Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 Review (PS5)

Hey everyone, if you have any questions about the collection, feel free to copy me in.

I guess my Vita is still the best way to play these classics.

It's a real shame they didn't put more effort into this collection of classic games. I'll still pick it up but will wait until it's around half price.

@ATaco I got the physical MGS2 and 3 Bundle for the Vita too a while ago. Thankfully bc this got quite expensive

I'm interested to find out how to beat Psycho Mantis in this one...

@LiamCroft heya, I have a few questions if you don't mind...

I guess the soundtracks are bundled into one of the apps? Is it possible to copy the soundtrack onto USB like it is on some other soundtrack apps on the PS Store?

How are the pre order/day one tracks handled? Code in the box? On disc/part of download? Available separately on PS Store?

Finally, is the digital graphic novel just the movie version or is it interactive? I am suspecting the former

The score seems very high considering how critical the text is of the lack of effort put into this package. Yes, the quality of the originals was always going to be there, but surely the quality of the package as a remaster should have more weight in the verdict.

The score is basically telling Konami: it's ok to do a lazy cash grab of great games, which is really disappointing to see.

Want it but Mario is next and then Alan Wake 2 so MGS can wait.

Ordered my ps5 copy for 8.98 from game collection. Didn’t realise last three games I got gave me 10 pounds back in points each time 😂

Correction: The resolution for MGS2 and MGS3 are both 720p, but upscaled to 1080p.

This collection has fixed many issues present in the HD Collection versions, so it's easily the best modern way to play these titles (PS2 versions win out slightly when it comes to a few bonus features, but in terms of the core titles, they're at their best here.

The End screenshot says it all really. Completely broken visuals on the HD Collection, now it looks correct on PS5 as it was on PS2. Personally, I find these fixes more important in faithfully preserving the games on modern platforms than anything else, and shows the opposite of a cash grab. Usually technical issues in ports get carried over to future ports, and are joined by new ones. Sonic Adventure DX says hello.

https://twitter.com/MGSMGN/status/1716219038341468575?t=IaZWFOwmaikF6FfmlKZ59A&s=19

https://www.reddit.com/r/metalgearsolid/s/pMD40Rtbkl

The different launchers is weird, but there's a reasoning for the decision, because you can choose to buy the games individually, so they count as separate titles. Could've handled it slightly better on PS5 though, with them all occupying one space on the home screen, like how you could switch between PS4 and PS5 versions of the same game.

I'm definitely probably going to pass this time, I bought them all on NES, PS1 and PS2 and PC when they came out, I imported the complete collection on PS3 Japan and I bought the remasters on PS3 and Vita and even had some of my covers signed by Hideo in Leipzig back in 2005.

Probably going to pass, maybe.

Ah who am I kidding.

The review score does not match up with the actual review, which reads like a 6...

@themightyant MGS1 requires a minimum of two playthroughs, and all three games ask you to get a Fox / Big Boss rank. Those are really hard requirements and will potentially take multiple attempts.

To the newcomers, be advised that there are two ways to play this franchise: production order and chronological order (which means starting with MGS3). The reason being that the aforementioned game retcons/reveals so much about a previously established character that you will have a fundamentally different experience depending on which option you choose. You really do need to think hard about this decision because you only get one blind playthrough.

I would liken this to watching the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy before the OT. Your impression of Anakin, the Jedi and the Force will not be the same as what we oldies had back in the day.

@LiamCroft no trophies for the nes titles? Also I'm guessing they didnt add the scene in MGS2 that was taken out due to 9/11 at the time

I think awarding this collection the same score as Spiderman 2 is verging on the ridiculous, but I learnt a long time ago to ignore the scores on Push.
Decent write up though, that does let us know what to expect very well - thanks.

I stopped reading the review when i got to "Metal Gear Solid uses a 4:3 ratio at its original 30 frames-per-second, with customisable borders to fill in the gaps on your TV." That did it for me..

@Danloaded Yes, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 have a combined Trophy list.

@Danloaded Were you honestly expecting Konami to re-add the 9/11 content? For starters, it probably no longer even exists so that would mean adding a considerable amount of new code.

Y'know... it will never stop amazing me that in a couple of years we went from jagged polygons to ice cubes melting in real time. You got a true next-gen experience back in those days, I really miss it.

@Maddie47 You can switch controller ports in a pause menu. The collection has a 3D model of the boxes of each game to examine for Meryl's codec. If you have the physical copy, the screenshot is also on the back of that case.

@Geep I would assume that if the US and JP versions are separate downloads for European players, that would resolve the 50Hz problem, same as you being able to select between PAL and NTSC for the PS Plus Premium games.

Sounds like a fairly solid collection.
I'll pick this up at some point. Still only ever played the original with special missions and the special missions of the sequel. I have the collection on PS3 but this seems the most convenient way to play in 2023.

Bit of a strange choice with the individual launcher thing but other than that it sounds exactly how I wanted it. I played MGS1 again a few years ago and actually felt like it held up extremely well to play personally. Looking forward to playing it!

Still want to give them a try. I never played any of the MGS’s and as a big Death Stranding fan I’m curious what the fuzz is about.

@Darude84 The controls are more or less the same between all three MGS games, and they are definitely a bit outdated by today's standard. But MGS1 and 3 are two of the best games I have ever played. Stick with it if the controls are off putting, there are gems hidden under those pixels and polygons.

@LifeGirl maybe not the original but that transition is still awful from where they cut it out. I know effort from Konami is wishful thinking

@LiamCroft

How did they address THAT fight in MGS1? (Controller Ports)

"What we have here is the original Metal Gear Solid presented in all its PS1 glory, coupled with the PS3 HD remasters of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater."

So not sure if I've missed something here, but we've got a couple of PS3 games running natively now on PS5???

@Netret0120 There's an option in the pause menu where you can toggle whether your controller is connected to either Port 1 or Port 2.

@Futureshark They're just ports. In theory any PS3 game can get ported to PS4/5, some will just require more effort than others. I assume these were easy to port, as they were PS2 ports in the first place.

8/10 is way too high for lazy ports. Doesn't matter how good the games are.

I have a Japanese PS3 that launched in 2006, and I can already play the PS1, PS2 and PS3 versions where applicable, and this machine has been able to do that for the PS1 and PS2 versions since launch. 17 years ago. And yes the PS3 will upscale to HD resolutions too, basically doing the same as Master-bate Collection for very little since the original games can be picked up on disc used for a mere couple of quid or bucks.

So Konami phoning it in this way is a complete joke.

@Ainu20
ah so ports not via a (super secret) emulator then, gotcha!

Honestly I'm just really happy to have a really good selection of MGS games all in one place available on the latest console. If vol 2 can include MGS4 remastered a bit, Peace Walker, Metal Gear Rising, Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain and maybe Portable Ops as well I'll be really pleased. MGS Snake Eater remake🐍in the works too

@Geep you see you used the word emulated. If they had shown these games some respect and remasterd them instead of these blatant lazy cash ins i'd be all over them..but these not a chance..

So I believe this has MGS 1-3, the MSX metal gears, the two NES ones, but I also wanted to ask if it has the VR missions game?

And is there a way to tell which “app” has what in it? Since the review mentioned a little confusion about finding the NES games for example?

Oh and lastly, is there any save state options for the NES/MSX games?

Looks like the score is for the games themselves and not the collection which looks like a hot mess. I'm pretty patient I'll just wait for another collection down the line that has more love and passion put into it

I’m glad they kept the games as they were originally made and presented. An option to improve things would've been cool no doubt but I’d have turned it off anyway.
The confusing presentation doesn’t sound cool but all else is good with me! There’s an article/interview with Kojima out there somewhere about the controls for MGS. They were specifically designed around not wanting to have too many buttons and not being confusing and the like. The controls were never a problem for me but I’m also someone who grew up with it. Can’t say it’ll be an easy transition for newcomers but still, they’re not as bad as they’re made out to be. Can’t wait to play this again in a few days!

At least there is always the hope for patches, that I will wait before getting this one. I'm noticing publishers are having a hard time remastering older games these days.

Lazy port gets 8/10, sending the message to Konami that it's OK to put almost zero effort in, for fans of the series.

The implementation on ps5 is fine. That's how it's supposed to work for collections. Get the pixel remaster disc on ps4, it does the same thing when run on a ps5. Individual games should launch from the media bar. Little weird about MG and the other pre mgs titles, but emulation being all that it is, understandable. I can't fault the implementation and honestly prefer it this way to using a clunky anniversary interface that is an after thought. Anyone who bought the other castlevania collections knows what I'm talking about.

I feel an 8/10 score for a collection of games 3 generations and older is way too generous; is the score really a good reflection of the standards of games expected today? Especially in the medium of video games where the standards and expectations are raised with every generation, because I'm certain newcomers will be put off from the archaic control scheme and lack of camera control and be left wondering how it received the same score as Spider-Man 2 for example.

In my opinion, when it comes to releases of old games the score should reflect the value of collection rather than the games itself; does it do enough to polish and modernise the games? Because from what I've seen it seems like a bare-bones port job with minor bug fixes. The quality of the games have been well documented for over 20 years; we all know they're all-time classics but that's not what this review should be about imo.

@NotSoCryptic Not always. Both the Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection on PS4 and Legacy of Thieves Collection on PS5 appear as singular titles where you then choose the specific game after launching.

@Titntin dude I'd say that a good rule of thumb for all outlet reviews the last few years.

Would love to get this, even if it sounds horribly stitched together as a "collection." Probably gonna wait for a hefty sale though.

Damn! It is separate apps on the PS5 as well?! I just installed it on my Switch and I thought it was like this to save space... but just wow.
Still great games! Diving into Snake Eater tonight

@ATaco PS3 is the best way bro, Vita a close second though

Its odd that no one moaned about the Final Fantasy Pixel remasters having separate launchers for every game. What's the problem here?

"Returning back to that game can be rough".

So what? Disfiguring the game with modern tweaks would be even worse. There is a reason to preserve such games on modern systems, otherwise we'd just get an emulator and call it a day.

Returning to MGS1 can be rough? No way. The game may be old, but that's like saying returning to Ocarina of Time can be rough. MGS1 is a timeless classic and now has trophies. Sign me up (after Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake II).

@Ainu20 I would not care about how a game is packaged, digitally or otherwise, so long as the game itself is good.

Complaining about how these games are packaged would be similar to complaining about a collection coming with multiple discs for each game instead of one disc containing multiple games.

Complaining about the package shouldn't factor into the score of the game.

@Dange but this was always the way. They didn't say any different.

We all know snake eater is coming and the remasters of 1 and 2 will follow. So let's delay judgement until we see snake eater remake or reboot

Played all these back in the day and lack of effort or not, this is a must have for me.
A piece of gaming history.

@Bez87 This was always the way... What do you mean? I think you misunderstood my comment. I'm mostly referring to the fact I'd prefer that the collection of games were accessible within the one menu like most collections are. Seems a bit half baked. This review and my comment have nothing to do with a remake or the Snake Eater remake.

Also, I've made no judgement, I haven't even bought it yet. The MGS games are absolute classics which I plan to buy (again) soon. Just not at full price. 😀

@GamerBhoy I could sort of agree with that, if this wasn't sold at €60 or your local equivalent of that pricepoint. The individual games may be great, but they're also basically identical to versions released a long time ago. Even the most recent part of this package, the HD Collection, is over a decade old at this point.

With minimal to virtually no work put into them in terms of technical improvements, you're essentially paying a premium price for ports of old games. Some might argue these games don't require technical improvements, fair enough, but then I would also say it justifies a lower price.

The biggest issue that's going to keep me from playing is the awkward Xbox style of using the weapons in FPV in MGS 2 & 3.

The pressure sensitive controls are much better.

Should have used the remake mgs1 for gamecube as a basis. Twin snakes. This is just Konami being lazy and desperate for money.

Pass.

I never had any intentiond of buying this collection AGAIN when it was announced, playing Metal Gear Solid on current hardware with the same control layout from the Playstation one 🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤
It honestly feels like a massive kick in the nuts that no effort was made to update the controls OR up the frame rate to 60+............... Metal gear solid was on the OG PlayStation 🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤🫤
This is just another cash grab by Konami AND to remove Hideo Kojima from the credits is just bang out of order in my opinion

@Dange same here. At this point, there are too many great games out there.
So I'll wait until this gets cheaper, which will definitely happen.

@MrHabushi that was preupdate and those games are old as dirt now. The ps5 legacy of thieves collection isn't really a collection. The package treats lost legacy as if it were dlc. Which is what the release was originally intended to be, as a result they took the platinum trophy away from the ps5 version of lost legacy. Which was stupid as lost legacy stands well on its own and should have been treated as such.

Any other collection. Like if they were to do a remake collection of uncharted 1-3 would be separated like mgs and ff pixel remaster. You're going to see more of that going forward honestly prefer it that way, as it let's you manage console space better. Even when I finally get an 8tb ssd for my ps5 storage is still going to be an issue.

Love how the two first Metal Gear games barely get a mention despite the fact Metal Gear 2 is considered one of the best games of all time. It would be like a 3D mario collection including the original Super Mario Bros 1-3 as bonus Content and it being glossed over.

this is more like a 6/10. the review itself was very poorly constructed and focused more on the presentation of the games in the menu than the games themselves! it's not really up for debate, either. these are simply lazy as can be ports and an embarassment to the franchise. but, what did anyone expect anyways? read the steam reviews if you want an accurate picture of how this collection performs. also, since we are evaluating this collection in 2023 and 12 years have gone by since the original mgs hd collection on ps3, people have the right to be more critical of this package.

for mgs 1, you can get a FAR better experience simply running the game in an emulator — widscreen, better framerate and resolution included. heck, the mgs 1 pc port on GOG is even better than the one included in the master collection.

mgs2 and mgs3 are merely upscaled from 720p to 1080p and are NOT native 1080p. the picture is soft and you will not see much of a difference playing the ps3 hd collection on a modern tv since your tv will do the upscaling to 1080p anyways. a modder has already patched the collection so that it runs the games at 1080p and even 4k (with old textures of course) but that is a steep improvement over what konami released! konami does not deserve another dollar for the fans. stay away!

I love it. What a nice and lovely made collection. And I'm really surprised how great MGS1 still is today.

I've bought this because I'm a sucker.

It's not worth the £55 asking price. £35 would've been better.

There's some effort gone into the ports but not enough. This should be the definitive way to play these games but, sadly, it's not.

That said, MGS3 looks great so far and plays as well as expected.