Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was the third in game in the Metal Gear Solid Series. It introduced CQC and involved Snake having to eat plants and wild animals to survive. It was set during the Cold War.

Story Overview
The Virtuous Mission

On August 24, 1964, Naked Snake, an operative for the newly formed FOX Unit was sent to Russia to rescue Sokolov, a formerly-defected Russian scientist. He was being held in Rassvet which was surrounded by guards. To get to Rassvet, however, Snake had to parachute in by performing the world’s first ever HALO jump, landing in Tselinoyarsk. His support team who kept in touch with him via Codec were Major Zero, Para-medic and Sigint.

Snake familiarized himself with the area and the members of the FOX unit, and then proceeded to Rassvet, to meet Sokolov. As Snake and Sokolov began to make their way to the extraction point, they were ambushed by KGB operatives and held at gunpoint. The KGB agents were then surrounded and killed by the Ocelot Unit being led by Ocelot, part of a rogue GRU faction intent on capturing Sokolov for themselves. Snake, using his hand-to-hand CQC techniques, managed to disable all the Ocelot Unit members while Sokolov escaped.

When they reached the rope bridge Sokolov pointed to the top of a nearby mountain, where Sokolov’s Shagohod, a huge tank capable of firing a nuclear missile fantastic distances, was being tested. On their way over the bridge they were greeted by the Boss, only to find out that she had defected to the Soviet Union. Sokolov was then captured by the members of the Cobra Unit, and The Boss explained that Sokolov, along with a couple of Davy Crocketts (miniature nuclear shells) where her gift to her new hosts. Colonel Volgin, a man who carries an electrical charge of ten million volts, joined The Boss and Snake on the bridge. Volgin then told The Boss that she had to kill Snake, because he had seen his face. She attempted this by breaking his arm and throwing him off the bridge, secretly knowing full well that he would live through the fall.

Snake did survive, and had to cure himself, with the help of Para-Medic. Then something unexpected happened. Colonel Volgin decided to test one of the Davy Crocketts out, and completely wiped out the OKB-754 research facility. This then led Kruschev to believe it was the US who blew it up as there was a US plane in Soviet air space, which was the plane the members of FOX were stationed in. Snake then had to go back and complete Operation Snake Eater.

Operation Snake Eater

On August 30, nearly one week after the failure of the Virtuous Mission, Snake is once again tapped and is deployed into Tselinoyarsk by a D-21 drone launched from an M-21. Snake then had to meet ADAM, a KGB agent sent to assist him during Operation Snake Eater, at Rassvet. On the way to meet ADAM, Snake ran into the Boss and she tried to stop him from carrying on with his mission, along with dismantling his gun. He then reached Rassvet and waited for ADAM but instead EVA showed up. As Snake rested and EVA kept a look out, the Ocelot Unit showed up. EVA woke Snake up and he told her to go and hide, while he took care of them. After defeating the Unit, Ocelot grabbed EVA. She managed to escape and hop onto her bike, as Ocelot ran away. EVA then mentioned she had to get back before he did, and she opened the way up for Snake. Snake then headed to Graniny Gorki to see Sokolov. On the way he battled Ocelot overlooking a crevice. Once Ocelot was defeated the area was swarmed by Hornets, and Snake fell down the crevice into the cave below.

Snake then ventured around the cave, eventually finding the exit. On his way he was attacked by The Pain. Once Snake had beaten The Pain, he left the cave and headed toward a warehouse. When he got there he looked on with his scope and saw The End being pushed in a wheelchair by The Fear, along with Volgin, The Boss, Sokolov and Tatyana.

He then reached Graniny Gorki, where he thought he was going to meet Sokolov. Instead, he found Granin, drunk. Granin then told Snake about his Bi-pedal Tank which he explains as “a sort of… Metal Gear” and slammed Sokolov's Shagohod. Granin then presented a key card to Snake to help him get to Groznyj Grad, Volgin’s near impenetrable fortress, but Granin told Snake about a secret tunnel that runs around the perimeter of the base. Snake then left and headed towards the mountain Krasnogorje to meet up with EVA. As he walked back to the warehouse he passed earlier, he is ambushed by The Fear. Once The Fear was beaten he carried on towards Krasnogorje.

After leaving the warehouse again through the door he could only now access thanks to Granin, Snake was called by EVA to tell him that The End was waiting for him up ahead. On his way through the jungle Snake heard The End calling out to him, saying theirs will be a grand battle. After a long and tiring battle in which The End was eventually defeated, the way to Krasnogorje was opened up and Snake makes his way to the mountain to meet up with EVA. When they met up, Snake saw EVA getting changed and figured out that she was also Tatyana, she then handed him a key that he could use to get into the underground tunnel. Snake then stepped out onto the mountain side, and caught a good view of Groznyj Grad. He looked through his scope, and saw Volgin pummelling away at an oil canister, with blood seeping out the bottom. When Volgin hit it up into the air, Snake noticed Granin’s lifeless body fall out of it. On his way to Groznyj Grad via the tunnels, he was confronted by the last member of the Cobra Unit, The Fury. After yet another long battle Snake defeated The Fury and was chased into another tunnel by two blazing trails of fire.

Snake then headed up a ladder and infiltrated into the heart of Groznyj Grad. He then disguises himself as Major Ivan Raidenovich Raikov, and went to find Sokolov. After finding him he obtained the launch data for the Shagohod and told Sokolov that he plans on destroying it. But as he went to leave he was caught by Volgin and The Boss. He was then captured and tortured by Volgin shortly after Volgin had killed Sokolov. A while later Volgin cautiously accused The Boss of being a spy and told her that, to prove her innocence, she must cut out Snake's eye. Just as she was about to, Tatyana (EVA) pulled her away, demanding that she stops. Ocelot then accused of Tatyana being a spy and puts her to the test of luck. He juggled his three guns (with one containing a single bullet) and fires one randomly six times. As he was about to shoot her, Snake knocked into Ocelot making him fling one of his guns into the air, and as Ocelot caught it he shot Snake's right eye out. The Boss then shot a transmitter into Snake's leg.

Snake then escaped from Groznyj Grad with the help of EVA, and made his way into the underground sewer system being chased by Ocelot and his Ocelot Unit, and he leapt of a waterfall into the river below. He then had a near death experience in which he met The Sorrow who showed him the restless souls of everyone he had killed during the mission. Snake then awakens, down the river and met up with EVA. She gave him some stolen C3, and told him he could use it to blow up the Shagohod. And once again Snake headed into Groznyj Grad.

Once inside he planted the C3 onto various fuel containers scattered around the Shagohod’s hangar before being spotted by Ocelot and Volgin. Volgin declared that he had discovered that Tatyana was a spy and explained to Snake about The Philosophers Legacy, a vast sum of money collected by the most powerful men in Russia, America and China, known as the Philosophers. Snake and Volgin then fought and Snake valiantly defeated Volgin and escaped from Groznyj Grad with EVA, just as the C3 went off. But on their way to the exit of Groznyj Grad, the Shagohod burst from the hangar, with Volgin in the driver’s seat. He then chased Snake and EVA out of Groznyj Grad and the two manage to blow up a bridge outside of Groznyj Grad (which EVA had planted C3 on earlier) hoping to take the Shagohod with it. At first it seemed they were successful but the Shagohod shot out of the water and onto the cliff where Snake and EVA were. Snake and EVA then drove around the Shagohod, destroying it’s main controls. Volgin then stepped out of the Shagohod, ripping various cables and holding onto them, using his bodies’ electrical current to control the Shagohod. Eventually, Snake shot Volgin and Volgin pauses, exhausted and a storm appears, with a thunderbolt striking him, causing the bullets he has strapped around his chest to go off killing him instantly.

Snake and EVA then headed to where the WIG they plan to use to escape is. Snake then left EVA temporarily, in order to go and fight The Boss. The Boss talked to Snake telling about how she once had a child on the battlefield, and how that child was taken by The Philosophers. She also explained how she picked him as a pupil because they were both Atomic test subjects. She also explained that she was the first American to be sent into space, and how it was kept a secret from the public. She then declares that Snake’s mission is to defeat her, whether he wants to or not. It is his mission, and he must see it through, and whoever wins will also win the title of Boss. The two then have a huge and epic battle, both of them putting their heart and souls into the fight. Snake eventually defeated The Boss and they share a final moment together before she requested the he shoots her with her own gun, The Patriot.

Snake then went to the WIG to leave with EVA, but as they were leaving Ocelot arrived and challenged Snake to one last duel.

"You're not a snake and I'm not an ocelot. We're men with names. My name is Adamska. What's yours?"

- Ocelot

"John"

- Naked Snake

"Very well, John. Plain name, but I won’t forget it."

- Ocelot

After the two draw, Ocelot left and Snake and EVA headed home. When they get back they joke and share a night of passion together. The next morning Snake awoke, only to find an audio message waiting for him. It was left by EVA and she explained that, from the beginning she was a Chinese-American spy, sent by The Philosophers to get the Legacy back for China. She then explained about the true meaning of The Boss’ last mission…

From the beginning The Boss knew that she was to fall to Snake. Her final mission was to be killed by her most beloved pupil. That was her mission, and she saw it through to the end, like a true soldier. Snake was arranged to see President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson awards Snake the title of Big Boss, and offers his hand for a handshake. Big Boss reluctantly shakes his hand, and turns away. The director of the CIA also offers his hand, but Big Boss leaves; devastated… he goes to The Boss’ Grave which reads “A Patriot, Who Saved The World”… Big Boss laid down a flower, the same ones that were at the field where they fought and he also laid down The Patriot, The Boss’ gun. He salutes as tears began to fall down his face… But he stood proud…