Talk about bad timing. We've currently got this big fiasco over in the supreme court of justice about whether games count as art or not. Nowadays, it's fairly hard to prove that, especially since for some reason the industry has been trying harder and harder to do that, but honestly, there is such a thing as trying too hard. Nowadays, (in my opinion, at least. Art is subjective y'know) the only games which have really managed to pull of anything special are Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, No More Heroes, and it looks like The new Deus Ex might be pretty interesting, too. So yeah. Kind of a tight spot.
However, had this happened around the late 90's, then I'm pretty sure that there would clearly have been no argument. The court could not have denied the appeal of games such as Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, SoulCalibur, Skies of Arcadia, Perfect Dark, The Tekken series, Shenmue, Silent Hill, and of course, Metal gear Solid. The industry would be in and out of the door within seconds, not even breaking a sweat. I could go into each and every one of those games, but I'm here to talk about Metal Gear Solid.
I don't know why I bought it. I was probably just in that mood, I guess. I had heard good things about it, but I could never expect just how amazing this game would me. I'm gonna cut the crap right now, and I'm now review Metal Gear Solid for the PSX.
We all know the basic la-di-da of how it's not the first stealth game, but did in fact popularise the genre, so I'm not going to give any history lectures here. The basic premise of the plot is that after a good 8 years or so in retirement, Solid Snake is called back to infiltrate Shadow Moses island, and stop the terrorists from doing evil stuff. The brilliant thing about the plot is that despite starting so simple, it becomes anything but. It takes such strange twists and turns, and as the story progresses and Snake learns more about what's going on, he becomes less of a pawn and takes matters more into his own hands. The story progresses via codec calls and cutscenes, and whilst by today's standards it may not be so great, the cutscenes are just so well directed that it probably won't matter. True, picking up and putting down the controller becomes a bit of an exercise, but hey, it's a good story, you can let this slide, I'm sure.
The gameplay is top notch as well (for the most part). Moving snake around with the analog stick feels natural and not stiff whatsoever. However, it's quite difficult to apply varying levels of speed to snake's movements, which can prove quite a nuisance on some occasions, but thankfully, you can get past the game with snake's regular walking speed. A neat little feature is that when you push snake against a wall, he will automatically flatten his back to it. In this stance, the camera gives you a nice view of who or what's around the corner. This especially helps on the hard difficulty, where there is no radar to help you out (in fact, the radar is actually one of the most useful tools in the game, as it points out enemies locations as well as their field of vision). Using weapons is fairly easy. With the SOCOM pistol and
FA-MAS rifles, you just press the square button to fire. Aiming is quite difficult with the overhead camera and occasional off-screen enemies, but you can get the hang of it eventually. However, it's likely that you'll very rarely use firearms outside of bosses. There's other cool weapons in here as well, so I'll leave you to check them out.
Okay, so that's the basic stuff out of the way. Now, I'm trying to be as un-spoilerific as possible, plot wise, but let me make something very clear about this game.
It's an experience.
And boy, do I mean it. This game is more than just about stealth. It's more of a third-person stealth puzzle-shooter. "Puzzle shooter?" I hear you ask in wonder and confusion. Well...yes. Each moment after another presents a different challenge to overcome, and there is usually one way to victory. However, that way is very subtle. If there ever was one game you mustn't consult walkthroughs on, it's this. Generally, your support buddies might drop a few hints, and you just need to go from there. It's a genuinely satisfying feeling to face up against a boss, or a situational dilemma, and then emerge victorious. This especially goes for the bosses, which sometimes have such an epic scale, that looking back at them in retrospect, I still wonder how I possibly beat them. The story helps this too, what with Snake growing into a mentally stronger and more "human" person. There are also moments of sheer well-written brilliance tucked away in here. Overall, Metal gear solid is less about playing it (and don't worry, it's certainly not all about watching it) but it's more of just experiencing it. In fact, I'd say that this game has a fair amount in common with Batman: Arkham Asylum, in terms of ambition, brilliance, genius, and scale. This is truly, a work of art.
However, as any good experience does, this one has flaws. Namely, some of the bosses can be frustrating, but I guess that that just makes winning feel so much better. You can't pause cutscenes, (but you can skip them) and the same goes for codec conversations. It's also irritating to get caught by guards, as the reinforcements are infinite, so all you can do is run. It's not a bad thing, as it's quite exhilarating, but it would be nice to have the option to fight your way out. The biggest thing this game Is guilty of, however, is it's serious case of back-tracking. To all those who have played the game (the original version), then you know what I mean. Those issues I just mentioned may be enough to switch off you console or even break some controllers, but you should try and look past them. Another issue worth mentioning is the game's length. To put it into perspective, I watched all the cutscenes, died lots of times, messed around when I didn't know what to do, and in the final stats screen the game tells me that it took ten hours for me to finish the game. If it was a perfect speed run with no cutscenes, it would probably be about 2 or 3 hours long, then. Maybe I should just buy the VR missions pack then If I crave more of MGS (which I do).
So yeah, bottom line, Metal Gear Solid is f***ing amazing, and an utter standard for videogames since '98. We can only hope that someone at the court will bring this game up. If you own a PSX, a PS2, a PS3, or a PC (which you probably do), then don't hesitate to pick this game up. Lucky Gamecube owners got a slightly more refined version of this game, subtitled The Twin Snakes. So if you have a wii or a Gamecube, (or any of the previous platforms I mentioned) then don't hesitate about picking this one up. It's fairly cheap on Amazon, so value nowadays shouldn't be too much of an issue. Just get the game. It's good.

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Guess what! Another plagiarized review!!
Here is the original source...getting tired of these...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.278152-Review-Of-Metal-Gear-Solid-PSX-Original