Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #16: Best Game Ever.

Welcome to the Metal Gear Noob Diaries. This is the recounting of my experience through the MGS series from MGS2: Sons of Liberty all the way to MGSV: Ground Zeroes. I’ll be updating every so often with new thoughts on sections of the games and taking a look back at memorable and enjoyable moments. I’ve never played the series before, so for the fans out there it could be an amusing tale of one noob’s journey, while those as green as myself could well learn a little about the mad world of MGS. Enjoy!

Oh for crying out loud. Why have I never played this game before now? Why have I stared directly at it and simply decided that it’s not for me? I’ve now finished Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and I have to say that it was one of the best playthroughs of a game I’ve ever had. Up there with Uncharted 2 - that’s how good it was! I guess you probably got a sense that I was enjoying it throughout these diaries, but the finale hastily took it from a fantastic playthrough to one of my favourites.

My sessions today kicked off with another motorbike segment that led into yet another good cutscene. After Eva and Snake crash the bike, Eva ends up injured and incapable of moving. She tells Snake to go on without her, but being the smooth talking son of a gun that he is, Snake drops this killer of a line:

Snake: “We’re doing this together. Eva, I need you”
Eva: *Stunned pause* “Say that one more time”
Snake: “I need you... I can’t fly the WIG (plane) by myself.”
Eva: *cracks up in laughter*

So did I. Such a great line, delivered perfectly. I’m going to miss David Hayter afterall by the time MGSV comes around.

Thankfully, I was able to save Eva and make a break for the WIG with which we were to escape the region with. But there was one more part of the mission left to complete. The Shagohod was down, but The Boss was still alive. Cue super-awesome final Boss battle!

From the beginning of the pre-Boss battle cutscene to the very end, the game was a rollercoaster of emotions. That cutscene alone was a real gutwrencher, and much more similar to the philosophical style of MGS2. The Boss expresses her desire for Snake to finish her off, and explains that she gave birth to a baby in battle leaving behind a huge scar across her body (the baby was totally Ocelot by the way). She then talks of the Philosophers, and a small section of the organisation called... The Wiseman’s Committee. Remember that name? It was the same title of the leaders of The Patriots, the world leaders from Sons of Liberty. The Philosophers are essentially the predecessors of The Patriots, which is pretty cool.

Such a great scene led by an incredible character. The Boss is just the best, and the fact that she’s actually a woman makes it all the more awesome. Unlike Eva, she doesn’t even need to be sexualised at any point in the game to get ‘over’ (to clumsily use a wrestling term), she’s just an interesting and well-voiced part of the tale.

The fight itself was really enjoyable. Set within a field of white flowers, it’s the job of the player to hide from The Boss while trying to find her in response, something that’s made a little more tricky by her white outfit. I was given a time limit of 10 minutes to finish her off; after 5 minutes an instrumental version of the game’s theme song kicked in, followed by the song itself. With my new favourite tune in the background, this was the perfect way to see The Boss, and the gameplay, out.

Upon her deathbed The Boss gives Snake the location of the Philosopher’s Legacy, then the game forces the player to take the final shot, and kill The Boss outright. An emotional moment, directed and scored exceedingly well. A teeny tear may have been shed. Ok maybe a few.

Eva and Snake make their escape following this, although Ocelot puts in one final appearance in an attempt to ruin the whole party. It was almost all covered through a cut-scene, but it was a fun one that concluded the game’s action with style. Although it must be said that I did accidentally partially ruin this cutscene (and the final Boss one) by ending the boss fight with the Oyama face paint equipped. Which meant that throughout the scenes Snake was wearing the face paint of a Geisha, even down to the red circles on the lips. So annoying, so stupid, so very silly.

Thankfully, Snake’s outfit was reset for the final scenes. Which was a relief, because boy oh boy Mr Surprise Pants were there some big revelations to be seen and enjoyed:

-Snake finally gave in to Eva’s charms and unleashed the real snake. Huzzah!
-Only Snake wakes up the next morning to discover that Eva has left forever. She was, after all, a triple-double-quadruple spy for the freaking CHINESE PHILOSOPHERS!?. Of all the things to hit me in this game, this one hit me hardest of all. I really felt bad for Snake, and I’d totally fallen into Eva’s trap. I called this so early on but began to doubt myself more and more. Welp.
-So Eva made off with the Philosopher’s Legacy locations as well as the Shagohod data. Shit.
-She was supposed to kill Snake though. She easily could have, but didn’t. Apparently because she made a promise to The Boss - but we all know she’s just crazy for the snake.
-Snake is given the title Big Boss. So begins a new chapter in history.
-But wait there’s more! Unbelievably, Eva reveals that The Boss’ role in the whole fiasco was a bluff. She was working for the USA all along! Her defection was a ruse, all in an attempt to learn the location of the Philosopher’s legacy. It all went wrong when Volkin fired the nuke at the beginning of the game, forcing the US to send Snake and kill The Boss. She’ll always be known as a war criminal, despite her great sacrifice.
-*Beautiful narration, sad music, Snake visiting The Boss’ grave, buckets of tears*

It was the best end of a game ever. Just... wow. Oh and get this: at the end of the credits it turns out that Ocelot was working for the CIA. All this double crossing just makes my mind explode. Well he then reveals that the data Eva stole was fake, and that with his help the US is now in possession of half the Philosopher’s Legacy. Yikes.

I find it difficult to summarise the whole experience, but let me put it this way; I’ve never given a game 10/10 before, but this would easily be a 9.9/10. It’s so nearly perfect, and so incredibly good. That 0.1? The lack of difficulty in the normal mode.

Be sure to read my next entry, because I’ve got a little surprise in store. Here are my stats from MGS3:

Diff: Normal
Play Time: 14:40:35
Save: 15 times
Continue: 31 times
Alert Phase: 71 times
Humans killed: 292 people
Seriously injured: 85 times
Total Damage: 30 life bars
Life med used: 3 times
Plants and animals captures: 16 kinds
Meals eaten: 36 meals
Your title is: Shark