Metal Gear Solid -Part 1- Random Heart Attacks

Entry posted by solidbatman April 16, 2015

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I died 5 minutes into the game, and killed 3 guards. I still got it.

Anyway, a few beginning notes. Naomi's accent is a British one in Metal Gear Solid and Mei Ling is a super stereotypical Asian girl accent. No doubt we'll see those two voices stay the same through the entire series. Hideo Kojima, the director, loves cinematic games, and Metal Gear Solid opens very similar to a move opening. Snake swims through water as opening credits appear on screen. As you complete the first stage, those credits keep going. Its a nice little movie style touch, and we will see plenty more of those.

Like a typical Metal Gear Solid later, the game opens with plenty of exposition. Kojima has a thing about details, and boy does this game go into detail. We get explanations about the Codec communication system, which is basically a radio, but we also are told why no one else around Snake can hear it. Then we get an explanation of how Snake was able to swim through cold water, and how he smuggled cigarettes through Naomi's strip search before the mission (he swallows the box).

Early on in the game, we are given a quick tutorial about the semi-open endness of the sneaking. The game points out that there are a few ways into the facility we are sneaking into, and our commander, Campbell tells us to choose our own COA (course of action so says the game).

Naturally, I make as much noise as possible, get spotted, and chased across the stage until I happen upon a gun. It is much easier to sneak around when all of the guards are simply dead. When I try to save once I've snuck into the building, I finally remember why I meant to buy a digital version of the game. Mei Ling's lines cant be read off the disc when saving thanks to a tiny little scratch I never resurfaced. This is of minor importance since I can still save. A shame I won't get to hear all of her quotes (a tradition all mission data specialists seem to carry on post MGS1).

Once we are in an air duct, Master Miller calls us. He is Snake's old friend and mentor. He also speaks with a hint of a British accent. The name Miller will appear later on when we hit Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. He lets us know that if we have questions about Alaska, to call him. We won't be calling him. Ever. Fuck Alaska.

Oh shit, I forgot why I was here. We are apparently looking for the DARPA chief who has been taken hostage by terrorists being led by someone with the code name, Liquid. The terrorists have a miniature army of soldiers and a nuclear weapon at their disposal. Using this they have taken over a military base in Alaska located on Shadow Moses Island. If I recall, the terrorists demand money. Its never that simple though, is it?

While crawling through the air duct, a guard tells another guard that the ducts will be sprayed for rats soon. No better time for pest control than during a hostage situation that has the whole US government paralyzed due to nuclear threat! I need to find an elevator to get to the basement where the DARPA dude is.

Annnnd I died again trying to find the elevator. Things are going swell. A quick reload, and elevator ride and we are back into more air ducts to get to the DARPA chief. Along the way, we see a red haired girl doing sit ups in her cell. Moving on from that, we get to the DARPA chief.

He informs Snake that the terrorist have a hold of a nuclear equipped walking battle tank... a Metal Gear which was being stored in secret on Shadow Moses. It also turns out that the President of Arms Tech is also on the island. The terrorists need DARPAs and Arms Tech's passwords to launch their nuke. Now, we have to go on a quest to get card keys to cancel the nuke launch. Oh shit the DARPA guy had a random heart attack right when he was about to explain something crazy!

And thus completes the first hour of Metal Gear Solid.

I really suck at it so far. The controls are a little wonky, but otherwise, the game holds up fairly well through the first hour. The voice acting is pretty good, which is a nice thing for a game so old. The more gameplay heavy parts are coming up now that the basic premise and quest of the story have been established.

Death Count: 2

Alert Count: 4

Stupid Convenient Plot Element Count: 1