Revamping the Metallic Tools Solid Grasp Assortment Vol. 1: Progress Made, Yet Challenges Persist

Debuted in late 2023, Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 was a promising yet ultimately disappointing, buggy, and visually underwhelming attempt from Konami. However, the positive news is that enhancements have been implemented, with version 2.0 focusing on several major issues on both console and PC. It’s a relief to see improvements, as this project deserves to be rescued – presenting an all-encompassing collection of seven core games in the series, along with some beautifully curated extras. Currently, I’m concentrating on the Metal Gear Solid trilogy – the more challenging fully 3D installments that initially launched on PlayStation 1 and 2 – since that’s truly where a lot of the issues arose within this franchise. So exactly what has changed, and is the Master Collection now the ultimate way to play?

Let’s dive right into the most pressing issue: Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3’s visual performance. The Master Collection uses the same codebase as the HD Collection, initially released by Bluepoint for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. While a solid port for its time, the main criticism is that the Master Collection continued to run these games at the same native 720p resolution, even on PS5, Series X, and S. The outcome is an upscaled 4K display, with significant aliasing visible. Even worse, the PC version also operated at 720p without a graphics menu to adjust either of these games’ visual settings.

Version 2.0 addresses this issue to some degree. MGS2 and 3 now provide options in their front-end launchers, allowing players to increase the internal resolution up to 1080p. This is accompanied by a separate upscaling option where AMD’s FSR technology is applied to upscale the lower resolution to 1080p, 1440p, or 4K resolution. Moreover, there’s a movie mode for both MGS2 and 3 that enables us to access a ‘High Resolution’ setting. This mode enhances all pre-rendered cutscenes in both games, applying AI-driven upscaling to the original encode, resulting in a sharper, cleaner final product.

With all three settings enhanced – the native 1080p rendering, 4K upscaling, and high-resolution cutscenes – Konami refers to this as the ‘tweaked’ mode, while the original settings still remain available for those who desire them. Overall, it’s a somewhat chaotic solution, but the tweaked mode does have a noticeable effect. On PS5 and Series X, the new preset minimizes stair-stepping – the pixel distortion – across any jagged geometric edges. Visual noise has largely been reduced, but you will still easily encounter aliasing on bright, overhanging lights or door outlines – although at least the upgrade from 720p to 1080p provides a better gradient for these transitions. Just as importantly, patch 2.0’s enhanced 4K upscaling leads to improved clarity throughout a scene. Distant signage and the metallic railings of MGS2’s oil rig are depicted more crisply, and it also clarifies Metal Gear Solid 3’s dense forest areas with a sharper image. Again, visual noise remains apparent, especially when utilizing the free camera to quickly survey in MGS3, but it is definitely an overall improvement.

The situation on PS5 is certainly better, but the glaring issue is that we ought to be achieving a native 4K from what is essentially a title from 2001 on PlayStation 2. Base consoles – and definitely PC – have more than enough GPU power to deliver true 4K as a reality, and indeed this has been feasible since the series’ debut on PC thanks to mods. Equally frustrating is that the PC, Xbox Series X, and S versions continue to suffer from blurry, low-quality texture filtering, resulting in visible smearing of floor detail seen at close angles. This is particularly noticeable in Snake Eater, which features more sophisticated texture maps on the ground. No improvements have been made here on Xbox since launch, well over 16 months later. This means that the original Xbox 360 HD Collection version still benefits from 16x anisotropic filtering when played via backward compatibility on a Series X console – though obviously, it lacks the superior native 1080p resolution of the Master Collection. Again, this isn’t an issue for PS5, which filters all textures at a higher setting.

The new movie mode could be intriguing, enhancing the pre-rendered cutscenes on their own (which are rarely seen given MGS2 and 3’s typical focus on in-engine cinematics). Nevertheless, the improvement is clear to see in both games’ main menu sequences or any old archival footage that might appear. The clarity of textual materials is sharper, macroblocking has been reduced, and there’s a cleaner resolution to intricate patterns overall. It may not suit everyone’s preference, but Konami is evidently working with a low-resolution source designed for the PS2 generation. In that regard, I’m pleased that we now have an option to upscale them, and it’s still an advancement from the Master Collection at launch.

Focusing on MGS2 and 3, the Nintendo Switch version has also seen enhancements. Unfortunately, we do not gain the upscaling options found on other platforms, and Switch still operates at a native 720p resolution. It also appears to have virtually no anti-aliasing and entirely lacks texture filtering – creating a noisier, flicker-prone image when docked to a larger screen. The primary improvement, however, is in frame-rate performance. Konami promised to address the stutters in the Switch’s frame-rate in MGS2 specifically, and patch 2.0 indeed makes things better. Compared to the original release, in-engine cutscenes featuring a prolonged view of the Big Shell now gain an increase of 2-5fps with the latest update. Sadly, sub-30fps drops still occur, even with the most recent patch, but it is indeed progress – plus we’re witnessing a decrease in frame-time fluctuations compared to the original release. It’s worth mentioning that some cutscenes have an intentional 15fps cap for effect, which is consistent across all platforms and remains unchanged on the latest Switch patch.

It’s good news for Switch gamers, yet it remains a significant disappointment overall. We are still struggling to maintain a steady 30 frames per second in MGS2, which is surprising given that it ran at 60fps on PlayStation 2 (and Vita!). Oddly, this exclusion applies only to actions like opening and closing doors – such as lockers – where the frame-rate suddenly jumps to 60 fps on Switch. It’s quite unfortunate, and achieving 60fps on the system remains a challenge.