Somehow still manages to put most of your game collection to shame, amazing!
There you go. How many more words do I need here??
The incredible value is obvious from the start, but that's just from the 3 main games! The fact that the two original Metal Gears (featuring some frankly awesome 8-bit musical gems) and endless VR missions, extra chapters AND multiplayer on Peacewalker are included AND it's cheaper than your average game is just the icing on the cake.
Oh and the games are a tad good too. At risk of descending into gushing hyperboles they really are some of the most engaging games I've played in a long long time. Assuming you like cut-scenes obviously. Saying there's a few cut scenes is comparable with pointing out the economy's a tad screwed. But they're great scenes! I have no objection to sitting through 20 minutes of plot fuelled stylish hyper masculine sequences when they're more entertaining than playing 20 minutes of that bloody Call of Duty game... God I hate Call of Duty... Ahem, um, back on topic... Admittedly the ramblings of the Save-Your-Game lady are humorous the first time but a 5 minute cinematic history lesson every save is a touch overboard, but even that just adds to the collection's charm.
The games are overtly realistic in some aspects and just plain ridiculous in others, spending so much time camouflaging yourself and hunting insects to treat wounds properly only to come face to face with Crazy-Insect-Face-Man can't not entertain you! And shooting a cliff-full of hench men with a mounted gun before hiding under a card board box a few feet away is endlessly satisfying!
Throughout all 3 games are brilliantly original moments. The game changes emphasis and playing styles frequently but never to the extent that it feels like a series of mini-games or that you need to re-learn the controls every 20 minutes (Afraid of the Dark anyone??). It makes for a gripping experience that (if you've never played them before) makes you dying to know what will come next. Even the boss fights are actually fun to play (except the penultamate MGS3 one, Goddamn that *** really needed to die a lot **** sooner than **** that.....!)
My principal gushing is over how bloody intelligent the games are. Especially for the time. Every one drew attention to Bioshock's reflexivity in assessing the relationship between player and game, but turns out Hideo Kajima was all over this way before the Randian dystopia hit our consoles. MGS 2 tackles some fascinating philosophical arguments (although, yes it does echo of THAT scene in the Matrix Reloaded at times) and MGS 3 forces the player to literally face the consequences of their playing style in a perfect way. These games really were waaaaay ahead of their time and if nothing else, the mediocracy of many of today's titles is highlighted through replaying these classics.
In closing - I simply cannot recommend this enough. OK, prepare to be infuriated when first picking it up as the controls take a LOT of getting used to, especially for Splinter Cell enthusiasts, but its so so so so worth the journey. Personally I'd advise playing them in release order rather than chronologically (ie MGS2, MGS3, MGSP) purely because said controls evolve as the games do. Oh and the HD bit looks great too - especially were you to compare it to Konami's other hd collection: Silent Hill, which is just a rubbish collection compared to this (NB not the game - I freaking adore Silent Hill, but the collection is just rubbish... gah, must stop slagging off other games...)
Buy it buy it buy it buy it buy it!!!!!