The original Metal Gear Solid redefined video games. It told one of the best stories of its time and in the entire video game industry. It also reinvented the 3rd person stealth genre. Most elements of Metal Gear Solid still hold up today, but some elements have aged.

Metal Gear Solid 1 begins with Solid Snake infiltrating the facility Shadow Moses Island. He is tasked with taking out a group of terrorists who want Big Boss' remains and if they don't receive it they will nuke America. The plot itself is about espionage and has many twists that will surprise players, as well as subvert expectations. The themes Kojima delves into are interesting and these elements aren't always explored in espionage/stealth games like Metal Gear Solid. The side characters are all interesting and their development depends on how much you codec call them. If you codec call them frequently each side character is developed well. The side characters Meryl and Otacon are mainly developed through cutscenes and Kojima does it well. the villains/ terrorists are also well represented and are each very interesting in their own right. The voice acting is also well done and cutscenes were pretty solid for 1998. Overall, Metal Gear Solid 1 has a basically perfect story with no plot holes, great themes and fantastic characters.

Gameplay has many stealth sections, boss fights and back tracking. The stealth itself is simplistic to modern gaming standards but is still a solid gameplay loop and it doesn't have too many issues. The AI is good, the strategies you can use are limited but there are still a few things you are allowed to do and most enemy placements can be tackled in many different ways. Majority of the boss fights are challenging and memorable, as most bosses are also set-pieces. There are some bosses that are major plot points, fourth wall breaks, amazing set-pieces or great characterising moments and thats what makes these bosses some of the best in any video game. One of the most outdated elements in Metal Gear Solid is the backtracking and exploration, as there isn't much of either, it os slightly tedious and there is not much incentive to do either. The level and area design itself is varied and interesting. The details throughout the game are also fun and enjoyable to find or enjoy through gameplay. The gameplay loop of Metal Gear Solid is good, but slightly outdated.

Metal Gear Solid is a classic and all time masterpiece of a video game. It is slightly outdated by modern video game standards and has some issues related to this in the gameplay department. Otherwise, Metal Gear Solid is a classic.