Old Snake, New Tricks
Twin Snakes is straight up one of the most action packed games I played, even though you are supposed to rely more on stealth then fighting. However, you will find yourself taking on a tank with grenades, crossing a minefield, repelling down a wall while being fired at by a Hind chopper which you will later be shooting rockets at, fist fights, a massive firefight going up a large tower, and the most intense sniper shootout portrayed in any video game. Obviously you will be doing more than this, but I think I caught your attention by now =]
So the story is told, so how does the game play fair up? The basic idea behind MGS: TS is this: You run around using your environment to your advantage, such as pressing against a wall or crawling under a table, to avoid being seen. You have guns, like the SOCOM pistol or the FAMAS machine gun, but in all reality those are supposed to be used as a last resort. Anyway, when you approach a guard you can grab him and snap his neck, when he falls you can grab his body and hide it in a locker or other various areas. If you wish, you can go into first person mode, aim with your weapon and shoot out a camera or a guard in his head.. its really up to you. You get grenades too - chaff (which jams electric devises) and stun (which knocks out enemies for a short period of time). Also, you can do a small melee combo, which at first, doesn't look like much - but I guarentee you will use it almost constantly when in tight spots.
From the original, pixelated Playstation version, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes looks almost life like with fluid motions both in-game and in FMV sequences, realistic (for the most part) physics, and some of the best graphics I have ever seen thanks to Silicon Knight's hardwork and Nintendo's awesome Gamecube system. Everything looks magnificent, and at the same time, dark, lonely, and terrifying. The character models look so real its hard to tell if its simply a video game, and that goes double time for Snake & all the bosses he fights. The codec sequences seem a little corny, that same as it was back in the original, so that sorta sucks.. but oh well.
Musically speaking, this game has one of the best scores I have heard in a video game. It is just very catchy, and always adds elements to the atmosphere. On top of that, the sound effects are awesome as well. Each guard lets out a satisfying scream when he is either shot or beaten up, and the guns sound virtually like their real life counter parts. The voice acting is superb; David Hayter did an excellent job on Snake.. the same goes for the rest of the cast.
You can unlock things too, depending on what you do during the torture scene with Ocelot. If you give in and let Meryl die, then at the end of the game, Otacon will give you a stealth suit. If you insisted on enduring the torture to let Meryl live, then you are rewarded with a special bandana that gives you unlimited ammo. Also, if you take certain pictures with your camera you are given the chance to see the "ghosts" of the creators of the game in the pictures. There are other unlockables, but I will let you find them yourself.
But no game comes without some sort of flaw. Two major problems I have with MGS: TW is the excessive amount of talking (but thats found in EVERY Metal Gear game.. so we can't blame Silicon Knights) and in the movie sequences, Snake does almost impossible moves. For instance, when he first meets up with Meryl, she shoots at him with a FAMAS - Snake quickly does a flip in matrix mode and the bullets miss him.. sort of lame.
To wrap it up, you need to buy & play Twin Snakes. It is, by far, the best Metal Gear game in the series. It is even better than the original.