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FLASHBACK: Nearly Twenty Years Later, the Original Metal Gear Solid Still Has a Unique Atmosphere http://thesnakesoup.org/editorial-articles/nearly-twenty-years-later-original-metal-gear-solid-still-unique-atmosphere/
The colors and textures might have been born out of limitation, but led to the creation of a completely unique environment. During my first play-through, it all looked otherworldly, like fantasy despite being realistic than other more cartoonish games at the time.
Huddled into the confined, minimal, green-and-black UI of the Codec screen, the colors present themselves the same way. Contact with HQ is disconnected, like it exists somewhere behind the scenes that you can never reach.
When you realize that HQ might be using Snake as a pawn as part of a massive government conspiracy, the Codec screen becomes a space even more confining than before, despite getting unauthorized calls and witness events that have an impact on the world outside.
Now this might sound weird but, for me, the very first time Snake crawls into the air ducts, and the ambient sound of the ducts comes in, is a really memorable moment. What is that sound? Maybe it’s the ventilation system?
The sound of the duct just grabs me and makes me really aware of the game’s world and where I am in it. It reminds me of ambient sounds in Silent Hill 1 and 2, where it’s hard to discern if the sounds are part of the score or a nearby machine.
Not sure if Psycho Mantis’s mind control music counts as an ambient score, as it is both part of the score and music playing within the game world. That music was imprinted in my mind, which I suppose is the point, but at the time it was just unsettling.
The game's fourth wall breaking dialogue adds to the atmosphere as well, and was definitely unique for me at the time. The tension in the game's story is often balanced by the meta experience that works alongside it. It is a crucial staple of the series that really shines here.
For the English-speaking audience, the game's tone would have never been achieved without the efforts of @JeremyBlaustein - here's an article by him for Polygon that covers some of that story https://www.polygon.com/2019/7/18/20696081/metal-gear-solid-translation-japanese-english-jeremy-blaustein
Looking back at all of this, it becomes very obvious why I dislike any attempts to remake MGS1 and its locations. Like most art, once something groundbreaking has been created by a certain individual, or a team of individuals, that specific idea is bookmarked in history.
MGS1 is an example of something happening at just the right time, with just the right people, at that specific point in time. It's a silly endeavor, I suppose unless you share Saul Ed Sinek's POV on remakes. http://thesnakesoup.org/editorial-articles/stop-just-remaking-metal-gear-solid/
We have, years ago, covered just why The Twin Snakes is an inferior remake that, frankly, does not even come close to conveying what made the original game unique. If it aimed to be a different take on the game, it was certainly a pointless endeavor. http://thesnakesoup.org/editorial-articles/metal-gear-solid-the-twin-snakes-does-not-live-up-to-the-1998-original/
At the end of the day, MGS1 was one of the first games to actually use the medium to its fullest potential & invoke an actual atmosphere that truly made you feel like you entered another world. A very unique world, standing on its own, where I believe it stands to this very day.
