Metal Gear Solid 20Th Anniversary Metal Gear Music Collection

From Metal Gear's humble beginngs on the MSX, to its cinematic games on the Playstation, creator Hideo Kojima has created an influential game series that is one of the best ever created. The music is also some of the best ever composed. The CD starts off with a 15 minute orchestral medley that contains various themes from each game. From "Theme of Tara" to "Gene," this medley is defiantly a highlight on the album and is not boring for a second. Next, we have the vocal song "Snake Eater." Sung by Cynthia Harrell, this 1960s James Bond-esque song tells the story of surviving in the jungle. Although the lyrics are a bit "meh" a some points, "Snake Eater" is no doubt one of the most famous vocal themes in video game history. Also from MGS3, we are given the cinematic piece "Virtuous Mission" composed by Hollywood composer Harry Gregson-Williams. The piece starts of at a slower pace, but towards the middle, the strings take over and it becomes faster paced as Snake makes his desent into the Russian jungle. Onto the MGS2 songs, we have "Yell Dead Cell" which combines fast paced electronic synth and "yelling" saxophone. We are then given the song "Who Am I Really? -Memories of Hal- Reminiscence," which is an orchestral medely of three MGS2 songs. Here, Norhiko Hibono gives us a piece filled with emotion and sadness, showing us the pain Raiden, Otacon, and Emma have gone through in their lives. The album then cuts to "Metal Gear Solid Main Theme ~ The World Needs Only One Big Boss!." The original theme from MGS2 has been discarded due to copyright issues, but what is given is still good. Next, the album gives us the jazzy "Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday," sung by Carla White. The album then switches gears into the rock-orchestra arrangement "Zanzibar Breeze." It combines hard rock with orchestra into an overall memorable piece. Finally, we are given two more vocal songs "The Best is Yet to Come" and "Calling to the Night." The two songs are both great, and both create a fiting end to their respective games. A piano arrangement of the latter is also given. Overall, this album is a definate purchase for both hardcore and causual MGS fans. It defiantly doesn't disappoint, and it's a great way to celebrate one of video game's most "solid" franchises (no pun intended).

If you like Metal Gear, you should get this soundtrack. The majority of the tracks are from Snake Eater, and there are none from Guns of the Patriots (Obviously 4 was not out yet). The title track is an orchestrated melody of songs from Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid (the Cavern theme and the alert theme, Encounter), Metal Gear Solid 2 (Tanker music), Metal Gear Solid 3 (the jungle themes and the Escape theme), and Gene's theme from Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops. "Yell" Dead Cell is remixed and it is better than the original, or so I think. Track 5 is three instrumental songs from Sons of Liberty, made into an orchestra suite. The Main Theme is from Snake Eater, but does not include the famous Metal Gear Solid motif. Instead, it transitions into The World Needs Only One Big Boss. Zanzibar Breeze is like a rock arrangement of the song from Metal Gear 2, and all the vocal songs except the ending themes from Snake Eater are present as well. Calling to the Night on piano as the bonus track is beautiful, too.

This would have been the perfect Music Collection had they included the "'Metal Gear Solid' Main Theme" that was established by TAPPY. Which was discluded from this album for reasons unknown. Other than that though there are some great covers of old pieces like "Who Am I Really? -Memories of Hal- Reminiscence" and "Zanzibar Breeze".