A brief rant on MGS.

[Bryan]

So I've been buying quite a few gaming magazines as of late trying to catch up on things. All I have seen in every gaming magazine is raves about Metal Gear Solid. I've never played the MGS series, but they way they're setting it up, you'd think they had found the cure for cancer. I've seen a little bit of the next gen MGS in both EGM and PSM. I can't say that it doesn't look impressive (graphics-wise), but what's all the hype over Metal Gear Solid?

I've thought picking one of them up, but I don't even know where to start. I can't really trust reviews, either. They said the same thing about the GTA's, but I despise all GTA games. Hell, you could say I just despise Rockstar games in general.

Anyway, I'm losing track here. Could someone fill me in on some aspects of the game when it comes to MGS? How's the game play in comparison to others in it's genre? It'll be nice to get suggestions and reviews from people who don't simply kiss Solid Snake's ass from front cover to back. Thanks in advance!

[King Fenii]

Yes my brother, you are indeed a lost soul.

First of all, you should've at least played a MGS once. MGS invented it's own genre. It's sort of like Splinter Cell, only more spectacular and interesting. First of all, you are always in contact with someone in MGS. How? With a machine called the Codec, it's kinda like a radio in your ear. Second of all, the sneaking element of the game is really something else, you have GOT to try it. Read this for more info. Third of all.....<Aw, hell> Snake is just a cool character. The game itself will keep you playing, and if you were really smart, you wouldn't be reading this, you would be playing the game right now!

But if you don't know which game to play first.....I'll help you with that.

Metal Gear Solid:
Released on PSX
Gameplay:8 (Very nice, simple but good)
Story:7 (The story was okay, very fishy though)

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty:
Released on PS2
Gameplay:9 (Excellent Gameplay, good movement, good interaction and nice graphics too)
Story:8,5 (A little complicated, but once ya get it, it's kinda nice )
I would advise you to play MGS2 first

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Released on Ninteno Gamecube (MGS 1 Remake)
Gameplay:7,5 (Better Graphics, but if you're used to a PS controller, not a great pick)
Story:8 (The story wasn't explained very wel in MGS1, so they explained it better for you to understand it better)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater:
Released on PS2
Gameplay:9,5 (By far the best MGS ever, the camo options give you a sense of customization. The weapons are very nice, an overall bombing game!)
Story:9,5 (The story is very very good, they could be creative here, seeing it's before the other MGS's, so the story is very nice)

My final advise is for you to play MGS2 first, then MGS1 (or the original or the remake.) and then MGS3. I don't know why, but it's important you play MGS1 before 3, because the feeling you are actually playing will be so much better then if you've played MGS2 before 3. I also think it has something to do with Raiden....

I hope that this aide you, my brother. Keep in touch to tell me how you've like the games. Until then keep your soul alive!

[Chickenballz]

Know how FF is known to be the god of rpg's? Well MGS is known to be the god of stealth-adventure. Both are overrated (MGS2? Yeah, you bet your ass that was overrated. And no, it wasn't because of Raiden) However, MGS is in a category where there are few entries (Splinter Cell...I guess Tenchu, even though I never touched one...f*** it, I can't remember anything else) so you might as well give it a shot.

Oh, and for the love of buddha don't play them expecting the best f***ing story ever. There are seriously times when it sounds chopped up from a conspiracy nut's geocities site. They can be enjoyable as long as your suspend your disbelief a bit. And don't mind hour long codec chats. I am exaggerating. I think.

[Akira]

Well, to put it simply, it's the best game series in the sneak around/stealth adventure genre. But as the others have already said, this genre is very limited and doesn't have many entries to choose from. Still, I personally liked this game alot yet I wouldn't quite put it into the god-like games like some people do.

I personally think you should start playing the games starting with the first PSX title. That way you won't be let down when going from the PS2's nice looking graphics to the moderate PSX's graphics. It will also make things easier to understand since their is referance to the first game in the second. I never played the third installment yet and I am not even considering trying the Gamecube adaption since I don't even have the system.

I figure you should just try the PSX version first; if you like it, play the second one. If you like that one as well enough to get the third game, then you can come here and tell me how it was since I have yet to play that one hehe.

[krazii]

yeah, i really enjoyed them all (except for metal gear ac!d which SUCKED)
It is one of my favorite series. metal gear solid 2's story kinda sucked and i didnt like raiden, but other than that, the story is pretty interesting. and its quite realistic too. the guards are much smarter than in most other stealth games. and being able to do things like camoflauge and stuff is really fun. i dont think this game is overrated at all.
i think metal gear 3 would be a good one to start with.
of course, there are bad things about metal gear solid, like all other games. a little too much talking, and again, metal gear solid 2's story sucked. however, i still think it is a great game.

[Aleks]

I'm gonna ignore what the others wrote and just write my own thing.

Metal Gear started around the 80 with some Famicom games. The game was pretty revolutianry, because instead of running around and shooting everything that moves you were supposed to kill as few as possible and try to slip through unnoticed. It was pretty fun (for the 80's).

The series continued. And then Metal Gear Solid started.

MGS is full of cinamatic sequences and inteligent stealth. Not as realistic as Splinter Cell, actually better.

Read this and you'll get a pretty good understandning of what has happened so far. I recommend starting with the second game. Sons of Liberty.
Just read this first:

__ _______________________ __
/__\______________________/ Previous Story \_______________________/__\
\__/¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\__/

____________________________
/ The Outer Heaven Uprising /
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- from Metal Gear; released 1987


A small, but powerfully armed nation called "Outer Heaven" emerges deep
within South Africa. NATO learns that they are designing a nuclear-equipped
walking battle tank called Metal Gear, and they send in one of their best
agents, Grey Fox. But, he is taken hostage, and they are forced to send in
the newest member of FOXHOUND, Solid Snake. He rescues Grey fox and forces
the surrender of Outer Heaven. As Solid Snake escapes, he is confronted by
one man. It's FOXHOUND's commander, Big Boss! It seems that Outer Heaven
was a mercenary company and Big Boss was the mastermind behind it. Big Boss
had intentionally chosen his most inexperienced agent, Solid Snake, thinking
he would fail, but he seriously miscalculated. After a fierce battle, Snake
defeats Big Boss as Outer Heaven burns around him.

________________________________
/ The Zanzibar Land Disturbance /
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- from Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake; released 1990


In 1999, Br. Kio Marv, inventor of the oil refining microbe, OILIX, was taken
hostage by Zanzibar, a heavily armed nation in central Asia ruled by a
minority ethnic group. Zanzibar was planning to gain political and military
hegemony over a world suffering under the cruel weight of a worldwide energy
crisis. Roy Campbell, commander of FOXHOUND, called Solid Snake, now in
retirement, back to active duty to infiltrate Zanzibar and recover Dr. Marv.

Solid Snake penetrated deep into it's interior. Once inside he destroyed
Metal Gear, which had been completed after being transported from Outer
Heaven, and defeated Grey Fox, former member of FOXHOUND and now leader of
the Zanzibar mercenary corps. He was also successful in retrieving the OILIX
manufacturing process. Finally, he would once again meet his destiny with
the man who was pulling the strings in Zanzibar, Big Boss! He had survived
Outer Heaven and created Zanzibar in order to make a world rife with conflict
and war, a world in which soldiers such as himself would always have a place.
After defeating Big Boss for the second and final time, Snake gave up on war
and retired to the peaceful Alaskan wilderness.

____________________________
/ The Shadow Moses Incident /
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

- from Metal Gear Solid; released 1998

* Courtesy of Grant Gordon (futuresuperstar)
- Author of "Metal Gear Sold: Dawn of the Concealed"

Several years had passed since the legendary Solid Snake had killed
Big Boss, the greatest soldier in the world, at Zanzibar Land. On
Snake's last mission, he had infiltrated an enemy fortress and put
down a threat posed by Big Boss and his band of rogue soldiers. Snake
also destroyed Metal Gear, a walking bipedal tank, which eliminated
the threat that Big Boss proposed. Following his successful mission
and eerie new innovation that Big Boss was potentially his own father,
Snake retired to Alaska.

Several years later in 2005, while asleep at his home, Snake heard a
noise coming from outside his cabin. Snake quietly made his way to
the window and looked outside. In the darkness, he could see several
heavily armed soldiers advancing on his cabin. Snake got his gun from
a cupboard and was prepared to take out the intruders. However, the
soldiers had Snake surrounded and forced him to surrender. He was
then taken away by the soldiers to an Ohio Class Submarine, the USS
Discovery. Snake was at that time strip searched and confined in a
small room.

After several minutes of waiting in the cold room, the door finally
opened and in walked a man from his past, Roy Campbell. Campbell
informed Snake of the situation they were in. FOXHOUND, Snake's former
unit, along with members of the Next Generation Special Forces unit,
had seized control of a nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses
Island. They had taken hostages and demanded the remains of Big Boss,
or else they would launch a nuclear weapon. Snake was reluctant to go
back into battle, but after much persuasion, as well as Campbell
showing him the leader of FOXHOUND, a man known as Liquid Snake who
had the same codename as Solid Snake, he agreed to take the mission.

Snake infiltrated Shadow Moses Island and began his mission. Soon
after the start of the operation, Snake discovered that a new model of
Metal Gear was secretly in development on the base. Also, something
was apparently amidst. Snake attempted to rescue the high profile
hostages on the island, ArmsTech President, Kenneth Baker, and DARPA
Chief, Donald Anderson. However, both times the men died from an
apparent heart attack. Snake then located Metal Gear's chief
engineer, Hal Emmerich. However, Emmerich was being attacked by a
cyborg ninja, who Snake had seen in an earlier battle. Snake and the
Ninja commenced in battle in the labs with Snake managing to defeat
the fearsome opponent. During the battle, the ninja seemed as if he
knew Snake from somewhere. After the battle, the Ninja gave a large
hint as to who he was before running off. Shocked, Snake informed
Campbell that the Ninja was none other than Grey Fox, an old war buddy
of Snake's, and Dr. Naomi Hunter, assistant to Snake's mission,
commented that Dr. Clark, her predecessor, might have had something to
do with it. However, Fox had died back in Zanzibar, Snake's previous
mission, and Clark had died in a lab incident years before. Campbell
said that it was impossible for the ninja to be Grey Fox, but Snake
was convinced. He then returned to the mission and located Emmerich,
who told Snake a bit about Metal Gear and its location in an
Underground Base several miles to the north. Snake also met Roy
Campbell's niece, Meryl Silverburgh, who was stationed at the facility
before its takeover. At this point, Snake began to fall for Meryl,
and Meryl felt the same way about Snake. Meryl gave Snake a PAL card
which could stop Metal Gear's launch by overriding the detonation code
sequence, but there was only one card when three cards were needed.
Meryl and Snake traveled toward Metal Gear's location, but were
separated when Meryl was injured by gunfire from FOXHOUND's sniper,
Sniper Wolf. Meryl was captured and soon Snake himself was captured
and confined as well.

Snake was then submitted to grueling torture from Liquid's right-hand
man, Revolver Ocelot. Ocelot told Snake if he submitted to the
torture, then Meryl would be killed. Snake suffered through the
severe torture and eventually escaped with help from Otacon (Hal
Emmerich's alternative name). Snake continued on his mission and
eventually made his way to Metal Gear's underground base. However,
during his time there were several disturbing twists that took place.
Master McDonnell Miller, a previous mission analyst for Snake at
Zanzibar who was also assigned to this mission, informed Snake that
Naomi Hunter, another member of Snake's support who was in charge of
monitoring Snake's vital signs, was actually a traitor, possibly
working for the enemy. Miller dug around some more and found of a new
assassination weapon, which Snake may have been injected with. The
weapon targets only specific victims and kills them in a manner, which
simulates a heart attack. This weapon, called FoxDie, was uncovered
as the reason for the ArmsTech President and the DARPA chief's deaths.
Colonel Campbell found out about this and placed Naomi under arrest
after finding she was sending coded transmissions to the base.

Later on, Naomi managed to get away from Campbell and the others and
contacted Snake. Naomi told Snake that she was actually Frank
Jaeger's (Grey Fox) adopted sister. Snake was shocked at discovering
this. She then confirmed that she had injected Snake with the FoxDie
virus, but it was not her decision, it was part of the mission. Naomi
was then placed back under arrest before she could explain more.
Snake demanded to know what was going on but Campbell was
unresponsive. Snake then continued to Metal Gear's chamber. There he
found the secret to deactivating Metal Gear. Apparently the PAL card
he had acted as all three keys and Snake needed to warm and cool the
keys in order to change them into the desired key. Snake did so and
activated all three keys. However, instead of deactivating Metal
Gear, the walking battle tank was actually activated due to Snake's
actions. It seemed Snake had been set-up all along. He then got a
call from Miller. He told Snake that he had been useful as a pawn and
his purpose was now over. He then revealed himself to be none other
than ... Snake's brother, Liquid Snake. Campbell informed Snake that
Master Miller had been found dead in his home, and that Liquid had
assumed his identity for the mission. Apparently, the DARPA chief had
died prior to Snake contacting him, and the man that Snake tried to
free was actually a terrorist member in disguise who was further
assuring Snake that the only way to disarm Metal Gear was to use the
PAL keys, but he simply wanted Snake to input the keys to activate
Metal Gear. The keys acted as a reversible action. If the code for
the nuclear weapon had been inputted, the keys would disengage Metal
Gear. If the code had not been inputted, it would activate Metal
Gear. Liquid explained how Snake was used to activate Metal Gear for
them, because the terrorists hadn't been able to figure out the launch
code ... so they turned to using Snake. It's also explained that
FoxDie killed the terrorist, not the DARPA chief, which is why he died
when Snake attempted to rescue him after telling him that he had to
disengage Metal Gear.

Snake rushed out of the control room after Liquid and confronted him
in front of Metal Gear. The two talked a bit about Liquid's
intentions, and Snake learned that he was indeed a clone of Big Boss,
his supposed father, and Liquid was the second clone. Snake retained
all of the recessive soldier genes while Liquid had received all of
the dominant ones. However, Liquid believed the reverse, thinking
that he had been the recessive clone. Before Snake could react,
Liquid jumped into Metal Gear's cockpit and activated the monstrous
weapon. To his horror, Snake watched as Metal Gear sprung to life.
Just as in the past, Snake battled Metal Gear.

As Snake began to fall to the enormous death machine, Liquid attempted
to crush him under Metal Gear's weight. Just before he had the
chance, Grey Fox reappeared and saved Snake at the last moment. The
two had one last conversation and for his last act as Snake's friend
he destroyed the Radome, Metal Gear REX's (the codename for Metal
Gear) radar. Fox was soon after killed for a final time by Metal
Gear. Snake was consumed with rage for the death of his friend and
finished off Metal Gear with a final missile into the vehicle's
cockpit. Metal Gear exploded in a brilliant light. The force of the
explosion sent Snake flying into a nearby wall, knocking him
unconscious. Before he went under, Snake heard what sounded like
footsteps nearing him.

When Snake came to, he found himself tied up on top of the wreckage of
Metal Gear with Liquid Snake standing in wait in front of him. Liquid
and Snake chatted for a bit. Liquid told him that they didn't have
long before the end. Snake asked if he meant FoxDie, but Liquid told
him that he was referring to a missile attack which the Pentagon had
issued. Snake contacted the Colonel who confirmed Liquid's story.
Campbell told Snake that he would help him out, to repay him for all
the lies. He said he would issue an order to stop the launch which
would disrupt the chain of command and give him time to escape. This
plan would not unfold however, as Campbell was placed under arrest by
the Secretary of Defense, Jim Houseman, who had orchestrated the Metal
Gear project and was trying to cover up the incident. Houseman said
they had a lot of catching up to do and broke contact, but not after
informing Snake that the entire purpose of the mission was for Snake
to spread FoxDie to all of the terrorists to kill them. Then Snake
would die, and the government would steal Metal Gear instead of
destroying it. Metal Gear, having been destroyed, was of little use
to the government now, so they decided to nuke the place to cover up
any evidence of what really happened there.

Liquid then showed Snake a little surprise of his. Behind him, Meryl
was laying unconscious.

Next to her was a small nuclear bomb with a timer. Liquid said she
would be the sacrifice for their final battle. He then untied Snake
and prepared for the fight. Liquid activated the timer and so the
battle begun. Snake and Liquid began a battle, filled with hate for
each other and what they represented. The battle ended with Liquid
being knocked from the top of Metal Gear to his apparent death. Snake
then deactivated the nuke and untied Meryl who was thankfully still
alive. The two conversed a bit before Snake got a call from Otacon.
He said he would stay behind and open a path for the two of them to
escape. Snake thanked him, and he and Meryl descended from Metal Gear
and started off to their escape.

Meryl and Snake jumped into a nearby jeep and rushed toward the exit
of the facility, gunning down any guards along the way. However,
their escape would not go unhindered, as Liquid Snake, who was somehow
still alive, chased after the two. The two rushed toward the exit and
the chase ended with a crash just at the end of the tunnel. Snake and
Meryl were alright, however they were both trapped under the jeep.
Though, the same was not true for Liquid, who stumbled forward, fueled
only by his hate for Snake. Liquid raised his gun and trained its
sights on the two. Before he could fire, Liquid was attacked by the
FoxDie virus and collapsed to the ground dead.

The two freed themselves from underneath the wreckage. The Colonel
contacted Snake and told him the bombing had been called off, as the
Secretary of Defense was acting alone, and the entire incident was his
doing. He then informed him that that there was a snowmobile nearby
which could take them to Fox Island where an evacuation chopper
awaited. Naomi then spoke with Snake, telling him that she didn't
know when or if FoxDie would kill Snake. He would later find out that
Naomi had programmed the virus to strike at a random time. Meryl and
Snake then departed from Shadow Moses and disappeared into the Alaskan
wilderness.

After the operation, Meryl and Snake most likely had a relationship.
Snake was then contacted by Otacon, who survived the Shadow Moses
incident. Otacon told Snake of how Ocelot, the sole terrorist
survivor, had sold Metal Gear's data on the black market and many
countries would now develop their own versions of Metal Gear. Otacon
told Snake that he could make a difference and convinced him to join
him in forming a new group, Philanthropy, an anti-Metal Gear
organization officially recognized by the United Nations. For the
next two years or so, Otacon and Snake destroyed dozens of rogue Metal
Gears, with nothing significant taking place.

Thats taken from Purple Haze's Walktrough at GameFaq's.

That explains everything that has happened from the begining of the series to the end of Metal Gear Solid 1.

Now buy 2 and 3 and have the time of you'r life!