The original Metal Gear Solid was one of those PS1 games that introduced me to a genre that I didn't even know I liked. Tenchu was the only franchise at the time that rewarded stealth play over direct fighting, but Tenchu was hard, and I was 10. Metal Gear Solid was mentally challenging, and I found out that I really liked hiding and wearing disguises a lot more than killing all 30 guards in the area. Getting through an area without being seen required more skill than headshots, (imo) so I fell in love with the Metal Gear games. In addition to the great new stealth stuff, MGS1 had a boss that could read your memory card, a cybernetic ninja, lots of people peeing their pants, and a pretty decent military conspiracy story. Snake himself was also really cool.
I am pretty sure that I am the only human being on Earth that likes Metal Gear Solid 2 more than #1. I was a little older, it was on the next gen system of the time, and I really liked exploring the Big Shell. It was a game with a linear story, that somehow allowed for free-roam around a massive environment. This was also during the bare-bones internet of 2001, so a lot of the game's secrets were actually secret. You didn't know what you would get for exploring a vent that you happen across in an area you have no business being in yet. It could be a ration, or an RPG, and 14 year old Tyler loved every second of it. The story in 2 got silly, with Liquid Snake's arm taking over Revolver Ocelot's body, the LaLiLuLeLo, and Raiden's naked cartwheels, but the game was so well done, that I embraced the quirkiness.
Next in the drawn out timeline is 3, which I didn't like very much at all. I really hated the idea of a prequel, especially after I katana-dueled Solidus Snake on the roof of the Capital building in Washington to the death at the end of 2, I wanted to see what happened next. Instead, we got fan service, but not the type of fan blowing that rewards those of us who actually care about Kojima's vision. The "fans" who got rewarded were the people who didn't like Raiden. I didn't care about Big Boss, or how he got started, I actually liked that his past was clouded in mystery, that Liquid and Solid were clones of an enigmatic Cold War soldier. The bosses were lame, trying to capture that perfect ensemble from MGS1 again, and everything ended the exact way you imagined it would when you clicked New Game.
I beat Snake Eater, and left the Metal Gear games feeling a little sour. I didn't swear them off, but I didn't plan on going out of my way to play the next one either. I figured the time of their greatness has passed, so I just around to playing Metal Gear Solid 4, 5 years after it was released.
The game started off terrible, with lots of bad J-pop bullshit. There's a guy who shits his pants a lot, and all of the Americans act very Japanese, bowing and sensei-worshipping. I hated the first 4 hours of this game more than I've hated anything in a long time. I shook my head as I remembered Vulcan Raven, and the Sniper Wolf fight. I watched in horror as Meryl was re-introduced to the story, with no explanation, after being dead for 9 years. I furrowed my brow as Vamp walked out of a cargo plane with Liquid. Vamp is alive? Vamp is the boss that you decided to bring back. Out of all the amazing, creative boss battles that Konami has invented for Metal Gear, the Vampire gets to return? There's a girl who cooks eggs, Otacon isn't cool anymore, and a dude with a monkey who follows you around the world to sell you guns.
I almost quit, until something peculiar happened. In the 3rd act, you go to Shadow Moses island, the setting for MGS1. This is done beautifully, as the military base is covered in a blizzard, Old Snake retraces the steps that Young Snake took. You crawl across the courtyard where you fought Vulcan Raven's tank. You have to revisit Otacon's office where you fought Grey Fox. All of this is believable too, the story making perfect sense for the first time in a long time. You also start learning that the team from Snake Eater actually ended up founding the Patriots. The story in MGS4 is connecting all of the game together, in what seems to be a surprisingly well-thought narrative.
I'm still on Shadow Moses fighting a boss battle that is cheap, and frustrating. I'm taking a small break, playing through something else to quell the rage. However, I will return shortly, figure out how to proceed so that I may find out exactly what is in Kojima's mind for the end of 4.
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