Metal Gear Restrospective - Part 1: "Metal Gear"

With the launch day of "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" coming up, I decided to do a little retrospective-event for the "Metal Gear" franchise, as I play the games in order. Keep in mind that this will definitely not be done by the time MGS4 ships, but if you go out and buy the game on its launch day, you probably don't need me to tell you anything about MG(S).

So, starting today with the first game in the series, the very original "Metal Gear". Back in the '80s, when gaming was taking its first steps out of the joystick infancy and the glorious-but-gone Atari era, a young Hideo Kojima got a job at game-publisher Konami. With his limited knowledge of computer programming, no prior work and some not-very-successful first attempts at the industry, Hideo was struggling to keep his job. So, when Konami asked to come up with an action game -the genre that dominated the industry at the time- for the MSX2 home computer, Kojima conceived the idea for "Metal Gear".

"Metal Gear" 's biggest draw, what made it stand out, was a twist in the gameplay; though an action game by concept, instead of blasting every enemy in sight, the player would have to use stealth to beat the game. Funnilly, this unique element was essentially a forced addition, a way Kojima found to work around the MSX2's hardware limitations, which caused huge framerate drops when multiple enemies showed up on screen.

Konami was still uncertain of the young creator's idea, but decided to take the risk and released "Metal Gear" in 1987 in Japan and certain regions of Europe. The game was an instant success and was met with critical acclaim. Kojima didn't only ensure his job, he didn't only boost his career and his position in the company, but had also done gaming one hell of a contribution, creating the "stealth genre".

"Metal Gear" deals with a fantastical scenario, of a (at the time) disturbed future for the world. The year is 1995 and suddenly a terrorist nation shows up in South Africa, called "Outer Heaven". United States' special black ops organization "FOXHOUND" is called in to take care of the issue. FOXHOUND's Commander 'Big Boss' sends his top operative, 'Grey Fox', in Outer Heaven to gather intelligence. Fox fails to remain unseen and gets captured, his last words in his final transmission being "Metal... Gear". Info says Metal Gear is a special nuclear weapon that Outer Heaven intends to use against the world. Following the failed Operation N312, Big Boss assumes Operation N313 and sends rookie operative "Solid Snake" in Outer Heaven to rescue Grey Fox and destroy the ultimate weapon: Metal Gear.

Snake swims right into Outer Heaven and manages to locate Grey Fox, who tells him about Metal Gear. He informs Snake that the only way to destroy it is to ask its designer, Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar. Snake goes through the entire fortress looking for Madnar, with the help of Outer Heaven Resistance members Schneider, Jennifer and Diane. He finds Madnar, who asks Snake to rescue his daughter, Helen, to let him in on the secret of the demon weapon. Snake saves Helen, who seems particularly fond of his classy mullet and Dr. Madnar tells him that to destroy Metal Gear, he has to put plastic explosives on its legs in a particular order. In the meantime, Schneider discovers the identity of the mastermind behind Outer Heaven, but gets cut offline before revealing it to Snake. Just minutes before encountering the tremendous weapon itself, a POW reveals to Snake that Big Boss is behind the terrorist nation, something that Snake should be suspecting after a series of well-set traps his commander was sending him right into toward the end of the mission.



Snake destroys Metal Gear, setting off Outer Heaven's self-destruct system, but his escape route is blocked by Big Boss himself. The general tells Snake that he sent him in to reveal false information about Outer Heaven, but he went too far and had to be stopped. Snake rockets his former commander to apparent death and with a smoke in his mouth and climbing the left ladder -as instructed by Jennifer's brother earlier- he escapes just in time, as Outer Heaven blows up in millions of little pieces. Snake leaves thinking he has won... but unbeknownst to him, a surviving Big Boss swears to return and take his revenge on him.

The game is characterized by its unique gameplay. In an era when sidescrolling was an impossibility, the fortress of Outer Heaven is split into three buildings, each split in many smaller rooms and hallways and seperated in between by jungle or desert. Each of these areas is in itself split into screens, almost all crawling with enemy soldiers, security cameras or poisonous insects. The player, as Snake, has to sneak past all of them, sneak up to them and punch them (!) to death, or use the weapons in his disposal to take them out. If he screws up and gets captured, things could get ugly. If seen, exclamation marks would appear over the enemies' heads. One exclamation mark means you have to move to another screen to escape. Two exclamation marks means you have to either change floors or take out the opposition... which could prove a bit too big of a task to accomplish.

But the gameplay isn't just about that. During the game, you'll have to track down and rescue Outer Heaven prisoners. Sometimes they will give you useful tips, such as NPC and weapon locations, to progress the game. Even if they don't, they help increase your rank, which in turn increases your health gauge and the amount of ammo you can carry. Though the fortress is small, despite the location diversity, you can't access the whole from the start; you have to collect 8 card keys, each needed for opening different doors. To collect these you usually have to beat the bosses. You have to dodge more than just enemy sentries, as there are minefields, deadly scorpions, flying soldiers and security cameras in the game. If you're stuck, you can call Big Boss or any other member of your support team on the radio and ask for tips; even if you don't call, they might, giving hints about weapons and locations. Much like the cards, you have to collect several items to progress, such as a gas mask, an oxygen tank, an antenna, a parachute and much more. And the game won't let you get bored even for a bit, with a constant change of pace between stealth, boss fights and scripted action sequences.

It's a beautiful game for its time, with detailed sprites, a very appealing depiction of the African-based fortress and impressive action sequences. The soundtrack is surprisingly poor by today's standards, in the sense that it doesn't include more than a handful of tracks. It's really the same tune playing in almost the entire game, the same tune for the danger/seen/action sequences, the same boss theme and an ending theme. Having said that, every tune is so damn catchy that not only can't you complain, but the standard music playing throughout the game (which would later be remixed in 1998 and added in the VR Missions of "Metal Gear Solid") is pretty effective during the sneak parts; just as the action theme works great for the action sequences.

Of course, the game now shows both its age and Kojima's inexperience at the time and a few detractors stick out. For example, the exact line of sight of the enemy guards is unclear. You're seen if you walk exactly straight in front of them; a milimeter off and they can't see you. Because of the lack of side-scrolling, the game is played by walking to different screens, but you have no way of knowing what's on the next screen you step into, resulting in bumping on a guard by accident several times. There are the binoculars to look around, but they don't work in real-time (meaning they show the default guard position) and using them every time you want to proceed can become annoying. And, of course, the game lacks sense of direction. You need a walkthrough to make sure you can beat it properly. Last time I beat it, I actually skipped the part of rescuing Madnar's daughter, because I couldn't find her. I remembered the comination to destroy Metal Gear, because I've played the game before, but a new player would have to go all the way back to find Helen... which could prove impossible as at that point, the game was becoming a lot less forgiving. I can't imagine how anyone could manage to play this without a quick-save feature (I still play the original MSX2 version in ROMS, even though I own Subsistence), but that probably says a lot about the difference between gamers then, who were part of an outcast cult and gamers now, who are casual members of a pop-cultural phenomenon.

And that was, in a nutshell, the game that started it all. Strangely, "Metal Gear" was just a project that Kojima did to save his job. He didn't expect it to become so popular or revered and he certainly didn't intend it to spawn an entire saga that spread across two decades. But fate had different plans for MG and Hideo...