Gameplay and controls were a little outdated though. Cutscenes weren't too long, and everything was well presented. MGS1 had a certain charm to it that I just loved. I think every MGS game is incredible and I would have a hard time trying to pick one over the other. MGS is one of the games that is in danger of this sort of problem. Shakespeare and the Beatles are both overrated for this reason as both are so heavily and thoroughly praised that it creates an unrealistic standard. Nothing will ever be able to live up to the reputation established for many games/movies/albums/books. Universal praise, however, is often best avoided. As for being overrated it's ultimately up to each person how they feel about any given work. Nobody can claim that it was not an influential game that arrived at the right moment to help popularize a style of gameplay. True, this was changing already, but this was the era and these were many of the games where beating a game didn't mean you had spent a very long time building up your skill level and were finally able to defeat the challenge that the game presented, but more the conclusion of a journey. It was, perhaps, more influential as far as mechanics go and a massive critical success, but it wasn't the same commercial success that MGS was.Īlong with Final Fantasy VII MGS also helped to push games heavy with plot and cut-scenes and further encouraged the current gaming paradigm where most games are viewed as a narrative and you are expected to eventually reach the end. As well, as has been mentioned upthread, Thief came out about two months after MGS and set many of the standards for first-person stealth games. It was influential and helped to push a stealth trend in gaming, but it was really very much like the original Metal Gear.