Everything about Metal Gear Solid totally explained
is a
stealth action video and
computer game directed by
Hideo Kojima. The game was
developed by
Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first
published by Konami in
1998 for the
PlayStation video game console. It was well-received publicly and critically, shipping more than six million copies and scoring an average of 94 out of 100 in the review tallying website
Metacritic's aggregate. It is the third
canonical title released in the
Metal Gear series, being a direct
sequel to
Metal Gear and .
Metal Gear Solid's story centers on
Solid Snake, a retired soldier who infiltrates a
nuclear weapons disposal facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from
FOXHOUND, a renegade
special forces unit. He attempts to liberate their two hostages, the head of
DARPA and the president of a major arms manufacturer, and stops the terrorists from launching a nuclear strike. Snake also confronts and defeats members of FOXHOUND.
The commercial success of the title prompted
Metal Gear Solid to be enhanced and re-released on PlayStation — detection sets off an alarm, which draws armed enemies to his location. To return to a lower alert setting, the player must hide, and remain undetected by the enemy until a timer reaches zero.
To remain undetected, the player can perform techniques which make use of Solid Snake's abilities and the environment, such as crawling under objects, using boxes as cover, ducking or hiding around walls, and making noise to distract the enemy. These are carried out using the
third-person camera; which slowly changes its angle to give the player the best strategic view of the area possible, and an on-screen
radar, which displays enemy personnel and their field of vision. Solid Snake is armed with many items and gadgets, such as
thermal goggles and a
cardboard box disguise. This emphasis on stealth promotes a less violent form of gameplay —
firefights against large enemy teams will likely result in heavy damage and often death for the protagonist.
Intermixed with the player's progress are plot-progressing
cut scenes and
radio conversations as well as encounters with
boss characters. To progress, players must discover weaknesses of these enemies (such as attack patterns) to defeat them. This is where the player will most often use the game's weapon-set, ranging from
pistols to
rocket launchers and
hand grenades. In addition to the stealth gameplay, there are
set-piece sequences that entail firefights between the player and the enemy from the third-person and
first-person perspectives.
The main
antagonist of the game is
Liquid Snake, leader of FOXHOUND, and genetic counterpart to Solid Snake. FOXHOUND and a genetically enhanced Next-Generation Special Forces unit lead an armed uprising on a remote isle located in
Alaska's
Fox Archipelago called Shadow Moses. It is the site of a nuclear weapons disposal facility.
As the game begins, Solid Snake, now in retirement at Alaska's
Twin Lakes, is forcibly dispatched at the request of Colonel Roy Campbell to penetrate the terrorist defenses, neutralize the threat. Snake is also ordered to locate hostages
Donald Anderson, the DARPA chief and ArmsTech president
Kenneth Baker. After finding the DARPA chief, he informs Snake of the new Metal Gear REX unit housed at the facility, and its deactivation procedure, but then suddenly dies of what appear to be a
heart attack. Snake then finds the other hostage, Kenneth Baker. Revolver Ocelot challenges Snake to a gunfight, which is interrupted by a mysterious cyborg ninja who severs Ocelot's hand before escaping. Baker briefs Snake on the Metal Gear project but like the DARPA Chief; he suddenly dies of a heart attack.
Snake then contacts Silverburgh via Codec, and agrees to meet her in the base's warhead disposal area on the condition that he contacts Metal Gear's designer, Hal "Otacon" Emmerich. Snake locates Otacon in his lab. The ninja reappears, and Snake realizes that it's actually his former ally
Gray Fox, who he believed to have killed years earlier. Otacon agrees to aid Snake remotely, using special camouflage to procure information and supplies while he remains invisible. Snake meets with Silverburgh. She tells him she joined the military to feel closer to her father, who was killed in action, and his brother (Roy Campbell). Snake agrees for her to accompany him on his mission. Silverburgh gives Snake a PAL key and they head for the underground base. Part way through the base, Sniper Wolf ambushes them, wounds Silverburgh and captures Snake.
While imprisoned, Liquid confirms Snake's suspicion that they're twin brothers. Snake is tortured by Ocelot and the player can choose to give in to this torture, or not. Eventually Snake is able to escape.
Snake descends into the bowels of the Shadow Moses facility, first cutting through the base forge then into the warehouses below. He descovers that the DARPA Chief who Snake encountered was actually FOXHOUND member Decoy Octopus in disguise. Shortly after, Master Miller calls and reveals that Dr. Naomi Hunter, a support agent, has given Snake the genetically engineered virus "FoxDie" during his mission preparations, and is sending coded messages into the facility. Campbell swiftly orders her arrest. The virus, designed to kill people with particular genetic markers via cardiac arrest, was responsible for the deaths of Octopus and the ArmsTech president. Naomi, contacts Snake and confesses that she joined the mission to sabotage it as she's the adoptive sister of Gray Fox. Upon learning of Snake's own past through the current mission, she no longer had the heart to kill him directly having reprogrammed the virus.
Infiltrating Metal Gear's hangar, Snake discovers that the warhead Liquid plans to fire is targeted for
Lop Nor in
China. Liquid explains to Ocelot that Lop Nor is a nuclear test site and can be concealed from the public while the United States are forced to deal with a retaliatory strike from China. Thinking he's deactivating it, using the PAL key, Snake activates Metal Gear REX. Master Miller then reveals himself to be Liquid in disguise. He informs Snake that his entire mission was manipulated by the renegades to allow the launch of the nuclear weapon. Liquid explains that they're the product of the
Les Enfants Terribles project, a government sponsored effort to
clone legendary mercenary Big Boss that was conducted during the
1970s. However, part of the process required that their genes be altered. Solid received all of Big Boss' dominant genes while Liquid received all the recessive genes.
Snake manages to disable the machine's sensors with the aid of Otacon. Liquid then explains to Snake how the Genome soldiers and the
Gulf War babies were genetically related to them. Snake is then reunited with Meryl or Otacon, depending on the player's actions (see next paragraph). They escape, while being chased by Liquid, in a jeep. Liquid dies from the FoxDie virus. Colonel Campbell, briefly ousted from command of the mission, calls off a nuclear airstrike intended to obliterate the evidence of the day's events and officially declares Snake killed in action to stop the US Government's search for him in the future.
There are two possible endings, depending on the player's actions during the game. If the player gives into the torture, Snake finds Silverburgh dead and escapes with Otacon. If the player doesn't give into the torture, Silverburgh survives and escapes with Snake while Otacon volunteers to stay behind and sacrifice himself to help Snake and Silverburgh get out, not knowing that the air strike intended to hit Shadow Moses wouldn't come.
After the end credits the player finds out Snake is actually genetically inferior to Liquid and has an indeterminate amount of time left before FoxDie kills him. Ocelot is revealed to be a double agent for the
President of the United States, the third Snake,
Solidus. Ocelot's intention was to obtain Baker's disk containing Metal Gear's specifications and deliver it to the President.
Cast
» *This credit appeared only in the game manual and early demo versions of the game. David Hayter didn't have a pseudonym in the game credits.
Development
Kojima originally planned the third
Metal Gear game, to be called
Metal Gear 3, for the
3DO Interactive Multiplayer in
1994. While producing the 3DO version of his adventure game
Policenauts, conceptual artwork by illustrator
Yoji Shinkawa of the characters
Solid Snake,
Meryl Silverburgh, who was also a character in
Policenauts, and the FOXHOUND team, were included in the
Policenauts: Pilot Disk preceding the release of the full 3DO game in
1995. However due to the decline of the 3DO hardware, development of the game shifted to the PlayStation, that had just been released, and the game was retitled
Metal Gear Solid.
The actual development for
Metal Gear Solid began in early
1996 with the intent of creating the "best PlayStation game ever."
Hideo Kojima, the director, stated that "if the player isn't tricked into believing that the world is real, then there's no point in making the game". To fulfill this, adjustments were made to every detail, such as individually designed desks.
Hideo Kojima created the characters of
Metal Gear Solid; modifications and mechanics were made by conceptual artist
Yoji Shinkawa. The characters were completed by polygonal artists using pencil drawings and clay models by Shinkawa.
Kojima chose the name
Metal Gear Solid over the working title of
Metal Gear 3 due to the fact that the first two MSX2 games in the series were not very well known. The word
Solid refers to the game being the third installment in the series, and also because the game uses
3D computer graphics. The subsequent sequels in the series also bear the
Metal Gear Solid title, following a new numeral progression.
Hideo Kojima wanted greater interaction with objects and the environment, such as allowing the player to hide bodies in a storage compartment. Additionally, he wanted "a full orchestra right next to the player"; a system which made modifications (such as
tempo and
texture) to the currently playing track, instead of switching to another pre-recorded track. Although these features couldn't be achieved, they were implemented in
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Metal Gear Solid was revealed to the public at the
E3 gaming event in 1997 as a short video. It was later playable for the first time at the
Tokyo Game Show in 1998 and officially released the same year in
Japan with an extensive promotional campaign. An estimated 12 million demos for the game were distributed during 1998.
Localization and re-releases
The English version of
Metal Gear Solid (translated by
Jeremy Blaustein)
Some countries in the
PAL region received a version of the game dubbed into their language, including
Spanish,
German,
French and
Italian. Most PAL versions feature an "Extreme" mode which introduces restrictions such as extended guard vision.
Integral/VR Missions/Special Missions
Released on
June 25,
1999 for the PlayStation in Japan,
Metal Gear Solid: Integral is an
expanded version of the original game based on the North American localization (including English voice acting replacing the original Japanese voices) with further additional features and an extra disc of 300 stage based missions (established as a
VR Training mode). Scoring 83 in
Metacritic's aggregate, the game was criticized for "graphic glitches", the aged nature of the port, and being essentially identical to the PlayStation version.
The VR Disc from
Integral was released as a stand-alone product outside of Japan — in North America as
Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions VR Missions features training missions testing the player's sneaking and fighting skill, as well as less conventional tests, such as murder-mysteries, battling giant genome soldiers, and a mode allowing the player to control the Cyborg Ninja. It includes trailers for
Metal Gear Solid, a preview artwork of
Metal Gear RAY from
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and a "photo shoot" mode to take pictures of Mei Ling and Naomi. The PAL version (
Special Missions) requires the player to boot a copy of the original
Metal Gear Solid before playing the game, a requirement that was unnecessary in the American
VR Missions. When this procedure is done on a PlayStation 2, the console doesn't recognize the
Metal Gear Solid disc when it's loaded, rendering the game unplayable.
The Twin Snakes
A
remake of
Metal Gear Solid, titled
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, was developed by
Silicon Knights under the supervision of Hideo Kojima and released for the
Nintendo GameCube in North America, Japan, and Europe in March 2004. While
Twin Snakes was largely developed at Silicon Knights, its
cut scenes were developed in-house at Konami and directed by
Japanese film director
Ryuhei Kitamura, reflecting his dynamic signature style, utilizing
bullet-time photography and
choreographed gunplay extensively. While the storyline and settings of the game were unchanged, a variety of gameplay features from
Sons of Liberty were added such as the first person aiming and hanging from bars on walls. Another change in the English voice acting was the dropping of Mei Ling, Naomi Hunter and Nastasha Romanenko's accents, as well as the recasting of the Cyborg Ninja from
Greg Eagles (who reprised the role of the DARPA Chief in the remake) to
Rob Paulsen. The graphics were also updated.
Comic & Digital Graphic Novel
In September 2004,
IDW Publications began publishing a series of
Metal Gear Solid comics, written by
Kris Oprisko and illustrated by
Ashley Wood. As of 2006, 12 issues have been published, fully covering the Metal Gear Solid storyline. The comic mimics
Yoji Shinkawa's gritty style using a palette of grays and rough, sketchy paintings as panels.
Announced in January 2006,
Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel is an interactive comic for the
PlayStation Portable. Based on the
Metal Gear Solid comic book adaptation, it features visual enhancements and two interactive modes designed to give further insight into the publication. Upon viewing the pages, the player can open a "scanning" interface to search for characters and items in a three dimensional view. In 2006, the game received
IGN's award for Best Use of Sound on the PSP.
Other media
The
Metal Gear Solid Drama CD is a
Japanese radio drama continuation of
Metal Gear Solid. Directed by
Shuyo Murata and written by
Motosada Mori, it aired, in 18 segments, from 1998 to 1999 on Konami's
CLUB db program. The series was later released on two separate CDs. Set after the events of Shadow Moses, Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, Roy Campbell and Mei Ling pursue missions in hostile third world nations as FOXHOUND. Characters not seen in
Metal Gear Solid are introduced, such as Sgt. Allen Iishiba (voiced by
Toshio Furukawa), a
Delta Force operative who assists Snake and Meryl; Col. Mark Cortez (v.b.
Osamu Saka), an old friend of Campbell who commands the fictional Esterian Special Forces; and Capt. Sergei Gurlukovich (v.b.
Kazuhiro Nakata), a former war buddy of Revolver Ocelot.
A 336 page
novelization of
Metal Gear Solid written by
Raymond Benson will be published by
Del Rey on
May 27,
2008.
Dreamcast
A refurbished version of
Metal Gear Solid was rumored to be released on the
Dreamcast, but Konami denied this. This may have been caused by confusion with the
Metal Gear Solid version of the
Bleemcast emulator, which allowed PlayStation games to be played on a Dreamcast via emulation.
20th Anniversary and The Essential Collection
In Japan, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original
Metal Gear on
July 26,
2007, the original Japanese language edition of
Metal Gear Solid was included in the
Metal Gear Solid Collection box set, which also includes the Japanese language edition of (bundled with ), the first disc of (bundled with a bonus disc containing
Metal Gear and ) and the PSP game .
In North America, a boxed set of
Metal Gear Solid,, and the first disc of was released on
March 18,
2008 as
Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection for the
PlayStation 2. Though transferred to a PlayStation 2 case with new boxart, the re-release of
Metal Gear Solid was printed on a PlayStation disc.
Music
Metal Gear Solid's musical score was composed by in-house musicians at
Konami, including Kazuki Muraoka, who also worked on
Metal Gear. Composer and lyricist
Rika Muranaka provided a song called "The Best is Yet To Come" for the game's ending credits sequence. The song is performed in
Irish by
Aoife Ní Fhearraigh. The main theme was composed by
TAPPY.
Music played in-game has a synthetic feel with increased pace and introduction of strings during tense moments, with a looping style endemic to video games. Overtly cinematic music, with stronger orchestral and choral elements, appears in cutscenes. The soundtrack was released on
September 23,
1998, under the
King Records label.
Reception
|IGN = 9.8/10
|GSpot = 8.5/10.
|Edge = 9/10
|rev1 =
NGamer
|rev1Score=9/10
|
|compilation = yes
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|GR =
|MC =
Further Information
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