The Vault: Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Gamecube)

Title: Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Format: Gamecube:
Genre: Action
Expect to pay: Around £50!

With Solid Snake currently appearing in two very high profile games on two different consoles (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on PS3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii) I thought now would be a good time to take a look at Silicon Knights' re imagining of the original game.

While this essentially the same story and gameplay as the PlayStation classic, it has been somewhat "remastered", with improved visuals, extended cut scenes with incredibly elaborate fight sequences directed by Ryuhei Kitamura (who has also returned to do the same for MGS4). Fans of The Matrix trilogy should feel right at home with the action here.

From a mechanical point of view, the game now plays more like MGS2 and gives you the option to look down your gun from a first person perspective just like that game did. Visually and audibly, the graphics, music and dialogue have also been overhauled, with mixed results. The graphics are undoubtedly improved, however the music has suffered somewhat. From some strange reason, the decision was made to rerecord all of the dialogue with the same actors that did it the first time. It's not a bad job, but the acting was perfectly decent the first time around so hearing the same characters say familiar lines slightly differently is a bit strange.

There have also been other small tweaks to the game. Psycho Mantis now comments on which Nintendo published games you have been playing based on your saves instead of various Konami games, and you can spot action figures of Mario and Yoshi in the background at one point. Does all of this make it a better game than the original? Well, no - it's not better per se, just different. If you are a die hard fan of the MGS series then this will probably be of interest to you - likewise if you don't own a machine capable of playing PS1 games but you happen to own a Gamecube or Wii then you could pick this up if you've always wanted the play the first game in the series (and trust me, familiarity with the earlier games in the series is almost essential to avoid confusion while playing MGS4).

Whether the game is worth shelling out around £50 for (which it regularly goes for on ebay) is up to you. I'm glad I bought my copy when it could be found for a tenner!

Next time: I take a look at an Xbox classic that is worth revisiting or picking up for the first time.

Those who have played the original won't find many surprises here, but the game does look smoother.