Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid

"A strong man doesn't need to read the future, he makes his own."

- Solid Snake

Metal Gear Solid (メタルギアソリッド) is a stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation. It was well-received publicly and critically, shipping more than six million copies, with a metascore of 94 out of 100 on metacritic. It is the third canonical title released in the Metal Gear series, being a direct sequel to Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

The commercial success of the title prompted MGS to be enhanced and re-released on the PlayStation and Windows PC under the name Metal Gear Solid: Integral; a remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was later released for the Nintendo GameCube.

Gameplay


Despite a transition to 3D, MGS's gameplay remains similar to Metal Gear 2. The player must navigate Solid Snake through the game's areas without being detected – 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, as 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 (known as Codec) as well as encounters with bosses. To progress, players must discover weaknesses of these enemies to defeat them. This is where the player will most often use the game's weapon-set, ranging from pistols to rocket launchers and grenades. Game controls and play strategies can also be accessed via the Codec radio, where advice is delivered from Snake's support crew; for example, the support team may chastise Snake for not saving his progress often enough, or explain his combat moves in terms of which buttons to press on the gamepad. Completion of the title provides the player with a statistical summary of their performance, and a "code name" based upon it, typically the common name of an animal.

In a first for the Metal Gear series, a training mode is available in which players can practice hiding techniques, weapons use, and sneaking. 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.

Story Overview
During a training mission on Shadow Moses in February of 2005, at a nuclear weapons facility on a remote island off the coast of Alaska, the Next-Generation Special Forces unit rebelled against the United States government, led by the covert wet works team FOXHOUND, under the command of Liquid Snake. Their target was the advanced weapon system Metal Gear REX, a gigantic robotic weapons platform able to independently launch a nuclear warhead at any target on the face of the planet. They had one demand: the body of the greatest soldier who ever lived, Big Boss. The Next-Generation Special Forces (better known as the GENOME Army), already the subject of advanced gene therapy, could use the genes of Big Boss to make them the ultimate soldiers. The government cannot let this happen. At the request of the Secretary of Defence, Colonel Roy Campbell, the former commander of FOXHOUND, summoned Solid Snake out of retirement and sent him to infiltrate Shadow Moses in one last solo covert operation. Dr. Naomi Hunter, Mei Ling, and Nastasha Romanenko are his support team.

A more detailed Story Overview can be seen here

Theme
Genetics is the theme of behind this game, or the idea of nature vs. nurture. This is shown by how, even though Liquid is genetically superior to Snake, Snake beats him every time. In the end Liquid has an opportunity to kill Snake but the FOXDIE virus gets him first. Since Liquid and Snake are identical, Snake will also be killed by the virus at some stage. The idea of genes expands beyond the family tree with the Genome Army. The Genome Army, is also a part of the "Legacy" of Big Boss, in that they share genetic traits with Big Boss, and also contract and die from the FOXDIE virus.

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.

The actual development for MGS began in early 1996 with the intent of creating the "best PlayStation game ever." Developers aimed for accuracy and realism while making the game enjoyable and tense. In the early stages of development, a SWAT team educated the creators with a demonstration of vehicles, weapons and explosives. Hideo Kojima 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 MGS; 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.

The word "Solid" in the title refers to the game being the third installment in the series, and also because the game uses 3D computer graphics.

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 to the currently playing track, instead of switching to another pre-recorded track. Although these features could not be achieved, they were implemented in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

MGS was revealed to the public at E3 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. Television and magazine advertisements, in-store samples, and demo give-aways contributed to a total of US$8 million in promotional costs.

Original version
The English version of Metal Gear Solid (translated by Jeremy Blaustein) contains minor refinements made during localization, such as adjustable difficulty settings (including an "Extreme" setting available after completing the game, which adds extended guard vision and removes the Soliton Radar, among other changes), the bonus tuxedo outfit for Snake, and a "demo theater" for viewing cut scenes and radio conversations.

Versions of the game dubbed in Spanish, German, French and Italian were released thorough Europe in addition to the English-dubbed version released in America. A premium package was also released in Japan and the PAL region, which came with a special box, FOXHOUND army dogtag, T-shirt, metallic memory card seal, music disc, and a history and art book.

Other re-releases
The original PlayStation version of MGS, as well as Integral, had been reissued twice: once under The Best range and second time as a PSone Books title. Likewise, the American and European versions of the original MGS were reissued under the "Greatest Hits" and "Platinum" ranges respectively. The game is included in the Japanese Metal Gear Solid: 20th Anniversary Collection (in addition to a stand-alone 20th Anniversary edition) and in the American Essential Collection. The game is also available on the PlayStation Store for the download on the PlayStation 3 and PSP in Japan.

Music
MGS'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
MGS was a commercial success, shipping over 6 million copies worldwide. Upon release, it was one of the most rented games, and topped sales charts in the United Kingdom.

The game was generally well received by the media and some of the most prominent gaming critics. Users and critics of GamePro gave it an average score of 4.8 out of 5 calling it "this season's top offering [game] and one game no self-respecting gamer should be without". However they criticized the frame rate, saying it "occasionally stalls the eye-catching graphics" and "especially annoying are instances where you zoom in with binoculars or the rifle scope", and also the interruptions of "advice from your team", in the early parts of the game, "that's listed in the instruction manual", calling it an "annoyance". GameSpot also criticized this, saying "it needlessly interrupts the game". They also criticized how easy it is for the player to avoid being seen and it's short length and called it "more of a work of art than ... an actual game". Further criticism came from the website Adrenaline Vault, which said it had "some serious...flaws" which "made it a complete disappointment".

It received an Excellence Award for Interactive Art at the 1998 Japan Media Arts Festival. NGamer said "It's like playing a big budget action blockbuster, only better". IGN said it came "closer to perfection than any other game in PlayStation's action genre" and called it "Beautiful, engrossing, and innovative...in every conceivable category".

MGS is often recognized as the first stealth game. The idea of the player being unarmed and having to avoid being seen by enemies rather than fight them has been used in many games since. It is also sometimes acclaimed as being a film as much as a game due to the lengthy cut scenes and complicated storyline. Entertainment Weekly said it "broke new ground with...movie-style production...and stealth-driven gameplay, which encouraged...hiding in boxes and crawling across floors". GameTrailers said it "invented the stealth game genre" and called it "captivating, inventive and gritty". The game is often considered one of the best games for the PlayStation, and has featured in the best video games by GameFAQs, Japanese magazine Famitsu, Entertainment Weekly, Game Informer, GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and GameTrailers. However it's placing in these lists is inconsistent, ranging from second to 50th.

In 2002 IGN's editors ranked it as the best PlayStation game ever. IGN writer David Smith said that just the demo for the game had "more gameplay [in it] than in most finished titles". They also gave it the "Best Ending" and "Best Villain" awards. In 2005, in placing it 19th on their list of "Top 100 Games", saying that it was "a game that truly felt like a movie", that the fights were "unique and innovative", and that it was "the founder of the stealth genre".

Radio drama
A Japanese radio drama version of MGS was produced shortly after the release of the original PlayStation game. 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 CD as a two volume set. Set after the events of the PlayStation game, Snake, Meryl, Campbell and Mei Ling (all portrayed by their original Japanese voice actors) pursue missions in hostile third world nations as FOXHOUND. Original characters are introduced, such as Sgt. Allen Iishiba, a Delta Force operative who assists Snake and Meryl; Col. Mark Cortez, an old friend of Campbell who commands the fictional Esterian Special Forces; and Capt. Sergei Ivanovich, a former war buddy of Revolver Ocelot from his SVR days.

Comic
In September 2004, IDW Publications began publishing a series of MGS comics, written by Kris Oprisko and illustrated by Ashley Wood. As of 2006, 12 issues have been published, fully covering the game's storyline.

Novelization
A novelization based on the original Metal Gear Solid was written by Raymond Benson and published by Del Ray. The American paperback edition was published on May 27, 2008, with a British edition released on June 4, 2008.

The novel shed light on the mysterious Les Enfants Terribles project, stating some of the people involved, and where it took place, as well as shedding more light on the death of Master Miller.