I will be starting a retrospective on metal gear solid in view of the impending release of the awesomeness that is mgs4 on the 12th of June, which coincidentally happens to be 10 years after the release of the original MGS on the PSX.

I started out playing the original mgs on the PC (yes I didn�t have a playstation damm). It was by far the most exhilarating game I ever played at that time, ok maybe except for ff7 but I digress.

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Gametrailers.com has an�excellent retrospective on it as well. Check it out here.

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�MGS begun with a new protagonist code-named Solid Snake who was sent to Shadow Moses by Colonel Roy Campbell in an attempt to rescue the DARPA chief and the President of the some weapons organisation. He also had to foil an attempt to start a nuclear war instigated by Snake�s former unit FOXHOUND comprising of revolver Ocelot, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, Psycho Mantis and Decoy Octopus led by Liquid Snake, Snake�s twin brother. The game started out with the memorable elevator scene when snake took off his scuba gear and revealed his pixelated macho manliness. There were many breathtaking cutscences to come, like the battle with Hind D chopper and the gray fox single hand assault against Rex.

Hind D

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Eventually when Snake found his way to the two hostages, they somehow mysteriously died of heart attacks, a result of Naomi Hunter meddling with Snake�s body with a virus known as FOXDIE. During the confrontation with Ocelot, a mysterious cyborg ninja sliced off Ocelot�s arm, a significant turning point for the storyline later on.Thereafter, he met up with Roy Campbell�s hot niece Meryl who apparently had some kinda training against sexual attraction, but come off it she had the hots for Snake the moment she got psyched by Psycho Mantis. Speaking of which. I heard Kojima added some kinda of joke in that boss fight with the mantis and completely screwed the player up. Didn�t happen to me in the PC version though.

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He also had help from a programmer of metal gear with the moniker Otacon but not before a confrontation with a mysterious cyborg ninja who went completely ballistic at the end and starting hammering himself. Weird. Turns out the ninha was Gray Fox, one of Snake�s former comrades.

�First of�cyborg ninjas to come

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After a series of boss fights and twists, Snake had to use a key card to deactivate metal gear, but it ended up arming the nuclear device for launch. Liquid Snake, by now revealed as the true antagonist sought to prove he was the superior clone to Big Boss, the source of Liquid and Snake�s genes. Piloting the aweomeness metal gear rex, he was making minced meat out of Snake when gray fox leapt to his aid and destroyed Rex�s rader but not before being squashed by Liquid like a bug. Using an array of weapons including my favourite the stinger missiles, Snake took down Rex and both Liquid and Solid Snake took off their tops to reveal their pixelated muscles. Now, if Liquid haven�t been monologuing, I am sure Liquid would have taken him down. But nooooo, the laws of villainhood dictates he must go on a rant on how the world was unfair to him etc. So he had his ass handed over by Snake in both a fist fight as well as a car chase later when FOXDIE decided enough was enough and killed Liquid Snake.

�Orewai METAL GEAR!

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MGS gameplay was unique during its time and sparked out a chain of clones which I shall not name (splinter cell sucks). Its hide and seek element was especially well executed, repercussions are punishing and gave players great reason not to run and gun like some kinda other stupid shooter (BLACK). It was the first MGS game to introdue first person perspective as well as a senstive camera angle system when crouched against a wall, not to mention an excellent storyline with surprising plot twists which still had fans dumbfounded (wth are the Patriots!). It was my first foray into the world of Metal Gear and had me hooked. It was also the main reason why I bought a ps2 later, apart from ffx, but I digress. hurhur