It’s been a good time to be a Metal Gear fan the past few years as Konami has been on a role giving us remasters and remakes. It started back in 2023 with the release of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 which saw the first three games remastered on modern platforms and then was followed by the fantastic remake in 2025 of the third game in the form of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Now the team has followed up with the release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 which finally frees Metal Gear Solid 4 from the PlayStation 3, something Metal Gear fans have been pleading for for many, many years. Was the port worth the wait and is the whole package worthy of being checked out? Here is my review.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 doesn’t contain as many games as the last collection but what is here is still substantial. It contains Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots which originally released on the PlayStation 3 in 2008 and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker which originally released on the PSP in 2010. This collection does contain a third game in the form of Metal Gear: Ghost Babel that released on the Game Boy Color in 2000 but there isn’t as much of a focus put on it and almost feels hid away as you have to boot up the bonus app to even find it. Now Peace Walker was previously remastered but this is the first time MGS4 has been available on any system other than the PS3 because the Cell architecture of that platform made it hard to port. It being here alone is enough to make me interested as It’s one of my favorite games and I’ve been waiting forever to play it on a modern system.
One of the first things I want to mention is that I wasn’t a big fan of how this collection is presented. Instead of being able to boot up to a main menu and then select the game you want to play you instead have to boot each game up separately. So MGS4 and Peace Walker are individual apps of their own and then you have the bonus content vol. 2 app which is where you have to go to find Ghost Babel as well as soundtracks. The soundtracks being here is weird too as you get a little over a dozen tracks from MGS4 and Peace Walker but why they are in this bonus app instead of inside each of those games is puzzling. MGS4 for instance lets you play the game, view the Metal Gear database that was an app on the PS3, view artwork, etc so with all that there you would think the soundtrack would be there with the rest of it. It’s just really weird how the whole thing is presented and laid out and there had to be a better way at going about it.
As far as the games go the main two entries here were a bit polarizing to fans back when they released for several reasons. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a game I dearly love and the reason I bought my PlayStation 3 in 2008. It takes place five years after the end of Metal Gear Solid 2 and sees our hero Solid Snake now an old man as he is suffering from a rapid aging disease. Old Snake as he is now known is called back into action to put an end to Liquid Ocelot who is in control of various PMCs (private military corporations) The game takes place over five acts and sees Snake moving around the globe and taking on bosses like the Beauty and the Beast Corps. No spoilers from me here as if you are new to the franchise this game is a treat as it wraps up a ton of story beats in the franchise. Because of that though there is a ton of cutscenes and some of them can be quite long. One even is as long as a movie which didn’t bother me as I’ve always loved the cutscenes in this franchise but others may be bothered by it.
The game has never played better though as it runs at a smooth 60fps here where on the PS3 it was targeting 30fps but dropped below at times. I also liked how aiming and shooting is now on the L2/R2 triggers where on the PS3 it was always weird because it was mapped to L1/R1. One of the coolest things about this game was the Octocamo that Snake has which makes him automatically blend in with whatever he moves up against. No more having to go in and change your camo yourself like in MGS3. The game can feel a little less stressful at times due to how you just open a menu and use Drebin points to procure weapons and ammo instead of having to find them but it never bothered me back then and didn’t now either. Also, while I was never a big fan of it Metal Gear Online is not present in this collection so anyone who was hoping that would come back won’t find it here.
I wasn’t as keen to play Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker again as I played the remaster but I did mess around a bit to see possible changes. This entry takes place after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and has you in the boots of Big Boss once again. This game was divisive at the time too due to the mission structure, the management systems of having to recruit soldiers and assign them roles, and the comic book cutscenes. If you’ve played Metal Gear Solid 5 then you’ll see where that game got a lot of its systems from. I always like the cinematic cutscenes in the franchise so the shift to comic book styled ones always bothered me. Going into missions was done because the game was originally made for a portable system and Kojima wanted players to be able to get in and out of missions without spending too much time. I loved Metal Gear Solid 5 as well and so the missions and recruiting soldiers I enjoyed even though it was different from the mainline games. You can also still join up in online co-op and play missions with others. What’s a bummer is that some of the missions do get repetitive and the boss battles all feel like they were tuned for co-op play as they have a ton of health and feel unbalanced when playing solo.
Finally Metal Gear: Ghost Babel returns us to the top-down retro feel of Metal Gear 1 & 2 but it incorporates some elements of the Solid series. This was my first time playing the game and I quite enjoyed it. 13 stages are here to playthrough with each grading you on your performance after you finish. The element of the Solid series I was referring to is the ability to put yourself up against walls to knock on them to lure soldiers or to move along them. The plot isn’t really relevant to the rest of the series but it was worth the playthrough to experience it nonetheless.
Once you finis the games you can dive into the extras I mentioned earlier if you wish and I think they are a treat for true fans. Both games have a Master Book that provides a ton of details and artwork while a Screenplay Book is present that lays out the games in text form which is neat. The soundtracks are nice to listen to on the bonus app as well. It would’ve been nice to get at least one other game in this collection as there are still quite a few left Konami could’ve included but we’ll have to wait on that.
I may be a bit biased as Metal Gear is one of my favorite franchises but I recommend Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 to anyone out there that has played the previous games. Metal Gear Solid 4 finally being available on every major current platform makes this collection worth it alone in my opinion but Peace Walker and Ghost Babel both add a lot more playtime to the collection. All of these games have never played better either as they run at a smooth 60FPS and look better than ever. I do wish how they were presented was better and the inclusion of another game would’ve been welcomed but hopefully a Master Collection Vol. 3 can solve these woes.
*Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. PlayStation 5 version reviewed. Review copy provided by Konami for this review.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2
$49.99
Pros
- Metal Gear Solid 4 is an Excellent Conclusion to the Story
- Both Games Look and Play Better than Ever
- Updated Controls Feel Great
- Tons of Bonus Content to Enjoy
- Metal Gear: Ghost Babel is a neat addition to have
Cons
- Wish there was a central hub to launch games instead of individual apps
- No Metal Gear Online present
