1 – Metal Gear Solid (Konami, 1998)
It is the third installment of the series created by Hideo Kojima after Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and the first adventure in the console of Sony, PlayStation. It was originally to be developed for 3DO console and was due to be released in 1994 under the name of Metal Gear Solid 3. Due to the lack of financial support for game’s creation, it was developed for PlayStation and sold as Metal Gear Solid on September 3, 1998 in Japan and on October 21 in the United States.
The plot revolves around Solid Snake, a soldier who must infiltrate premises of an elite group known as FOXHOUND on island of Shadow Moses in Alaska. Solid Snake has to rescue the hostages, annihilate the terrorists and avoid a nuclear launch, all in a plot that is characterized by its complexity and immersion of the player with everything that surrounds him within the adventure.
It was the first game in the series to make use of 3D graphics. In fact, surname ‘Solid’ is not only for protagonist of the adventure, it also refers to environments so ‘solid’ that technology of the time allowed to create for the game. In addition, this installment used the same engine of the game for numerous cinematic adventures. It is one of the most remembered games of this console.
2 – Dino Crisis (Capcom, 1999)
It was developed under the baton of Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. It was developed by Capcom for its launch in PlayStation in 1999, although later versions were realized for Sega Dreamcast and Microsoft Windows in the year 2000. Its mixture of survival horror with dinosaurs was a success, and the game got to enter in the lists of the most sold games during the year of its launch, selling about 2 and a half million copies.
The adventure revolves around Regina, an intelligence agent member of the SORT, special force. Regina and three other members of the team are sent to an island where they find a secret government base that has been attacked by the dinosaurs where the team has to go and rescue Dr. Edward Kirk. The game has several endings depending on some decisions the player makes.
Dino Crisis borrows numerous aspects of the gameplay mechanics of Resident Evil, though in this case Capcom puts the undead aside and replaces them with dinosaurs. During the plot, the players has to go through many desolate installations while solving puzzles and get security keys to access new zones. All this while, they are attacked by the dinosaurs. The game used 3D graphics, something that was very novel for an era accustomed to pre-rendered graphics.
3 – Soul Reaver (Crystal Dynamics, 1999)
It was the second game of Legacy of Kain saga and it went on sale on PlayStation in 1999. The facts of this game occur 1500 years after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, and relate how Raziel, son of Kain, becomes a soul-harvester guided by a divine force, and to make matters worse, he has a difficult task of restoring natural balance to the city of Nosgoth. Importance of the plot and spectacular artistic design were keys to the success of this game for PlayStation.
