JP Varriano’s Favorite Game of All Time: Metal Gear Solid
What’s up, game thumbers?! It’s been a while since I’ve written to you guys, but unfortunately military training is a priority with my career and has pretty much been eating up my time for the past couple months…. and it sucks. But I want you to know that I’m taking time today to tell you all a story.
You know how you listened to music all your life but that one band you were really into helped you fall in love with music? Like me, I listened to rock a lot when I was growing up, but the Deftones got me HOOKED on rock. Well, I had that same experience with video games. This story is about my favorite game of all time and it really is the game that got me hooked on video games! So here it is.
I was 12 years old when I was introduced to the gaming masterpiece that is Metal Gear Solid for the original PlayStation game console…and I didn’t even touch a controller. I was over at my friend Matt Luzny’s and we were downstairs in the windowless, accommodating “dungeon” like we would always be. Matt’s older brother, Jon, came down and pushed us both off our game of Twisted Metal and threw in disc one of Metal Gear Solid. Little did I know that my disappointment would soon melt away and be replaced by shock and awe as I watched the events unravel in front of my eyes.
The setup of the story alone is like something out of Hollywood. Colonel Roy Campbell is giving you your intel brief on the highly volatile situation via codec. FOXHOUND, a splinter cell group of genetically enhanced military renegades, has taken over a secret nuclear weapons disposal facility located on the island code named ‘Shadow Moses’. FOXHOUND has hostages of high political interest and are threatening to unleash the greatest nuclear weapon known to mankind if their demands are not met in 24 hours!! It’s kind of like The ROCK, except Nicholas Cage isn’t around to show us how bad he can act. Instead, we have Solid Snake as our protagonist. Imagine a man in his mid 40’s with the physique of Jean Claude Van Dam and a face like Christopher Walken….mind you his physique and facial features are slightly pixilated. We don’t know much about him except for the fact that he’s well revered by his superiors and fellow operatives, he’s well trained and qualified from his military and martial arts back ground and his enemies know he has the capabilities of pulling the plug on their operation. Solid Snake is the epitome of a one-man-army.
The game plays out like any movie including dramatic cut scenes, a deep story line filled with deception and intrigue and of course, a love interest for the protagonist: Meryl Silverburgh. Throughout the game you’re mission is to learn all you can about FOXHOUND’s motives and the motives of your Commanding officer while simultaneously thwarting the plans of the aforementioned FOXHOUND to unleash the havoc of METAL GEAR REX, a giant nuke hauling Mech that you actually get to fight later in the game. You’re not given the whole story and you actually feel as though you are Solid Snake when you find out the little secrets behind the island and unveil many government conspiracies about the death dealing war machine. But the real pleasure of this game is acquired through controlling Solid Snake; sneaking around in boxes and choking guards out so you can acquire a level 4 security key. This all allows you to take on Snake’s motives as your own and fuels you to move onto the next member of FOXHOUND so you can take him out and unveil a deeper part of the story.
I just remember sitting there in the House of Luzny, not blinking just in case I missed something cool or important. What got me hooked on this game are the interactive experiences you have within the first five minutes. You infiltrate the base Navy Seals style with a covert amphibious entrance through the underground cave system. The second you emerge from the water you can see two guards on patrol. Unfortunately for them, they’re standing in between you and the elevator that should take you top side. Climbing out of the water and over the railing you can get a feel that this game is going to require a bit of finesse. As you take cover you can see that a guard is coming your way. You decide to evade and all of a sudden “Splash.” You walked right through a puddle that alerted both of the guards. Thinking quickly on your toes, you make a run for it and hide behind the forklift. Just as both the guards go back to their patrols, and you think you’re in the clear, the elevator sounds and is on its way down to your level. Another guard walks off, and just like that, you slip in unnoticed and make your way topside.
I had never seen game mechanics like this before. Guards being alerted to sounds, footprints left in the snow that can give away your position, sneaking through a military facility through air vents and the ability to use cigarettes to search for laser grid trip wires. It was unreal. Not to mention the epic boss fights. The first guy you fight, Revolver Ocelot and his Colt Single Action Army, is a nail biter with the ricochet bullets and life of one of the valuable hostages on the line. And just when you think you’ve about beaten him, this mysterious and BAD ASS cyborg Ninja appears out of left field wielding optic camouflage and a katana. Next thing you know, Revolver’s hand gets cut off, the hostage is rescued and your left scratching your head and wondering “What in the hell just happened?”
Other epic boss battles include: Vulcan Raven; once in a tank, and another in a frozen warehouse. Psycho Mantis; who’s impossible to beat unless you knew to throw your controller in the 2nd player controller port. Sniper Wolf; a seductive killer with the skills of Mark Walberg in “Shooter,” and last but certainly not least, Liquid Effing Snake; the biological and genetically superior brother to Solid Snake. And Liquid never dies! You blow him out of the sky in a Hind, you shoot him out of Metal Gear Rex and then beat the snot out of him, and you race him in a jeep while shooting him with .50 caliber bullets. Liquid is the ultimate enemy. One who can take a lot of damage and is genetically better looking than you are with his gorgeous crop of long blond hair. This game had it all.
I remember that day at the Luzny’s as the day I fell in love with how awesome video games can be. Unfortunately for me, the day had to end and I was forced to go home. Jon had just completed the torture scene with Ocelot that left the life of Meryl in the balance. Jon let Meryl die, he said she was slowing him down. So as I trudged up out of the dungeon and into the blinding light of the Georgia summer sun, I knew I had to play this game for myself. As soon as I got home, I pestered my mom to take me to Blockbuster so that I could rent it. And the rest of my weekend was spent in sweet virtual bliss.
Metal Gear Solid is still a big name in games these days. Its additional installments to the story bring the same amount of fun and excitement to the gaming industry by keeping it fresh with new ideas while simultaneously bringing back the formula that makes the Metal Gear saga a favorite name amongst gamers. Snake Eater, you get to use camo, crawl around in a jungle and survive off the land. I wasn’t a fan of Raiden in ‘Sons of Liberty’ but the story was awesome and Solid did make his mark in the game. I have yet to play Guns of Patriots but my roommate has a PS3 so we should be good. Just gotta go buy it. But that’s the story of how I fell in love with video games. What are some of your favorite moments from the Metal Gear series?
30 Sep 2010, 2:39 pm
Dude, this makes me want to download MGS from the PSN and play it again, on my PSP, no less. Metal Gear Solid on-the-go = epic win!