The original Metal Gear Solid in the Master Collection plays it very safe, with no differences playing it between PS5, Series X, Switch or PC due to a straight emulation approach handled by developer M2. Instead, to allow each game to be bought separately - for £16 apiece - they're partitioned away as seperate apps on the console system menu, which is a shame. The only downside perhaps is that the Master Collection doesn't tie everything together with a single front-end. You also get every variation of the PS1 Metal gear Solid: from the 1998 original, the VR/Special Missions expansion discs for Europe and North America, and the Japan-only Integral release.įor a Metal Gear completionist, it's great to have all of this in one place. There are extensive language options, a digital master book for each title that breaks down every character and backstory, a jukebox, screenplays for all seven games (with MGS3 impressively offering up a 900-page manuscript) and even voiced graphic novels for MGS1 and 2. Each game has a slick and responsive front-end menu built on the Unity engine that's crammed with extras. Let's start with the good news before we get to the bad. It's worth stressing that the best way to play this is in selecting the English US version from the menus, which gets you a higher max frame-rate than the default English UK option. The original 1998 Metal Gear Solid plays via emulation in the Master Collection release, with the same 240p resolution and 30fps cap. Every version has problems, but some - most notably Switch - are much worse off in terms of both visuals and frame-rate. Today then, I'm honing in on the pitfalls present on PS5, Series X, Switch and PC, which certainly give us enough issues to talk on. With so many games and platforms to cover off, we have to pick our targets for a tech analysis. In truth, it's disappointing to see how barebones the final results are. It's disappointing stuff, especially given Konami's suggestions before release that these games might target 1080p. Both MGS2 and 3 run at the same fixed 720p resolution on PC, with no graphics menu to boost the resolution - though there are user workarounds. More shocking still is the treatment of the PC version. The changes to their visuals in the Master Collection are minimal at best, meaning we still get a native 1280x720 presentation on both games for PS5, Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. Meanwhile the Playstation 2 duo - MGS2 and 3 - use code from the 2011 Bluepoint HD Collection versions for Xbox 360 and PS3. The first MGS, for example, runs via an emulator at the same 240p resolution and frame-rate as original PS1 hardware. The older MSX and NES games are largely fine as they are - given their 2D sprite-based nature - but the series' move to 3D from the Playstation era onwards does demand a more involved update. The bottom line is that the Master Collection presents the core Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 and 3 games with limited enhancements over any previous release. 1 - DF Tech Review - PS5/Xbox Series X/Switch + PC Tested! Here's the video version of this article, which details the many misses of the MGS Master Collection. Regardless of which platform you buy the Master Collection on, and despite some admittedly nice extras on the front-end, this release could and should have been so much more. There are omissions of course, but it would have been enough if each game had been ported to current-gen consoles with the love and attention they deserve - but sadly, this isn't the reality. That takes us from the series' inception in 1987 right up to MGS3 in 2004, with room for a Master Collection Volume 2 to expand beyond that. And to sweeten the deal, there's the MSX2 releases of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, while both NES Metal Gears make a rare appearance too for a series collection. We get the PS1 classic MGS, with the VR missions pack included, we get MGS2: Sons of Liberty and MGS3: Snake Eater, with enhancements from the later Substance and Subsistence versions. The idea is certainly enticing on paper: for £50/$60, Konami promises us seven main entries in the series in one package for current-gen and last-gen consoles plus PC. Much has already been said about the woeful state of Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Volume 1.
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