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.
Do you agree with DF's overall thoughts here. Let us know what you think down below.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 11
That’s why I’m not mad buying this on switch when it goes on sale. It’s poor performance across the board but I might as well as play on the platform of my choice.
MGS1 on Series S using Duckstation runs at 4K, correct widescreen aspect ratio (not stretched 4:3), and much less wobbly graphics. Other two should be easy 1440p. Here, they don't even bother on bare minimum effort like increasing rendering resolution.
So yeah, not gonna expect much on Vol. 2 then. The only good thing about it is MGS4 will finally be available to the masses.
Shut up and take my.... No, no! You at least have to make some effort!
The menus look nice though.
Same here ! Happy to be able to play through MGS1 on current systems but my god did my eyes hurt after 1 hour of unsharp blockyness on my screen.
There are far better versions out there running at a higher resolution.
My thoughts exactly , nice to be able to play , but man , they should have made a little more effort to make this more fitting to modern standards.
@Maddie47 We are the vocal minority though, everyone else wouldn't care or know the difference if the games were upscaled and what not.
I was waiting it to hit GP so looks like it was a good call.
Konami gonna Konami.
@Gollum Have you seen just how bad this collection looks at times?
MGS1 is literally as jagged as pixel art, but with blur on top of the jaggies.
And as a lesser issue, some of the textures in the PS2 games look like they're out of a Nintendo 64 game in the Series X version, despite looking much better on the 360... or even on a real PS2, for that matter.
@smoreon Yeah it's pretty rubbish, i won't be buying it, not primarily because of the state of it but because I've played the mgs games a good few times.
The collection is nice. I don't know why everyone is crying about something which was clear from the beginning.
I cleared MGS1 already, and while there are no graphical changes, I had a blast playing it after all these years. They also put everything inside there was about MGS1.
I also started MGS2 and I also think, this version is great.
There's some nice bonus content as well.
I like that collection.
There is a good reason why I didn't bother with this. I already have the original HD collection on my Xbox One and this honestly presents very little to desire over that. Like just a moderate improvement here and there, and since I also got Peace Walker I am not really missing out on anything either. Got the original MGS and VR missions on my old PS3 and retro handhelds as well, and considering how that's no remake I have no idea why I would buy this.
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