TPA 78 Kojima's Influence

Lets rewind the clock a bit. I was on a vacation with my folks and there was a game store I was visiting. Inside, a collection of the Metal Gear Solid games one through three was available. I picked it up and thought about buying it. It was under forty dollars, three full games for the price of half of one. Seemed like a good deal. Only problem? The rating. Rated M for mature. I was seventeen so I could handle it, right? I offered the game to my folks and they shot me down. Expecially for the sexual content in the game. I left that game store empty handed but I still wanted it. I had heard of the Metal Gear series and wanted to check them out. The series was famous for their great gameplay and even better story telling. It was a good time to play it too as the fourth game in the series was coming out. I left without a game but I persisted. I waited another year and asked again. This time, my folks let me buy the game series. For the record, the only "sexual content" in the games is one of the woman characters mentions she hid a hidden something up her you know what. That, and in the third game, another woman character shows a bit much of her breasts. Nothing compared to the God of War games that had full nudity. I popped in that PS1 era game called Metal Gear Solid, and started to play. I was immediately hit with how bad I was at the game. I was caught and shot outside of the main building before I had hardly begun. There were spotlights, cameras, and soldiers looking for me. And I was without a weapon. The second time I tried the game, I left tracks in the snow. The guard spotted them and followed them to my location. I remember thinking "Really? This old game is smart enough to see my tracks?" Eventually, I got inside the military building and the game truly began. I was stunned by the polish of the game. I didn't know what I was doing so I stopped the game and went to another section that explained the previous games. At first, I was upset. I like to play game series from the beginning but the original Metal Gear one and two were only on PC or NES, and the NES was a poor version. Thenkfully, the game was willing to explain the full series to me. I sat in my chair for half an hour listening to tthe protagonist Snake, speak with the Colonel. I was bored, I wanted to play the game, but I knew that I would be confused if I didn't sit down and listen. So I sat and the story grew on me. I was hooked. By the time I finished the last section, I was ready to play the game. There was a deep lore of espionage behind it filled with disillusioned patriotism. Within minutes I found a cardboard box that was the icon of the game. You could hide in it to avoid patrols. I rarely used it because I was a dumb kid. I didn't understand what the game was trying to teach me. At the same time, I was frustrated because there were only two walk modes, run and crawl. Wasn't there supposed to be a sneaking option? I had to slow my steps around soldiers or they would hear me coming. At the same time, crawling took too long. After a while, I got the hang of the game and understood what was expected of me. Unlike most games I had played before, I was supposed to sneak around the facility and fight only when needed, usually during boss fights. Each of the bosses had these amazing personalities. It made each one feel like an accomplishment when you defeated them. You had Revolver Occelot who would become a mainstay of the series after fighting him. He idealized the gunslinger trope and had this over the top attitude and his boss fight was with a valuable hostage standing between the two of you. There were other great boss fights like Sniper Wolf in which you had to leave a comrade behind to find a sniper to fight her. You could feel the tension and Snake's pain as he had to leave this comrade behind for a chance at victory. Wolf also had this connection to another ally, Otocon who would provide you with information. Then there was Vulcan Raven, a Native American man who fought you with a tank and then a mini gun strapped to his back. And I can't forget the secret boss but that one is, of course, a secret. And the most famous of the group, Psycho Mantis. A tragic character who had psychic abilities. Not only could he take control of an ally of yours, he could read your video game files and tell what games you had played. For the time, this was astounding. It blew many gamer's minds as they watched their memory cards being read by the antagonist. If you weren't careful, Mantis would mess with your controller and you wouldn't be able to control Snake. Instead you'd have to plug the controller into another port. It was such a strange way to get the player to interact with the game. Finally, we had Liquid Snake, a mysterious man who's story is best left to the player to discover. All this ties into Snake's mission and his personal history. And this ties to the threat the enemies posses, Metal Gear, a weapon that can launch nuclear missles without fuel. Instead it uses a rail gun to fire the missle making it a stealth weapon. As Snake ventures deeper into the facility, deep wounds are opened and the game ends with a surprise ending. 

This would lead to the second game which didn't have as great characters or bosses. There were some very interesting aspects to the game though. I remember playing on this ship with soldiers on it and if you shot the glass windows the soldiers would notice the bullet holes. This blew my mind. Could a game be this deep? Of course, the game isn't as good as the first one. You play as a rookie named Raiden who is a dork compared to Snake. There isn't much to the story but I remember the big reveal at the end blowing my mind away. I think that's a good sign of a game if it sticks with you after the credits roll. There's MGS 3 and 4 but I'll talk about them later. I just wanted to emphasize the impact the head developer Hideo Kojima had on my life. Right now I'm playing his latest series, Death Stranding. I hope to see that same effort he put into MGS put into this game.