SPOILER ALERT: Plot details for Metal Gear Solid follow.
With the creation of the PlayStation, and the onset of three dimensional games, the question understandably arose if video games had the potential to be cinematic. Gaming, of course, is a visual medium, and further, a storytelling one. The only other comparable medium that gaming could turn into was film. Only movies carried While Nintendo certainly broke new ground in three-dimensional games with Super Mario 64, The Ocarina of Time, and Starfox, but they compared more with cartoons than with the stuff of movies. It is said that two games truly established the PlayStation, and proved, beyond any doubt, that this new medium of video games could adopt the aesthetic of a film. These were Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid. While Final Fantasy VII certainly represented a more realistic venture than the series had before witnessed, it couldn't compare to Metal Gear Solid, with its more human models, documentary footage, and an uncanny resemblance to action thrillers like Die Hard.
Metal Gear Solid is not the inaugural game in the series. Two previous Metal Gear games, adopted the tactics of stealth in armed compounds, with Solid Snake as the star, twice confronting the villain Big Boss. The games were innovators in the idea that you should win with strategy and sneak, not going in guns blazing. This carried over to the new game, but with power of 3D, hence the title: Solid. This, along with the technological power of the PlayStation, allowed for a complete overhaul of the series' platform, and with a wider audience to boot. For many gamers, Solid is their entry point into Kojima's monumental franchise.
MGS takes place on Shadow Moses Island where terrorists from the organization FOXHOUND have taken control of Metal Gear Rex, a mech that can launch nuclear missiles. You play Solid Snake a soldier who is tasked with infiltrating the base and keeping the terrorists from launching it, which could possibly spark nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Snake's original design was taken from Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese in The Terminator, though he later took inspiration from Kurt Russell's taciturn Snake Plissken in Escape From New York, adopting the beard and eyepatch in later entries. There's also something of John Rambo in him, a bandanna clad one-man-army. Yoji Shinkawa's rough and elemental character designs deserve credit here. Snake, though, comes into his own as of the great characters of video games. Like Eastwood's Man With No Name, he's a stoic warrior with a laconic sense of humor. Battle has almost consumed him body and soul, and he seems himself more as a weapon than human. Despite this, Snake isn't heartless. He treats his enemies honorably, and his friends, he learns to care for.
While inside, you meet allies from the eager young warrior Meryl to the otaku computer engineer Otacon. Meanwhile, your commlink keeps you in contact with the rest of your team, Colonel Campbell, who heads the operation, Master Miller, who trained you, Naomi Hunter, an agent who's wary of your morals, Nastasha, a weapons expert, and Mei Ling, who saves your game and annoys you with endless proverbs. Your commlink keeps the game from getting too lonely, adding fresh humanity to the gritty storyline. It is also important to the gameplay, as these individuals can give you advice when you're stuck with a boss or lost in an air vent.
On the surface, a game that focuses on hiding and sneaking sounds limited in gameplay terms, however, MGS provides an ever expanding array of freedom and options. You start off on Shadow Moses virtually naked, picking up various weapons and tools along the way. A lot like the Zelda games, you slowly build a wide arsenal that can be utilized for various circumstances. Chaff grenades can briefly put security cameras on the fritz, while stun grenades can stop those chasing you. The navigation goggles are useful for dark areas, particularly, the wolf cave, while the cigarette smoke can reveal hidden laser beams or calm you as you fire the sniper rifle. The game rewards you for searching out every nook and cranny, with useful and rare items like the gas mask, the thermogoggles, the mine detector, and the body armour. The atmosphere of the game always has you on edge, with cold steel, scurrying rats, and the frigid Alaskan snows. Of course, given how easy it is die, sneaking around guards is always better than fighting them. One of the funnier ways to do so is by hiding in a cardboard box.
The boss fights of MGS are among the best of any video game. Each one requires you to utilize a different strategy or fight with different weapons. It's never a simple case of mowing them down with a machine gun. Psycho Mantis utilizes a variety of psychic attacks whose patterns need to read in order to win. The most memorable part of that fight was having to switch the controller port in order to prevent him from reading your mind. Sniper Wolf can only be defeated from a distance with a sniper rifle, or if the snowfield, by Nikita missiles. Cyborg Ninja can only be brought down using fists, but stunned with the chaff grenade. When Liquid Snake takes control of a Hind helicopter, you have to track his movements and him out of the sky with Stinger missiles. In order to defeat these enemies, you have to master their styles. The bosses also have distinct, memorable personalities. Revolver Ocelot has an affinity for cowboys and showing off. Sniper Wolf relishes in the hunt and has a kinder side towards her dogs. The finale bosses, however, are always something to enjoy in this series: a one-on-one fight with a mech, this time Rex, followed by hand-to-hand combat with the antagonist, this time Liquid.
The plot of the MGS series is notoriously convoluted and difficult, with political conspiracy, constant betrayals, and fictional scientific breakthroughs, it can be quite a lot to take in between saves. So I suppose it would do best to focus on the two major themes: war and genetics. Many of the characters, hero and villain, are affected by the demands of battle. Meryl wants to be a soldier like Snake, but killing the enemy terrifies her, and she's made victim by both Psycho Mantis and Sniper Wolf. It doesn't take her long to see that battle isn't glorious, and best avoided. Otacon initially went into engineering to build mecha like those in anime, but finds himself aiding terrorists on the nuclear warheads. He starts off cowardly, and emotional, falling for Sniper Wolf, but her death and Snake's leadership push him to be a better, and stronger person. Sniper Wolf was a Kurd who was born and raised through the endless nightmare of conflict. So when she joined FOXHOUND, she did so as a sniper, detached from war as an observer. We learn soon after that she spared Meryl, still uneasy from seeing women and children die in war. It was at this point that I realized why Snake is so respectful towards the enemies he defeats. He knows that, under similar circumstances, he could've turned out the same way. Indeed, MGS recognizes that nuclear weapons aren't the cause of war, but an extension of our own human vices. Yet the less temptation there is, the better. The game ends with a sobering coda on the amount of nukes that still exist in the world.
Psycho Mantis tells Snake that what he finds most disgusting in human beings is their desire to procreate and spread their DNA. He sees this as a cause for war. Psycho Mantis didn't want to be tied to his DNA, so he killed his father and burned his whole village. Liquid Snake, Solid Snake's twin brother, resents his genes. The twin snakes are super soldiers who were cloned from the legendary warrior Big Boss. Liquid believes that his brother inherited the dominant genes, while he inherited only the recessive ones. We later learn from Ocelot that the reverse is actually true, and Liquid's failure was his own. Snake tells Mantis that a great man doesn't need to see into the future, he makes his own. Poisoned with FoxDie, Snake doesn't know how much longer he has left to live, but he knows living well is better than living long.
The Art Of Video Games
"The Art Of Video Games: Tetris."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-art-of-video-games-tetris-at-30.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Pac-Man."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-art-of-video-games-pac-man-at-35.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Super Mario Bros."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-art-of-video-games-super-mario-bros.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Super Smash Bros."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-art-of-video-games-super-smash-bros.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Final Fantasy VI."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-art-of-video-games-final-fantasy-vi.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Pokemon."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-art-of-video-games-pokemon.html
"The Art Of Video Games: The Legend Of Zelda."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-art-of-video-games-legend-of-zelda.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Final Fantasy IV."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-art-of-video-games-final-fantasy-iv.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Kingdom Hearts."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-art-of-video-games-kingdom-hearts.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Kingdom Hearts II."
http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-art-of-video-games-kingdom-hearts-ii.html
"The Art Of Video Games: The Last Of Us."
https://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-art-of-video-games-last-of-us.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Persona 4."
https://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-art-of-video-games-persona-4.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Danganronpa."
https://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-art-of-video-games-danganronpa.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Final Fantasy VII."
https://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-art-of-video-games-final-fantasy-vii.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Persona 3."
https://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-art-of-video-games-persona-3.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Persona 5."
https://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-art-of-video-games-persona-5.html
"The Art Of Video Games: Doki Doki Literature Club"
https://sansuthecat.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-art-of-video-games-doki-doki.html
