Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #27: Everyone's Back in Town

Welcome to the Metal Gear Noob Diaries. This is the recounting of my experience through the MGS series from MGS2: Sons of Liberty all the way to MGSV: Ground Zeroes. I’ll be updating every so often with new thoughts on sections of the games and taking a look back at memorable and enjoyable moments. I’ve never played the series before, so for the fans out there it could be an amusing tale of one noob’s journey, while those as green as myself could well learn a little about the mad world of MGS. Enjoy!

This is an important one. My previous session saw the conclusion to the first act of the game as well as the first few sections of act two. A very lengthy cutscene tailed off that first act, a scene that also proved to be one of the most amazing, most plot-developing scenes in a Metal Gear game EVER.

Sneaking into a PMC base, Snake finally discovers Liquid. On first appearance it seems as though he has also fallen foul of the same accelerated ageing as Snake, but when the character is introduced, the titles name him Liquid Ocelot... he also has the same voice actor as Revolver Ocelot. If I remember rightly Liquid did have some sort of control over Ocelot, so perhaps he’s taken full domination over his body? Whatever or whoever he is, he tells a mysterious woman that’s with him to ‘activate it’. ‘It’ turns out to be some sort of nanomachine controlling device that essentially messes up the machines within the PMC soldiers in the vicinity, making them go completely bonkers as they start to kill one another. It affects the Fox Hound unit, as well as Snake.

As Snake tries to line up a shot on Liquid (the whole mission was to kill him, after all), Liquid monologues on the twins’ new found separation from their father. They don’t have to live in his shadow anymore - at least in Liquid’s eyes. Of course, the messed up nanomachines mean Snake can’t pull off the shot and he collapses to the floor. It’s then that the woman pops up again at his side - turns out it’s Namoi from the original Metal Gear. She injects herself with something then tells Snake to fulfil his destiny. That kind of mumbojumbo has long been a part of this series, and it has never really followed through - perhaps that’s an intentional move on Kojima’s part?

Act two, titled Solid Sun, begins with another lengthy cutscene (or is it all one big one?) that sets up a change in location. It also properly introduces Sunny, who seems to be the child of Olga from MGS2 - possibly Otacon as well, although I’m not sure of that and don’t want to look it up in case of spoilers. She provides another supply of comic relief, although in a much more suitable, and actually funny, manner. Otacon reveals that Naomi has been held captive by Liquid, forcing her to develop the anti-nanomachine system that was put on display earlier, called SOP. Campbell shows up again, and that’s where everything starts getting really weird.

It becomes apparent while he talks to Snake and Otacon that Campbell has company in his stately home. A woman that brings him tea and food. He later introduces Snake to her as his psychological counselor - remember the last time someone was hired for her ability manage a soldier’s mindset? Rose. As in, Raiden’s Rose. She’s totally all over Campbell now. I know...eww. Snake inevitably asks what has happened to Raiden, apparently he’s been off the grid since the Big Shell incident. So with Jack out of the way Roy moved in on Rose. Which is just really very weird. I mean, I was pretty invested in Jack and Rose’s relationship, so this is a very weird payoff. I’m kind of hoping things change. I mean, I know that Raiden is in the game.

With all that out of the way it was over to South America to find Liquid once again. Which means, oh yes, BACK TO THE JUNGLE. But wait! We’ve still got time for one more cutscene (or is it one superduperlong cutscene?) This one was just as good as the rest too, featuring the dramatic return of Vamp! The man that just won’t die is back in all his glory and clearly in league with Liquid and the beauties squad. The scene also sees Laughing Octopus take down a bunch of rebels all while wearing Snake’s face on her... face. Yeah, super weird. I’ll just accept that one and move on once again.

Then it’s into the jungle for a great gameplay segment that rekindled the ever-awesome memories of MGS3. It’s all basic stuff, MGS-wise, although some cool little differences affected play. Saving the rest of those aforementioned rebels, for instance, meant they trusted me for the remainder of the level, allowing me to help them fight the local PMC and limiting the number of overall bad guys. The scene ended with a neat assault on an enemy base, although I tried to avoid fighting directly, instead crawling through the bulletstorm as friendlies and enemies drop left and right. Cold hearted assassin, right here.

The session as a whole came to a close with a small, but impactful message from a mysterious source that sure as hell sounds like Raiden. Then Drebin pops up again and gives me the full low-down on the Beauties. There’s some other cool stuff but I’ll get into that next time.