Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 2 Review

Konami has indulged us very well over the past few years, pushing out the first Master Collection in 2023 with remasters of the first three core entries in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. Last year we were treated to a full-blown remake with Metal Gear Solid: Delta Snake Eater that replenished the 20-year-old masterpiece for a modern audience. Now, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 is here, breaking Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots out of PS3 imprisonment, and teaming it together with PSP juggernaut Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Game Boy Advance curio, Ghost Babel. This remastered duo brazenly steps forward to cap off the mainline entries in the Metal Gear Solid series, and are essential picks for any MGS fan.

If you’re not familiar with Guns of the Patriots or Peace Walker, let’s get you up to speed. Guns of the Patriots sees Solid Snake as a decrepit old man thanks to a French cloning project called Les Enfants Terribles, which accelerated Snake’s aging, but make no mistake, he is still adept at going to war against man and machine. The problem with Snake’s disposition here is that mutations are forming inside of him, turning his body into a monolithic biohazard. With a limited amount of time left, he must find a cure, whilst also thwarting Liquid Snake’s economy-destroying insurrection scheming. 

Not only has Snake aged, but warfare has advanced as well, with weapons tagged with ID all over the place, and machines rule the battlefield. Local militias wage war on decaying streets, and you’re stuck in the middle of all this conflict. 

The stakes are high, and Guns of the Patriots straps a lot of components in to create an epic fourth entry in the series, which you can now enjoy on modern hardware. Moreover, you can finally tuck your PS3 into bed as it has finished playing the sole vessel of Snake’s foray into senior citizenship. 

Originally released in 2010 on the PSP and later bundled into an HD Collection also featuring Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Peace Walker might be viewed by some as the least-important Metal Gear Solid entry, but that’s if you’ve never played the Metal Gear Acid nor Portable Ops games. The story in Peace Walker is situated in 1970s Costa Rica, and features Snake and his own military company attempting to put a halt to lethal nuclear artificial intelligence. Though it was limited by the PSP hardware due to a lack of a second analog stick that made going prone impossible, the story of Peace Walker does a lot to fill in the gaps and cohesively continues Snake’s coming to terms with the events of Snake Eater.

Alongside these two behemoth MGS titles is the subtle Game Boy Advance game Ghost Babel. Although Ghost Babel is recognized as Metal Gear Solid, the story is separate. A group of rebellious South Africans calling themselves the Gindra Liberation Front, named after the fictional region of South Africa where they reside, have brought down a plane containing a Metal Gear they intend to use to fight a civil war they are engaged in. Though it’s non-canon, Roy Campbell and Mei Ling from the core MGS games are on hand as contacts throughout the game, and it is a neat hidden gem amongst the whole saga that is worth a look if you are curious about it. 

As remasters, both Guns of the Patriots and Peace Walker have received quality-of-life boosts that bring them up to modern standards, as well as 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second framerates, which is great for those who demand top-quality performance. 

With Guns of the Patriots, the level of detail and visual sharpness gives it a rechristened sheen, the type you’d only find if the game getting remastered is eighteen years old. Everything from the lighting to the dimples on Snake’s time-weathered cheeks have been meaningfully smoothed and improved, so in an ironic way what’s old feels new again. You won’t be able to change Snake’s grandpa status, but considering how good this remaster is, you won’t really want to. 

Peace Walker, meanwhile, has managed to outgrow some of its limitations from the PSP. You can use the trigger buttons which weren’t possible while the game resided on PSP, and of course you gain a movement advantage due to the second analog stick as well. The online co-operative options from the PSP game also carry over with no compromises, meaning you are getting Peace Walker as it was intended to be played with requisite upscaling as a bonus.

 Disappointingly, however, most of these improvements stem from Peace Walker’s second shot of life in 2011’s HD Collection on the PS3. Besides the performance mentioned in the paragraph above, Peace Walker doesn’t receive the remastered love given to Guns of the Patriots. As a result, Peace Walker in the Master Collection Volume 2  feels like a side attraction alongside Guns of the Patriots, rather than an equally upgraded counterpart.

The Master Collection additional goodies are booming with content that deserves kudos. The MGS4 canon database provides character profiles, extensive lore, and a taut chronology that charts the events of the official MGS timeline. Textual content, including written versions of dialogues and codec calls provides scripts for you to indulge in to find your favourite lines. You’ll also be granted a digital soundtrack of all the riveting themes within the collection as well.

Though you might see Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection Vol. 2 as a spare part, you definitely won’t feel short-changed by this collection. The remastered version of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is fantastic, and those who’ve waited 18 years for it to break out of PS3’s cage will be very pleased with how this modern updated version has panned out. Peace Walker’s inclusion is bolstered by 4K and 60 frames per second, yet feels like an anaemic but still bulky attachment to the main course. The bonus additions are plentiful too, and they’ll certainly entice you to be a pure MGS junkie. Altogether this collection is all about that MGS4 golden goose, but all the additions make it worthwhile, even if there’s an uneven level of attention given to non-Guns of the Patriots content. Still nab it as it’s priced pleasantly enough, but grab it with the intent of playing MGS4 and see the rest of the collection as a bunch of generous extras.