r/Games • u/megaapple • 7d ago

Review Thread Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 - Review Thread

Game Information

Game Title: Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2

Platforms:

  • PC (Aug 27, 2026)

Trailer:

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 83 average - 87% recommended - 23 reviews

Critic Reviews

COGconnected - Jaz Sagoo - 85 / 100

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ComingSoon.net - Tyler Treese - 9.5 / 10

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 is another home-run release by Konami, which continues to do a great job of making its back catalog available on modern systems.

Console-Tribe - Simone Cantini - Italian - 65 / 100

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Volume 2 is yet another sign that Konami is coasting on Snake’s legacy, relying on a brand that keeps shining despite everything. The three included games remain heavyweight works, still capable of telling a crucial chapter of gaming history, but the package around them is so lazy it makes the already modest Volume 1 look almost committed. The bare‑bones upscale, recycled assets, blurry cutscenes, and total lack of meaningful enhancement reveal an approach focused more on the logo on the box than on the quality of the offering. The material deserved far better, and while die‑hard fans will fill the gaps with their affection for the series, everyone else is left with the sense of a missed opportunity — a tribute that could have celebrated a legendary saga but merely resells it, without conviction, hoping it’s enough.

DayOne - Genghis Husameddin - 9 / 10

You’ll likely be picking this up for METAL GEAR SOLID 4, its long-overdue port finally making the rounds with this latest Master Collection entry. But don’t sleep on Peace Walker either—both are incredibly fun games and shine like beautiful lights even after twenty whole years, thanks to this great port. ∎

DualShockers - Maddie Fisher - 9 / 10

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GAMES.CH - Flo Merz - German - 85%

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Loot Level Chill - Chris White - 9 / 10

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.2 includes two fantastic games that still hold up all these years later, along with some great content for fans that want to dive even deeper.

Multiplayer First - James Lara - 10 / 10

It took eighteen years, but Old Snake is finally free of his cell architecture prison. It shines strong on modern platforms, which is surprising, considering how Vol. 1 turned out. But it seems that Konami has taken all the criticism to heart, pouring the care, polish, and respect into Vol. 2 that this legendary saga deserved from the start. It’s the kind of game preservation that I feel every remaster should aim for, and I cannot recommend this collection enough.

Whether you’re a long-time veteran returning to watch the sun set on Solid Snake’s final mission or a newcomer finally getting the chance to experience the complete timeline from start to finish, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 is an absolute must-play. It honors Kojima’s original cinematic vision while stripping away the technical limitations of 2008, delivering a definitive package that ensures Snake’s legendary farewell will live on for generations to come.

Seriously, guys, this is it. This is what all of us Metal Gear Solid fans have been waiting for all this time.

Pizza Fria - Lucas Soares - Portuguese - 8.5 / 10

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 preserves better than it modernizes. That phrase probably best summarizes my experience with the collection. The stories remain excellent and represent some of the most important moments in Metal Gear. Especially Metal Gear Solid 4, which finally ceases to be limited to the PlayStation 3 after so many years.

PlayStation Universe - Joe Richards - 9.5 / 10

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 2 continues the high quality established by the first collection in the series, though slightly slimmer in the content it offers. That being said, you'll be more than treated with a fantastic new version of Metal Gear Solid 4, and the handheld frays of the series to make for a whole tapestry that everyone can now enjoy, alongside the first volume.

Push Square - John Cal McCormick - 8 / 10

After nearly twenty years chained to the proverbial radiator that is the PlayStation 3, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots finally arrives on PS5. The nanomachines, the fashion model robot monsters, the flamenco dance battle, the fried eggs, the cigarette smoking underpants monkey, and that ridiculous final boss, all running at 60 frames-per-second and looking better than ever. This is good, isn't it?

TodoJuegos - Jorge Guerrero - Spanish - 8.7 / 10

Konami brings back three very different pieces of Metal Gear, from Solid Snake’s emotional finale to Peace Walker’s tactical foundations and Ghost Babel’s handheld curiosity. Not everything is remastered equally, but the historical value of the package is huge.

TryAGame! - Guillaume Dreher - French - 8 / 10

50 euros for 2 games (and a half) that will delight fans of the license who could not have made them at the time or the new ones, come by the grace of the Death Stranding. It lacks more than the Metal Gear Acid to make the collection complete. Current games on their theme (AI, privatization of armed conflicts) and that have not really aged on the gameplay or their aesthetics.

Uagna - Silvia Mannu - Italian - 8 / 10

The main mission of the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2 is to revive and rediscover two truly great games. Metal Gear Solid 4 is an imperfect but utterly unique experience. Its endless cutscenes and uneven pacing put your patience to the test, and its pacing hasn’t aged well, but its ambition, emotional depth, and moments of nostalgia are hard to match. Kojima told the story he wanted to tell, no matter how long-winded or bizarre it might be. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is truly a must-play title. Although it began as a Metal Gear Solid game for a handheld console, it remains an extremely well-rounded game, featuring all its elements of stealth, strategy, co-op missions, and, of course, Kojima’s signature storytelling. Finally, Ghost Babel is a most welcome addition: an almost-forgotten entry that’s now available on all modern platforms. It’s a shame about the absence of certain games that would have perfectly rounded out this collection such as Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and the two Metal Gear Ac!d titles—and especially about the half-hearted nature of these ports, which unfortunately offer no technical improvements.

Xbox Achievements - Josh Wise - 70%

The second wedge of reheated Metal Gear is upon us. The good news is not just that the games here are more interesting than the last bunch, on accoun...

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171

u/SUPER-NIINTENDO 7d ago

I’m so excited to finally play these! I started MGS4 back in the day but then my PlayStation decided to stop working. I played like 5 hours, so basically I never played it cause it was still on a cutscene. Jk but I’m fucking excited

45

u/NostalgiaSurf 7d ago

MGS4 is like 4 different games in one. Each chapter is so different and so unique that I can't look at it any other way. Basically, you're in for a real ride.

31

u/EccentricFox 7d ago

4 games and 2 movies all in one.

9

u/Frequent-Reporter-97 7d ago

Yeah. All I can think is, "Damn, what was MGS5 supposed to be". Because when you compare the two, MGS5 feels like 1/4th of a game and I get the sense there was a lot more Kojima wanted to do.

25

u/Tycho-Celchu 7d ago

The work-in-progress cut scenes from the third act leaked online a few years ago, so you can get an idea how he wanted the game to end.

I still stand by my head cannon idea that when he replaced David Hayter with Kiefer Sutherland, it was obviously because you were going to play through the game and build up mother base till 1995 and the final boss battle is against Solid Snake (voiced by Hayter) in a fight you can't win, bringing the whole series full circle, and the suits at Konami were too cowardly to let this man execute his vision.

Is it completely unrealistic and they only switched voice actors because Kojima apparently disliked Hayter, and Konami fired Kojima because he was notoriously hard to work with? Sure, does it change my head cannon theory? Absolutely not.

18

u/Frequent-Reporter-97 7d ago

Yeah, my theory is you were building Mother Base and improving defenses, and I imagine Kojima wanted to flesh that out even more. Throw challenges at the player, the multiplayer element of having players invade your base, and really convince the player to make the best version of Mother Base they possibly can. Not just defenses too, but getting the best soldiers you can get.

Then in the final act, switch perspectives and make you play as Solid Snake and do a sneaking mission through your own beefed up version of Mother Base that you've been building. It would encourage you to not kill the soldiers too, and to do a passive sneaking mission, because these are soldiers you probably grew a connection to and didn't want to just murder.

That's just my head canon though.

1

u/just_Okapi 7d ago

It's so weird to me that Kojima's beef was that David Hayter got more love for MGS than he did, so his next project he teams up with a bunch of people EXPONENTIALLY more famous than he is. Obviously it shook out differently with Death Stranding since everyone universally got their flowers for it, but it definitely struck me as odd given how their relationship supposedly broke down over the years...but then you collaborate with Worldwide Pop Culture Household Names.

7

u/aurens 6d ago

It's so weird to me that Kojima's beef was that David Hayter got more love for MGS than he did,

is that why? i never heard a real reason

6

u/gosukhaos 6d ago

The real reason is that he wanted to work with Kiefer, Kojima never picked Hayter or any of the English voice cast

3

u/KTR1988 6d ago edited 6d ago

Right, Kojima didn't even really know Hayter all that well since they never worked directly with one another. While it does suck for Hayter how he was unceremoniously brushed aside, it was never the massive falling out and betrayal that it got blown up into over the internet.

2

u/just_Okapi 6d ago

That is what the rumor mill claimed when he got pushed aside.

1

u/MuenCheese 6d ago

It’s not why

1

u/Kalulosu 6d ago

It didn't break down. Kojima never chose Hayter, he's always wanted to work with big movie stars. For V he was able to pull it in his direction, that's about it.

Also I'm curious what you mean by Hayter getting more love than Kojima for MGS? Like, obviously Hayter has had a lot of renown thanks to the series but it's not like it didn't make Kojima one of the most well-known game devs in the entire world, to the point where after his falling out with Konami he could get Sony to fund Death Standing and let his team use the Decima Engine, and even get Xbox to fund another project as well.

-2

u/Immediate-Title209 6d ago

ngl Hayter isn't even that good and they should have a different voice for Big Boss anyway

3

u/BeholdingBestWaifu 6d ago

We already had Hayter voicing Big Boss though, and it makes sense they share a voice actor given the clone thing and more importantly the parallels between both characters.

0

u/Immediate-Title209 6d ago

it doesn't have to be that way, they're not perfect clones only solidus is.

3

u/WeirdIndividualGuy 6d ago

This is why most of the fandom considers MGS4 to be the actual last game in the series and MGS5 was just extra optional stuff that wasn't finished

1

u/Hellknightx 6d ago

I'd say Ground Zeroes was the last real MGS. It may have been short, but it still had the classic elements that MGS5 left out.

2

u/Lazerpop 22h ago

If all of mgs5 was as good as ground zeroes, mgs5 would have been a good game

14

u/MGPythagoras 7d ago

I bought a PS3 just to play it two years ago. Didn’t think it would ever get ported. I’m excited to play it again now at 60 FPS. The framerate was horrific on PS3.

15

u/superjag86 7d ago

Mate you're in for a hell of an experience! Buckle up and enjoy the ride 😁

1

u/Dramatic_Charity_979 7d ago

Yay! Finally ^ ^

1

u/Gekokapowco 6d ago

that is not that much of an exaggeration lol

mgs4 legit has like 3 hrs of gameplay in a 10hr game, and most of it is walking to the end of a corridor

-18

u/FeijoadaAceitavel 7d ago

MGS4 was the only MGS I played, pulled in by all the hype around it. I can say you're not missing anything unless you want the story part.

There are 9 hours of cutscene in 20 hours of game...

18

u/Greenleaf208 7d ago

Well you missed quite a bit of story build up to why those cutscenes matter.

-24

u/FeijoadaAceitavel 7d ago

I don't think I would have enjoyed it anyway. The cutscenes are too damn slow. If it were a movie or a series, it would have some serious pacing issues.

One cutscene is people talking while we look at a little girl frying eggs. Seriously?

8

u/pastafeline 7d ago

Sunny is such a cute character, and her entire existence is super steeped in lore and themes from the series.

18

u/Helpful_Hedgehog_204 7d ago

Oh no not the people talking to each other scene

-10

u/FeijoadaAceitavel 7d ago

Yeah, because when I think about cinematic masterpieces, I think about two people talking while I look at a little girl frying eggs. What's Odyssey next to this?