It’s a real shame that I didn’t play Metal Gear on the NES when I first had the chance. See, back in 1996, I briefly had a (barely functional) NES, that someone secured for me, free of charge at a second-hand store. I got about 9 or 10 games that came with this deal, and one of them was Metal Gear. However, my older brother dissuaded me from ever playing it, because he figured that I wouldn’t like it. Two years later, in 1998, I’d quickly remember the NES game that I missed out on because I started seeing commercials for Metal Gear Solid (MGS). So now, let’s fast forward to 2003. By this time, I had already completed MGS and I just got finished watching the ending to MGS2: Sons of Liberty. I felt that while I was waiting for another sequel to be made, I owed it to myself to track down a copy of the original Metal Gear. After finally finding the game and popping it into my NES, I began to see what I had missed out on.

Stealth is the name of game primarily. As far as I can tell, Metal Gear was one of the first games that didn’t encourage you run through a room full of guards and take out each and every one without a scratch. In fact, if possible, it’s usually best to avoid the partols, or catch them off guard. Heck, you don’t even start the game off with any weapons! All you have are your fists for self-defense and a pack of cigarettes. As a result, you’ll have to rely on staying out of your enemy’s line of sight as best as possible and also hide behind things like trucks, and barriers to keep from being noticed. You’ll even find the (now famous) cardboard box to hide yourself in. Not to mention, you’ll be going up against some pretty impossible odds when it come to the main bosses. Not to worry though, because you’ll come across a crap load of weapons and equipment that are all necessary if you plan on having any type of ease in your mission.

For an early NES title, there’s a lot of attention to detail in the gameplay aspect. For instance, when you first come across the Handgun, you’ll probably make the mistake of trying to take down a few guards, only to find out that your gun makes a lot of noise. You’ll need to find a Silencer before you can get a little trigger happy. Metal Gear really did a great job of getting the player immersed in the task at hand. With that being said, the game can be very difficult for first-time players…especially if you’re used to the comparably easier difficulty of the MGS games. I dare say that most people will get killed within the first 2 minutes of the game the first time around. To be quite honest, I needed to download a strategy guide before I could get much of anywhere in the game. So, some of you may find the difficulty to be a bit frustrating…to say the least, but hang in there or get a guide if your too lost, like I was. It’s worth it to play through the game.

The graphics are a joy to take in. You can usually tell when Konami did a game (other than seeing the insignia) because they always produced bright and distinguishable colors, along with simple character animations that make for an enjoyable visual experience. You won’t have any problem telling when a dog or solder is running at you with intent to kill. The buildings are well constructed and quite realistic with parked vehicles, stacked boxes and well positioned unmanned tanks every now and then. The characters themselves aren’t specially detailed with real faces or anything, but the overall look of everyone is still fitting for the game. For some reason, I especially enjoy the part where you have to find a way to take down the battle tank. I guess it’s because that part gives you that feeling of claustrophobia while you’re trying to get past a well armed hunk of metal. In, short, the graphics didn’t fail to please in most parts of the game

Play or Stay? With all of these good points about Metal Gear, I can safely recommend this fun game to the NES gamers out there. However, I also recommend that you seek a reliable strategy guide online because the game will likely be very challenging for you if you’ve never picked it up before. But the way I see it…that helps to prove the longevity of the first game in the Metal Gear series. This is a fine title that helped to further establish the NES as the go-to gaming system for non-stop fun and challenge.