot more boring and slightly pretentious-sounding in my opinion. Just my opinion, though. I haven't seen everything SBH has made either, so there's that.
It's so refreshing to have videos made by someone who is willing to spend the time to breakdown the elements of a game and give every piece equal attention. I especially like the fact that you are able to recognize shortcomings without harping on about them. If a game has an issue, you identify it and accept it. I like that. Great videos, I look forward to the next videos. Subscribed!
@@shade0636 I still revisit these reviews too. Matt’s critical voice is sorely missed, I do hope his game is successful and that he returns to game analysis some day. For my money there is nobody better. Reviews he did a decade ago still haven’t been topped.
You should have brought up that in the Hind D fight the game will pick up if you have a mono or stereo TV and mock you for it since you can't make out where it will attack from in mono. So that's pretty cool too.
"Imagine Metal Gear Solid, and then strip away Psycho Mantis, Gray Fox and Otacon, remove the sections where you're expected to look at the game case or put the controller up to your arm so the vibration heals you. It's easy to see how without the charm of these stranger elements, Metal Gear Solid would feel a lot more generic." Metal Gear Solid V :(
gilgamesh310 Of course. Arguably the best gameplay of the series. It's just sad to see a lot of the idiosyncracies and unique elements get pushed to the side, likely because the game wasn't given the time it needed,
me Some of those unique elements are still there. I can't help but feel Matthew was too lenient in his judgement of this series. He promotes the stealth in this game as being something very special, but it really isn't. Being arcade like and having you look at a radar for so much of the game, is not great gameplay by any means. Tenchu and Thief were released in the same year as this, and they had much better stealth. Especially Thief.
+me there's still lots of sillyness. The Fulton device is hilarious, beating up your subordinates and them thanking you is even more hilarious, and a bad guy named Skullface who wears a silly mask.
You can hear this really directly in the Skyward Sword review (where he's full of energy and it almost feels like he's tearing into the game at points) versus the Breath of the Wild review (calm, relaxed critique). I enjoy the earlier enthusiasm a bit more but Matthewmatosis is still a genius and a treasure.
Mantis’ redemption is actually a localisation/translation mistake by Jeremy Blaustein. In the Japanese version Mantis says using his power to help someone makes him feel "nostalgic". Blaustein didn’t think this made sense so he changed the term from “nostalgic” to “nice”. Kojima when he found out was angry at this because conceptually it changes the meaning of the phrase and gives the impression of Mantis redeeming himself, but that isn’t what Hideo intended with that dialog. As a result Blaustein wasn’t given the gig on MGS2. The game was re-translated for The Twin Snakes and Mantis uses the term "nostalgic" in that game.
@@sinklar7946 bruh that’s what he meant. Kojima understands English but to an extent that his dialogue feels very odd. That being said the odd dialogue adds to the cheesiness and charm of the series to an extent
I have to say, Matthew, you may have an intense, analytical style to your reviews, but I REALLY love when you dive into humor and comedy, like when you were addressing Meryl's scene with Snake prior to the Psycho Mantis bossfight.
This is probably common knowledge and the name "Deepthroat" will always be unfortunate but it's also the codename of the guy who blew the whistle on the Watergate scandal. So there is a history behind the name that doesn't involve the sex act.
Sad that we no longer have such reviews from you at the moment , I love the way you analise the games with such a professional level . I saw a lot of people that doing reviews in the last 5 years and you top all of them !!!! IGN , angry Joe and much others can't even compare themselfs with you . Keep up the good work and I hope to see more videos from you soon
I have to disagree with you there about the Mantis fight being stupid with the way you had to wait for the Colonel to tell you to use controller port 2, for most of the game you're supposed call your support team for advice on the situations you get in if you're stuck, and often times if you're lost the Colonel will point you in the right direction. The Colonel figuring out what to do made it feel like you had a team of people somewhere giving you real support, and this feeling comes to fruition when you have to survive the dehumanizing torture, and before this point the team gives you emotional support over the codec, like Mei Lings proverbs for examble, and McDonell Miller giving you advice on keeping your spirit up and fighting the environment.
KuruSeed Dude he thought the torture part was redundant because you have to endure it three times... you... you don't obviously. He just sucks at videogames lol
I don't think FF7 was that importent for the industry as MGS was. MGS did somethings others never wanted to do and now it became the standard for almost every video game.
You know, I have a feeling that Psycho Mantis was actually helping Sniper Wolf and not Snake. By implanting Meryl with the layout of the of the mines it gave Wolf the chance to line up the shot without being seen, as the heroes were distracted. That's just my theory on it
I completely missed out on the PS1 because I was too young, and I never went back because I was under the impression that games from that generation didn't age well. Recently, for whatever reason, I decided to give this game a shot and it completely blew me away! I know it's not nostalgia making me biased because it was literally my first time playing; it's really just *that* good!
Regarding the Mantis fight: you can switch ports, or you can shoot the busts with the masks to make Mantis vulnerable. To be fair, I only learned this recently despite having beaten the game over a dozen times.
I'm sure Kojima wanted to make certain sections longer and flesh out the game, but the fact the game needed 2 disks shows they were pushing the technical limitations of the PS1 to the max. I could imagine Kojima's original proposal may have been a 4 disk game to fit everything, before the Komani higher ups had to real him back to reality. If Kojima got his way to complete his games to his fullest vision, Metal Gear Solid 5 still probably wouldn't have been released today in 2019.
I think the characters standing around retelling their past and all that is a super common way of story telling in Japan? it's very common in a lot of their animations at least. It can be hard to believe they'd actually stand around that long but I always felt like it was a moment to suspend your disbelief and feel more invested in the characters.
I'm glad you did the 4th wall breaking "Disk 2 joke" in a review of MGS, the game was defined by its 4th wall breaks, so it is not only appropriate, but also necessary; in short, I salute you sir.
Fun fact in mgs 4 if you try to set your wireless to controller 2 during the final boss fight with mantis, otacon will get on a call and tells you that that won't work BECAUSE it's wirelss
Thank you so much for these reviews!! Metal gear is my favorite game series and the way you review the games is incredible; your views are something that I relate with so much and you truly have some journalism talent. Cant wait too watch all of them!
I figured the controller trick out on my own, I felt the attention that the dialogue gives to your controller, such as Mantis making it vibrate, was a big enough hint that the trick to beating him had something to do with the controller. Granted it took me a little while to figure out that swapping the port was the trick, but i knew the answer was in the controller, and it was very gratifying when I figured it out.
This was really an incredible review. Metal Gear Solid is one of my favorite games of all time, and I think you've done it justice with this review. Thanks a lot for doing this! =]
I'd put this in the top 4 most groundbreaking games in the entire 90s. Titles that shifted our expectations of what video games could do. -Doom -Mario 64 -Final Fantasy 7 -Metal Gear Solid
Wow that's a really good review. I find it challenging to review MGS1 in 2013 and still be able to point out all the little things that we now take for granted like the breath, footsteps, etc. Good job and I'm looking forward to watching parts 2, 3 and 4.
16:59 "I guess that makes you...a *mine reader*?" "Hahahahaha-" **smack** But in all seriousness, I didn't see the Miller/Liquid twist coming the first time I played MGS1 back in the day...I actually kind of thought Naomi was Decoy Octopus, considering how shifty and defensive she often acts, and how she often dances around questions Snake asks her unless it pertains to some immediate goal or information.
I didn't saw the Miller/Liquid twist, beecaaause... I thought it was too stupid, lol. A friend of mine dropped hints, but I just thought that Miller works for Liquid. Boi I really didn't know what to think when Liquid shed his fantastic disguise. But I guess now I kinda really love it, it's so silly :P
One of the best metal gear solid videos I've seen. This whole playlist of your reviews on the games that mean the most to me. Criminally underrated video essays and channel. Good job on everyone of them.
The only thing that doesnt make sense to me is about what Matt says at 20:10. If you resist the torture and meryl lives, snake still thinks she's dead and it isn't revealed until the end of the game that she is alive. Regardless of what you do with the torture, snake actually thinks meryl is dead no matter. This 6 years old though, so maybe Matt has since realized this
17:05 was hilarious, the first time I saw that I was like "hmmm maybe I can just run forward?" Think I laughed my ass off the first time I realized just how stupid that was!
I agree with the controller swap part, it would of been a legendary Eureka moment if there was some sort of hint for it, maybe if they emphasized the fact that the game can use both ports for the controller before the battle
So i just found your channel. I seen a lot of videos that i want to watch are quite old like this one. I just want to say im so glad you have a good mic. Some review channels with old content are sometimes unbearable quality. Cheers.
Great video. I was surprised that you missed out on talking about the atmosphere and music (Which also lends a certain atmosphere to the game), considering how long this review is. Otherwise, I highly enjoyed and you still delved further into the game than most reviews would. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and I can't wait to watch the next MGS review.
I'd love to hear your opinion on the Gamecube version. Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes has many many changes that I think would warrant one of your videos.
You pretty much nailed all the gameplay criticisms which people often overlook. MGS from a gameplay perspective is overrated. The same game was made 8 years prior in 2D, Metal Gear 2 and it holds up much, much better
17:09-17:11 is the reason this video deserves a like. Hilarious! Maybe that's why Snake was only slightly impressed with Meryl. Great video Matthewmatosis!
I think instead of control switching for mantis they should have made you remove your memory card since that can more easily be interpreted as not being able to read the players mind.
cont. It really helps you to cool off whenver you couldnt get passed a diff stage/boss in the game. Also, the cardbox trick should at least be mentioned, considering how it has continuity in MGS2,3 and 4. really, there's so much to the easter eggs in this game. overall, a very good review. would love to hear more from you
People should know they can run and shoot with the socom... it makes the ocelot boss fight ridiculously easy... Just hold square and then hold X with it. When you let go square, you shoot. I've even seen people saying that it's unnecessarily hard because you can only shoot while standing. And this is simply not true. 14:55 yes, here this helps too ;)
This is extremely good. I'll try to drop a new comment on something specific each time I rewatch these (cause I will). Here, I'll say I loved how you had fun with some youtube-4th walls, MGS style. I must say your monotone got to me sometimes - actually, it annoyed _my parents,_ who don't speak English. I think that's a nice standard for voice delivery self-evaluation. How would someone who doesn't speak English hear this?
Very different perspective were given in this in depth review, but imo missing a few importants one. There's no mention of the amount of easter eggs included in this games and considering the limitation of the hardware and the time it was released, was something very phenomenal ie; Policenauts posters, cardbox, the codec conversations u can especially with Mei Ling. I still remember spending a fair amount of times listening to her quoting diff people and talk about random topics with snake. cont
No you have it mixed up, first MGS1 came out in Japan, then it came out worldwide with improvements made to it such as new difficulties, 1st person, bonus costume and demo theatre. Then Integral was released in Japan for PS1 which included the revisions made in the worldwide release as well as extra VR missions but only with Japanese subs, voice acting was English. Later a PC port of the Japanese PS1 Integral was released outside of Japan while the VR missions were released as a standalone game.
The radar is okay because you have to work out where to go. But if you get caught it really raises the danger of the situation. So it creates strategy. If there was no radar it would be like a manic FPS.
Hard Mode and Extreme Mode remove the radar entirely and it basically makes traversal this really slow crawl around the base where you're constantly looking around in first person to plan every little move you make knowing an enemy could be just around the corner. It can be really frustrating though.
about the complaint concerning the lack of guards in the game @matthewmatosis, at the time with system requirements there was a very limited set of free memory on the ps1 for guard placement to the point where the KCEJ Team that handled mgs1, could only place 4 enemies at a time on the screen, any more and it resulted in the game glitching out like crazy, also most of the levels where designed with lego builds with cgi overlays to save system space on the cd roms at the time, however i am agreeing with your points you made during the video but this game was technically limited even with a 4 year development cycle.
I think for the Psycho Mantis fight, they should've made your controller vibrate at 100% force constantly until you unplug it, and if you were to, say, put it into port 2, it would have a rhythmic vibration. Maybe it's because I made it up, but I feel like that would've been a pretty good hint. I dunno, ever since you've brought it up, I've been trying to come up with a more subtle way at telling the player that yr current port isn't gonna work. Great review, by the way; love all your stuff
I remember the first time I ever fought Mantis, and I didn't know anything about the swap mechanic; I simply kept hitting him. For some reason, every few times I try to hit him, I actually do, and I defeated him like that; meaning I was able to finish the fight, it just took me longer. This means that, other than being a speedrun gimmick, the controller swap becomes pointless.
I think you don't remember the fight that well then. It takes tens of minutes to win a fight with Mantis without the swap mechanic. The swapping isn't a 'speedrun gimmick' - it's actually the way you're meant to win the fight, with the normal fighting option being the hard and unnatural one, since Mantis can read your movements. And good luck having enough ammo.
Amazing work. I'm really enjoying these thoughtful reviews from you. One thing I might have mentioned more, though, is how jarring it is to the narrative to backtrack for the sniper rifle. Meryl JUST got shot, and Sniper Wolf is still in the area, able to finish her off whenever. And what do you have to do? Abandon her body there and hope for the best while you meander back through the base. It was a real disconnect for me, and kinda ruined the weight of the moment.
2:30 the radar showed adjacent screens in Metal Gear 2, and the gameplay area was also a bit zoomed out (coupled with the slower shots it made combat less claustrophobic and difficult). 19:05 what's worse is that several of the ideas are ripped directly from MG2, so they're not that creative either.
Matthew, you've managed to to review my two favourite video game series of all time: Legend of Zelda and Metal Gear Solid. The way your reviews go to such wonderful detail about each game are not only entertaining, they are enlightening. I don't think I could have ever understood all of the little elements of each of these games that made them so special or memorable to me without your help, and it makes me enjoy playing them again much more. I cannot wait for your review of MGS4, my favourite.
That Psycho Mantis fight. I remember when I played the game on the gamecube, I had no earthly idea how to damage him, trying everything but not getting so far as to get the call about the controller. I accidentally figured out a way to damage him with the controller in port one, in the gamecube version occasionally Psycho Mantis would switch the camera to show his own first person view. If you were quick or lucky, you could swing around and pop a shot off at him when he did this phase since he didn't seem to read your movements while projecting like that. It took ages and a lot of retrys, and I was furious when I realized talking to a friend later on that it was made laughably easy by switching the control ports. If I hadn't gotten lucky during a random flailing pot-shots when he was in first person, I'd have eventually gotten the radio call.
Oh man, this is a great review. You've acknowledged almost every complaint I've had with the game. I really wish they didn't drop the stealth aspect for all the set pieces and boss fights in the second half, or at the least as you said expanded more of the stealth areas.
That minefield part was hilarious.
I never realised until I saw this you could do that. I always just crawled straight forward since that collects the mines.
I always got a kick out of it too, Meryl spends so much time slowly bypassing all the mines only for me to run straight through it
Typical woman 🤣
"Are you impressed?"
"Well, maybe a little..."
"Only a little?"
*runs straight through the mines
Fucking classic.
The Otacon ending felt more real to me, since in the sequels, Snake is defined more by his relationship with Otacon than he is by his practically non-existent relationship with Meryl.
Wow. I can't believe my eyes. I thought I was the only one who liked the otacon ending more.
Well, of course you like the Otacon ending more, because you are him!
Kevin Shirley yup.
+Kevin Shirley I agree (most because I never managed to win the torture section for many years).
when Kojima made MGS2 he wanted people to hate Otacon more because of how much he was liked in MGS1 (like how we felt bad for him etc)
Kojima did this by making Otacon make some mistakes (tanker for example he went by an annomynous tip lettered E.E. which turned out to be ocelot anyways)
and in the end when Emma actually dies he has blood on his coat (and how we simply ignored the last request from Emma)
although this worked against his wishes, we respected Otacon more and he became even more real and likeable.
"The audio actually
-insert disc 2-
takes up so much space"
Kojima has taught you well.
Oh man I can't wait to watch that MGS2 review and see Solid Snake again. There is absolutely no way I can be disappointed with solid snake as the player character!
hope you're being ironic
oops
@@nofuckars4278 he couldn't have been more ironic
Some say he’s still excited to play as snake to this day
The "Liquid manipulating you" thing tripped me up at first, but them actually trying to kill Solid actually makes sense. It's them just outright getting the Card Key through sheer force, and using it themselves. Tricking you into using it is the extent of Liquid's manipulation, but if he had made the path too easy, Snake would have known something was up, which the game makes reference to well when Snake finds the Metal Gear hangar to be "too quiet" when he first enters it. So by that token, Liquid was FORCED to essentially make it look good by actually going after Snake, 1) in the event that Solid was just too badass to fail, and 2) in the event they actually manage to kill Snake, they win anyway. It's actually a brilliant plan.
But it doesn't make sense in MGS3 and 4 imo...
There's actually 2 ways you can defeat mantis, one is the switching of the controller ports, the other is to use c4 to destroy the masks on the 2 statues in the room, Naomia will tell you that mantis hate's seing his own face and that's why the mirror in the room has been smashed and the statues covered with masks.
wtf 20 years I've been playing this game and I never knew that!
"... that would have been far more realistic. And sexy. Particularly the thing about the bandana."
I love your dry sense of humor. It's read so subtle and naturalistic that it just slides by and briefly checks if you're paying attention to the video.
Do you still watch this channel a decade later? Do you maintain your opinion on it?
"That would've been much more believable and sexy - particularly the thing about the bandanna."
I think Matthew knows as much about fetishes as he does about the games he reviews, which leads me to believe he does all his reviews in a BDSM dungeon.
+AnOddGhost His critique videos in particular, are written and recorded while he is restrained.
+AnOddGhost Do you want to hang out
+dandeentremont HAHAHAHAHA fucking got my ass with that one
This was so funny. Had to stop the video to comment.
Nihilistic Acid Dance This comment is genious omg 😃
22:32
"There are some games where backtracking can be a really enjoyable experience."
"YOU LIKE CASTLEVANIA, DON'T YOU?"
uknownada that was genius
more like metroid. castlevania wasn't about backtracking until symphony of the night.
TheWolvesCurse Having Symphony of the Night save data on your memory card is what triggers that dialogue.
From Symphony of the Night onward, sure.
I would defend Liquid's use of the Foxhound unit and constant attacks in spite of the fact that he wants Snake to succeed is more of a fail-safe: by having Snake use the PAL key to set the events into motion (rather than stop), Liquid is assuring that, even if Snake makes it that far, it would actually be to his benefit, not detriment. If Liquid or someone from Foxhound kills Snake, he can just use the key on his own with no trouble.
Steam-Powered Fox it's a win win situation. Never understood why people have a problem with that.
Just BØNY
Because he keeps doing things that might destroy the PAL card?
@@CruelestChris i wouldn't worry about that when talking about the fights involving Foxhound members themselves or soldiers since they could just avoid shooting Snaked pockets and the like,but that wouldn't solve things like the Tank or the Hind D since those have attacks that could blow up Snake and everything his carrying onto hell
@@justbny9278
Ocelot deliberately shooting it out of Snake's hand, resulting in the card falling about fifty feet into a drainage ditch kinda also seems a little counter-productive. I mean the thing can apparently take a hit from a .45 Long Colt like a champ, but what if he hadn't been able to find it?
Also there's the whole thing of the guards being quite happy to throw grenades at Snake.
Mr. Matosis, as of right now, I'm convinced that you just might be the most insightful, intelligent, entertaining and meticulous video game analyst/critic in existence. Your reviews and critiques are on another level entirely.
He is great, though I recommend you to watch Errant Signal's videos as well. Both are great at what they do and should be watched more. Jim Sterling is also quite good.
chcuc
Super BunnyHop's Metal Gear videos are also brilliant and I would strongly recommend watching them.
***** i would argue that mat's videos are not reviews either because he is also analyzing as well but more on the gameplay and mechanics than super bunny hops.
kirbyza Super Bunny Hop's reviews are the only ones I'd put up against Matt's.
VictorFr0st Super Bunny Hop is pretty good, but he's a lot more boring and slightly pretentious-sounding in my opinion. Just my opinion, though. I haven't seen everything SBH has made either, so there's that.
It's so refreshing to have videos made by someone who is willing to spend the time to breakdown the elements of a game and give every piece equal attention. I especially like the fact that you are able to recognize shortcomings without harping on about them. If a game has an issue, you identify it and accept it. I like that.
Great videos, I look forward to the next videos. Subscribed!
Do you still watch this channel a decade later? Do you maintain your opinion on it?
@@shade0636 Yes.
@@vileindividual Good.
@@shade0636 I still revisit these reviews too. Matt’s critical voice is sorely missed, I do hope his game is successful and that he returns to game analysis some day. For my money there is nobody better. Reviews he did a decade ago still haven’t been topped.
You should have brought up that in the Hind D fight the game will pick up if you have a mono or stereo TV and mock you for it since you can't make out where it will attack from in mono. So that's pretty cool too.
Well, it doesn't pick it up, it checks if the audio is set to stereo or mono in the options.
"Imagine Metal Gear Solid, and then strip away Psycho Mantis, Gray Fox and Otacon, remove the sections where you're expected to look at the game case or put the controller up to your arm so the vibration heals you. It's easy to see how without the charm of these stranger elements, Metal Gear Solid would feel a lot more generic."
Metal Gear Solid V :(
+me Except MGSV has far better gameplay.
gilgamesh310 Of course. Arguably the best gameplay of the series. It's just sad to see a lot of the idiosyncracies and unique elements get pushed to the side, likely because the game wasn't given the time it needed,
me Some of those unique elements are still there. I can't help but feel Matthew was too lenient in his judgement of this series. He promotes the stealth in this game as being something very special, but it really isn't. Being arcade like and having you look at a radar for so much of the game, is not great gameplay by any means. Tenchu and Thief were released in the same year as this, and they had much better stealth. Especially Thief.
+me there's still lots of sillyness. The Fulton device is hilarious, beating up your subordinates and them thanking you is even more hilarious, and a bad guy named Skullface who wears a silly mask.
Imagine if mantis was in mgsv...
as a child it took me ages to get past the intro sequence
Topy As a first time Metal Gear player the intro sequence took me way too long.
Cynical Creep especially if your a kid.
The radar did serve a purpose in the older Metal Gears. It showed the off-screen surrounding areas.
Nice profile picture buddy 👍
Matthew seems to have different eras of attitude, depending on his mic setup. This right here is his slightly aggressive era.
You can hear this really directly in the Skyward Sword review (where he's full of energy and it almost feels like he's tearing into the game at points) versus the Breath of the Wild review (calm, relaxed critique). I enjoy the earlier enthusiasm a bit more but Matthewmatosis is still a genius and a treasure.
Mantis’ redemption is actually a localisation/translation mistake by Jeremy Blaustein. In the Japanese version Mantis says using his power to help someone makes him feel "nostalgic". Blaustein didn’t think this made sense so he changed the term from “nostalgic” to “nice”. Kojima when he found out was angry at this because conceptually it changes the meaning of the phrase and gives the impression of Mantis redeeming himself, but that isn’t what Hideo intended with that dialog. As a result Blaustein wasn’t given the gig on MGS2. The game was re-translated for The Twin Snakes and Mantis uses the term "nostalgic" in that game.
That explains a lot. Thanks for that information.
Hideo should bite the bullet and actually learn english, especially if he wants to make movies
@@koyima He does know english, he just isn't the best at actually speaking it.
@@sinklar7946 bruh that’s what he meant. Kojima understands English but to an extent that his dialogue feels very odd. That being said the odd dialogue adds to the cheesiness and charm of the series to an extent
I have to say, Matthew, you may have an intense, analytical style to your reviews, but I REALLY love when you dive into humor and comedy, like when you were addressing Meryl's scene with Snake prior to the Psycho Mantis bossfight.
"Particularly the thing about the bandanna"
I HAD TO PAUSE
HARDEST MATT HAS MADE ME LAUGH
This is probably common knowledge and the name "Deepthroat" will always be unfortunate but it's also the codename of the guy who blew the whistle on the Watergate scandal. So there is a history behind the name that doesn't involve the sex act.
I guess it wasn’t a sexual thing back in Watergate years?
The game makes direct reference to this, you can even see the line at 8:10.
Revolver Ocelot was it really? Is that where it comes from?
Sad that we no longer have such reviews from you at the moment , I love the way you analise the games with such a professional level .
I saw a lot of people that doing reviews in the last 5 years and you top all of them !!!!
IGN , angry Joe and much others can't even compare themselfs with you .
Keep up the good work and I hope to see more videos from you soon
Do you still watch this channel? Do you maintain your opinion on it?
I have to disagree with you there about the Mantis fight being stupid with the way you had to wait for the Colonel to tell you to use controller port 2, for most of the game you're supposed call your support team for advice on the situations you get in if you're stuck, and often times if you're lost the Colonel will point you in the right direction. The Colonel figuring out what to do made it feel like you had a team of people somewhere giving you real support, and this feeling comes to fruition when you have to survive the dehumanizing torture, and before this point the team gives you emotional support over the codec, like Mei Lings proverbs for examble, and McDonell Miller giving you advice on keeping your spirit up and fighting the environment.
KuruSeed Dude he thought the torture part was redundant because you have to endure it three times... you... you don't obviously.
He just sucks at videogames lol
I remember once i called Miller and he told me: trust your instincts as a soldier, as a gamer and it made me feel somewhat better and motivates
Motivated*
I only just now realized that hardly any of the voice actors go by their real name in the credits. 😕
"Just pull it out and sti......" ROFL
That "please insert Disk 2" break was genius. I thought the video had broke on me. Oh, the old days...
I don't think FF7 was that importent for the industry as MGS was. MGS did somethings others never wanted to do and now it became the standard for almost every video game.
If it wasn't FF7, it would've been any other company. In my view, its just another Turn based RPG
JRPGs have proven to have wider and more lasting popularity than stealth games
FF7 actually killed off one of the leas female characters. If you don't think FF7 held no importance, you are naive
@@frogglen6350 The same thing literally happens in the game talked about in this video. Besides, that's not really much of an achievement regardless.
@@xSilentZeroXx
Literally barely anyone cares about sniper wolf. She has less screen time and character development.
You know, I have a feeling that Psycho Mantis was actually helping Sniper Wolf and not Snake. By implanting Meryl with the layout of the of the mines it gave Wolf the chance to line up the shot without being seen, as the heroes were distracted. That's just my theory on it
I've just found this channel. I love video essays, and I especially love long-form, in-depth content. Thanks for all the effort!
Do you still watch this channel? Do you maintain your opinion on it?
@shade0636 yep. 7 years later I still love em.
@@Exigentable Good.
I completely missed out on the PS1 because I was too young, and I never went back because I was under the impression that games from that generation didn't age well. Recently, for whatever reason, I decided to give this game a shot and it completely blew me away! I know it's not nostalgia making me biased because it was literally my first time playing; it's really just *that* good!
The sudden humor moments are great. It's such a juxtaposition to your informative review style
metal gear two wasnt available in US till MGS3 Subsistence, so we wouldnt know about reusing the "look on the case" 4th wall thing
Regarding the Mantis fight: you can switch ports, or you can shoot the busts with the masks to make Mantis vulnerable. To be fair, I only learned this recently despite having beaten the game over a dozen times.
13:00 My sides are officially damaged. Thank you.
"With Baker... Rescued..."
A tiny element of subtle genius delivery that sets you apart from the Chaff grenades. Amazing video.
I love the little touches you put in your videos like at 20:58. Great channel.
I'm sure Kojima wanted to make certain sections longer and flesh out the game, but the fact the game needed 2 disks shows they were pushing the technical limitations of the PS1 to the max. I could imagine Kojima's original proposal may have been a 4 disk game to fit everything, before the Komani higher ups had to real him back to reality.
If Kojima got his way to complete his games to his fullest vision, Metal Gear Solid 5 still probably wouldn't have been released today in 2019.
Watched all four reviews. Just wanted to say great work!
I think the characters standing around retelling their past and all that is a super common way of story telling in Japan? it's very common in a lot of their animations at least. It can be hard to believe they'd actually stand around that long but I always felt like it was a moment to suspend your disbelief and feel more invested in the characters.
I'm glad you did the 4th wall breaking "Disk 2 joke" in a review of MGS, the game was defined by its 4th wall breaks, so it is not only appropriate, but also necessary; in short, I salute you sir.
17:00 ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? There aren't any actual mines there?
There are mines there, but he walked outside their range.
Is you use your thermal googles there are like 4. The point is that Meryl and the game does a big fluss about that part.
Fun fact in mgs 4 if you try to set your wireless to controller 2 during the final boss fight with mantis, otacon will get on a call and tells you that that won't work BECAUSE it's wirelss
Thank you so much for these reviews!!
Metal gear is my favorite game series and the way you review the games is incredible; your views are something that I relate with so much and you truly have some journalism talent.
Cant wait too watch all of them!
Do you still watch this channel a decade later? Do you maintain your opinion on it?
I figured the controller trick out on my own, I felt the attention that the dialogue gives to your controller, such as Mantis making it vibrate, was a big enough hint that the trick to beating him had something to do with the controller. Granted it took me a little while to figure out that swapping the port was the trick, but i knew the answer was in the controller, and it was very gratifying when I figured it out.
There’s less than 25 guards in the entire game.
Communication towers: Am I a joke to you???
"With baker... Rescued."
I laughed harder at that line than I should have. Maybe it was the monotone in which you said it.
I thought there were 100's because i kept murdering them all lol
This was really an incredible review. Metal Gear Solid is one of my favorite games of all time, and I think you've done it justice with this review. Thanks a lot for doing this! =]
I'd put this in the top 4 most groundbreaking games in the entire 90s. Titles that shifted our expectations of what video games could do.
-Doom
-Mario 64
-Final Fantasy 7
-Metal Gear Solid
Wow that's a really good review. I find it challenging to review MGS1 in 2013 and still be able to point out all the little things that we now take for granted like the breath, footsteps, etc. Good job and I'm looking forward to watching parts 2, 3 and 4.
Do you still watch this channel a decade later? Do you maintain your opinion on it?
Hey, love your reviews, a very in depth analysis of every single one of its components. Don't stop making reviews even if they take one month to make
"Snake gets captured which is lucky since he didn't have a high enough security card to get through the next door anyway"
Classic
16:59 "I guess that makes you...a *mine reader*?"
"Hahahahaha-" **smack**
But in all seriousness, I didn't see the Miller/Liquid twist coming the first time I played MGS1 back in the day...I actually kind of thought Naomi was Decoy Octopus, considering how shifty and defensive she often acts, and how she often dances around questions Snake asks her unless it pertains to some immediate goal or information.
I didn't saw the Miller/Liquid twist, beecaaause... I thought it was too stupid, lol. A friend of mine dropped hints, but I just thought that Miller works for Liquid. Boi I really didn't know what to think when Liquid shed his fantastic disguise. But I guess now I kinda really love it, it's so silly :P
One of the best metal gear solid videos I've seen. This whole playlist of your reviews on the games that mean the most to me. Criminally underrated video essays and channel. Good job on everyone of them.
The only thing that doesnt make sense to me is about what Matt says at 20:10. If you resist the torture and meryl lives, snake still thinks she's dead and it isn't revealed until the end of the game that she is alive. Regardless of what you do with the torture, snake actually thinks meryl is dead no matter. This 6 years old though, so maybe Matt has since realized this
Greatest Ps1 Game Of All Time👍
I wish you'd do Okami.
Wiggles her way out.
....yes.
I hate to see her leave...but I love to watch her go.
Booty time!
Just spent a few hours watching your reviews, and you are a joy to listen to. It's now almost 4AM. Subscription.
I miss your reviews. So good.
17:05 was hilarious, the first time I saw that I was like "hmmm maybe I can just run forward?" Think I laughed my ass off the first time I realized just how stupid that was!
+TunezCottage I used the thermal googles. And saw every single mine on the ground and picked them up :D
Me too. I slowly crawled through that part.
I agree with the controller swap part, it would of been a legendary Eureka moment if there was some sort of hint for it, maybe if they emphasized the fact that the game can use both ports for the controller before the battle
So i just found your channel. I seen a lot of videos that i want to watch are quite old like this one. I just want to say im so glad you have a good mic. Some review channels with old content are sometimes unbearable quality. Cheers.
Great video. I was surprised that you missed out on talking about the atmosphere and music (Which also lends a certain atmosphere to the game), considering how long this review is. Otherwise, I highly enjoyed and you still delved further into the game than most reviews would. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and I can't wait to watch the next MGS review.
This is an excellent review. Great job.
i really hope you continue your reviews sir. they are excellent and are well thought out, I kinda wish people did more reviews like yours
I'd love to hear your opinion on the Gamecube version. Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes has many many changes that I think would warrant one of your videos.
Why would he talk about Raiden's VR training of the Shadow Moses Incident?
Found this by mistake and thoroughly enjoyed it man! Thank you my dude
You pretty much nailed all the gameplay criticisms which people often overlook. MGS from a gameplay perspective is overrated. The same game was made 8 years prior in 2D, Metal Gear 2 and it holds up much, much better
17:09-17:11 is the reason this video deserves a like. Hilarious! Maybe that's why Snake was only slightly impressed with Meryl. Great video Matthewmatosis!
I think instead of control switching for mantis they should have made you remove your memory card since that can more easily be interpreted as not being able to read the players mind.
"When you hear that noise, push the select button."
"The select wha--?"
cont. It really helps you to cool off whenver you couldnt get passed a diff stage/boss in the game. Also, the cardbox trick should at least be mentioned, considering how it has continuity in MGS2,3 and 4. really, there's so much to the easter eggs in this game.
overall, a very good review. would love to hear more from you
People should know they can run and shoot with the socom... it makes the ocelot boss fight ridiculously easy... Just hold square and then hold X with it. When you let go square, you shoot. I've even seen people saying that it's unnecessarily hard because you can only shoot while standing. And this is simply not true.
14:55 yes, here this helps too ;)
You can also do it in MGS2, but it's a different button combination.
This is extremely good. I'll try to drop a new comment on something specific each time I rewatch these (cause I will). Here, I'll say I loved how you had fun with some youtube-4th walls, MGS style.
I must say your monotone got to me sometimes - actually, it annoyed _my parents,_ who don't speak English. I think that's a nice standard for voice delivery self-evaluation. How would someone who doesn't speak English hear this?
Daniel Rosa *Pretty good
Is it a possibility that you could review Metal Gear or Metal Gear 2 some time in the future?
Very different perspective were given in this in depth review, but imo missing a few importants one. There's no mention of the amount of easter eggs included in this games and considering the limitation of the hardware and the time it was released, was something very phenomenal ie; Policenauts posters, cardbox, the codec conversations u can especially with Mei Ling. I still remember spending a fair amount of times listening to her quoting diff people and talk about random topics with snake. cont
I really love when I'm watching these mostly-serious reviews and then you throw in some comedy.
Oh god you completely caught me off guard with the joke about what Meryl should've said. That was great!
No you have it mixed up, first MGS1 came out in Japan, then it came out worldwide with improvements made to it such as new difficulties, 1st person, bonus costume and demo theatre. Then Integral was released in Japan for PS1 which included the revisions made in the worldwide release as well as extra VR missions but only with Japanese subs, voice acting was English. Later a PC port of the Japanese PS1 Integral was released outside of Japan while the VR missions were released as a standalone game.
I love your videos
Please review Tenchu Stealth Assassins for the PS1
I feel its underappreciated
I'd like to hear what you think
This needs at least 10-100 times the views. At LEAST. You deserve more recognition. I eagerly await more.
Are all four videos done? Or is there going to be a lot of time between each video?
Also good work, I really enjoyed this one.
The radar is okay because you have to work out where to go. But if you get caught it really raises the danger of the situation.
So it creates strategy. If there was no radar it would be like a manic FPS.
Hard Mode and Extreme Mode remove the radar entirely and it basically makes traversal this really slow crawl around the base where you're constantly looking around in first person to plan every little move you make knowing an enemy could be just around the corner. It can be really frustrating though.
True, if the camera were zoomed out like the old games it would make it easier in alert phase
about the complaint concerning the lack of guards in the game @matthewmatosis, at the time with system requirements there was a very limited set of free memory on the ps1 for guard placement to the point where the KCEJ Team that handled mgs1, could only place 4 enemies at a time on the screen, any more and it resulted in the game glitching out like crazy, also most of the levels where designed with lego builds with cgi overlays to save system space on the cd roms at the time, however i am agreeing with your points you made during the video but this game was technically limited even with a 4 year development cycle.
I always thought the hint for beating Psycho Mantis was the fact that the last trick he does is moving your controller with his mind.
I think for the Psycho Mantis fight, they should've made your controller vibrate at 100% force constantly until you unplug it, and if you were to, say, put it into port 2, it would have a rhythmic vibration. Maybe it's because I made it up, but I feel like that would've been a pretty good hint.
I dunno, ever since you've brought it up, I've been trying to come up with a more subtle way at telling the player that yr current port isn't gonna work. Great review, by the way; love all your stuff
You did a really great job with this one!
You're a madman pumping these videos out. Godspeed.
I remember the first time I ever fought Mantis, and I didn't know anything about the swap mechanic; I simply kept hitting him. For some reason, every few times I try to hit him, I actually do, and I defeated him like that; meaning I was able to finish the fight, it just took me longer. This means that, other than being a speedrun gimmick, the controller swap becomes pointless.
I think you don't remember the fight that well then. It takes tens of minutes to win a fight with Mantis without the swap mechanic. The swapping isn't a 'speedrun gimmick' - it's actually the way you're meant to win the fight, with the normal fighting option being the hard and unnatural one, since Mantis can read your movements. And good luck having enough ammo.
Doesn't the colonel call you and tell you what to do after a while?
John Doe this guy played on the easiest difficulty, it gives you infinite ammo famas
Pan Rysownik you can just punch him a bunch of times. It doesn't take that long
Sure you did...
Amazing work. I'm really enjoying these thoughtful reviews from you.
One thing I might have mentioned more, though, is how jarring it is to the narrative to backtrack for the sniper rifle. Meryl JUST got shot, and Sniper Wolf is still in the area, able to finish her off whenever. And what do you have to do? Abandon her body there and hope for the best while you meander back through the base. It was a real disconnect for me, and kinda ruined the weight of the moment.
"With Baker...'rescued'..."
*footage shows Baker convulsing to death*
It's those deadpan humor moments that get me.
Video crashed on me while you were talking about Psycho Mantis dying and at first I thought it just you being cheeky
Another fantastic set of reviews Matt, keep up the good work!
Do you still watch this channel a decade later? Do you maintain your opinion on it?
2:30 the radar showed adjacent screens in Metal Gear 2, and the gameplay area was also a bit zoomed out (coupled with the slower shots it made combat less claustrophobic and difficult).
19:05 what's worse is that several of the ideas are ripped directly from MG2, so they're not that creative either.
You've got yourself another subscriber. You're going to go far with the quality of your reviews.
"In the next video solid snake is back for metal gear solid 2" I see what you did there...
Great review as always Matt, we miss you!
Matthew, you've managed to to review my two favourite video game series of all time: Legend of Zelda and Metal Gear Solid. The way your reviews go to such wonderful detail about each game are not only entertaining, they are enlightening. I don't think I could have ever understood all of the little elements of each of these games that made them so special or memorable to me without your help, and it makes me enjoy playing them again much more. I cannot wait for your review of MGS4, my favourite.
Do you still watch this channel a decade later? Do you maintain your opinion on it?
@@shade0636 can i ask what the purpose is behind the mass poll you seem to be conducting
@@bruhman5829 I enjoy checking in on people who have left old comments.
That Psycho Mantis fight. I remember when I played the game on the gamecube, I had no earthly idea how to damage him, trying everything but not getting so far as to get the call about the controller. I accidentally figured out a way to damage him with the controller in port one, in the gamecube version occasionally Psycho Mantis would switch the camera to show his own first person view. If you were quick or lucky, you could swing around and pop a shot off at him when he did this phase since he didn't seem to read your movements while projecting like that.
It took ages and a lot of retrys, and I was furious when I realized talking to a friend later on that it was made laughably easy by switching the control ports. If I hadn't gotten lucky during a random flailing pot-shots when he was in first person, I'd have eventually gotten the radio call.
Oh man, this is a great review. You've acknowledged almost every complaint I've had with the game. I really wish they didn't drop the stealth aspect for all the set pieces and boss fights in the second half, or at the least as you said expanded more of the stealth areas.
Do you still watch this channel a decade later? Do you maintain your opinion on it?