Metal Gear Solid is arguably one of the most important video games of all time. It showed us all exactly how blurred the line between game and film can be with its cinematic presentation and superb voice work. Some may argue that its writing and story – hang on, this is all sounding a little bit familiar…
Considering I already reviewed the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the consoles why am I doing it again for the PS Vita? Well it’s a completely different system, this way you can play Metal Gear Solid 3 on your way to work and not have to settle for a sub-par remake. Rather than repeat many of my previous points this review will focus on what’s changed, and any Vita specific issues that may arise from the less powerful hardware.
Don’t get me wrong, the Vita is a magnificent piece of technology, but compared to the PS3 it just doesn’t have the same power behind it, but even so MGSHD looks fantastic, and I mean fantastic, on the OLED screen. While it isn’t technically HD (the OLED doesn’t have enough pixels to be accurately labelled as such) it is so crisp and smooth that you may even believe it looks better, though whether this is due to the smaller screen, the ability to zoom in to the cut scenes to see just how good it looks or what, the fact remains that this is a beautiful collection. The radar in MGS2, for example, is the sharpest and clearest I have ever seen it. Granted made-for-Vita games such as Gravity Rush or Golden Abyss look better, but these games are from a console that is over 10 years old, and the fact that they still look this good shows just how well they looked back in the day. This is the (not quite high) definition of aging well.
Control wise, however, it isn’t such a good story. Lacking the pressure sensitive buttons from Sony’s home machines the ability to lower or aim a weapon is (like with the Xbox 360 version) relegated to a button click. While this allows a pistol to be lowered without any chance of accidental firing aiming an automatic weapon quickly becomes an exercise in frustration, making some of the boss battles overly complex and annoying, especially on harder difficulties.
The small size of the analogue sticks can also be a small issue as precision aiming can be hard to accomplish. The analogue zones of the sticks (that is the sections in between neutral and full tilt) are small, so minuscule precision tilting is required for fine aim, an annoyance when sniping is required.
The lack of two further shoulders buttons is less of an issue. Usually the buttons that are missing from the Vita would be used to select items or weapons, but these actions are now mapped to the touch screen. Touching either the bottom left or bottom right of the screen (where the box for the weapon/item is displayed) opens the menu, where you then slide to the required selection and release. There’s a small amount of lag during sliding but otherwise is a brilliantly effective solution to the hardware limitation.
The rear touch pad also sees use as sliding it allows for peeking left and right, while pinching outwards causes the player character to stand on tiptoes in first person mode, or perform a pull up while hanging. In MGS3 it is also used to control the knife, with a tap causing Snake to stab, or (should a guard be held at the time) a slide to perform a throat cut. The position of the touch pad and the motion required for a full peak can often be awkward, and while using a knife the ability for your action to be distinguished between ‘interrogate’ or ‘mutilate’ can be hit or miss, which is very bad indeed.
You may have noticed by now that I have yet to mention Peace Walker, the third game in the HD Collection, and this is because it isn’t included in the Vita version. While there are official reasons for this involving costing and optimisation and space management etc, the fact that its available for download from PSN seems awfully convenient. While it isn’t a great loss, and the overall price of the game is lower than most vita games, a download code for the PSP version would have been a nice addition
As it stands though the package isn’t hurt by the absence of Peace Walker. I know I’ve said this before it still stands true, the fact that MGS3 is part of this collection warrants the asking price alone. Granted it isn’t the greatest version of the game (that is still the PS3 HD version for the pressure sensitive control scheme) and the rear touchpad knife controls can be a hindrance on occasion, but it is still a fantastic port of the game. Similarly the rear touch pad controls for MGS2 can cause some frustration when trying to aim and peek, but these are nowhere close to game breaking issues.
With the slight downgrade in accessibility coming from these control issues, and the absence of Peace Walker giving it the same score as its console brethren (a 10) would be a little off, but for the lower price and fact you can now play these fantastic games anywhere the score is still going to have to be a high one. What is worse than other versions is made up for in portability, couple this with the fact you can “transfar” saves between the Vita and the PS3 versions for a single unified game save (a fantastic feature that hopefully more games spread across systems will adopt) and you have what is still an absolutely essential purchase, even for those who already own the collection.