The Right Spin

Recently I finished Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and it was a frickin' blast. Set in the U.S.S.R. in 1964 it's the height of the Cold War. The Cuban Missile Crisis is still fresh on everyone's mind and JFK has recently been assassinated. Khrushchev, having lost his most powerful ally in the West, is now on the verge of losing control of his country to the military. Fearful of a coup he is blind to the threat posed by a small special forces-style group within the Soviet military: GRU.

But this is of little interest to the United States just now. What we are interested in is a Soviet weapons scientist, Sokolov, wishing to return to the U.S. He defected a number of years hence but one of the conditions for Soviet withdrawal from Cuba was the return of this scientist. The Kennedy Administration complied. Now the mission is to get him back and the protagonist of the story, Snake, is the man to do so.

Upon near completion of his mission, Snake, encounters his old mentor, over a bridge high above a fast flowing river, deep within Soviet territory: The Boss. She's a legend known around the world in political and military circles. If her history became unclassified we'd know her as one of the key figures bringing victory to the Allies in World War 2. Together she and Snake developed a deadly and highly effective style of combat known as CQC. She, being a master of it, quickly disarms Snake and informs him that Sokolov is coming with her. And she, and her hand selected team of mercenaries known as The Cobras, are joining up with GRU. As a sign of her loyalty to GRU she presents its leader, Volgin, with a gift: a small nuclear rocket and launcher. Since Snake has seen Volgin he cannot be allowed to live. Volgin is about to take matters into his own hands when the Boss intercedes. Snake was her student and she'll deal with him. She subdues him with little effort and throws him over the side of the bridge. Badly injured Snake washes upon on shore. Meanwhile, Volgin, flanked by helicopters, uses his gift. He destroys the facility Snake rescued Sokolov from in a brilliant nuclear explosion. Snake is rescued and brought back to the U.S. as a criminal.

The Kremlin is up in arms and demands answers from the United States. President Johnson convinces Khrushchev to allow an American agent to enter the U.S.S.R. to apprehend the Boss and bring her to justice. Khrushchev agrees but a clock is ticking. His military advisors are demanding a retaliatory strike and he cannot hold them off forever. Now, Snake, to clear his name, must assassinate his old mentor to avert a nuclear exchange between the world's two superpowers.

Whew! That's a lot! And that's only the first 20 minutes or so of the game. Things get really twisted from here.

What's so great about this game is that it's set during the Cold War. The feeling of paranoia and imminent destruction is great to return to in a storytelling setting. While we know the outcome of the Cold War the tension is still there. Now, I'll warn you, the story does get really... out there. Either people seem to love it or hate it. I'm in the former crowd. That it gets so unbelievable is incredible. There are numerous, "What the f---!?" moments as the story twists and turns. You think you know what's going on? You don't. You don't get the full picture until after the credits end. What's more, if you know anything about the previous Metal Gear games it casts so much in a different light. People you thought were villains you sympathize with and organizations you once though you understood a revealed to be nothing you could have imagined. Great game. Great story. Awesome music.

My only complaint is the camera angle. It's one of the main reasons I couldn't play Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The camera angle is top-down, that is, you're looking directly down upon Snake from above and the camera is so close to him you're often forced to go into first-person view so you don't stumble into anything stupid. Never mind the fact that you cannot walk in first person, only view, aim and crouch. "So," you may be asking yourself, "If you hated the camera, and this kept you from MGS 2, why did you put up with it for MGS 3?" Two words: The Boss. From the moment I saw her on that bridge I was hooked. I loved everything about her and I wanted to know everything I could about her as well.

Luckily, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence is going to correct this by offering the game in full third-person. It'll also add some other goodies that'll get me to check it out.

Anyway, if you own a PS2, and you can put up with an annoying camera, you need to look at this title. It's been out for awhile so you should be able to get it relatively cheap. I got it for $26 used.