Digital Foundry - Tech Analysis: Metal Gear Solid Remastered

Richard Leadbetter writes:

"Revered by many as some of the greatest games ever made, Konami's PS2 and PSP era Metal Gear Solid titles have returned, remastered - or rather, ported - to run on newer, more technologically advanced consoles. Sons of Liberty, Snake Eater and Peace Walker are available in pristine high definition versions for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, while the Nintendo 3DS version gets its own stereoscopic version of Metal Gear Solid 3.

In this article we'll be looking at all three products, cross-referencing them with the original versions as they appeared on PlayStation 2 and PSP, discussing their technical make-up and the quality of the ports onto the current-gen platforms. Have these classics been well-handled in their transitions across to new hardware? And from a Digital Foundry Face-Off perspective, which HD Collection is the one to buy?"

[andron]

Wow, this is a really comprehensive comparison of the versions available of these great games.

Still haven't played Snake Eater, seems now is the time...

[Kakihara]

Snake eater..... I can't even... Damn. I think what I'm trying to say is that I'm working my way through the Metal gear solid collection in the order the games were released, I'm right at the end of Snake eater right now and I'd put it right up there as one of the greatest games of all time.

I'm not even a longtime Metal gear devotee, in fact until recently the only Metal gear game I'd fully played was MGS4 and I didn't really care for it (I am sure I'll feel different when I replay it after going through the collection) but from pretty much the first moment with this collection I've been hooked. I really liked MGS2 but so far Snake eater is easily the best. The game takes you through so many different scenarios, has so many different elements it's just a real adventure. Playing it in HD, the thought never even crosses my mind that I'm playing a last gen game.

[Akiba96]

Make sure you play 1 as well.

[esemce]

Lol completing MGS4 first before the others is just stupid, nice way to ruin the story.

[RankFTW]

Snake Eater is the gretest game of all time.

[CarlitoBrigante]

Lol MGS4 was your first MGS? Just lol, thats pathetic.

[Kakihara]

Ugh. Listen, sons of the comic book guy from The Simpsons. I'd just bought a PS3, didn't own a PS2 and MGS4 had just been rated 10/10 by most sites. I'm not going to buy a defunct game system just because a highly rated game had prequels released on it.

[PirateThom]

Wow... yeah, good for you for getting into the series. I'm a huge fan and I don't care if people start with Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid 4, as long as they try to check out as many of the games as realistically possible.

Don't forget that Snake Eater has the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 though. :P

[morganfell]

Playing MGS4 first is like watching Star Wars movies in order of timeline rather than in order of release. When you get to the Darth Vader "Luke I am your father" moment you are at a state where you say, "Yeah? So what. We knew that."

You have to play the games in order of release or otherwise the main conversation that occurs at the end of MGS4 will never, EVER have the impact it would have if you game the titles in order. Nothing you can do at this point will ever take you back to that moment. You can't game them in order now and get that jaw drop you would have were you to have followed the game order because you already know.

I actually feel sorry for anyone that lost out on the full impact of the most monumental moment in game story telling.

[Kakihara]

Well I have to admit, I started watching Star wars at the fourth episode too. Don't worry about me anyway, part of the joy of drinking a lot while gaming is not remembering anything that happened in anything you played. I have vague memories -MGS4 spoilers- like, I know Darth Vader confronts Snake in the graveyard at the end but I don't remember anything that was said between them.

[Raf1k1]

I never had a PS2 so this is collection is great for me. I also need to pick up the Ico and Sly collections.

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

Should I?

My friend got me into mgs with mgs4. Didn't play the others. But I've beaten mgs4 like 8 times and as soon as I'm done with Mass Effect 3 I'm prolly gonna play it again. I don't even know why but I'm always ready to pick that game up and play it again.

[esemce]

Snake eater is probably the best of the series, so yeah, twin snakes was also cool if you want a prettier MGS1.

[Tdmd]

@dredgewalker

He is, right! One of the things that I've loved about that game that they took away from 4 was the coodec talks. Don't get it why they did that, those conversations were aways amusing, and offered a better look at the characters personalities. Para-medic and Major Zero's conversations about movies were completely awesome.

And that retro spy-movie inspired track... man, that was an amazing song. I don't remember having ever heard a better theme song in any videogame.

edit: Sorry mate, replied at the wrong person!

[Tdmd]

Agree. If you loved MGS4, your brain will melt with Snake Eater. MELT, I tell you! Imo, it's a much better game than 4 - with a plot much more involving and a conclusion so dramaticaly powerfull that you'll need to go find the Wizard of Oz if it doesn't bring a tear to you eye, for you have no heart... seriously. You need -- nay, owe -- to play it and experience it for yourself.

[dredgewalker]

I loved Snake Eater more than MGS4. It had a great soundtrack, story, interesting characters, challenging bosses and the last part made my heart feel sad. It's a game I highly recommend even to non Metal Gear fans. Big Boss was a much deeper character than Solid Snake.

[Sidewinder-]

I'm coming around to the idea of getting a PS3 soon. With GAME going down, I'm waiting to see if the console prices will plunge.

In any case, this'll be one of many great reasons to get one. Will be good to re-play through MGS2 & 3 again. Plus i've never played Peace Walker.

Probobly buy MGS4 as well as I've only played it through once; borrowed off a buddy.

Just one of my all time fav series.

[Dark_Overlord]

I doubt they'll plunge much further than the £99.99 bundle for Assassins Creed Revelations with the 320GB PS3 :)

[Sidewinder-]

thats a quality price lol

[2pacalypsenow]

Anybody know why these games aren't 1080p ?

[gamingdroid]

If you read the tech analysis, even on the Xbox 360 and PS3 the performance isn't perfect at the current resolution. Ironically, the Xbox 360 version fared better than the PS3 version.

[ShinMaster]

And not surprisingly, shadows are too dark on 360.
No one noticed or cared if the 360 version was slightly better or not when the majority was busy playing it on the PS3.
http://media.tumblr.com/tum...

[ProjectVulcan]

It is a shame. I played MGS2 in 1080p on an X1950XT about 6 years ago with a stack load of AA. It actually still looked pretty nice. I would have LOVED to see a proper PC release of these titles so i can do the same, especially with MGS3.

[Ocelot525]

The PS3/360 are capable of rendering these games in 1080p@60fps , but the corporate suits at bluepoint or konami decided that they could make more money with these games in just 720p.

The reason behind this is that it would have taken much more money to develop these games. While average joe,not enthusiasts like you, don't see the difference between 720 and 1080. Hell, many people just connect their console with the standard cables, not HDMI cables. That's why they didn't invest in 1080. The average person is simply mentally handicapped on tech stuff.

[ProjectVulcan]

Its a mystery to me why i got so many disagrees here. Maybe someone didn't like the idea i played a MGS in 1080p more than half a decade ago??? :-0

MGS2 was demanding on PC when it first came out because it really stretched PS2, and PC gamers were trying to run it in like 6 times the resolution. But by the time i played it on PC the hardware had easily mastered it.

PS3 and 360 should indeed be able to do these games in 1080p. After all SoC and Ico were arguably just as demanding on PS2 but they run perfectly well in proper native 1080p in the collection.

I find it somewhat disappointing all these remasters are not full 1080p knowing the consoles should be perfectly capable of it.

Hence me lamenting it, after playing a MGS game in 1080p a long time ago and loving it.

[2pacalypsenow]

Well MGS Was made popular thanks to the PS1 so its kind of a PlayStation Game like Splinter cell is on the xbox

[PirateThom]

Anyone with the 360 versions, how does the 360 deal with not having analogue face buttons? I bring it up because there's certain aspects, especially in MGS3, where the amount of pressure on the button will either have you holding an automatic weapon as to go into a hold up or, with more pressure, fire in full auto.

This was my main question with the game when it was announced and I still haven't seen an answer for it.

[WayneKerr]

360 version looks the best, Again.

Whats the crap about the 360 controls? I playerd MGS2 on the orginal Xbox just fine.

Guess I will be picking up the best looking version up, while having some cross game chat with 8 of my friends, while hearing some banging tunes.

Only one console can do this.

[Jihaad_cpt]

You have one bubble and thats what you choose to say? lol

[PirateThom]

So, you're going to play MGS games with party chat and music that isn't the original soundtrack?

This is why we can't have nice things.

[MysticStrummer]

Only one console allows you to ruin the experience. Congrats...?

[Wintersun616]

Strangely enough, the Xbox 360 controller's face buttons aren't pressure sensitive, unlike the first Xbox's controllers. It's no crap.