Metal Gear Solid is a short, but sweet, experience.
Gameplay, 8. Basically you run around doing whatever it is that you have to do while avoiding as much contact with the enemy as possible. If you get caught then you may have to fight a lot of enemies. Usually it is smarter, and more fun, to sneak around enemies. From simply running around them to making a diversion, there are different ways of getting around the base without getting caught. At the beginning of the game getting caught isn't such a good idea, mainly because you don't have the really powerful guns at the beginning of the game. The game isn't all just sneaking around always. There will be plot-related bosses where you'll be forced to fight tooth-and-nail to get out alive. From fighting a game with a Revovler, to fighting a giant machine, there is a huge diversity in the boss fights and they're never quite the same. A lot of the game you're not actually playing. You see, Metal Gear Solid has some long cutscenes. And I mean long! Some of these are around 15 to 20 minutes. No kidding, but the story to this game is very good and it is interesting enough to where you won't mind these long cutscenes.
The game plays decently. Sneaking around is pretty fun, almost as much as getting away when you've been caught. The boss fights are just fantastic. Each very memerable. While the cutscenes may intrude on the gameplay sometimes they're nothing to get mad about because of the intriging plot.
Graphics, 10. These are very good graphics for 1998. Lots of details into the environment. The characters are designed with a lot of detail to them.
Sound, 10. The music is amazing. The most memerable song here is the one that goes off when you've been caught by a guard. You just can't get that song outta your head. The voice acting is very real. Hideo Kojima found some great voice actors for this game. The sound effects are also nice.
Value, 6. The only bad part of this game is how short it is. You could actually finish this game in one day if you wanted to. To be fair, to do that you'd probably have to skip some cutscenes, and the story is a big part of the game. There are some things to do after you're done. You could do some virtual training for example. Or you could play through the game again on the Extreme difficulty.
Difficulty, Just Right. You can choose the difficulty at the beginning so it's up to you how hard the game is.
Tilt, 7. I generally liked this game. If you like Action Adventure games and are looking for one that involves a lot of story then Metal Gear Solid is the game for you.