is an
action-adventure
An action-adventure game is a video game genre, video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Definition
An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements f ...
stealth game
A stealth game is a type of video game in which the player primarily uses ''stealth'' to avoid or overcome opponents. Games in the video game genre, genre typically allow the player to remain undetected by hiding, sneaking, or using disguises. S ...
developed by
Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
and
Silicon Knights
Silicon Knights was a Canadian video game developer. Founded in 1992 by Denis Dyack, the company was headquartered in St. Catharines, Ontario. They started developing for computers such as the Atari ST and IBM PC compatibles. After 1996, they m ...
and published by Konami for the
GameCube
The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
. Released in March 2004, the game is a remake of 1998's ''
Metal Gear Solid
is a franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operative (usually S ...
''.
''The Twin Snakes'' features graphical improvements over the original, new
cutscene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
s written and directed by
Ryuhei Kitamura
is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Kitamura relocated to Sydney, Australia at age 17 and attended a school for visual arts for two years. In 1997, Kitamura directed and produced the short film ''Down to Hell'', which receiv ...
, and
gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...
functions originally introduced in the
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
''
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty''. The game includes a revised translation with re-recorded
voice acting
Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-sc ...
, using almost all of the original
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
voice cast.
The game was met with positive reception from critics, with praise towards the graphics and presentation, though with criticisms towards the framerate and the addition of gameplay mechanics from ''Sons of Liberty''.
Gameplay
Serving as a remake of ''
Metal Gear Solid
is a franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operative (usually S ...
'' (1998), the gameplay of ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes'' was altered to resemble that of ''
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty'' (2001). While all of the original areas and enemies were kept, new ways for the player to combat them were introduced, such as the ability to shoot from a first-person view.
Enemy
AI was improved, giving enemy soldiers the ability to communicate with each other and detect the player more intelligently with senses of sight and sound enhanced.
Development
''The Twin Snakes'' was first announced in 2003 by
Nintendo of America
is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi founded the company to p ...
, confirming that
Silicon Knights
Silicon Knights was a Canadian video game developer. Founded in 1992 by Denis Dyack, the company was headquartered in St. Catharines, Ontario. They started developing for computers such as the Atari ST and IBM PC compatibles. After 1996, they m ...
would be developing under the guidance of ''
Metal Gear
is a Media franchise, franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear (video game), Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX, MSX home computers. The player often takes con ...
'' creator
Hideo Kojima
is a Japanese video game designer. Regarded as one of the pioneering auteurs of video games, he developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence, which in turn has had a significant influence on his game ...
and Nintendo's
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer, video game producer, producer and Creative director#Video games, game director at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one o ...
. Kojima was busy working on ''
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater'' (2004) at the time, and was unable to commit to the project full-time. He later suggested to both Miyamoto and
Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata (; December6, 1959July11, 2015) was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer and producer. Beginning in 2002, he was the fourth president of Nintendo, as well as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo of America from ...
to let
Silicon Knights
Silicon Knights was a Canadian video game developer. Founded in 1992 by Denis Dyack, the company was headquartered in St. Catharines, Ontario. They started developing for computers such as the Atari ST and IBM PC compatibles. After 1996, they m ...
take the helm as he was a fan of their work. The company's CEO
Denis Dyack
Denis Dyack (born July 24, 1966) is a Canadian video game developer and the CEO of Apocalypse Studios. He is also the former president of Silicon Knights, and is a video game designer, writer, director and producer. Dyack directed '' Blood Omen: ...
, who had recently completed ''
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem'' (2002), happened to be at the Nintendo cafeteria in Japan when he was approached by both Miyamoto and Iwata to work on ''The Twin Snakes,'' to which he agreed.
Although ''The Twin Snakes'' was largely developed at Silicon Knights,
Ryuhei Kitamura
is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Kitamura relocated to Sydney, Australia at age 17 and attended a school for visual arts for two years. In 1997, Kitamura directed and produced the short film ''Down to Hell'', which receiv ...
directed many of the game's cinematics while Silicon Knights implemented them into the game to look identical to those in the original ''Metal Gear Solid'', but upon inspection
Hideo Kojima
is a Japanese video game designer. Regarded as one of the pioneering auteurs of video games, he developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence, which in turn has had a significant influence on his game ...
asked Kitamura to redo them in his well-known action style. The reworked cinematics did receive some criticism due to Kitamura's excessive use of the
bullet time
Bullet time (also known as frozen moment, dead time, flow motion or time slice) is a visual effect or visual impression of detaching the time and space of a camera (or viewer) from that of its visible subject. It is a depth enhanced simulation of ...
effect, which was largely inspired by the then popular hit movie ''
The Matrix
''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction film, science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the The Matrix (franchise), ''Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ca ...
''. The game's composition duties were split: some of the in-game music was handled by
Steve Henifin and Silicon Knights' music staff, while the rest of the music (in-game, menus and cut scenes) was handled by Konami's music staff, including ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' co-composer
Norihiko Hibino
is a Japanese video game composer and saxophonist.
Biography
Hibino was born in Osaka. He graduated from the Osaka University School of Human Sciences in 1996. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1997, he moved to Kansas City to s ...
.
Plot
Voice acting
The voice acting was re-recorded with the original cast from ''Metal Gear Solid'', except for the role of the Cyborg Ninja.
David Hayter
David Hayter is a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is well known as the English-language voice actor for Solid Snake and Big Boss (Metal Gear), Naked Snake in the ''Metal Gear'' video game series. He wrote the fi ...
, the English voice of Solid Snake, persuaded
Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
to have the original voice cast reprise their roles.
The main reason for the re-recording, according to an interview with Hayter, was because the increased audio quality allowed by the GameCube picked up outside noise from the original recordings that were inaudible in the PlayStation version. In the original game, Gray Fox and Donald Anderson were both voiced by
Greg Eagles
Greg Eagles (born October 28, 1970) is an American actor. He voiced the Grim Reaper in Cartoon Network's '' Grim & Evil'' and its spin-off '' The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy''. He also voiced Captain Bob and Sketch Pad on HBO's Canadian-Am ...
. However, in ''The Twin Snakes'', Greg Eagles voices only Anderson, whereas the Ninja was voiced by
Rob Paulsen
Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Pro ...
. The revised voice acting is used in ''
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots'' (2008) during Snake's reminiscence as the English-language voice-recording used in the original game was not recorded in a sound-proof studio.
Mei Ling, Nastasha Romanenko, and Naomi Hunter speak with North American accents in ''The Twin Snakes'', whereas in the original ''Metal Gear Solid'', they spoke with Chinese, Ukrainian, and British accents, respectively. Unlike the original ''Metal Gear Solid'', no Japanese voice acting were recorded for ''Twin Snakes'' - instead the Japanese version uses the English voice acting with subtitles.
Release
''The Twin Snakes'' was released on March 9, 2004 in North America. It was originally to be released in November 2003, but was pushed back, along with the other versions. The European date was pushed back several weeks.
In Japan ''The Twin Snakes'' was released on March 11 alongside an exclusive Premium Package. The box includes the game itself; a platinum-colored GameCube adorned with the FOXHOUND logo; a 44-page book titled ''Memorandum'' containing production notes, sketches and photos; and a GameCube disc called the "Special Disc" containing an emulated version of the
Family Computer
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...
version of the original ''
Metal Gear
is a Media franchise, franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear (video game), Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX, MSX home computers. The player often takes con ...
''.
Reception
Much like the original ''Metal Gear Solid'' was met with positive reviews from critics, ''The Twin Snakes'' received an 85.58% and 85/100 from
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
and
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, respectively.
''
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' gave ''The Twin Snakes'' 8.5 out of 10, praising its superior graphics and likening the presentation to epic movies. ''
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' gave it an 8.2 out of 10 or "Great" on their scale,
''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network.
In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
'' rated ''The Twin Snakes'' as 8 out of 10
and Gaming Age gave it an "A−" rating. ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...
'' gave ''The Twin Snakes'' a 9.25 out of 10, citing its improved gameplay and graphics, and also its faithful retelling of the original ''Metal Gear Solid'' story.
The publication later placed ''The Twin Snakes'' at #11 on their list of "Top 25 GameCube Games" in 2009. ''
Official Nintendo Magazine
''Official Nintendo Magazine'', or ''ONM'', was a British Video game journalism, video game magazine that ran from 2006 to 2014 that covered the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U video game consoles released by Nintendo.
Originally p ...
'' placed the game 80th on their list of the Top 100 Best Nintendo games.
Despite receiving generally favorable reviews, ''The Twin Snakes'' has also drawn criticism. According to ''
GamePro
''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...
'', the game has a "flagging framerate and bouts of slowdown that occur when too much activity crowds the screen."
The use of new gameplay elements from ''Sons of Liberty'' was seen as unnecessary, as ''GamePro'' thought that the level design was virtually unchanged from ''Metal Gear Solid'',
which "spoils the challenge... and completely ruins one boss battle (Revolver Ocelot)."
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Portal bar, Video games, Japan, Speculative fiction, Biology, 2000s
2004 video games
Action-adventure games
GameCube games
GameCube-only games
Konami games
Metal Gear video games
Silicon Knights games
Single-player video games
Stealth video games
Video game remakes
Video games designed by Hideo Kojima
Video games developed in Canada
Video games developed in Japan
Video games produced by Hideo Kojima
Video games scored by Norihiko Hibino
Video games scored by Shuichi Kobori
Video games scored by Steve Henifin
Video games scored by Toshiyuki Kakufa
Video games scored by Waichiro Ozaki
Video games set in 2005
Video games set in Alaska
Video games set in the United States
Video games set on fictional islands
Video games with illustrations by Noriyoshi Ohrai