Metal Gear

Programmed by Unlimited Software Inc
Software house Konami USA/Ultra Games

Reviewed by Robert Caporetto

One of the first (non-flight sim) games in which using stealth is the only way to progress through the game, in Metal Gear, you are 'Solid Snake' a member of 'Foxhound', a secret NATO task force, who is deployed into the 'Outer Heaven' fortress in order to rescue a fellow agent, and to take out 'Metal Gear', a new kind of advanced weapon system.

The game is similar in format to typical arcade adventures, such as the classic 'The Great Escape', although, the map is much larger, with multi-levelled structures, and many internal and external locations. Also, as you progress throughout the map, you receive various communiqués from your Boss, 'Big Boss' and members of a resistance force inside the compound who help you by informing you of various objects which you need to progress. The Outer Heaven fortress is covered by guards, and if one spots you, you'll be in major trouble, with the only solution being to either fight it out, or else attempt to escape into a quieter screen. You move through the flick-screen environment, avoiding the guards, and collecting weapons and objects and information, so you can finally target Metal Gear, and prevent it from being utilised. In addition, the story which unfolds as your progress is quite well written, despite not being as well written as it MSX parent.

Sounds pretty good so far? Unfortunately, this conversion is completely flawed. The best thing with this conversion is that the texts when communicating are clear to read, unlike both the MSX and NES ports. With every single screen being multi-loaded off the disk, and controls which suit a console, not a 66 key C64, and music, which although well composed, doesn't suit the Metal Gear environment, and even worse, using all 3 voices of the SID, so there can be no sound effects during the action, and also no alarm for when the guards spot you causing a major step up in adrenaline and reactions [a necessity!]. Also, the graphics appear to be from a C64 game of 1984, with extreme blockyness in the sprites, and with all the characters using only a 3 colour palette. Being based on the seriously inferior NES port means that the initial level design is poor, with an air-drop, and subsequent entry into Outer Heaven, when compared to the original MSX version (where Snake entered via a sewer system), in addition to the generally poor execution of the title. Worst of all, is the fact that the development team, didn't put enough effort into the conversion (when compared to their port of Castlevania, with reasonable graphics), leaving the game appear to be rushed.

Concluding, this port of Metal Gear is single-handedly one of the worst game conversions I have ever seen to grace the majestic C64. If the idea of it does impress you, then I seriously recommend that you grab a MSX emulator [from http://www.msx.org], and download this and enjoy it! Click HERE to download Metal

Overall: 5/10