By 1988, many big name action games were dominating the market. Only a year earlier Contra was released for the NES, and it is essentially the definitive shoot 'em up for the 8-bit Nintnedo. The great Mega Man franchise was also just getting under way with its first release as well, setting up what would be a 20 plus year focus on action-gaming. Action was king for the most part on the NES, only second to the side-scrolling platform genre that made the Super Mario Bros. household names. So, here comes a game that isn't a platformer, nor a action shoot 'em up - a stealth oriented game was indeed, at least, a unique and refreshing take on the established concepts of video gaming.

     It's not to say Metal Gear is all stealth either, but a fine blend of both, with its tilt favoring espionage. In the game, you play as Solid Snake, who would go on to become one of the truly great heroes in video games, and he is deployed into the deep forest outside an enemy base named Outer Heaven. Oddly enough, when you are dropped from the helicopter, three other soliders are as well, and you never see or hear from them whatsoever. You do your best to avoid conflict in this game by evading numerous guards, and along the way you free imprisoned soldiers, eventually garnering a higher rank, and thus acquiring higher health. Like any Metal Gear game to follow, you start off with no weapons, but with just a pack of cigarettes. Thus, you must avoid fighting because you don't have any weapons, unless you want to punch everyone in their path. It is rather thrilling when you can sneak behind guards and punch them out!

     You don't get any weapon for a short while, but eventually you'll need one because things do get hairy as you get further along. From time to time there will be a few bosses you'll encounter, and a shootout becomes a necessity - so, clearly the game strikes a nice balance. However, where the game loses balance is its esoteric presentation. It is a fairly laborious effort to try and find all the little things needed to progress through the game. There isn't any sort of map, so navigation is fairly hard if you don't know where to go - but then again, that adds to the challenge and thrill. When you gather enough coded keycards, you must constantly switch back and forth for each and every door - and it sort of becomes a trial and error when sifting through the various cards on your items menu. There's a fairly particular way to go to get through this game, and you do recieve a little help from the Transciever, or "codec" if you prefer - messages from Big Boss or other allies to aid you through your quest.

     A big problem with this game is when you die, you are sent back to the far beginning. Considering this game is pretty lengthy, and the bases eventually become complex labryinths, it is very disheartening to die in the game and be sent all the way back to the beginning. There are no extra lives, it's a one shot deal, and technically no "continues", because you go back to the start either way. However, when you do die, thankfully, you keep all of your items and weapons, eliminating a good amount of hassle. The game also offers a password system, but oddly, you have write down this exceptionally long password, then turn the game off, then back on, then re-enter it in the "Continue" option on the main screen...why do all that? Game developers should simply have put various check points in the game? Of course, these days with the internet debunk any old notions of writing passwords down as they are all available on gaming websites. But still!

     Metal Gear, for the NES anyway, is infamously known for some terribly botched English translations - some of them are pretty funny actually. In the first few screens of the game, you'll encounter your first enemy guard and he exclaims, "I feel sleepy!", followed by, "I'm feeling asleep!" There are plenty of other little errors throughout the game as well, but I'm sure you'll want to pick them out for yourself. You see, this particular game was ported from the Japanese version, and some things were altered in translation - apparently, Hideo Kojima, brilliant father of the Metal Gear franchise, had nothing to do with the U.S. port of his game when it was developed by Ultra Games (a subsidiary of Konami). Perhaps if Kojima's touch was on this game, it would have been far better.

     I consider this game to be in the same vein of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Why? Well, because they are both rather ambitious NES games that looked to push the boundaries that were set by its contemporaries. Unfortunately, Castlevania II was a misfire in many ways, but Metal Gear fared a lot better. Both games depend heavily on exploration, but I think those who will ultimately get the most out of these games are the ones who know them exceptionally well. I think a newcomer, looking to play the NES Metal Gear, might see it as a daunting task to overcome its esoteric ways, and simply won't know where to go. Couple that with going back to the start of the game after each death, and you have a game not for the faint of heart.

     In the end, Metal Gear for the NES is something of a mixed bag. It's better than many games, but falls a bit short to be of the elite. It's still a good game, but it takes some work to get through it. It is a challenging affair, and one that requires some dilligence. In any case though, this game is indeed epic! And it really is! It contains many of what would become staples in the franchise such as: stealth element, codec, rations, cigarettes, the gasmask, coded keycards, and the characters, to name a few. For long time fans of the franchise such as myself and my Ethos friend and colleague RB, Metal Gear is a fascinating piece of nostalgia, and is a interesting piece of gaming lore because it is the roots of one of the great franchises in gaming history.

     If you want an epic challenge, and don't mind a little frustration here or there, Metal Gear can be a fun experience despite its flaws.

-Kurt L.

_______________________________________________________