The time has come for another Catch-up Crew mission, a regular assignment that sees cadets playing games for the first time – games long since played by other officers. Through their eyes, NL’s senior staff gain fresh insight and a better understanding of not only those classic games, but also ourselves. Mainly the games, though.
Today, we visit a 32-bit installation with Metal Gear Solid. For anyone looking to (re)play along, it’s available on Switch as part of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Version Vol. 1, or as a standalone download.
A new mission means a crew rotation, so let’s check the duty roster and find out who’s taking command today:
Capt.Col. Ollie Reynolds – veteran, Solid SnakeCmdr.Sgt. Alana Hagues – veteran, Liquid SnakeEns.Cadet Jim Norman – recruit, Sloppy SnakeEns.Cadet Gavin Lane – recruit, Runny Snake
*BRRP, BRRP! BRRP, BRRP!*
OLLIE: Team, this is Colonel Reynolds; it’s been a long time. What’s the situation?
JIM: Reynolds? It can’t be! Hearing you loud and clear, Colonel.
GAVIN: NO RESPONSE.
ALANA: Colonel, I think Cadet Lane is struggling to get through. I’ve been storing rations but I’m not sure when the four of us will reconvene in person.
GAVIN: *BRRP* Sorry, Colonel. I had a handkerchief stuck around my radio. I don’t need a handkerchief. One of those ear implants would be handy, though.
OLLIE: Excellent, age hasn’t slowed you down one bit… I think. Now, our next mission takes us to the nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, where we’ll be… shadowing (chortle!) a known Special Operations soldier called Solid Snake. I understand that none of you have had any prior experience with Metal Gear Solid, is that right?
ALANA: That’s not quite correct, sir. I visited Shadow Moses with my brother as a wee lass long ago, then on my own much later. It’s been a while since, but I have been hankering to revisit the place. And what a revisit.
JIM: It wasn’t only a first visit to Shadow Moses for me, sir, but a first visit to the Metal Gear series. It has been a blind spot for a while, I am ashamed to admit.
GAVIN: Same here, I’m a total MG rookie – an N64 kid who didn’t have the funds for multiple consoles. I would have loved to play this back in the day and gotten the contemporary effect, I was just on a different track.
OLLIE: Apologies, Sgt. Hagues, the Pentagon must have given me the wrong brief. Let’s start with our high-level thoughts, then. Hagues, as someone returning to Shadow Moses in 2025, what did you make of your time with the game?
ALANA: Oh, I fell in love all over again, Colonel. It’s amazing how much of the beginning I remember. There are few things as iconic as those opening moments as you’re sneaking into the facility. It does take me time to adjust to the controls and the feel, but one thing that always stands out is the atmosphere. MGS feels incredibly unique, even within its own series. And it’s a technical marvel for the time, too. It’s just fabulous – as far as nuclear facilities go.
OLLIE: Yes, it’s amazing just how unique it still feels. Cadet Norman, let’s go to you next. What did you make of your experience this first go around?
JIM: Prepare to have a giant exclamation mark appear out of your noggin, Colonel, because I found it to be… fine. Insubordination of the highest degree, I’m sure, but there was something about the uniqueness of it all that never really gelled with me. Putting on my historical hat and looking at it as a product of the time and a precursor for so much stealth that followed was my way in, but I struggled to get on board with a lot of it, I’m afraid.
OLLIE: I need scissors! 61!
Sorry… Your response caused some minor malfunction there over the Codec… That’s fine though, Norman, totally fine. Cadet Lane, where do you sit with this?
GAVIN: I really enjoyed it. Normally when I play something older and a bit clunky, as Jim says, that historical context cap is essential. With this, though, it felt like it was schooling me on an entire console. It’s just dripping in PS1 and that period of gaming, and I took great pleasure in the history lesson. Some parts hit much more than others, but that’s standard for any game.
OLLIE: Indeed, it almost feels like the quintessential PS1 game in many ways. A lot has been made of the game’s story over the years; Kojima has become known for his lengthy cutscenes and excessive exposition, but it’s safe to say that this particular entry perhaps isn’t as egregious as his later titles. What did you all make of the story and, in particular, how it was told over cutscenes and Codec calls?
GAVIN: I liked how it leaned into the melodrama in a B-movie fashion, and the Codec felt like a fairly fresh narrative tool, especially with the fourth-wall breaks all over the place. I loved the fact that the ‘NO RESPONSE’s always have an in-game reason when you know all the twists and reveals – it’s never just, ‘Oh, the devs didn’t write or record dialogue for that bit.’ The whole thing was silly, schoolboy nonsense, but I went with it and was entertained.
JIM: I’m not the biggest Kojima-head, but I totally agree that this wasn’t quite as dialogue-y as I was expecting. That said, some of those calls don’t half go on! As Lane mentioned, the Codec calls and fourth-wall breaks were a big win for me, and I warmed to it when things went a little campy, but the ‘schoolboy’-ness of it all never sat all that well with me. I don’t know, I have never particularly warmed to the ‘Cool Dude With Gun’™ genre, so perhaps I was doomed from the jump.
ALANA: I think that’s a fair comment – the humour and the tone of MGS is very Hideo Kojima, and that doesn’t always sit well with me either. Many of his female characters point to that. But to pivot a little, I think it largely works here; the balance of the stupid, bombastic moments, the melodrama, and the ridiculous things you can do in combat (I’ve never used ketchup like that before, Snake, but I’ll always remember), really balances out the very serious moments, the moments where Snake or Meryl or Sniper Wolf show vulnerability.
I think ‘cinematic’ is overused as a descriptor in general, but MGS is one series that fits that term perfectly. In 1998, the storytelling and the way it was presented were revolutionary. And like I mentioned, I think it’s still very unique today. Other MGS games feel a bit too self-indulgent, in my opinion. Other than MGS3.
GAVIN: As I was playing I kept thinking of Resident Evil and how both Konami and Capcom leaned into the B-movie cheesiness that really works given the hardware fidelity and restrictions of that era. It’s kitsch now but it holds up because it never takes itself too seriously. For me, all the militaristic fetishism was the weakest part – it was the ‘freaks and misfits’ carnival cast that I enjoyed.
OLLIE: The comparison to RE also highlights just how insanely good the voice acting was for the time. RE is famous for its cheesy dialogue and, let’s be honest, awful delivery, but the story in MGS was told wonderfully well, and the actors did a marvellous job.
Keeping with the story, but also injecting a bit of gameplay in here, let’s talk about the boss characters. The series as a whole is well known for its memorable boss encounters, and this is no exception. What did you make of the villains, and did you have a favourite?
JIM: While the controls got on my nerves a little in these instances, I enjoyed most of the bosses. They crossed over into full-on silliness for me in a way that the rest of it didn’t. Honestly, Ocelot got me the most in this respect. The entire fight is like a scene from Scooby-Doo and it had me genuinely chucking throughout.
GAVIN: Yeah, it had me humming Yakety Sax. I liked all the characters but it wasn’t until the second Sniper Wolf fight that I felt I wasn’t fighting the controls, I loved that one. I took down Liquid in the helicopter first time, too.
ALANA: The bosses are the highlight for me, particularly in the latter part of the game. The second Sniper Wolf fight is incredible, and the last Vulcan Raven fight is tense, too. Plus, Metal Gear REX, as clunky as it can be to fight… c’mon, you’re fighting a mech. I love how almost every boss feels different – sometimes you’re being chased around in a small space and trying to get an advantage, others you have to physically do something in the real world.
And then the final boss is literally a fist fight. After all that fancy stuff before.
OLLIE: I can understand why the somewhat dated controls would present a bit of a problem during the boss encounters. For most of the game, you’re encouraged to sneak your way past the guards and not get spotted, and now you’re suddenly thrust into a relatively small space and forced to use your weaponry.
Speaking of which, did you have a specific weapon you’d fall back on throughout the game, or were you more inclined to experiment depending on the situation?
GAVIN: I generally went with whatever the game indicated via the ammo lying about. I did come to love chaff grenades.
ALANA: Chaff grenades are the way, Lane. I’m much the same. I do enjoy screwing with the patrol men inside Shadow Moses by leaving them little items or magazines and the like, before I take them out quietly. But otherwise, I am situational, but always with my trusty SOCOM and suppressor.
GAVIN: There are loads of legit options I never even considered. When I’d almost finished, I saw a video of someone destroying all the cameras with rockets – something I never did as I was too worried about ammo conservation.
JIM: I am in much the same boat! Maybe it’s something that comes with playing more Metal Gear, but I feel like I went about things in a very boring way. The combat would generally take me a little by surprise and I’d panic-default back to the SOCOM unless the game was guiding me otherwise.
OLLIE: The SOCOM is so reliable, particularly if you manage to pick up the suppressor, too.
Well, we’re nearly at an end with our Shadow Moses mission, but I have to admit that my revisit has got me itching to replay the multiple sequels. Sgt. Hagues, did you feel the same way? And Cadets Norman and Lane, are you inclined to try out the rest now that you’ve dipped your toes in the series?
ALANA: I admit Colonel, it did and does – but it also makes me wistful for that era of Konami. Lane mentioned Capcom, too; the PS1 and PS2 era felt magic for those two developers. MGS2 improves on 1 in many ways, particularly gameplay-wise, and it leans into the craziness of MGS even more, so if anyone is on the fence, that might tempt…
JIM: I still have about an hour left (I believe) and I have certainly been swayed enough to see it to the end. Something like Twin Snakes might be on my list as a way to find out whether it was the gameplay or the story that rubbed me the wrong way, but I can’t say that I’ll be rushing to it. Hey, it can’t be for everyone!
GAVIN: I’m in two minds. I get the sense that the series doubled down on the lore stuff with Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, bloody Exposition Snake and the rest in a way I’d find less interesting. Back in ‘98, this must’ve felt cutting-edge and far less ‘B-movie’; more T2 than Timecop. I can see how younger players especially would have invested in the lore and the on-the-nose themes and found it incredibly profound. Maybe I’ve got the measure of the series wrong, but it feels like it went a bit more po-faced as the tech enabled Kojima and co. to push the boat out production-wise. Is that an accurate assessment, Colonel?
OLLIE: The series retained its unique sense of humour and whimsy – heck, there’s a monkey in MGS4 that loves to smoke and guzzle cans of soda – but I would certainly say that the more freedom Kojima had, the more bloated each entry became. There was a slight overcorrection with MGS5 and that rubbed a lot of hardcore fans the wrong way, but this may have been a symptom of the rift between Kojima and Konami at the time.
It’s a big commitment to play through the entire series, and I’d say if you’re not quite sold on the story from the first game, then you’d be fine skipping the rest. As much as it pains me to say.
That’s all we’ve got time for today, friends. I believe next time we’ll be checking out Pikmin?
GAVIN: Correct, Colonel. We’ll be taking to the stars once more, on course for PNF-404.
OLLIE: Excellent. In the meantime, if you need to, you can contact me by Codec. My frequency is 140.85. Colonel out.
Metal Gear Solid – Recruit Report
| Promoted Officer: | Lt. Gavin Lane | Lt. Jim Norman |
|---|---|---|
| Best bit: | “I don’t need a handkerchief…I don’t have any more tears to shed.” | “I ride dog sleds. I’m a musher.” |
| Worst bit: | “You’ll need to grab the BFM (big flippin’ missile) to take out the MBH (massive bloody helicopter) before the TBS…” | Those seven-minute Codec calls explaining how manly Snake is |
| Would play again? | Absolutely – I’d be keen to see how Twin Snakes changed things | I’ll finish this one, that’s all I’m promising… |
The time has come for another Catch-up Crew mission, a regular assignment that sees cadets playing games for the first time - games long since played by other officers. Through their eyes, NL's senior staff gain fresh insight and a better understanding of not only those classic games, but also ourselves. Mainly the games, though.
Today, we visit a 32-bit installation with Metal Gear Solid. For anyone looking to (re)play along, it's available on Switch as part of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Version Vol. 1, or as a standalone download.
A new mission means a crew rotation, so let's check the duty roster and find out who's taking command today:
Capt.Col. Ollie Reynolds - veteran, Solid SnakeCmdr.Sgt. Alana Hagues - veteran, Liquid SnakeEns.Cadet Jim Norman - recruit, Sloppy SnakeEns.Cadet Gavin Lane - recruit, Runny Snake
*BRRP, BRRP! BRRP, BRRP!*
OLLIE: Team, this is Colonel Reynolds; it’s been a long time. What’s the situation?
JIM: Reynolds? It can’t be! Hearing you loud and clear, Colonel.
GAVIN: NO RESPONSE.
ALANA: Colonel, I think Cadet Lane is struggling to get through. I’ve been storing rations but I’m not sure when the four of us will reconvene in person.
GAVIN: *BRRP* Sorry, Colonel. I had a handkerchief stuck around my radio. I don’t need a handkerchief. One of those ear implants would be handy, though.
OLLIE: Excellent, age hasn’t slowed you down one bit… I think. Now, our next mission takes us to the nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, where we’ll be… shadowing (chortle!) a known Special Operations soldier called Solid Snake. I understand that none of you have had any prior experience with Metal Gear Solid, is that right?
ALANA: That’s not quite correct, sir. I visited Shadow Moses with my brother as a wee lass long ago, then on my own much later. It’s been a while since, but I have been hankering to revisit the place. And what a revisit.
JIM: It wasn’t only a first visit to Shadow Moses for me, sir, but a first visit to the Metal Gear series. It has been a blind spot for a while, I am ashamed to admit.
GAVIN: Same here, I’m a total MG rookie - an N64 kid who didn’t have the funds for multiple consoles. I would have loved to play this back in the day and gotten the contemporary effect, I was just on a different track.
OLLIE: Apologies, Sgt. Hagues, the Pentagon must have given me the wrong brief. Let’s start with our high-level thoughts, then. Hagues, as someone returning to Shadow Moses in 2025, what did you make of your time with the game?
ALANA: Oh, I fell in love all over again, Colonel. It’s amazing how much of the beginning I remember. There are few things as iconic as those opening moments as you’re sneaking into the facility. It does take me time to adjust to the controls and the feel, but one thing that always stands out is the atmosphere. MGS feels incredibly unique, even within its own series. And it’s a technical marvel for the time, too. It’s just fabulous – as far as nuclear facilities go.
OLLIE: Yes, it’s amazing just how unique it still feels. Cadet Norman, let’s go to you next. What did you make of your experience this first go around?
JIM: Prepare to have a giant exclamation mark appear out of your noggin, Colonel, because I found it to be… fine. Insubordination of the highest degree, I’m sure, but there was something about the uniqueness of it all that never really gelled with me. Putting on my historical hat and looking at it as a product of the time and a precursor for so much stealth that followed was my way in, but I struggled to get on board with a lot of it, I’m afraid.
OLLIE: I need scissors! 61!
Sorry… Your response caused some minor malfunction there over the Codec… That’s fine though, Norman, totally fine. Cadet Lane, where do you sit with this?
GAVIN: I really enjoyed it. Normally when I play something older and a bit clunky, as Jim says, that historical context cap is essential. With this, though, it felt like it was schooling me on an entire console. It’s just dripping in PS1 and that period of gaming, and I took great pleasure in the history lesson. Some parts hit much more than others, but that’s standard for any game.
OLLIE: Indeed, it almost feels like the quintessential PS1 game in many ways. A lot has been made of the game’s story over the years; Kojima has become known for his lengthy cutscenes and excessive exposition, but it’s safe to say that this particular entry perhaps isn’t as egregious as his later titles. What did you all make of the story and, in particular, how it was told over cutscenes and Codec calls?
GAVIN: I liked how it leaned into the melodrama in a B-movie fashion, and the Codec felt like a fairly fresh narrative tool, especially with the fourth-wall breaks all over the place. I loved the fact that the ‘NO RESPONSE’s always have an in-game reason when you know all the twists and reveals - it’s never just, ‘Oh, the devs didn’t write or record dialogue for that bit.’ The whole thing was silly, schoolboy nonsense, but I went with it and was entertained.
JIM: I’m not the biggest Kojima-head, but I totally agree that this wasn’t quite as dialogue-y as I was expecting. That said, some of those calls don’t half go on! As Lane mentioned, the Codec calls and fourth-wall breaks were a big win for me, and I warmed to it when things went a little campy, but the 'schoolboy'-ness of it all never sat all that well with me. I don’t know, I have never particularly warmed to the ‘Cool Dude With Gun’™ genre, so perhaps I was doomed from the jump.
ALANA: I think that’s a fair comment – the humour and the tone of MGS is very Hideo Kojima, and that doesn’t always sit well with me either. Many of his female characters point to that. But to pivot a little, I think it largely works here; the balance of the stupid, bombastic moments, the melodrama, and the ridiculous things you can do in combat (I’ve never used ketchup like that before, Snake, but I’ll always remember), really balances out the very serious moments, the moments where Snake or Meryl or Sniper Wolf show vulnerability.
I think 'cinematic' is overused as a descriptor in general, but MGS is one series that fits that term perfectly. In 1998, the storytelling and the way it was presented were revolutionary. And like I mentioned, I think it’s still very unique today. Other MGS games feel a bit too self-indulgent, in my opinion. Other than MGS3.
GAVIN: As I was playing I kept thinking of Resident Evil and how both Konami and Capcom leaned into the B-movie cheesiness that really works given the hardware fidelity and restrictions of that era. It’s kitsch now but it holds up because it never takes itself too seriously. For me, all the militaristic fetishism was the weakest part - it was the ‘freaks and misfits' carnival cast that I enjoyed.
OLLIE: The comparison to RE also highlights just how insanely good the voice acting was for the time. RE is famous for its cheesy dialogue and, let’s be honest, awful delivery, but the story in MGS was told wonderfully well, and the actors did a marvellous job.
Keeping with the story, but also injecting a bit of gameplay in here, let’s talk about the boss characters. The series as a whole is well known for its memorable boss encounters, and this is no exception. What did you make of the villains, and did you have a favourite?
JIM: While the controls got on my nerves a little in these instances, I enjoyed most of the bosses. They crossed over into full-on silliness for me in a way that the rest of it didn’t. Honestly, Ocelot got me the most in this respect. The entire fight is like a scene from Scooby-Doo and it had me genuinely chucking throughout.
GAVIN: Yeah, it had me humming Yakety Sax. I liked all the characters but it wasn’t until the second Sniper Wolf fight that I felt I wasn't fighting the controls, I loved that one. I took down Liquid in the helicopter first time, too.
ALANA: The bosses are the highlight for me, particularly in the latter part of the game. The second Sniper Wolf fight is incredible, and the last Vulcan Raven fight is tense, too. Plus, Metal Gear REX, as clunky as it can be to fight… c’mon, you're fighting a mech. I love how almost every boss feels different – sometimes you’re being chased around in a small space and trying to get an advantage, others you have to physically do something in the real world.
And then the final boss is literally a fist fight. After all that fancy stuff before.
OLLIE: I can understand why the somewhat dated controls would present a bit of a problem during the boss encounters. For most of the game, you’re encouraged to sneak your way past the guards and not get spotted, and now you’re suddenly thrust into a relatively small space and forced to use your weaponry.
Speaking of which, did you have a specific weapon you’d fall back on throughout the game, or were you more inclined to experiment depending on the situation?
GAVIN: I generally went with whatever the game indicated via the ammo lying about. I did come to love chaff grenades.
ALANA: Chaff grenades are the way, Lane. I’m much the same. I do enjoy screwing with the patrol men inside Shadow Moses by leaving them little items or magazines and the like, before I take them out quietly. But otherwise, I am situational, but always with my trusty SOCOM and suppressor.
GAVIN: There are loads of legit options I never even considered. When I’d almost finished, I saw a video of someone destroying all the cameras with rockets - something I never did as I was too worried about ammo conservation.
JIM: I am in much the same boat! Maybe it’s something that comes with playing more Metal Gear, but I feel like I went about things in a very boring way. The combat would generally take me a little by surprise and I’d panic-default back to the SOCOM unless the game was guiding me otherwise.
OLLIE: The SOCOM is so reliable, particularly if you manage to pick up the suppressor, too.
Well, we’re nearly at an end with our Shadow Moses mission, but I have to admit that my revisit has got me itching to replay the multiple sequels. Sgt. Hagues, did you feel the same way? And Cadets Norman and Lane, are you inclined to try out the rest now that you’ve dipped your toes in the series?
ALANA: I admit Colonel, it did and does – but it also makes me wistful for that era of Konami. Lane mentioned Capcom, too; the PS1 and PS2 era felt magic for those two developers. MGS2 improves on 1 in many ways, particularly gameplay-wise, and it leans into the craziness of MGS even more, so if anyone is on the fence, that might tempt…
JIM: I still have about an hour left (I believe) and I have certainly been swayed enough to see it to the end. Something like Twin Snakes might be on my list as a way to find out whether it was the gameplay or the story that rubbed me the wrong way, but I can’t say that I’ll be rushing to it. Hey, it can’t be for everyone!
GAVIN: I’m in two minds. I get the sense that the series doubled down on the lore stuff with Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, bloody Exposition Snake and the rest in a way I’d find less interesting. Back in ‘98, this must've felt cutting-edge and far less 'B-movie'; more T2 than Timecop. I can see how younger players especially would have invested in the lore and the on-the-nose themes and found it incredibly profound. Maybe I’ve got the measure of the series wrong, but it feels like it went a bit more po-faced as the tech enabled Kojima and co. to push the boat out production-wise. Is that an accurate assessment, Colonel?
OLLIE: The series retained its unique sense of humour and whimsy – heck, there’s a monkey in MGS4 that loves to smoke and guzzle cans of soda – but I would certainly say that the more freedom Kojima had, the more bloated each entry became. There was a slight overcorrection with MGS5 and that rubbed a lot of hardcore fans the wrong way, but this may have been a symptom of the rift between Kojima and Konami at the time.
It’s a big commitment to play through the entire series, and I’d say if you’re not quite sold on the story from the first game, then you’d be fine skipping the rest. As much as it pains me to say.
That’s all we’ve got time for today, friends. I believe next time we’ll be checking out Pikmin?
GAVIN: Correct, Colonel. We’ll be taking to the stars once more, on course for PNF-404.
OLLIE: Excellent. In the meantime, if you need to, you can contact me by Codec. My frequency is 140.85. Colonel out.
Metal Gear Solid - Recruit Report
| Promoted Officer: | Lt. Gavin Lane | Lt. Jim Norman |
|---|---|---|
| Best bit: | "I don't need a handkerchief...I don't have any more tears to shed." | "I ride dog sleds. I'm a musher." |
| Worst bit: | "You'll need to grab the BFM (big flippin' missile) to take out the MBH (massive bloody helicopter) before the TBS..." | Those seven-minute Codec calls explaining how manly Snake is |
| Would play again? | Absolutely - I'd be keen to see how Twin Snakes changed things | I'll finish this one, that's all I'm promising... |
