Metal Gear Solid: Difference between revisions

Line 9:

'''''Metal Gear Solid''''', considered [[Your Mileage May Vary|by some]] to be one of the greatest games on the [[PlayStation]] and by others to be an [[Hype Backlash|overrated]], [[Mind Screw|convoluted]] mess ([[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty|though less so]] [[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots|than its sequels]]), was released in 1998. With its cinematic style and fusion of gripping gameplay with an equally gripping storyline, it shifted the acceptable degree of [[Story to Gameplay Ratio]], perhaps irrevocably, while also single-handedly popularizing the [[Stealth Based Game]].

[[More Popular Spinoff|To many players' surprise]], [[Sequel Displacement|it is not the first game]] in the popular ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series: Its predecessors were never released in America, aside from the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] version of the original game, ''[[Metal Gear 1987]]'', and its standalone sequel ''[[~~Snakes~~ Revenge]]'', so ''Metal Gear Solid'' was the first game in the series that most people played, and the ''Metal Gear Solid'' moniker carried on to the rest of the series, [[Metal Gear Acid (Video Game)|aside from]] [[Metal Gear Ghost Babel|a couple]] [[Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance|of spinoffs]].

[[More Popular Spinoff|To many players' surprise]], [[Sequel Displacement|it is not the first game]] in the popular ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series: Its predecessors were never released in America, aside from the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] version of the original game, ''[[Metal Gear 1987]]'', and its standalone sequel ''[[Snake's Revenge]]'', so ''Metal Gear Solid'' was the first game in the series that most people played, and the ''Metal Gear Solid'' moniker carried on to the rest of the series, [[Metal Gear Acid (Video Game)|aside from]] [[Metal Gear Ghost Babel|a couple]] [[Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance|of spinoffs]].

Basic plot summary: Six years have passed since [[Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake|the fall of]] [[Ruritania|Zanzibar Land]] and [[Posthumous Character|the death]] of [[Evil Overlord|Big Boss]]. [[The Hero|Solid Snake]], haunted by the death of both Big Boss -- [[Luke, I Am Your Father|who claimed to be his father]] -- and best friend [[Friendly Enemy|Gray ~~Fox~~]] at his own hands, has retired from his life as an agent for FOXHOUND, a [[Badass Crew|special operations force]] for the United States military. His days of running dogs in Alaska are, however, brought to a close when he's kidnapped from his home and brought aboard a submarine beneath the Bering Sea. There, he's greeted by his former superior and "friend," Roy Campbell and the mysterious [[Hot Scientist|Dr. Naomi Hunter]], who draft him into service once more.

Basic plot summary: Six years have passed since [[Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake|the fall of]] [[Ruritania|Zanzibar Land]] and [[Posthumous Character|the death]] of [[Evil Overlord|Big Boss]]. [[The Hero|Solid Snake]], haunted by the death of both Big Boss -- [[Luke, I Am Your Father|who claimed to be his father]] -- and best friend [[Friendly Enemy|Gray FOX]] at his own hands, has retired from his life as an agent for FOXHOUND, a [[Badass Crew|special operations force]] for the United States military. His days of running dogs in Alaska are, however, brought to a close when he's kidnapped from his home and brought aboard a submarine beneath the Bering Sea. There, he's greeted by his former superior and "friend," Roy Campbell and the mysterious [[Hot Scientist|Dr. Naomi Hunter]], who draft him into service once more.

This time, the United States is being held hostage by FOXHOUND itself, which has gone rogue and is being lead by a man who not only [[Evil Twin|looks uncannily like Snake]], but is himself called "[[Meaningful Name|Liquid Snake]]". Naturally, Snake's the only one who can stop his deranged doppelgänger and the [[Five-Bad Band]] working for him. What follows is a game that [[No Fourth Wall|loves to break the fourth wall]] while also telling a surprisingly compelling and serious story about war, morality, and nuclear proliferation.

Line 19:

The game later received a remake for the [[Game Cube]] in 2004 titled ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes''. '''Tropes specifically for the remake go on the bottom of the page.'''

The game's story has also been adapted into a graphic novel written by Kris Oprisko, with stylized, sketchy artwork by Ashley Wood that deliberately imitates Yoji Shinkawa's concept art for the game, and the graphic novel itself has been released in a semi-interactive format as ''Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel'' on the [[~~Play Station~~ Portable]]. This same graphic novel, along with its sequel, was eventually released on DVD in Japan as ''Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinee'', with full voiceovers from the Japanese cast. There's also a [[Novelization]] by Raymond Benson, who has also written book adaptations of ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' films such as ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'', ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'' and ''[[Die Another Day]]'', as well as continuation Bond novels based on [[Ian Fleming]]'s books and novels based on the ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' series.

The game's story has also been adapted into a graphic novel written by Kris Oprisko, with stylized, sketchy artwork by Ashley Wood that deliberately imitates Yoji Shinkawa's concept art for the game, and the graphic novel itself has been released in a semi-interactive format as ''Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel'' on the [[PlayStation Portable]]. This same graphic novel, along with its sequel, was eventually released on DVD in Japan as ''Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinee'', with full voiceovers from the Japanese cast. There's also a [[Novelization]] by Raymond Benson, who has also written book adaptations of ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' films such as ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'', ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'' and ''[[Die Another Day]]'', as well as continuation Bond novels based on [[Ian Fleming]]'s books and novels based on the ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' series.

A [[Live Action Adaptation|film version]] has been [[Development Hell|stuck in limbo for several years]], but [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808372/ it might be released 2012]. And it ''[[Jossed|won't]]'' be directed by Uwe Boll.

Line 34:

* [[Alertness Blink]]: '''!'''

* [[Alternate History]]: Not much attention is called to this fact since the game, when it came out, took place in the future, but the backstory already calls for several [[Ruritania|Ruritanias]] from the Cold War. Just about everything else can be explained away or are the usual sort of fictional liberties, but Zanzibar Land and Outer Heaven stick out.

* [[Artistic License Biology]]: Anyone who's passed 10th grade Biology knows that "recessive genes" doesn't mean "inferior genes". Arguably, this was the point--Liquid was raised to believe that he was inferior so that he would resent his brother. Still...you'd think someone smart enough to mastermind a terrorist uprising might find the time to crack open a science book every once in a while.

* [[Artistic License: Biology]]: Anyone who's passed 10th grade Biology knows that "recessive genes" doesn't mean "inferior genes". Arguably, this was the point--Liquid was raised to believe that he was inferior so that he would resent his brother. Still...you'd think someone smart enough to mastermind a terrorist uprising might find the time to crack open a science book every once in a while.

** It was less that he thought that recessive genes were inferior, but more that he thought Solid Snake was meant to be the better twin. This gave him a [[Understatement|major]] inferiority complex. Doesn't make him any less wrong.

** Liquid knew that "recessive" does not automatically mean "inferior"; [[It Makes Sense in Context]] and he is regarding himself as inferior because his so-called "soldier genes" are recessive (he thinks) whilst Snake's were not (they are).

Line 72:

** {{spoiler|Based on ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', he might actually have wanted Liquid to succeed, since their ultimate goals were similar (basically the same as Big Boss, against the Patriots and for a world of chaos), in which case he performed a [[Xanatos Gambit]] since even though Liquid lost, he still got what he needed. Plus you can argue that since he just had his hand cut off, he didn't fight Snake again because he really wasn't in any shape to do so, and not just because he had completed his secret mission.}}

* [[Dystopia Justifies the Means]]: Liquid's goal is to ignite global conflict and plunge the world into perpetual warfare so that soldiers will always have a place and nbe valued for who they are. (Outer) Heaven for soldiers, Hell for everybody else. And even most soldiers would probably be against this; it's really for those Rambo-types who know nothing ''but'' war and aren't really able to fit in anywhere else, and again only the most sociopathic of ''these'' would sacrifice the welfare of everyone else on the planet to sate their own bloodlust or quench their thirst for purpose.

* [[Final Speech]]: Oh so many.

* [[Fisticuffs Boss]]: Cyborg Ninja<ref>unless you use Chaff Grenades</ref> and Liquid Snake.

{{quote|'''Cyborg Ninja''': At last, we can fight as warriors. Hand-to-hand: it is the basis of all combat. Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon.}}

Line 178:

* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Solid Snake loves to smoke up so much, he was willing to smuggle his cigarettes onto the mission by [[Stomach of Holding|swallowing a whole pack and then regurgitating it]], after taking a shot that supressed his stomach acids (although Snake wasn't quite willing to go that far in the novelization, where he steals a pack of cigarettes on-site and spends the rest of the book complaining about the flavor). He can even use them to detect laser traps.

* [[Sympathetic Murder Backstory]]: Snake is tormented by {{spoiler|his murder of Big Boss and especially Gray Fox.}} Significantly, it's when he describes to Naomi how {{spoiler|his murder of Gray Fox}} was done with professionalism and with no hatred, and that they loved beating each other to death ("like a sport"), that Naomi begins to realize that Snake is an [[Anti-Hero]] rather than a villain.

* [[Traumatic Superpower Awakening]]: Psycho Mantis had his powers fully awaken after he accidentally read his father's mind and thought his father would kill him, resulting in the destruction of his entire village.

* [[Treacherous Advisor]]: More than one. Like everything else in the series, it gets complicated.

* [[Truth in Television]]: Psycho Mantis was recruited by the KGB and the FBI during the Cold War due to his psychic abilities. In real life, during the Cold War, both the East and the West were studying psychic abilities, and the FBI has been known to consult psychics for its harder to solve cases.

Line 213:

Somewhat conspicuously, both the cinematics and music were completely redone, with mixed results. While the new soundtrack is sometimes considered to be superior to the original, the new cinematics have often been derided for their over-the-top (even by ''Metal Gear'' standards) style and blatant use of [[Bullet Time]] in imitation of the then popular ''[[Matrix]]'' movies and ''[[Max Payne (series)|Max Payne]]'' games. Kitamura claimed in an interview that the cutscenes were initially to be redone to look exactly like their [[PS 1]] counterparts, but Kojima had asked for them to be done in the manner seen in the final version.

Because of the aforementioned, ''The Twin Snakes'' continues to divide opinions to this day on whether it's a fantastic upgrade to an already-spectacular game, or a mockery of the original masterpiece.

----

== ''The Twin Snakes'' provides examples of: ==