"There are six members of FOXHOUND involved in this terrorist activity. Psycho Mantis, with his powerful psychic abilities. Sniper Wolf, the beautiful and deadly sharpshooter. Decoy Octopus, master of disguise. Vulcan Raven, giant and shaman. And Revolver Ocelot, specialist in interrogation and a formidable gun fighter. And finally, in charge of them… FOXHOUND's squad leader… Liquid Snake."
Back when I first played the original Metal Gear Solid right before the release of its sequel, the introduction of Solid Snake's upcoming nemeses felt menacing. Seldom few games build up to momentous conflicts well enough that they're willing to give players a foreboding preview of their imminent challenges straightaway. In 2012, however, Colonel Campbell's rundown of the FOXHOUND freakshow sounds downright goofy. Between their ridiculous names and the too-serious descriptions of their equally absurd powers, a moment that once felt so compelling and cinematic now feels almost laughable. This small snippet of dialog is a surprising indicator of how the experience of revisiting Metal Gear Solid (in the form of the GameCube remake, The Twin Snakes) feels as a whole. Upon revisiting any of the original game's successors, that feeling of poor aging isn't at all prevalent. That's a huge testament to how remarkably forward-thinking and uncompromising Kojima's masterpiece series became, even between the first and second titles. There's still plenty of strange stuff to see as the series moves forward, but all the whacky villains and cheesy lines grow to be executed with a sense of self-assuredness that simply isn't present in its beginnings. Despite its improvements over the original version, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is still representative of a mythos in its infancy; certain narrative tropes later games in the series pull off so wonderfully never quite feel right (as mentioned before, for example, the handling of the incredible rogue's gallery) and the gameplay experience as a whole is slightly clumsy. Ultimately, revisiting this game reveals enough oddities to forgo the conclusion that it's the title the Metal Gear Solid series will be remembered for, but it's still a striking experience in many ways and one that must be experienced by any serious gamer.
The Twin Snakes' chief objective is to marry the look and mechanics of Metal Gear Solid 2 to the story and layout of the original classic, and for the most part that goal is met rather successfully. While it doesn't look nearly as good as Sons of Liberty or Snake Eater, the graphical overhaul is definitely welcome and it's also great to see a few reappearances of the many visual intricacies Kojima pioneered with the second Metal Gear Solid. Several elements of the sound design have also changed with the most noticeable difference being the redone voice-over work. Several bits of dialog have been changed and certain characters are voiced by new actors; the biggest change is the fact that Mei Ling and Naomi Hunter both drop their original accents and are voiced by two of the usual stable of US dub actors whose performances would later be canonized by their inclusion in Metal Gear Solid 4. The original Metal Gear Solid was noted for its excellent audio presentation, and it's even better here. All the changes brought by The Twin Snakes, from the fun, overblown voice-acting, to the great music and stellar sound effects all add up to make one of the best sounding games the GameCube has to offer.
Easily the biggest change, however, is the addition of the first-person mode introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2. Holding the top bumper will snap away from the games usual isometric perspective and allow you to see through Snake's eyes. However, in keeping with the game's non-traditional control scheme, you can't move around in this mode, so it's likely you'll only ever use it for observation or to fine-tune your aiming. While it might not sound like much, it changes the game drastically; it gives new depth to the standard sneaking gameplay, reveals fun new goodies within the game's environment, and most importantly, makes the game's stupendous boss encounters feel fresh again. Unfortunately, with this new power comes an increased challenge as guards are now able to spot you from much further away than they used to. This is a true shame since The Twin Snakes' environments are often too large to allow for complete situational awareness, even with the new perspective. For all but the most experienced Metal Gear Solid fans, a feeling of cheapness will likely be pervasive from beginning to end, but the experience as a whole is still so engrossing that it isn't enough to lessen the game's overall entertainment value.
Delving into the story of The Twin Snakes is rather difficult. The brief overview is that Solid Snake must breach into a weapons manufacturing facility in Alaska, absurdly named Shadow Moses, to eliminate the aforementioned group of terrorists that have taken the place over (though 14 years after the fact, it's not much of a spoiler to say it involves a Metal Gear). Going into too much more detail, however, would run the risk of revealing one of the game's many plot twists or fun narrative quirks. Truth be told, The Twin Snakes features a rather poor storyline, but the way it's told is just so peculiar that it may very well resonate with you whether you want it to or not. The game tries to touch on a few complex subjects pertaining to nature-versus-nurture and technology's place in warfare but it doesn't quite have the grace that its sequels do, and the resulting cutscenes and Codec chats are truly bizarre; characters have a tendency to spout inane dialog, the rather frequent dips into melodrama are exceedingly awkward and long-winded bouts of exposition are fairly frequent. Taking this even further are remade versions of the original Metal Gear Solid's cutscenes, courtesy of Silicon Knights and director Ryuhei Kitamura. The new cinemas revel in bullet-time death ballets and sudden, over-exagerrated movements; Gray Fox's gruesome introduction is even more of a gory spectacle than it originally was, and Snake pulls off an average of 1.5 impossibly agile stunts per cutscene. All these elements add up to create something of a train wreck. Luckily, like a movie that's so bad it's good, The Twin Snakes is an endearing disaster that's easy remember fondly despite your better judgment.
The way The Twin Snakes audaciously starts you off alone in an environment filled to the brim with enemies with only a few pieces of equipment reveals the game's focus on non-lethal stealth rather quickly. This game absolutely cannot be approached in the way most action-adventure games can, but the resulting experience is uniquely satisfying. At the crux of The Twin Snakes' minute-to-minute gameplay is sneaking past enemy guards while keeping a low profile. While this may not sound terribly exciting on paper, the way it plays out is immensely entertaining. Being that your enemies are almost always on patrol, there's a cyclicality to their movements that you have to recognize in order to sneak by undetected. Beyond the game's opening stages, enemy movements can become exceedingly difficult to navigate through, but sliding through a small crack in their defenses is always rewarding.
The other beauty of The Twin Snakes' core gameplay is how open it is to experimentation. The arsenal players receive in a more typical action game usually serves to give them a fairly straightforward and self-explanatory solution to the challenges that lie before them (usually involving murdering everyone in sight) - such is not the case here. Between Solid Snake's vast moveset and a dizzying number of guns, gadgets and explosives, there are seemingly innumerable options at your disposal. While the game certainly allows you to fall into a sneaking pattern that's as predictable as the rounds the patrolmen make, it would be a shame to go through the whole game without playing around with its many tools and mechanics. Why simply run past a group of guards when you might knock one out, plant a C4 by his body, grab the attention of another nearby soldier, detonate the bomb as he goes to wake up his buddy and then sneak out during the ensuing panic? The possibilities are grim and glorious.
Despite its depth, The Twin Snakes' core gameplay isn't actually a big part of the experience. Though I haven't clocked it myself, it's very possible that you spend the majority of your time outside the games cutscenes engaged in one of its many superb boss battles. Between frantic fistfights and slow-burn sniper battles, the game's boss fights pack a ton of gameplay variety and whiteknuckled intensity. The fact that there are at least ten of these excellent encounters with the game's 6-8 hour running time makes it that much better. About midway through your adventure, the game's core mechanics almost drop out of the picture entirely in favor of snappily driving you from one boss fight to the next. In an age where the boss is an increasingly tired and poorly-handled gaming trope, it's refreshing to revisit a game that makes these moments feel like real highlights rather than adjunct and archaic additions.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is one of those rare gaming experiences that qualifies as an absolute must-play despite the fact that it's not a truly exceptional title. Certain parts of the game haven't aged well (the whacky story chief among them) and others, like the game's often frustrating environmental design, never quite worked right in the first place. Even to this day, however, the game feels totally unique and fresh, and it's concepts are so grand that it's hard not to admire, or even be awed by them. Some games can stand the test of time, and in some respects, The Twin Snakes is not that kind of game; there are more than a few punches to roll with in order to bring yourself to appreciate the experience. But ultimately, the game remains a resounding success in the ways that matter most, and it's thrilling gameplay, ambitious story and intense boss battles will likely never fail to entertain.
+The game's many oddities are inexplicably endearing
+Satisfying and surprisingly open-ended gameplay
+Superb audio presentation
+Boss battles are a riot
-Limiting camera and increased challenge don't mix well
-Overblown cutscenes