Digital Foundry's initial look at Konami's new Metal Gear Solid Collection is here, and the results aren't great if we're totally honest. While the team working on this collection has put effort into the front end menus, cramming in some nice bonus features, the games themselves get subpar treatment overall.
First off, nothing goes above a native 720p resolution here — even on Xbox Series X — and much of the package has been built off the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection that debuted on Xbox 360. Here are some of DF's thoughts on the new Konami release:
"The bottom line is, The Master Collection presents Metal Gear Solid 1,2, and 3 with limited enhancements over any previous release. The first MGS for example runs via an emulator, at the same resolution and frame rate as the original PS1 hardware back in 1998.
And then, MGS 2 and 3 in this case boot up code based on the HD Collection versions - as first developed by Bluepoint in 2011 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."
Ultimately, the outlet is disappointed by the collection. While DF is happy to see Konami make these games more readily available for modern audiences, it's thought that each game in this collection deserved much better treatment.
"The table of contents isn't the issue, rather, the problems start after booting into the action - where there's really little ambition to update these games for modern hardware.
Regardless of which platform you buy The Master Collection on, and despite some nice extras on the front end, it could, and should, have been so much more."
We'll have to see whether Konami makes significant changes to The Master Collection Vol. 1 in future - something Digital Foundry says it'd like to see happen. And hopefully, learnings are taken into a potential Vol. 2 - if such a release arrives down the line.