Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 (PS5) Review: Kept You Waiting, Huh?

The last few years have been a bit confusing for Metal Gear fans, to say the least. After the tumultuous breakup between series creator Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami, the series largely fizzled out with the much-maligned Metal Gear Survive, only to be thrust back into the spotlight a few years ago with the first volume in the Master Collection, and again last year with a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

It’s not entirely clear whether Konami will take the big leap of developing an all-new game in the series, but for the time being, it has a few more mainline titles that are in desperate need of a proper re-release for modern platforms. With the release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2, some of the series’ most acclaimed yet divisive entries have been given a new lease on life, but the same issues that plagued the first volume have returned, unaddressed.

Let’s get the good news out of the way. After nearly 20 years of being locked on the PlayStation 3, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has been freed from its last-last-gen shackles, and it still impresses decades after it originally hit store shelves. To be clear, it hasn’t received the same level of visual overhaul that we saw in Metal Gear Solid Delta, but it’s a night-and-day difference compared to the original release.

For starters, the game now runs in full 4K at a rock-solid 60 FPS – a huge bump up from the PS3’s 1024×768 and unstable 30 FPS. It’s hard to tell if every single asset was touched up, but textures have been re-authored with greater detail, and the washed-out look and visual filters of the original have also been toned down in favor of a more neutral presentation.

More importantly, the moment-to-moment gameplay is exactly as it was all those years ago. Aside from the installation screens being absent, all of the content from the 2008 release is present and accounted for, from the bizarre TV shows that play before the game’s prologue, to Otacon rambling about the SIXAXIS controller and the PlayStation 3’s support for dual-layered Blu-ray discs.

Of course, if you took issue with Solid (err, I mean “Old”) Snake’s final mission all those years ago, your complaints will still ring true. Metal Gear Solid 4 is easily one of the series’ most controversial entries, and if you didn’t much care for the lengthy cutscenes, the convoluted plot, and the de-emphasis on stealth action, you are sort of out of luck. As a self-proclaimed sicko who has lapped up every entry in the franchise (well, almost every entry), I’m ecstatic that this one-of-a-kind game has finally seen the light of day again, but I can also see why others might not be so keen on giving it another go.

Actually, when I think about it, Master Collection Vol. 2 is perhaps not well-suited for those who prefer the formula laid out with the first few Metal Gear Solid games. Aside from Metal Gear Solid 4, the other main draw of this collection is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which was originally developed for Sony’s PlayStation Portable. While Peace Walker did get a second life on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 a couple of years after its initial debut, it’s very much a product of the handheld it was designed for, and that comes with its own fair share of compromises.

To be clear, it’s a fantastic game, and it fills in a lot of the gaps in the series’ decades-spanning lore. That being said, it also marks the first time the series has shifted away from a linear campaign, instead opting for smaller, bite-sized missions, some of which advance the game’s story, while others are optional and can be completely ignored should you choose.

Peace Walker also placed a strong emphasis on base-building, replaying missions to grind for resources, and tackling some levels with a friend or two via online co-op. Much like with Metal Gear Solid 4, Konami hasn’t messed with Peace Walker’s mechanics or design, and while the entire game can be tackled solo, some of the game’s missions were clearly designed for co-operative play, especially since late-game bosses are very spongy and require a lot of work to whittle down their health to zero.

On the technical front, Peace Walker is very much a game designed around the PSP’s limitations, so there’s only so much that can be done when porting it over to modern platforms. As a result, environments and assets are relatively light on detail, and the comic-book style cutscenes lack the same cinematic flair that you’d expect from one of the series’ mainline entries developed for consoles. Still, the framerate keeps to a solid 60, and the 1080p rendering resolution looks decent enough when upscaled to a 4K display.

While the games themselves are a joy to play, it’s a bit disappointing to see that all of the extra pack-ins and bonus content suffer from the same issues that we saw in Vol. 1. The digitized screenplays and master books make for some great reading material, but there’s a noticeable lack of behind-the-scenes material that could shed light on how these games came together during development. Worse yet, almost all of the bonus content comes in the form of written text or images, as opposed to any footage or documentary-style videos. Compared to the likes of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection or Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection, the Master Collection is underwhelming, to say the least.

And then there’s also the matter of the number of games you get for the price of admission. While Vol. 1 came packed with five mainline entries, two non-canon NES titles, and a couple of versions of the PlayStation version of Metal Gear Solid, Vol. 2 is a bit more anemic. Aside from Metal Gear Solid 4 and Peace Walker, the only other game included is the spin-off Metal Gear game for Game Boy Color.

It’s a great title in its own right and does a great job of distilling the franchise’s core mechanics into an 8-bit, retro experience, but it’s far from essential, and it doesn’t contribute to the series’ overarching plot. Still, seeing as how loose cartridges of the original Game Boy Color version command well over $100 on the used market, it’s nice to have another way to experience it.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 (PS5) Review: Final Verdict

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 is by no means a perfect compilation. It could have benefited from packing in one or two more titles. There’s still no unified front-end, which means that you’ll need to bounce between half a dozen standalone applications instead of launching into a single game with an all-encompassing menu. And just like its predecessor, there’s a noticeable lack of video and behind-the-scenes material. That being said, if you’re looking for a way to play through two of the franchise’s best entries without fiddling with emulators or digging your aging PS3 or PSP out of the closet, it’s hard to take issue with what’s on offer.

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