I'm sure I'm missing something..

Am I the only person who thinks Metal Gear Solid is very overrated? It gets so much praise and everyone says it's wonderful so it's gotta be good right? Well.. I didn't think so and I really did try to like it!

This game may have been good on the Playstation, and I understand this is not only a perfect port but it does it at a higher resolution so the graphics look nicer. Well the graphics may be wonderful for a PS but on a PC? Blocky and basic in the extreme, something like Half Life or even Quake blows them out of the water. And I know those games are first-person shooters and MGS isnt, but I still think its a fair comparison. Half Life is older than (the PC version of) MGS and the graphics are outstanding in comparison to MGS - far more detailed *and* far smoother too. I may only have a Celeron 600 with Voodoo3 card but it runs Half Life at 1024x768 superbly - why is MGS with more basic graphics, not very smooth or fast, even at lower resolutions? Oh yeah Microsoft wrote it :)

It might be possible to overlook the basic graphics if the gameplay was good. But it's no better there either. Some games have a movie intro or short movie sequences at certain points. MGS is the reverse of that: it is a long movie with short gameplay sequences! You can (thankfully) skip the movie cut-scenes but when you strip those away (which either consist of basic graphics or cheesy and cringe-worthy dialogue) there is very little left.

I found the basic control system to be awkward and not intuitive - you can get a first person view by pressing a key but you can't move in that view (as in Half Life or other FPS games) which would make it a hell of a lot easier to see where you are going. The only way to see what's ahead of you by more than a few feet is by using your radar. You find yourself playing by looking at the radar more than by looking at your real 'self' which I don't think is very good.

All in all, there is so little to do in this game (besides sit back and watch the dull movie scenes - renting a video movie has to be better if that's what you're looking for) and the gameplay is very basic and unexciting. Added to that graphics which are at best below average, I would recommend you proceed with caution if considering buying this game.