Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 Review (PS5) – It’s been a couple of years since Volume 1 of the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection was released, and the decision to name it Volume 1 always suggested that there would be more. Skip forward to now, and the entire Metal Gear Solid main series is now available on modern platforms, from beginning to end.
While Volume 2 features a slimmer collection of games when compared to its predecessor, this compilation finally frees Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots from its PlayStation 3 prison, and does so while preserving everything that made the game special.
Whether you’ve played the series before, or playing it for the first time, this is the most convenient way to experience the entire back-end of Kojima’s flagship franchise, even if he isn’t directly involved any more.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 Review (PS5) – A Legacy Completed
All in One Place
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 2 includes two main games as opposed to the three featured in the original collection, these being the PS3’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and the PSP’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Both are integral to the overarching story of the franchise, and in the case of Metal Gear Solid 4 stuck on other hardware.
Peace Walker had been previously remastered for other platforms, but Metal Gear Solid 4 was exclusively a PS3 joint that seemed almost impossible to get off of the system. It was very much made with the PS3 in mind, making a straight port an almost impossibility. In that respect, Volume 2 of the Master Collection is a miracle in its own right, finally bringing one of the last PS3 exclusives to larger audiences. It also includes Metal Gear: Ghost Babel as a small addition for true Metal Gear aficionados. It’s the small things!
On a base level, all of the games run at rock-solid frame rates, and feature absolutely all of the content that came included with the original releases. For Metal Gear Solid 4, this means every reference to real world products has miraculously stood the test of time, and for Peace Walker, the multiplayer elements are back in full force. There is zero compromise in this collection, which seems to be a rarity.
A Forgotten Journey
With the time I had to review the collection, unfortunately I haven’t been able to finish both games in their entirety. Despite this, I can tell you that every game in this collection is worth the asking price on their own, and convincingly brings the rest of the Solid Snake Saga to home consoles. Metal Gear Solid 4 remains an ambitious tactical espionage flick, taking clear advantage of the more powerful hardware that it was developed for.
Moving away slightly from the grounded action stealth of Snake Eater, and back to the more action focused Sons of Liberty, this game really feels like a step up in scale and spectacle. It’s as self-indulgent as you could expect, but I can’t help but love how hard it waxes poetic about the state of the world. The word of the day is PMC, and it’s very clear that director Hideo Kojima was more than a bit sceptical of the entire concept.
Because of how much this game needed to be fully rebuilt for modern architecture, Guns of the Patriots feels far more akin to a remake than remaster, while sticking faithful to the original design. In terms of visual design, it balances realism with downright absurd enemy design that’s become a staple of the series.
Match this with some of the longest cutscenes that I’ve ever sat through, and it becomes clear that this game had an obvious vision behind it at launch, and it still rings true today. Cutscenes running regularly more than 20 minutes is hardly something that bothers me, mostly down to the game having an actual pause button for cutscenes now, thank the lord. Again, it’s the small things.
The exploration of the so-called ‘war economy’ is the backdrop for Guns of the Patriots, and this even manifests in gameplay, where you now have the ability to just buy whatever guns and tools you want, based on an arbitrary currency that is given to you by a weapons dealer. Where Snake Eater had you nursing your suppressors, you can just buy 10 of the things in one go here. The juxtaposition is significant.
Handheld Preservation
The other major game in this collection goes in the other direction, and pins its appeal almost entirely on gameplay. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is a handheld entry that, while being vital to the story of the series, dabbles in multiplayer elements that the game quite literally likens to Monster Hunter.
There’s absolutely a single player narrative here to enjoy, but gameplay is portioned down into bitesize missions instead of one grand design. Given the fact the game was originally designed for the PSP, this makes a lot of sense. It’s all the great of MGS, broken down into chunks that you can pick up and play, with very little compromise.
With the limitations of the PSP in mind, the short movies of MGS4 are replaced with awesome comic strips that do well to create a distinct style with what the game has. I’m sure that Konami could very easily remake the game with full animated cutscenes, but the comic panels are so full of intentional style that I feel that Peace Walker would be lost without them.
Of course, the PS5 doesn’t struggle at all with running Peace Walker, running at high frame rate and resolution, while also having the architecture for the online multiplayer that so defines it. A lot of the main missions are single player only, but there’s a litany of side content to dig into should you be interested in building out your Mother Base.
The entire game is built around growing your presence on the base, developing new weapons and gear to help you take on tougher missions. In that way, the Monster Hunter comparisons really do make a lot of sense, and I can imagine enjoying this one on a handheld system quite readily. There are very few compromises made to fit this game on a smaller platform that have maintained to this day. Camouflage is simpler, enemy AI seems to be a bit less punishing, small but noticeable details that do little to detract.
A Legacy Complete
Looking at the broader picture, this collection is worth its weight in gold in preservation, if nothing else. This collection of games means that the entire main series of Metal Gear Solid is available officially for the first time on a single platform, with no weird hoops to jump through. There isn’t the one black sheep that you have to go out of your way to play, you can play the whole series in one place.
For a series that has been so plagued with having a core entry stranded on old hardware, this will be the first time that many, including myself, will be able to see the legendary story to its proper conclusion, after two decades of having to make peace with not experiencing it.
Even better still, this collection is technically faultless and stands toe to toe with some of the greatest compilations of all time. For someone looking to experience the entire series from beginning to end, this collection continues the high benchmark of quality that the first volume began.
The only thing missing is the cutscene of Snake smoking during the installation. The cost of having hardware that can handle your game, eh?
Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2 is due out on August 27, 2026 for PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.