Seeing photos of MGS2 and MGS3 isn't enough to appreciate this HD collection. By moving the games from 30 frames per second to 60 fps, the games look that much better. The conversion from a resolution of 4:3 480i to 16:9 720p is also a huge leap, something that most screenshots cannot accurately express. Basically, the closest you will ever get to seeing MGS2 look this good is if you can somehow get your hands on the elusive PC version which can run at 1920x1080. MGS3 did not get a PC version and it's easily the best looking the game has ever been.
MGS:PW received the biggest improvement of all, however. The few CG and real-time cutscenes in MGS:PW were just plain awful looking on the PSP, giving good reasoning for the comic book style cutscenes through the majority of the game. This HD remake however, greatly improves Peace Walker to be near the same graphical quality as the PS2 games. The addition of a 2nd analog stick also makes Peace Walker control more similarly to MGS3 or 4, but because of the easier camera control and maneuverability, the game's difficulty has dropped significantly beyond its already low difficulty. The increased resolution also causes soldiers to stand out much more, making sneaking much easier. I haven't gotten to gillie suit soldiers yet, so it remains to be seen if those missions will be easier with the increased resolution.
Considering that this release marks only the 2nd time a Metal Gear game appears on a Microsoft console, this collection is huge. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was originally an Xbox exclusive, before being ported to the PS2, but the other MGS games never saw even a hint of an appearance on the Xbox or Xbox 360. Like the Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection released for the PS2, MGS2 and MGS3 are the Substance and Subsistence versions, although the MGS3 released for the Essential Collection did not include Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, or the monkey mini-game. This release now includes all those features, but still does not include the 3rd disc, "Existence" which was Metal Gear Online, most likely due to the MGO servers shutting down years ago.
The best feature of this HD revamp however, is the audio. While MGS2 was compatible with DTS, it never sounded this good. MGS3 and MGS:PW and get the DTS treatment as well, making their jungle environments far more interesting, but also causes MGS3's difficulty to dip slightly since you can now clearly hear soldier's footsteps from around the corner, causing less need for the movement sensor.
These HD collections are getting rave reviews as they should be, but the biggest news is that for the first time, a PSP game has been converted to a PS3/Xbox 360 game. Many people have felt that several games over the years have been squandered on the PSP (Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and God of War: Ghost of Sparta), so this may fuel game developers coughSquareEnixcough to transfer more excellent PSP games that have been overlooked over to the PS3 and/or Xbox 360. SE has already announced an HD remake for Final Fantasy X that will hit both the PS3 and PS Vita, so why not a transfer of Dissidia?
Humorously enough, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 also got the "HD" treatment, having full MSX surround sound and better defined pixels that are more square than ever, similar to the Wii's Virtual Console games when played in 480p.
I would have liked to see Metal Gear Solid and/or MGS: Portable Ops included with this collection, but the PS1 polygons are so outdated and pixelated that doing an HD remake would simply not be possible, while MGS:PO was simply not very well received and was excessively time consuming.
Correction: The MGS HD Collection runs at 720p, not 1080p.
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