The wait for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is almost over. It has been about three years since the original announcement, yet it feels much longer if you're a dedicated Metal Gear fan. Early reviews have been unanimously positive, though they seem to suggest that the game is the ultimate piece of fan service and not very accessible to those who haven't played a Metal Gear game before. For the readers and writer of this article, that's probably a good thing. I think I'll yank the cord on my DSL later today to prevent inadvertent spoilerage before Thursday.

The final part of our Metal Gear retrospective will start where the first one left off, with a look at Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and finish up with some pondering about the future of the series.

Damn the Patriots!

It's seven years old, and still amazing

Metal Gear Solid was a big success, and Konami wanted a sequel. Rather than producing a quick sequel on the aging PlayStation, Kojima and his team wanted to produce the next Metal Gear on the PlayStation 2. Development began in 1999, after an impressive proof of concept trailer (dubbed Metal Gear Solid III, an idea which was later dropped) gained the approval of Konami's management. Early plans for the plot had the game set in the Middle East, where Snake would have a limited amount of time to investigate an aircraft carrier, destroy a new Metal Gear prototype and defeat the revived Liquid Snake. After the situation in Iraq was aggravated once again, the location was scrapped, but the basic plot ideas were retained. The original game plan (featured on the Document of MGS2) indicated a number of other ambitious ideas, such as having Snake's equipment visible on the player model at all times and battles with large numbers of soldiers. Some of these sequences made it in, although slightly changed, while other characters and events were left on the cutting room floor or re-used in later games.

Konami showed the first trailer for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty at E3 2000. The lengthy trailer blew audiences away – there was absolutely nothing else at the show that could match MGS2's visual quality. The game helped to set off the PlayStation 2 hype train, which would crush the Sega Dreamcast, despite its early launch. A demo, included with Kojima-produced Zone of the Enders, and trailers at E3 2001 and TGS 2001 boosted hype even more. MGS2's release was set for November 14 in the US, November 29 in Japan, and March 22, 2002 in PAL territories.

After Shadow Moses, Revolver Ocelot sold the Metal Gear REX specs on the black market, flooding the world with Metal Gears. Nastasha, Snake and Otacon started the anti-Metal Gear group Philanthropy, and the first part of the game, Tanker, deals with Snake sneaking onto a Marine Corps vessel to investigate rumours of a new anti-REX Metal Gear designed for use by the Marines. The tanker is quickly overtaken by Russian mercenary army led by Revolver Ocelot and Sergei Gurlokovich, who intends to steal the new prototype. Ocelot turns on Gurlokovich to take the Metal Gear RAY prototype back to "The Patriots". While making his escape, Ocelot is possessed by Liquid Snake, whose arm he had surgically attached after Shadow Moses. He scuttles the tanker and steals Metal Gear RAY, leaving Snake, the Marines and Gurlokovich's army for dead.

Gamers had no love for Raiden

In the second part of the game, players control Raiden, a FOXHOUND operative sent into the Big Shell, a cleaning facility set up after the tanker incident. Big Shell has been taken over by terrorists calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, lead by the FOXHOUND-like group Dead Cell and beefed up by a Russian Mercenary army. Dead Cell's leader claims to be Solid Snake, though the real Snake is believed to have died in the tanker incident. A special VIP tour was being conducted on the Big Shell, with the US President James Johnson and 30 other delegates held hostage by the terrorists. Raiden is told that the terrorists will destroy Big Shell and kill the hostages unless the terrorists receive a $30 billion ransom. Just to complicate matters, they have a nuclear weapon. Raiden's mission is to defeat the members of Dead Cell and rescue the President.

Metal Gear Solid 2 replicated the Hollywood action movie stylings of its predecessor, but sought to up the ante with amazing graphics, a stellar soundtrack and mind-blowing gameplay. Kojima's team focused on introducing realistic AI, and adding many of the elements they had to scrap in the original game, such as having to hide bodies and first person aiming. There was a distinct increase in interactivity with the game's environment – windows and bottles could be smashed, shooting a fire hydrant would blind other soldiers, and Snake and Raiden could hide in lockers and hang off ledges. New weapons were added, the most notable of which was the M9 pistol, which could knock a soldier cold for a lengthy period and made it possible to beat the game without killing anyone. Guards gained new weapons such as the shotgun and riot shield, and abilities such as being able to search underneath objects and inside lockers.

Given the ridiculous amount of hype it received, it was almost impossible for MGS2 to live up to expectations, and the risks that Kojima took in making Raiden the main protagonist certainly didn't help. The game received an overwhelming number of positive reviews, with a metascore of 95%, but many fans were particularly disappointed with Snake's revised role – to the point where Kojima and his team received death threats. Criticism was also directed at the game's plot and the length and frequency of the associated cutscenes and codec sequences. Many people felt that the story was too convoluted and contrived, while others praised Kojima for daring to be different. The game was pretty heavy thematically, which some felt came at the expense of its action. Despite the criticisms, the game went on to sell 7 million copies and is widely remembered as one of the best games on the PlayStation 2.

A number of different MGS2 variations were released. Japanese gamers received extra modes in the form of boss survival and casting theatre to make up for a slight delay, as well as a Premium Package which included a making-of feature and Snake figurine. PAL fans, who had to wait an extra 6 months, received the Japanese extras, an exclusive European Extreme difficulty and a bonus disc containing a different making-of feature and some trailers. An append disc called The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 was released in September 2002. The disc was intended for die-hard fans, detailing the production process of the game, and featuring all sorts of concept art and promotional material, and allowing players to mess with the game's cutscenes and sample the VR missions for the extended release, MGS2: Substance. Like MGS: Integral, Substance saw the addition of a large number of VR missions, alternate missions and other minor extras. It was originally an Xbox exclusive, released in late 2002 – a title called Metal Gear Solid X had appeared on Konami's schedule, giving false hope that the Xbox would see an exclusive MGS title. The PlayStation 2 version, which contained a few additional extras, was released in 2002 for Japan, and March 2003 in the rest of the world. The PAL PS2 version of Substance came with The Document of MGS2 as an extra bonus.

Recreation

Newer isn't always better

Konami joined forces with Nintendo and Silicon Knights to release Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for the GameCube in 2004. The game arose out of a meeting between Shigeru Miyamoto and Hideo Kojima, where Miyamoto requested that he make a Metal Gear game for GameCube.

Twin Snakes is essentially a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid using the technology that was created for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Silicon Knights handled most of the production work, while Konami recreated the game's cutscenes in-house with Japanese action/horror director Ryuhei Kitamura. Kitamura originally intended to merely recreate the original cutscenes, but Kojima rejected the idea, wanting to see something a little over the top, like Kitamura's zombie film Versus. The game's voiceovers were redone, using mostly the same actors, though losing the accents for characters such as Mei-Ling, Naomi and Natasha.

The Twin Snakes received positive views across the board when it was released, but Kitamura's new cutscenes and the new soundtrack were divisive factors. The introduction of many new features from Metal Gear Solid 2 were either superfluous, or made the game a great deal easier. Many criticised Silicon Knights' work on the game, as there were a number of sections that suffered major frame rate difficulties. The game did shift a considerable number of units, but did not live up to Nintendo's expectations, nor did it even come close to matching the original version's sales.

Welcome to the Jungle

The jungle added a new type of atmosphere to the series

For the third Metal Gear Solid game, Kojima wanted to do something different – a drastic change from MGS and MGS2's military base environments. MGS2 composer Harry Gregson-Williams had joked that he wanted to do a jungle-themed soundtrack, and was surprised when Kojima approached him with the idea. Kojima wanted a more realistic setting – he wanted Snake to work his way towards the enemy base, and deal with surviving in the harsh wilderness. The jungle setting proved to be problematic from a development perspective, with the PlayStation 2 not quite up to the task of handling the game the way Kojima wanted. They had to develop a new engine from scratch, one which would allow them to create a believable jungle atmosphere.

Audiences got their first look at Metal Gear Solid 3 at E3 2003. A short trailer showing an injured, shirtless Snake running through a jungle being chased by dogs was leaked a few days before the show, and caught audiences off-guard. It looked to be very cool, but was also a big departure from the previous two games. The first official trailer revealed that the game would be set in the 1960s, and the Snake in the trailer wasn't the Solid Snake we all know and love – it was Big Boss. The subtitle was revealed as Snake Eater, a name given to Special Forces soldiers who could survive in the wilderness by eating snakes, among other things.

Snake Eater is set in 1964, in the midst of the Cold War. Naked Snake is part of the FOX unit, lead by Major Zero. Their first mission, the Virtuous Mission, is to extract the Russian scientist Sokolov, a weapons designer who became afraid of his creations and defected to the West. Supported from the air by Major Zero and Para-Medic, and from the sea by his mentor, The Boss, Snake parachutes into the Russian jungle. The operation goes horribly wrong; The Boss reveals she has defected to the Soviet Union, and provided Colonel Volgin, a GRU soldier involved in a plot to overthrow Nikita Khrushchev, two miniature nuclear shells and assisted in the capture of Sokolov's creation, the Shagohod. She tosses Snake off a bridge and kidnaps Sokolov. Volgin destroys Sokolov's facility with one of the nukes provided by The Boss.

Metal Gear Online was fun, but not particularly popular

After recovering from injuries sustained in the Virtuous Mission, Snake is given a new assignment. The FOX unit is granted the opportunity to make up for its mistake. A deal was struck between US and Soviet leaders giving the US the opportunity to prove it was not behind the nuclear strike caused by Volgin. The US agrees to stop Volgin's uprising, destroy Shagohod and eliminate the boss. Snake is redeployed into the jungle in the second mission, Operation: Snake Eater

Roaming through the Soviet jungles is a completely different experience to what had been offered in the past Metal Gear games, but Kojima and his team did a great job of ensuring that the franchise's spirit lived on while introducing a whole horde of new gameplay features. The main focus of the game is on survival; players have to hunt food so Snake can keep his stamina up and have to tend to any injuries incurred. Due to the time setting, a lot of the technology enjoyed by Solid Snake is only available in a very early form, or not at all. The game is still very much a sneaking mission, but due to the more advanced AI, players have to make use of a new camouflage system to stay hidden. Matching your environment, moving slowly and taking out enemies silently using the new close-quarters combat system are vital to your success.

Released in the US in October 2004, MGS3 faced stiff competition, going head to head with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2 and Halo 2, which had a noticeable effect on its sales. However, the game was critically lauded, with many reviewers praising the more grounded, yet more profound story line and the focus on solid gameplay. MGS3 seemed to bear a lot of the backlash of MGS2's overscoring when it came to metascores though, with an average around 91%, despite being praised as the better game. MGS3 has sold around 4 million units to date.

MGS3 saw a number of different releases after its initial North American debut. The Japanese were treated to the Premium Pack, which included a Shagohod miniature, some rations, an art booklet and a making-of feature. The PAL version of the game, released in March 2005, included additional "Snake vs. Monkey" missions, the traditional boss survival and casting theatre modes, and some additional camouflage sets. In late 2005, Konami released a second version of the game, MGS3: Subsistence. Unlike the Integral and Substance packs, Subsistence didn't add a plethora of extra missions. Instead, it added a new 3D camera, ports of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 (available in English for the first time) and Metal Gear Online, an online multiplayer game. Players could participate in 16 man battles which incorporated all of the usual Metal Gear elements. Unfortunately, the game wasn't particularly well balanced, so those who got in early dominated, rendering it inaccessible to new players. Konami shut the service down 12 months after release in each territory.

Active Command Intelligence Duel

Acid was a departure from the norm, but rather strategic

For the release of the PSP, Ghost Babel director Shinta Nojiri cooked up a different type of Metal Gear game. Rather than simply producing another Solid title, Nojiri decided to go in a different direction and make a Metal Gear strategy game. Metal Gear Acid is a trading card-based strategy title where players could customise a deck of cards for each of their characters. The game took on the appearance of a sneaking mission from the outside, but Snake's movement and attacks were based on the cards the player possessed. Cards could be found around the world and traded with friends – the better a card was, the harder it was to find.

Acid is set in 2016, where a terrorist group has kidnapped a potential presidential candidate, and is demanding an experiment called "Pythagoras" in exchange for the senator's release. Not wanting to play ball, the US government sends in a Special Forces team to investigate, but they prove to be no challenge to the heavily armed terrorists. Left with no other choice, the government turns to retired mercenary Solid Snake, asking him to infiltrate the facility, rescue the senator and discover the nature of Pythagoras. The game didn't meet the critical or commercial success of the Solid series, but still sold respectably.

Metal Gear Acid 2 followed in 2005 in Japan and 2006 in the rest of the world, greatly expanding on the strategic gameplay of the original. The game featured cel-shaded graphics, a rapid departure from the series norm, a tutorial mode to ease players into the Acid style of play, and over 500 cards, more than double the amount featured in the first game. The original release of the game included the Solid Eye, a folding cardboard box which fit over the PSP, and allowed players to play Acid 2 in stereoscopic 3D. Players could view pictures taken in Subsistence in 3D by using the Solid Eye while linking Acid 2 and the PSP to the PS2.

Set shortly after the events of the first game, Acid 2 begins with Snake being detained for questioning by the FBI. Agent Dalton pressures Snake into accepting a mission to clear his name and free his friends. Snake must infiltrate the manufacturing facility of SaintLogic, a US-based arms manufacturer. Dalton believes that SaintLogic is committing inhuman practices against children, and it's up to Snake to investigate the situation and uncover the truth. Acid 2 received more favourable reviews than its predecessor, but bombed at retail.

Portable Stealth

Naked Snake and Roy Campbell formed their own squad in Portable Ops

Sometime after the release of Acid, Kojima Productions decided that they would make a fully fledged canonical Metal Gear game for the PSP. The game was to be a direct sequel to Snake Eater, and shed further light on the events leading to Big Boss turning his back on America. Due to disc capacity issues, the game wouldn't feature CG cinematics like the other major Metal Gear games. Instead, Kojima hired Australian artist Ashley Wood, who illustrated the Metal Gear Solid comic and digital graphic novel, to produce illustrations that would accompany the game's voiceovers.

Six years after the events of Operation: Snake Eater, the FOX unit has turned on the US Government in an attempt to claim the remaining portion of the Philosopher's Legacy, which has not yet made its way into American hands. Naked Snake, the hero of Snake Eater, is captured by his former unit, and tortured and interrogated as to the location of the Legacy. Snake attempts to reach Major Zero, but learns from Sigint and Para-Medic that the Major has been detained, and that they are suspected of leading the revolt. To clear their names, Snake must find and detain the new leader of the FOX unit, Gene. He learns from cellmate Roy Campbell that they are detained in a Soviet missile base in Columbia. Together they team up to recruit as many disgruntled soldiers to form their own squad to take out Snake's former unit.

Portable Ops draws heavily from MGS3: Subsistence, controlling much the same way and making use of the 3D camera introduced for that version of the game. The game's main hook is controlling your own unit – Snake must first capture a number of guards from the base and persuade them to join his side. From there, you can assign soldiers to tasks across the base, which helps gain important intelligence and resources. Players can only control one squad member at a time, but several can be assigned to one area (non-active characters hide in cardboard boxes). Different soldiers have different abilities, so it's important to try and put together a balanced squad. The game also includes a new version of Metal Gear Online – you can even recruit soldiers from the multiplayer side of the game for use in the single player mode.

The PSP made Portable Ops a little tricky to control

Released in late 2006 (early 2007 for PAL), Portable Ops was positively received by industry critics, carrying an average review score of 87%. Many gamers were happy to see the return of Naked Snake, along with a variety of new features and a new approach to Metal Gear on a portable format. Some players criticised the controls; the lack of a second analogue stick made camera control and first person aiming a little difficult. The game sold about a million units worldwide. The Japanese enjoyed two limited edition PSP bundles for the game's release, which included a copy of the game, dog tags and a special PSP case (which was snakeskin in the more expensive pack) and camouflage design. The belated PAL release saw the addition of the usual Boss Rush mode, in addition to 12 new characters, new maps and some interface changes.

Kojima Productions released a standalone expansion in 2007 called Portable Ops Plus. The Plus pack did away with the regular single player mode in favour of Infinity Mission, a series of random missions where players must find the Advance Point. The main focus of Portable Ops Plus was the Metal Gear Online mode, which saw a bunch of new characters (such as Old Snake from MGS4), new modes, and better balance for rookie players. Portable Ops Plus was a success in Japan, where the Metal Gear Online mode is a little more popular than it is in the West. A Portable Ops Plus Deluxe Pack was released in Japan, which included the original game and expansion in a special slipcase.

The End of Snake?

Maybe he'll find the time to take up fishing...

This coming Thursday sees the release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It will allegedly be the last game in the series for Snake and signifies the end of Hideo Kojima's role as series director and Yoji Shinkawa's role as character designer. Kojima promises that Metal Gear games will still be released in the future, but he will likely only serve as producer. Who knows what direction the series will take in the future, or who will lead the series from here on out? I'd imagine the likely candidate for series director is Shuyo Murata, who has served as a scenario writer and co-director in Snake Eater and Guns of the Patriots.

I have no idea what Metal Gear games we'll see in the future, but I personally would like to see remakes of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Some events and facts in these two games were (rather annoyingly) ret conned by Portable Ops; I'd like to see newer versions of these games which match up to the new entries in the series a little better. It doesn't really matter to me whether they're 2D or 3D, SD or HD, retail or digitally distributed, so long as those of us that missed the game the first time around can have a fresher look at where the series began. I'm sure Konami won't let one of their most lucrative franchises sit still for long.

As for Hideo Kojima, after a well deserved break, I'd like to see him try something different. We've only seen a handful of other games from the man over the last 20 years, so it'll be interesting to see what else he's capable of. The transition into the HD generation has not been smooth for Japan, so they really need all of the help they can get.

Next Week

We return to regular Warp Pipe programming with a discussion concerning video game publishers and the way they handle reviews of titles meant for younger gamers.