Daniel Taylor takes us through his top MGS moments.
So with the Metal Gear Solid V the Phantom Pain release on the horizon and Metal Gear Solid being my all-time favourite game franchise, I could not think of a better time to do a countdown of my top moments in the franchise so far. I am going to kick off where the MGS franchise began and my favourite game in the world: Metal Gear Solid. I hope you have as much fun reading this piece as I did writing, and feel free to leave your own thoughts and opinions of how you would list your top moments.
15 DARPA Chief Fake Death
The original DARPA chief Donald Anderson was taken prisoner by Revolver Ocelot so Psycho Mantis could read his mind to get the detonation codes for Metal Gear Rex. Ocelot “accidentally” killed him because he would not reveal the codes, so Liquid Snake then made Decoy Octopus take Andersons place to get Solid Snake to trick him into revealing an alternate way to activating Metal Gear Rex. Solid Snake later found the real corpse of the DARPA chief and realised what really happened after Raven explained everything.
14 Guard Sounds
Now the sounds the guards make is on the list because, let’s be honest, the sound they make when they catch you is one of the most memorable features from the Metal Gear Solid series, as well as that sound they make when they spot your footprints or hear you make a noise. It can be funny hitting a wall then running in circles making footprints and listening to the guard talking to themselves.
13 Using Ketchup to Escape Cell
I had to put this in because it breaks up the serious tone of the game by using tomato ketchup to break out of your cell; a cell that is supposed to be guarded by highly trained mercenaries. These mercenaries can’t tell ketchup from real blood. Someone should really talk to this guy and explain the differences between human physiology and plant/fruit condiments.
12 Codec
The codec served multiple uses in the game, such as explaining controls, pushing the story along, telling the player objectives, saving the game, giving hints to find objectives and/or beat puzzles and chat with the members of Foxhound. Even though it has all these uses, I think the one thing that reminds you of it the most is that distinctive ringtone.
11 Meeting Meryl
You first meet Meryl when she has a gun pointed to the back of your head accusing you of killing the DARPA chief, but Solid Snake knows she is not a terrorist, and he also knows she has not killed anyone yet either. They both make a stand in the cell block where he gets Meryl to finally shoot someone by shouting at her. Then, as she runs away the camera pans to her bum showing her running like a woman (Kojima is not renown for his progressive views on gender). She then helps him later in the game and also gets captured and used against him by Psycho Mantis.
10 Cardboard Box
The iconic cardboard Box earns a spot on the list for being one of Snakes most useful tools even though it is a bit random and an unexpected item for an elite soldier to use while infiltrating a secret military base with people that will kill him. I found it funny to sneak about underneath a cardboard box behind the enemies backs and I am glad it has earned its place in the games.
9 Raven Fight
The Raven battle earns a spot as he was one of the coolest, badass boss battles in the game, whether it was in the cold warehouse with him wielding a mini gun when you are using you’re trusty Socom, or The other part of this battle when he entered the tank and you had to fight him using grenades, trying to get them to hit the sweet spot in the open hatch.
8 Grey Fox Fight
This fight see’s you go up against Grey For, also known as Cyborg Ninja, where you must fight him to the death and where only one of you is going to get out of it alive. Grey Fox was supposed to have died in Zanzibar, but was entered into a new gene therapy project that brought him back to life and then was used as a test subject for other experiments.
7 Revolver Ocelot Hand Cut Off
Grey Fox cutting off Ocelot’s hand was unexpected as he was the first boss battle and usually the first boss you fight in a video game you usually kill. But this time Grey Fox appears and cuts off his gun arm and flees, leaving Baker for Snake to speak to. It was a nice move by Kojima as it shows a different way to save a character than them being left to live and shows forward planning as in MGS2 and MGS4 he becomes a bigger part to the story.
6 Rex Fight
The Metal Gear Rex fight earns a spot on the list for the sheer fact that one single man who had defeated all the members of Foxhound still managed to have the strength and talent to take out one of the most threatening nuclear weapons that, if not destroyed, could have cause a mass amount of devastation to the planet. Even with all this weight on his shoulders Snake still manages to get the job done.
5 Elevator Introduction
There’s nothing else quite like the slow elevator opening of MGS, when Snake is going up and takes off his mask and we see a character that would become a part of so many peoples lives, as well as one of the best known names in gaming. To this day the scene still motivates me to make a game that memorable. It’s a great way to set the scene for everything that follows and a great way to start a game.
4 Sniper Wolf Death
Sniper Wolf’s death earns fourth place for the intensity of the cut scene. Her death highlights how she no longer wants to live, as she outlines the tragedy of her life, and explains how she regained control of her destiny after she became one of the best snipers in the world. This part does tug on the heart strings, especially for Otacon who even though being captive, fell in love with her. He forgave Snake for killing her because Otacon knew that Snake had to. Snake told her she was a good soldier and that she was a Wolf and after all this Otacon and Snake still became friends.
3 Meeting Otacon
Otacon earns a place in the top five as he helps Snake to escape the cell by giving him the ketchup to escape the cell, as well as aiding Snake in other ways during the game. Otacon decided to help Snake after he told him about the true intentions for Metal Gear Rex, and that he had been forced to continue to work on by Foxhound. Otacon (real name: Hal Emmerich) became a major character in the latter Metal Gear Solid games by helping Snake track down and destroy more Metal Gear’s.
2 Psycho Mantis Fight
The boss battle with Psycho Mantis is one of the best boss battles ever. It was the first time I have ever played a game where it broke the fourth wall and when I first played it I was eight, and I had no clue what the fourth wall even was. All I was thinking while playing was this is crazy and awesome, and I have to change controller ports and change memory card ports.
1 Liquid Fight on Rex
The first place goes to the fight between Solid Snake and Liquid Snake, both grown from the DNA of Big Boss and raised to be near identical to each other. This is the final challenge for Snake to complete after taking out the members of Foxhound as well as destroying Metal Gear Rex, and this one is personal for him. I loved this fight because it shows you don’t need big robots, aliens or gimmicks to make a memorable boss fight. This is pure story and emotion and that can do just as good of a job.