Metal Gear Solid HD Collection review

You’re once, twice, three times the stealth action fun… and I looooove you

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Playing them on a big screen

  • +

    Has better controls for Peace Walker

  • +

    Snakes Liberty missions included

Cons

  • -

    Libertys dated camera

  • -

    No competitive online modes

  • -

    Peace still lacks checkpoints

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Much like record companies in the late-’80s, game publishers have realized that they can mine their back catalogs by sprucing up a couple classics and putting them out in a single package. While some of these are obvious cash grabs, even those are often worth it for people who missed the included games the first time around. Such is the case with the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which pairs 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, 2004’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and last year’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. For anyone who’s already played all three games repeatedly, HD Collection isn’t worth your hard-earned ducats. Sure, seeing these games in hi-def is cool – as with the God of War: Origins Collection, Bluepoint has done an impressive job upgrading these games’ visuals – but since they just have better looking versions of the original graphics, not new HD graphics, it’s hard to justify the double-dip.

However if you’ve missed any of these games, even just one, or you really want to play any of them again, this is totally worth it. All three hold up well, in large part because they were ahead of their time when they first came out. Of the three, the most dated is Liberty, because it employs an archaic fixed camera. Admittedly, anyone who hates these kinds of controls won’t be convinced otherwise by playing this game, in which Solid Snake’s routine recon mission goes awry, and his replacement, Raiden, has to clean up the resulting mess years later. Those who don’t mind or are willing to put in the time to get used to the controls will quickly understand why this is still one of the more inventive stealth action games ever made. Not only does it have a diverse cast of characters and scenarios, but it has an equally varied set of weapons, tools, and actions you can use to complete your mission.

Faring better, the prequel Snake Eater has Solid Snake’s poppa, Big Boss, on a mission to a Russian jungle during the Cold War. While this prequel wasn’t as gripping, either narratively or mechanically, as Liberty, it did add some interesting camouflage and eating mechanics to the already impressive sneaking action. What’s important about the version included here is that it’s the one from Subsistence, which added the far more intuitive player-controlled cameras (though masochists - we mean purists - can still opt for the fixed camera approach if they want).

The game that’s dated the least, naturally, Peace Walker once again casts you as Big Boss, who’s on a mission to lead a band of mercs into the Costa Rican jungles to take out another group of mercenaries. Which is easier to do here than it was on the PSP thanks to the PS3’s and 360’s dual thumbsticks. This game also boasts the most contemporary controls and camera set-ups, as well as such modern conveniences as optional auto-targeting and aim assistance. While this prequel is still a sneaky good time, it’s actually the least enjoyable of the three games. Not only does it have the least interesting story, but it’s also unnecessarily frustrating, since a lack of reasonable checkpoints requires you to completely restart a mission you’ve failed, while enemies are inconsistently resistant to bullets and tranquilizer darts.

Besides the three games, Konami has also included some of the extras from the special editions of Liberty and Eater. From the former’s Substance edition comes “Snake Tales,” a series of missions for Solid Snake, while the latter’s Subsistence version gives us the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2. That said, this is hardly complete, as some extras from those special editions are annoyingly MIA. Eater, for instance, is missing the competitive online modes included in the Subsistence edition, an omission aggravated by the fact that those same kinds of modes are also missing from Peace Walker. Most egregiously (unless you’re a member of PETVA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Virtual Animals), Eater doesn’t have the hilarious “Snake vs Monkey” minigame in which Snake uses stun grenades and a stun gun to rescue the monkeys from the Ape Escape games.

Even without these modes, and Liberty’s less-than-intuitive controls, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is still a great value, even if you only plan to play one of the three games. That it has three you might want to play, plus a bunch of fun extras, just cements this as the best multi-game compilation since 2007’s Orange Box.

More info

GenreAction
DescriptionEven if you plan to play only one of the three stealth action classics in this graphically-upgraded collection which includes 2001s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, 2004s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and 2010s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, along with a handful of fun extras this compilation is still a real bargain.
Franchise nameMetal Gear
UK franchise nameMetal Gear Solid
Platform"PS Vita","Xbox 360","PS3"
US censor rating"Rating Pending","Mature","Mature"
UK censor rating"Rating Pending","Rating Pending","Rating Pending"
More
Latest in Metal Gear
A brightened screenshot from Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes.
Hideo Kojima knows fans thought Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes was too short, as he thinks back to negative comments: "'Why would they sell a trial version even at a low price?'"
Metal Gear Solid 3 Delta screenshot
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater – Everything we know about the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake
Ape Escape monkey showing its behind to the camera in a trailer for Metal Gear Solid 3 Delta
Xbox won't have Metal Gear Solid 3 remake's Ape Escape mode, but it is getting a crossover that's arguably better
Metal Gear Solid 3 remake Snake aiming a pistol
Metal Gear Solid 3 remake release date confirms the PlayStation leak: Snake returns this August
A screenshot from the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.
Metal Gear Solid 3 remake release date leaked by PlayStation, alongside a silly Ape Escape mode returning from the PS2 days
Metal Gear Solid movie
Metal Gear Solid's former art director once said he spends "a lot of time fussing over the details of the characters' backside since that's the side the player sees most in-game"
Latest in Reviews
Photographs of the Agricola board game in play
Agricola review: "Accurate representation of the highly competitive and often unstable world of agriculture"
Photos taken by writer Rosalie Newcombe of the Shure MV7i microphone, within a pink and white themed room.
Shure MV7i review - convenience and excellence rolled into one superb sounding package
Key art for Atomfall showing a character in the English countryside looking at a nuclear plant some distance away
Atomfall review: "This isn't British Fallout – it's something much better than that"
Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% gaming keyboard with purple RGB lighting on a desk setup
Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% review: "a niche luxury"
A woman chasing a shining butterfly with a leaping cat on her shoulder in InZOI
inZOI review: "Currently feels like a soulless imitation of the worst parts of The Sims"
White Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K gaming mouse standing up against a green-lit setup
Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K review: "hampered by its predecessor"