The current video game generation is quickly becoming known as much for its full-scale remakes as it is for its rampant sequels. While this may be troubling for players seeking the next big thing, one need look no further than last year's excellent Resident Evil for proof that a remake can be worthwhile given the proper amount of devotion from the developer. Konami is seeking to reap similar benefits from a next-generation remake of its top PlayStation franchise, Metal Gear Solid. Entitled The Twin Snakes, this GameCube update offers a prettier, more playable version of Hideo Kojima's landmark work of interactive entertainment. While it doesn't go quite as far as Capcom's complete re-imagining efforts, Metal Gear Solid has nonetheless received a fine next-generation upgrade that fans will likely snap right up.

Originally released to much fanfare in 1998, Hideo Kojima's 32-bit incarnation of the Metal Gear franchise brought a stunning level of cinematic accomplishment and narrative complexity to a medium that was still struggling for legitimacy in those areas. Its extended expository cutscenes were given life by Hollywood-caliber voice talent which, coupled with an ambitious script with more than enough plot twists to sustain an entire season of soap operas, gave birth to an entirely new breed of story-driven experience. The quirky cast of characters (with names like Sniper Wolf and Revolver Ocelot) and larger-than-life feats of heroism fostered the feeling of taking part in a live-action comic book.

Aside from its trend-setting approach to storytelling, Metal Gear Solid's most memorable contribution is that it clearly demonstrated the artistic potential of the video game as more than just a form of entertainment. Kojima infused his bombastic spy spectacle with an unprecedented level of political and social commentary that elevated it to rarified air among interactive works. To this day, very few games dare to even broach the type of heady topics (eugenics in particular) that Metal Gear Solid tackled head-on. Kojima himself will admit that video games are not quite art, but his efforts in this arena undoubtedly brought the entire medium closer to that goal.

Metal Gear Solid delivered the goods with its gameplay too. As the world's first "Tactical Espionage Action" title, players guided legendary super-soldier Solid Snake through seemingly impossible combat situations against genetically-enhanced commandos, cybernetic ninjas, Russian attack helicopters and the walking nuclear-delivery tank itself, Metal Gear. The game reinvigorated the stealth action genre with tight mechanics that emphasized patience and planning over running and gunning. When it came time to stand and fight however, Metal Gear Solid brought its A-game with a host of adrenaline-pumping showdowns that required death-defying acts of bravado. In short, the game did everything right and, not surprisingly, ranks as my top pick of the PlayStation era.

All of these outstanding qualities are retained in The Twin Snakes, and what we're left with is a mostly excellent update to a classic game. While Hideo Kojima spear-headed the production, the heavy lifting was done by Canadian developers Silicon Knights, who is probably best known for producing the first M-rated game in the history of the GameCube (Eternal Darkness). While it may seem somewhat risky to farm out development on such a high-profile franchise, The Twin Snakes thankfully exhibits much of the quality you would expect from a Konami title. Konami and Silicon Knights have implemented a number of changes and improvements in an effort to match the quality of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Most are for the better, but some decisions may cause you to run back to the familiarity of the original.

The most obvious enhancement is the games' visuals, which have been brought in line with the majority of current generation software. The Twin Snakes exhibits much of the same graphic fidelity as 2001's Sons of Liberty, with high-quality character models, increased environmental detail and a host of solid visual effects. Animation is smooth and life-like for the most part, especially in cutscenes. Complex objects such as Liquid's Hind D and Metal Gear REX itself are much more detailed and make for some truly impressive sights. The game runs at a steady 60 frames per second, while cutscenes (which feature full scene anti-aliasing) run at 30 frames per second. It looks quite good and is obviously a big improvement over the PlayStation original.

While I'm very grateful to have a decent looking version of Metal Gear Solid to play, it is somewhat disappointing that the overall visual quality does not surpass Sons of Liberty. The weather effects aren't quite as impressive, and the lighting produces odd coloration, especially on faces. This is compounded by atrocious shadowing that lags behind MGS2 in every respect. And the one area where Metal Gear continues to disappoint (even in Sons of Liberty) is facial animation; put Solid Snake alongside Heather from Silent Hill 3, and the deficiencies are even more glaring. It's nothing you can't live with, but it is disheartening that The Twin Snakes doesn't show much improvement over a two-and-a-half-year-old title.

Another major departure from the original is the direction of the games' many story sequences. The movement and position of the camera more closely mimics a film and makes the game much more interesting to watch. The pacing is much more relaxed over the rapid-fire style of the original as well. This welcome change gives each line more room to breathe, resulting in conversations that feel more natural. The game still cuts away to live action film in select places, though this curiously seems to be different footage. To kick up the action cinematics a couple of notches, Kojima called in veteran director Ryuhei Kitamura, best known for his bloody samurai films like Versus and Aragami.

Kitamura brings his uncanny cinematic sense to a wide range of sequences, none more memorable than those in which Snake squares off against his top opponents (like Ocelot, Liquid, or the Ninja). These scenes are far more complex now and involve a wide range of martial arts and acrobatic maneuvers, approaching what you'd see in one of his films. Watching Snake battle against his sword-carrying Ninja adversary with a SOCOM pistol is one of the many highlights of the game. There are times when Kitamura's penchant for excessive spectacle gets out of control and makes the game seem a little too cartoony. Seeing Snake backflip off of a moving rocket to fire a killing blow against Liquid's helicopter is a bit much, even for a legendary solider.

The storyline and script have made the transition largely intact with only minor alterations here and there. Kojima's ambitious yarn of genetic enhancement and nuclear terrorism is just as gripping today as it was in 1998, though some segments of the script have been modified in The Twin Snakes. In the original, a wounded Meryl proclaims that "War is ugly. There's nothing glamourous about it.", while her Twin Snakes speech reads "War is meaningless. Nothing comes out of war." Both bits work as regrets from an injured combatant, but the former better reinforces Meryl's personal struggle over becoming a solider. Other minor instances of such changes crop up every so often (Snake and Otacon no longer discuss Meryl's rear end), though you likely won't notice unless you're a big fan of the original game.

Far more troubling is that some parts seem to have been outright censored. President Baker refers to the Military Oversight Committee as "bleeding heart liberals" in the original, but this has been lessened simply to "bunch" in The Twin Snakes. The original gets Baker's point across much more clearly, so it's upsetting to think that Kojima's team altered it to adhere to some form of political correctness. I hope that's not the case. Other scenes are missing altogether: one in which Snake converses with Master Miller about being a "dog" after felling Sniper Wolf is noticeably absent. You'll get used to it after a while, but one wonders why Kojima felt the need to tamper with an already excellent and well-loved script.

Even six years after its release, Metal Gear Solid still has the best English voice recording of any Japanese-made game in the PlayStation era. It is curious then that Konami would choose to re-record the voice track for The Twin Snakes; even more puzzling is the decision to change some of the voices. For starters, many of the characters who spoke with accents in the original have been "Americanized" in the remake. Dr. Naomi Hunter (British) and Mei Ling (Chinese) now sound like ordinary, plain-jane characters with no hint of ethnicity in their speech. Nastasha (Ukrainian) has also lost much of her thick accent, though it still comes through on occasion. I'm at a loss to explain away these choices, and I must confess that I prefer the original recording without exception.

The vast majority of the characters are voiced by their original actors, who are credited under their real names this time. David Hayter is once again excellent as the grizzled veteran Solid Snake, and his performance is all the more enjoyable thanks to a great cast that includes Cam Clarke (Liquid Snake), Debi Mae West (Meryl), Paul Eiding (Colonel Campbell) and Christopher Randolph (Otacon). Metal Gear Solid sounds better than ever thanks to completely reworked sound effects and Dolby Pro Logic II support. Everything from footsteps to explosions sounds loud and crisp, just like you'd want. The soundtrack incorporates themes from MGS2, and while this brings some cohesiveness to the series, I'm thoroughly saddened that the main battle theme from Metal Gear Solid has been eliminated.

The core gameplay has been enhanced with the new features introduced in Sons of Liberty. The most useful of these is the ability to aim and shoot in first-person view. This addition alone makes the game far more engaging to play, though this unfortunately has sapped some of the difficulty as well. Enemies can be hit in vital areas for an instant kill, and the shoot-the-radio trick can be used to prevent a solider from calling for backup. Snake can find an M9 tranquilizer gun, allowing you to progress through the game without killing enemy soldiers. Other new maneuvers include the ability to jump over railings and hang from ledges to avoid enemy patrols. Snake can also perform his dive roll from MGS2, and though it seems minor in the grand scheme of things, you no longer need to have a security card equipped to open a door. Thank you.

Many of the new play mechanics serve to make the game less difficult overall, but this is offset by the improvements to the enemy AI. The guards in Metal Gear Solid were notoriously easy to dispatch: you could simply run up behind them and snap their necks every time. Not so in The Twin Snakes, as the Genome Soldiers have the same advanced sight and hearing capabilities as their Russian counterparts in Sons of Liberty. Soldiers on upper levels can see down to the floor below, meaning that you'll have to be much more careful when neutralizing enemy patrols in The Twin Snakes. Indiscriminately knocking out guards is ill-advised; if one fails to report in at his specified interval, a search team will come to investigate.

Being discovered is the last thing you want to happen, because combat patrols are outfitted with shields and body armor and are much tougher to kill now. Guards are also much more adept at clearing than ever before and will often sniff you out of even the best hiding spots. Snake can hide in a locker or under a table until the heat is off, and likewise can hide dead bodies in those lockers. Boss battles are still the highlight of the adventure, and there are still multiple ways to defeat many of them. Bosses now have a Stun Gauge, meaning that you can technically defeat them (with a tranquilizer weapon) without killing them. This adds an extra challenge that veterans will likely want to pursue.

Metal Gear has one of the most complex control schemes on the market, and playing The Twin Snakes on the GameCube is way more frustrating than it should be. Since the GameCube pad lacks analog face buttons, you have to press an additional button to lower your weapon without firing a shot. Contrast this with Sons of Liberty, which allowed you to holster your gun simply by letting go of the button slowly. To further confound things, the buttons have been reassigned: you press A (which corresponds to X on the Sony pad) to fire, compared with Square in the original and Sons of Liberty; the confirm and cancel buttons are also different. It's very confusing, especially if you switch between this and other Metal Gear games, and gives me yet another reason to chastise Nintendo for developing a joypad that is radically different from their competitors.

Konami has included some nice features to round out this package. A 3D map is available that is similar to the Big Shell map from Sons of Liberty, and though you'll never get lost in The Twin Snakes, it is still a nice feature that allows you to visualize the layout of the base. The Boss Survival mode and Dog Tag hunt from MGS2 have been included, though completing the Dog Tag collection does not grant you any new bonuses. Bummer. The Briefing videos have been beefed up with polygonal cutscenes that are far more interesting to watch than before and include some nice light-hearted moments (Naomi snatching a cigarette out of Snake's mouth is too funny). The same completion bonuses (infinite ammo and stealth camouflage) can be acquired by finishing the game with both endings.

Some other minor annoyances bear mentioning here. I wanted to play some VR missions to familiarize myself with the controls prior to playing the game, but the game inexplicably lacks any type of VR training. During the Ninja battle, you can shoot a Mario action figure to restore your health, which is just downright silly. When Psycho Mantis does his mind probe trick, he'll mention games like The Legend of Zelda and Eternal Darkness if you have saves from those games on your memory card. Call me picky if you must, but it was a lot cooler hearing him talk about Castlevania and Suikoden in the original. I'm also baffled that Ryuhei Kitamura and Silicon Knights president Denis Dydack have their photos hanging alongside Kojima in the Commander's Room. Long-standing Metal Gear veterans like Yoji Shinkawa or Motosada Mori would have been much more appropriate choices, in my opinion.

I'm pleased with the overall level of polish in The Twin Snakes, but a number of questionable changes and outright omissions leave me hesitant to offer my highest recommendation. Metal Gear fans should definitely play the game and decide for themselves. Having this remake makes it easier to revisit what I consider the best game of the 32-bit era, but it does not relegate the original to obsolescence by any stretch. I played through the PlayStation version of Metal Gear Solid to prepare for this review, and I was amazed at how well it stands up aside from the graphics. Fans looking for a prettier, more involved iteration of a classic game are advised to check out Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes with the knowledge that it may not be everything they had hoped for in a remake.