Ever since the departure of creator Hideo Kojima in uncertain circumstances, Konami has struggled with the Metal Gear series. In 2018 the ill-advisedBut now Konami's trying to revive its flagship, and has decided to start by rebuilding the foundations. Making every mainline Metal Gear available on contemporary platforms via MGS: The Master Collection, with Volume 1 released last year and Volume 2 due at a later date, and, probably the most beloved entry in the series.
It's perhaps worth emphasising for the non-gearheads that before The Master Collection many of these games hadn't ever appeared on PC . Now they're all in one package and on Steam and, I have to imagine, will be where I replay them long into the future. So it's good to know Konami isn't done with Volume 1 yet, even if the announcement of Volume 2's contents can't come fast enough .
"So when I look at it, I think of the history of Metal Gear as a lot like the history of all video games, and the Master Collection as a kind of experience retracing that history. When I consider it that way, I do think it’s meaningful to present these titles the same way they were, and not go out of the way just to change a lot of things. Pixel graphics can stay as pixels, early 3D can stay looking a little crunchy, is how I see it.
"So all of that has been updated, but the core game, and the creative vision of the original staff, none of those parts of the game have changed. Even while updating it, it was very important for us to be faithful to those aspects of the game." The elephant in the room, of course, is Konami itself. I must confess to having some sympathy with the publisher here, which has been comprehensively blamed for Kojima's departure and subject to enormous animosity from gamers who believe it mistreated the director. My own sense is that Kojima stage-managed his departure to exactly this effect and that, perhaps, Konami has been painted somewhat unfairly.