Metal Gear Solid 4 Official Thread - No Place to Hide, No Time for a Legend to FoxDie

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

The Metal Gear Solid Series has been really important to a lot of us on this board and it's with almost bittersweet excitement that we welcome the final game for the
legendary Solid Snake. The MGS series has been my favorite game series since the first one and I really wanted to make this thread something special. It's pretty
frickin' big but I've tried to make it as easy to navigate as possible. I designed the whole thread to be a great refresher course for those that haven’t played an MGS
game in a while or who haven't had the chance to control this crazy bastard. Enjoy the thread and if I've left out any vital information please let me know.

[BruceLeeRoy]

DO NOT POST UNTAGGED SPOILERS
This is the rule for the thread, and must be followed at all times. Spoiler tag anything related to MGS4 that would be even remotely questionable to a sensitive
MGS fan. Improperly marked spoilers, unmarked spoilers, and malicious spoilers are bannable offenses and will be enforced.

These are spoiler tags: [SPOILER] [/SPOILER]. Wrap spoiler text in these tags to black them out and require a highlight to view.

Do NOT use spoiler tags to cover up small areas in posts that reveal too much or let the reader infer heavily:

Oh man I can't believe it I just got to Mars and landed on the colony and Clint Eastwood walked up to Rosebud and killed him out of nowhere!


Do NOT use spoiler tags to cover up a whole block of text without first giving viewers a notion of how major the spoilers are or what section of the game they're from:

I'm five minutes into the game and this codec conversation is amazingly short!


Note in parentheses immediately prior to the spoiler tagged section roughly how far along in the game the reader should be before highlighting and the severity
of the spoilers, while thoroughly tagging the appropriate parts so that nothing can be guessed or deduced:

One thing I don't like about the game is, (~5 hours, minor spoilers)Rosebud has a diminished role. I would've preferred some more character development. But it's not a big deal.


This is the correct method for spoiler tagging and must be used at all times.

I know once were all playing the game the desire to post how awesome the game looks is going to reach a fever pitch. Instead of posting the
images directly into the thread post a link with a disclaimer noting roughly how far into the game you are.

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

Metal Gear celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. When I made the original Metal Gear back in 1987, I never dreamed that it would turn into such a long-lived series.
I've completely devoted myself to each title in the series without exception, each time saying, "This is it - the last one."

When we finish development on each game, emotions too strong for words fill my heart. Twenty years of Metal Gear have flown by. The Metal Gear Saga - the
canon story that centers upon Solid Snake - has also grown over the past seven years, culminating in Metal Gear Solid 4.

Twenty years ago, I gave the hero the codename "Snake" because I wanted to identify him with the general idea of a snake rather than with specific species like
pythons or anacondas. Snake was the player's presence in the game. I couldn't anticipate a player's personality, and I wanted to give the player freedom to express
himself as whatever type of snake he liked best. The name also fit because the player needed to infiltrate enemy territory without getting caught. A snake needs to
fight sometimes, too, so I added "Solid" to convey toughness. The name "Solid Snake" balanced each image with its opposite.

That snake has grown over the past twenty years from a 2D sprite - a symbol for the player's ego - into a full 3D character. Evolving hardware allows him to exist
in virtual space, talk to the world in multiple languages, and communicate emotions through detailed body language and facial expressions. If we think of Snake
as a real human being, we could say that he has reached the age when a boy becomes a man. His character has deepened with age. Over time, a simple snake
has become the Snake - our legendary hero.

In the beginning, none of this was planned. Fans have shared Snake's experiences over the past twenty years, and their relationship with "Snake the Legend" has
helped him grow into "Snake the Man." However, the hero we've come to love has become an old man in Metal Gear Solid 4 - Snake's final act in the Metal Gear Saga.

What destiny awaits him? That, is what I plan to reveal.

[BruceLeeRoy]

GAMESTOP PREORDER BONUS

The Metal Gear Saga Volume 2 gives you more than 20 minutes of back story on the franchise's deep history, five MGS4 trailers and your key for the
Metal Gear Online beta.

Access information for the Metal Gear Online Beta.

*LIMITED EDITION BOX
Featuring collectible packaging with exclusive artwork by famed Kojima Productions illustrator Yoji Shinkawa, the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the
Patriots Limited Edition will contain everything that is included with the Standard Edition as well as an additional Blu-ray disc featuring two “making of”
documentaries. The documentaries will include extensive interviews with Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of
the Patriots Soundtrack CD. The Limited Edition will be available exclusively at GameStop.

[BruceLeeRoy]

40GB Gun Metal Gray PS3
DUALSHOCK 3 controller
Metal Gear Solid 4 LE game
DVD - Making of MGS4 documentary
DVD - Hideo Kojima's Gene
Official MGS4 soundtrack: Comes with 16 never-before-released pieces by game composers
Harry Gregson-Williams, Nobuko Toda, and Ennio Morricone.
PRICE: $599

UPDATED INFORMATION
Thanks Kagari for the post:
The 80GB Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundle will be going to most retail outlets who will be getting around 15,000 units in the first shipment.
Replenishments will be done according to a store's relationship with Sony, IE, does that store sell a lot of Sony products, games there.
So it's not a 1 shipment only deal. Stores will be restocked with the 80GB PS3. I suspect stores like Best Buy will obviously get more stock.

As far as I am aware, the bundle will go on sale at midnight for the stores doing midnight launches.

Also, GameStop/EB are running a really decent deal right now for those looking to upgrade. Trade in a PS2 with any extra controller and
a memory card and get $80 toward the purchase of a PS3. I don't know how long this is running for, but it will at least go through June 8th.

If you want one of these PS3s on day 1, I suggest getting to the store early on the day it comes out.

GameStop will not be taking preorders on the bundle, period.

[BruceLeeRoy]

BATTLEFIELDS
Up to now, the MGS series has always been based on the concept of sneaking through enemy territory. Whether infiltrating enemy bases, terrorist-occupied buildings, or tracking
through the jungle, the setting always belonged to the enemy. But the world of MGS4 is not that simple. The difficulties Snake faces in his mission will come not from SCENEs like
jungles and fortresses, but from "situations." The battlefield is defined by an endless series of conflicts between PMCs and militias. Snake will need to think faster than ever to cope
with the constantly shifting conditions on the ground.

Snake can even join the battle if he wishes. He begins the game by sneaking onto the battlefield disguised as a militiaman. By aiding the militias in battle, he can help get rid of their
PMC opponents and make it easier to reach his goal. Instead of being at the whim of his environment, Snake can actively take advantage of the situation to further his mission objectives.

Snake may decide to support one side, or he may decide to stay out of it and try to slip through in the confusion; it's all up to the player. MGS4 combines the tension of having to make
decisions on the fly with the overwhelming sense of freedom you get from being able to play the game your way - and this, more than anything else, is what sets MGS4 apart from
previous games.

CAMERA
The camera in MGS4 has far more freedom than in previous games. The basis of the camera work is the the Third Person View introduced in MGS3: Subsistence. Viewing the action
from behind and above Snake gives the player a wide-ranging view of the battlefield. The angle and height of the camera can be freely controlled.

The player can also switch to First Person View at any time to assess the surrounding area or nail a more precise shot. The player is also able to move around in First Person View.

OCTOCAMO
OctoCamo helps camouflage Snake by copying not only the color of the surrounding terrain, but also the contours and the texture. In addition to visible light, OctoCamo traps infrared
radiation from the body and copies the background infrared of the surrounding environment, rendering Snake invisible even to the infrared cameras mounted on the unmanned Gekko.
There are also manually selectable preset camo variations, such as the rock-like Statue Camo, allowing players to choose their own patterns as well as copy their surroundings.

Give Snake two to three seconds without moving, and he immediately blends into the surroundings, taking on the textured appearance of the surface he's kneeling next to or lying on.
It's an excellent trick that innately builds upon the camouflage elements of Snake Eater and makes it much easier to evade detection by intelligent PMC troops as long as you don't
attract attention with obvious movement. Inchworming along the ground while camouflaged or rolling from one location to the other shouldn't attract much attention

METAL GEAR MK.II
Metal Gear MK.II is a small, mobile, remotely operated terminal developed by Snake's long-time comrade, Otacon. The Mk.II is equipped with stealth capabilities and is suited mainly
for scouting and reconnaissance, but it has other functions as well. It can knock opponents out with an electric shock, can carry Snake's gear for him, and serve as a communications
link with Otacon, making it an extremely reliable partner.

SOLID EYE
Another device developed by Otacon. It combines the capabilities of binoculars, night-vision goggles, and thermal goggles into one package. Moreover, the Solid Eye amplifies the
data collected from Snake's five senses and projects it onto Snake's field of vision. This function provides an integrated visual display of the "vibes" Snake gets from enemy soldiers
and machines - smells, sounds, and movements. It tells Snake where the enemy is and how stable or unstable things are in battle. It also lets Snake know how easy he is to spot.
Getting into a stable position on one knee and focusing mentally will increase the Solid Eye's precision.

ENVIRONMENTS
MGS4 is much more of an open-world affair than the previous games. While there are still specific locations that Snake will need to get to (which will constantly be indicated on
Snake's mini-map), the environments that he finds himself in will provide multiple paths to get him to his eventual destination. This provides much more flexibility in how you
fight your way through the battlefields that engulf MGS4.

FRIEND OR FOE
By choosing to fight alongside the militia, you can slowly build confidence with the warriors. This can be advantageous to you, because if you convince them of your intentions, the
resistance soldiers will provide covering fire, hand you ammunition and even provide health items that you can use to restore your flagging energy. However, this alliance can be
a fragile one, particularly if your aim is poor. Not only will your former allies turn on you if they sense something suspicious, but all of the other soldiers will immediately know if
you've betrayed their comrades, and you may need to change back into your militia gear to avoid suspicion or to better blend in with resistance groups that aren't friendly so you can
accomplish your mission.

SOLDIERS
Your enemys are much more alert this time. These troops won't merely walk along simple patrol paths. They'll actively scan environments for trouble,
communicating anything suspicious to their comrades and call in for backup, making them much more threatening than previous enemies Snake has faced.

GEKKOS
These metal monstrosities, which have dominated the previously released trailers of the game, can easily eliminate a platoon of men without showing a single scratch, and their
agility at climbing walls, leaping barricades, and firing at individuals makes them a threat in both close combat and long range situations.

FROGS
Liquid's elite personal guard known as the FROGS. Another squad of superhumanly-enhanced soldiers shown in previously released trailers, this all-female squad boasts
cybernetic suits that allow them to cling to walls and fire at their enemies (you) from any angle. Their speed and acrobatic skills help them avoid incoming fire, which
makes them even more dangerous.

[BruceLeeRoy]

OCTOCAMO
OctoCamo helps camouflage Snake by copying not only the color of the surrounding terrain, but also the contours and the texture. In addition to visible light, OctoCamo traps infrared
radiation from the body and copies the background infrared of the surrounding environment, rendering Snake invisible even to the infrared cameras mounted on the unmanned Gekko.
There are also manually selectable preset camo variations, such as the rock-like Statue Camo, allowing players to choose their own patterns as well as copy their surroundings.

Give Snake two to three seconds without moving, and he immediately blends into the surroundings, taking on the textured appearance of the surface he's kneeling next to or lying
on. It's an excellent trick that innately builds upon the camouflage elements of Snake Eater and makes it much easier to evade detection by intelligent PMC troops as long as you
don't attract attention with obvious movement. Inchworming along the ground while camouflaged or rolling from one location to the other shouldn't attract much attention

DRUM OF DEATH
You can acquire a drum can to hide from troops. Much like the classically used cardboard box, Snake can tiptoe in the metallic drum can, advancing silently into areas under cover.
The drum can isn't perfect, especially because astute soldiers can kick and overturn the barrel if they sense something out of order. However, unlike the cardboard box, which
is easily destroyed, the drum also has a few defensive uses. Its metallic shell will repel gunfire from most firearms, and players can tip it on its side and roll through enemies,
knocking them for a loop.

CQC
Snake has a whole new compliment of CQC moves, such as choking them silently along the ground.

PSYCHE/STRESS
Snake's health quickly becomes a legitimate concern in the game, and the game expertly illustrates this in subtle ways. In the heat of a shootout, you may see Snake grimace in
pain and grab his lower back -- it's a nicely nuanced animation that really humanizes our hero, but potentially deadly at the same time -- one second of hesitation can quickly
lead to a life-ending ambush. You'll have to constantly regulate Snake's condition by keeping an eye on the new Psyche and Stress gauges: Psyche reflects how Snake's mind
reacts to the battle around him (when things get too crazy, he'll have trouble aiming) while Stress combines mental and physical factors (high stress can lead to a Combat High,
a period of heightened accuracy and defense that unfortunately segues into a sluggish, post-high crash.)

[BruceLeeRoy]

THE BASICS
Like previous Metal Gear Solid games, you'll acquire pistols, machine guns, grenades and other weapons from enemy soldiers. However, there's a twist to the standard "procure
on site" method that MGS fans are accustomed to. In this world of PMCs and rebel factions, all weapons are coded to specific soldiers via their individual nanomachine codes.
If you're not that soldier and you attempt to fire their gun, you get absolutely no response whatsoever (call it the ultimate trigger lock). So how exactly do you gain useable
firearms in the game?

DREBIN
You have to have someone launder the weapon, removing this lockout feature. In Metal Gear Solid 4, this is handled via Drebin, the mysterious new character introduced
in earlier released trailers. This new shop system works rather ingeniously – every single weapon that Snake comes across is immediately translated to Drebin points,
representing its current world value in the theater of war during a given day. The more violent the conflict in the world, the more Drebin points you receive. Players can
then use these points to unlock these collected weapons for their use, or players can save their points up to purchase ammunition or items in Drebin's shop, such as
laser sights, hand grips and flashlights. These additional items can improve the accuracy or stability of a weapon, making it much better in combat. What's more, you can
even get more for your Drebin Points if you return to the shop on certain in-game "days," as Drebin will offer sales for Snake so he can get the best bang for his buck.

Fortunately, you don't have to continually backtrack to a set location to sell your collected weapons, nor do you have to constantly expose yourself to danger just to
collect a few guns from fallen soldiers. The Mark II can act as your conduit to Drebin, automatically converting any weapons into Drebin Points while saving the
ammunition for Snake.

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

*As a word of caution if your trying to stay completely spoiler free I would recommend avoiding all the trailers*

Your best bet for the highest quality trailers and previews for Metal Gear Solid 4 is on our very own BlimBlims GAMERSYDE

[BruceLeeRoy]

No epic thread is complete without a gorgeous theme from our resident guru of design m0dus. Below is his updated Theme for Metal Gear Solid 4 and
as you can see its quite stunning. Thanks again for all your hard work m0dus I appreciate it.

[BruceLeeRoy]

Went for a little different feel with these than I normally do. Hope you guys like them.

This new revision comes from Niks. Thanks alot man it looks great.

[BruceLeeRoy]

Brand new set enjoy.

The avatars took a little while but I think they came out pretty good. The first set was done by
me but the second set of brilliantly animated icons was done by none other than THE CHEF!

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

Only seven games so far have received perfect scores. They are listed in chronological order:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, Nintendo, for Nintendo 64)
2. Soulcalibur (1999, Namco, for Dreamcast)
3. Vagrant Story (2000, Square Co., Ltd., for PlayStation)
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003, Nintendo for Nintendo GameCube)
5. Nintendogs (2005, Nintendo, for Nintendo DS)
6. Final Fantasy XII (2006, Square Enix, for PlayStation 2)
7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, Nintendo, for Wii)

10/10 IGN US REVIEW

Is it possible to give a game an 11? If so, this would be the game that would merit that score. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a title that exceeds all of the hype that was attached to the title.

Buy this game. I don't care if the gameplay in the past titles didn't appeal to you, I don't care if long cutscenes scare you, and I don't care if you're broke. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the best reason to own a PlayStation 3 thus far.

10/10 MERISTATION.COM


10/10 GAMESPOT

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the most technically stunning video game ever made.

10/10 SCRAWL

“Quite Possibly The Greatest Video Game Ever Made”

10/10 GAMEPLAYER

"gamers should be eternally grateful that such a game exists"

10/10 OFFICIAL US PLAYSTATION MAG

10/10 OFFICIAL UK PLAYSTATION MAG

10/10 OFFICIAL ITALY PLAYSTATION MAG

10/10 LEVEL (SWEDEN)

10/10 GAMESDOG

To finally see Snake go is certainly a sad time. As a closing to an epic series, this is the fan service we all dreamed of. As a game on its own, it’s stunning in its own right. Ignore the naysayers who claim the story is dull and tedious, they’re just fools. Metal Gear Solid 4 is simply fantastic.

10/10 PTOM (USA)

10/10 PSM

10/10 360 ENTERTAINMENT

10/10 LOOT NINJA

10/10 *****

10/10 PLAYSTATION BEYOND

10/10 EMPIRE ONLINE

10/10 PELAAJA MAGAZINE #69

10/10 ME GAMERS

10/10 PLAYR TV UK

"When you finish MGS 4 you're at a complete loss for words. Emotions run high and you breathe a sigh of relief that this saga is finally over, happy and content at the closure, but also somewhat sad that this is indeed the end, a sense of longing immediately ensues. And at the end of such a mesmerizing experience, I really am not sure how to begin this review.

10/10 PSX EXTREME

10/10 NEOCRISIS

10/10 PSU

100/100 RISE OF GAMES

100/100 PST

100/100 CONSOLE MONSTER

5/5 JV.ORG

5/5 BG

5/5 OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION MAG REVIEW

5/5 TTP

5/5 PS MANIA 3.0(REVIEW BY OUR VERY OWN TTP / ITALIAN)

4/4 JEUXVIDEO

A+ SCI FI WEEKLY

9.9/10 IGN UK REVIEW

9.9/10 XBOXoz360

Some will wonder why an Xbox 360 dedicated site such as ourselves has a PS3 review nestled within its hallowed pages. Better yet, one that is reportedly THE PS3’s pinnacle game for Sony’s “ultimate” gaming system. The reason is a simple one really. We here at XboxOZ360-game/x360.com.au are first and foremost gamers and as such, prefer ‘games’ over fanboyism any day. In my opinion, this has been the best game out since Zelda Ocarina of Time, it’s truly revolutionary, and its cinematic game play and storyline carry this game to the number one position on the podium.

19/20 JOYPAD (FRANCE)

97/100 GAMEMASTER

9.7/10 CHIEF (BELGIUM)

97/100 PLAY GENERATION

9.6/10 HOBBY CONSOLAS (SPAIN)

9.6/10 PSW

9.6/10 OFFICIAL DUTCH PLAYSTATION MAG

9.5/10 IGN AUSTRALIA

9.5/10 GAME REPUBLIC

9.5/10 MAXI CONSOLES (PORTUGAL)

9.5/10 GAMERS REPORTS

9.5/10 PLAYFRANCE

95% PSM3 UK REVIEW

4.5/5 GAMESPY

94/100 GAMERS UNIVERSE

9.3/10 GAMETRAILERS

9/10 HARDGAME2

9/10 TGR

9/10 VIDEOGAMER

9/10 GAMEREACTOR

9/10 JEUXVIDEO

9/10 SPANISH ELITE GAMER

A- 1UP REVIEW

A- UGO

8.5/10 NZ GAMER

8/10 EDGE REVIEW

8/10 EUROGAMER

8/10 NEGA

8/10 GAMEDAILY

N/A PLAY MAGAZINE

The auteur theory: a notion in film criticism that certain directors can truly be considered the authors of their work, collaborators be damned. I believe in it, and feel that Hideo Kojima is gaming’s first and only auteur. If I ever had any doubts, MGS4 has dispelled them. His stamp is palpable in every pixel. Even if for that reason alone, there is no missing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It is one of the most significant milestones in video game history.

N/A KOTAKU

A Happy Marriage Of Art & Technology: Metal Gear Solid 4 is without a doubt the best looking PlayStation 3 game yet. A masterstroke of high quality art direction and technical prowess make it a feast for the eyes. Characters are modeled and animated beautifully, and the game's varied environments are expertly crafted. The attention to detail is simply stunning, with some of MGS4's clever product placement seemingly getting extra care. The frame rate may not be ideal, but given what's happening on screen, it's hard to quibble.

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

Solid Snake was pulled away from his retirement by Roy Campbell, his old CO and the former commander of FOXHOUND. The crisis on Shadow Moses
required a man like him. Told only of the armed uprising of FOXHOUND and their leader 'Liquid Snake,' Snake was asked to be the government's weapon
to combat the insurrection and rescue hostages taken at the facility.

Neither of the corporate hostages in the facility could be saved, however, due to the FOXDIE artificial virus. Unbeknownst to Snake at the time, he was
injected with an artificial pathogen programmed to cause cardiac failure in specific targets. Snake remained immune to its effects himself. Snake meets
with Meryl Silverburgh, who aids their escape from the base prison and they discuss their differing roles as soldiers. Meryl having joined the military to
feel closer to her father, an Army officer killed in action. Ultimately he allows her to accompany him on his mission.

Snake descends into the bowels of the Shadow Moses facility defeating all of Liquids subordinates. Finally drawn into battle with Metal Gear REX, Snake
manages to disable the machine's sensors with the aid of Otacon. Gray Fox fights the Metal Gear, but is wounded and crushed by its foot. He challenges
Snake to a final fist-fight atop Metal Gear. After Snake succeeds he is reunited with Meryl Snake finally escapes the facility while Liquid collapses and dies
from the FoxDie virus. Incredulously, Snake himself is unharmed. The virus remains dormant in Snake from this point on, and will activate at some random
point in his near or distant future.

The Patriots had not intended Shadow Moses be revealed. Solid Snake was a national hero who had narrowly averted armageddon. The Patriots never
desired a hero that was not of their own creation.

Solid Snake and Hal 'Otacon' Emmerich went underground almost immediately after Shadow Moses. Snake and Otacon had both found what they wanted to
fight for with their lives; the eradication of Metal Gear technology for the sake of mankind. News of the development of Metal Gear Ray leaked to them,
and Snake undertook a mission to infiltrate a Marine Corps vessel and obtain photographic evidence of Metal Gear Ray to take to the public.

Ray was being transported down the Hudson River in the holds of a false oil tanker. Snake got himself aboard and secured the evidence needed, but before he
could pull out, the unthinkable happened. A mercenary force, led by Revolver Ocelot, seized control of the tanker. Ocelot boarded Ray and blasted his way
out of the tanker, sinking it with his own allies and the marines onboard. Ocelot escaped into the ocean with Ray, leaving the wreckage in Hudson Bay.
Footage of Snake onboard the tanker leaked out to the public. The press and media was universally informed that, in an act of outright terrorism,
Solid Snake sank a loaded oil tanker in the Hudson river bay. Snake and Otacon's attempts to bring Metal Gear Ray to light were useless, as theywere
deluged by the allegations. They remained in hiding, now wanted international criminals.

To ensure their safety, Snake and Otacon procured Liquid Snake's corpse from shadow moses and arranged for it to be 'recovered' at the tanker site
soonafter. nearly identical on a genetic level, Liquid's corpse was confirmed to be Snake, and he was officially declared dead. The record would state
that he went down with the tanker.

Alive or dead, Snake was defamed and politically neutralized, as was the Patriots' intent. He was no longer a public threat to them, so they were free to move
forward with the S3 plan; Arsenal Gear began construction under the bay, with the Big Shell built above. Snake and Otacon were tipped off to the situation
by an informant. Simultaneously with Raiden's infiltration, Snake surfaced from hiding and made his way through the Big Shell disguised as a Navy SEAL.
It was there that he met Raiden, an together they began to assemble the details of Solidus' plans and furthermore, the extent of the Patriots' grip over the
entire situation.

As Raiden defeats Solidus, Snake sets out to pursue the escaped Revolver Ocelot and take his fight directly to the Patriots. Arsenal Gear neutralized,
Snake's enemy is the Patriots.

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

Raiden was, in the mid-eighties, a child soldier fighting under Solidus' command in the infamously vague 'civil war.' Somehow after the war's conclusion,
Raiden found himself alone, making a life for himself in America. Despite the atrocities he faced and learned to accept in his childhood, he made the choice to
repress his life up to that point, and try to live a 'normal' life of his own.

Raiden was always followed closely by the Patriots. They likely spotted him by extension from Solidus during the war, and monitored him from that point. His
efforts to live a simple (but empty) life were ended shortly after the incident at Shadow Moses. The Patriots recruited him to be an operative in the vein of
the now-defunct FOXHOUND. Raiden, opting to follow the opportunity, underwent his extensive 'training' for the months (perhaps years) to follow.

'Officially' an operative of FOXHOUND, Raiden was finally deployed in 2009 to deal with the crisis at the Big Shell. His mission was to neutralize the 'Sons
of Liberty' and recover a number of hostages from the facility, including the American President.

Raiden defeats Solidus, destroying 'Sons of Liberty' and in effect striking that much of a blow against his inner demons. He realizes the deceptions he has
been surrounded with, and knows that he cannot define himself through such shallow means. He leaves the fighting behind to find a life and identity of his
own, accepting his past and now his present.

The entire scenario, from Solidus to Raiden, was arranged and Orcastrated by the Patriots. The entire incident at Big Shell was meticulously planned
to parallel the events of Shadow Moses. The combination of VR combat training, and this real-and-yet-not experience were the Patriots' "S3" plan.

S3 was the concept of a hybrid of both virtual and real experiences that, properly orcastrated, could turn any Soldier into the hardened hero that Solid Snake
had become.
The only thing that kept the entire scenario from being fulfilled, and Raiden becoming a battle-hardened, now-experienced national hero akin to Solid
Snake... was the appearance of the real Solid Snake.

[BruceLeeRoy]

Introduced as the niece of Solid Snake's commander, Roy Campbell, in Metal Gear Solid, where she serves as Snake's rookie sidekick and love
interest. During the events of the game, she gets assigned to Shadow Moses, but refuses to join the rebellion led by Liquid Snake and is imprisoned. She
escapes by tricking Johnny Sasaki, a guard, to come into her holding cell and then knocking him out and taking his uniform. Soon after Snake meets up
with her, he rescues her from Psycho Mantis's mind control, but she is later shot and captured by Sniper Wolf. Her ultimate fate depends on the ending of the
game; if Solid Snake gives in under Ocelot's torture, she is found dead later in the game. In this ending, Campbell reveals that Meryl is actually his
daughter, conceived from an affair between Roy and his sister-in-law, his deceased brother's wife. If Snake resists, she escapes Shadow Moses with Snake,
after being subjected to torture and "things even worse than that", they continue to live together until the events of Sons of Liberty.

She appears in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, as the leader of a newly-reinstated FOXHOUND unit.

[BruceLeeRoy]

Dr. Hal Emmerich was introduced in the first MGS as a weapons designer working on Metal Gear REX. He was held captive in Shadow Moses Island
by Liquid Snake's FOXHOUND unit and was attacked by the Cyborg Ninja. He was then rescued by Solid Snake and Hal in turn aided him in his mission.

After Snake beats the Cyborg Ninja, Hal asks for the hero to address him by the callsign Otacon via Codec. The term "OtaCon" is derived from the
"Otaku Convention" event - a Japanese culture reference. If you're wondering why, it's because Dr. Emmerich is a big manga and anime fan. He
loved mechs as a kid and grew up with a fire in his belly for designing robots.

Otacon becomes to Snake what Q was to James Bond, dishing out all the technical advice needed to deal with some bosses. His knowledge of Metal Gear
REX's design allows Snake to deal with the monstrosity by busting its radome (with a little help from Gray Fox).

After the Shadow Moses crisis, Hal joins Snake in an organization called Philanthropy. Their group's objective is to blow the cover on Metal Gear
projects around the world in order to stop the proliferation of these weapons. In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the plot thickens as Otacon and
Snake tangle up with the likes of Solidus and the Patriots in their quest to prevent a new arms race between nations.

MGS2 starts with Otacon and Snake infiltrating a tanker to photograph a new type of Metal Gear being shipped by the US Marine Corps called Metal
Gear RAY. The duo succeed in their goal, but things get complicated when the tanker is hijacked by Revolver Ocelot and his Russian mercenaries.
Metal Gear RAY is stolen, and the tanker sinks, leaving Otacon and Snake thought of as dead.

One of the lighter sides of MGS2 is Otacon replacing Mei Ling as the person in charge of saving Snake's game data. He makes a desperate attempt to
provide Snake with Chinese proverbs the way the cute Mei Ling did, but he fails miserably as he ends up choking on geek-speak on most occasions.

In the second part of MGS2, Hal joins Snake again to infiltrate Big Shell in hopes of taking out the super weapon known as Arsenal Gear. He's also in
this one for a more personal reason: rescuing his estranged sister Emma Emmerich, creator of Arsenal Gear's operating system.

It's also in MGS2 that Otacon laments how Metal Gear and nuclear weapons are tied to his lineage. His grandfather was among the scientists who worked
in the world's first nuke tests while his father was born when the first nuclear weapon was detonated. He and his sister later ended up working to build some
of the most fearsome weapons known to man.

Otacon makes his way through the end of the MGS2 ordeal which came to a head in Manhattan where Raiden defeated Solidus.

He's been sporting a new look of sorts as of late, showing off an unshaven face. Character design lead Yoji Shinkawa was once quoted as saying that a
"tougher look" may help Hal's popularity a bit come MGS4's release. We'll see about that, won't we?

DR HALS MANY LADY FRIENDS
In most action film storylines, the ultra-masculine hero, like Snake, always gets to have the girls, maybe two or three depending on how macho the
story writers want him to be. The MGS series is different from the rest in this regard because the nerdy sidekick has the more adventurous history
with women than his rugged partner.

Hal's first love interest, chronologically, was his own stepmother who is Emma's biological mother. He reveals this after Vamp finishes Emma following
MGS2's sniping missions. In his grief, Hal recounts that his stepmom seduced him, causing his father to take his own life once he found out.

In Shadow Moses, Hal develops feelings towards the alluring but dangerous Sniper Wolf while in captivity. He tells Snake that she's different from the rest
of FOXHOUND because she's the only one who treated him well. After the second battle between Snake and Wolf, the FOXHOUND sharpshooter is
mortally wounded, and Snake delivers one last honor shot to her in warrior-to-warrior fashion. Hal is saddened by what happened, but he seems to
harbor no ill feelings towards Snake.

Jumping back to MGS2, Hal continues to have strange in-family emotional attachments, this time with stepsister Emma. The young programming whiz
confesses that she's had feelings for Otacon since they were kids, and she even wore glasses even if she has good eyes to emulate him. They reconcile in
Big Shell, but it's short-lived as Emma met an early demise while trying to help Snake and Raiden.

As Hal puts it, the people - particularly the women - that he grows close to often leave him in this world alone. Like always, Hal calms down, gathers himself,
wears his spectacles, and carries on. Will there be a happy ending for him in MGS4? This blogger certainly hopes so.

article credit: QJ.net

[BruceLeeRoy]

COL. ROY CAMPBELL
Solid Snake's commanding officer and close friend, is introduced in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and returns to provide his support in Metal Gear Solid.

In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Col. Campbell is Solid Snake's new commanding officer. Under his supervision, Snake defeats the forces of Zanzibar
Land and retrieves the OILIX formula. Colonel Campbell's speaking portrait in the MSX version is modeled after Richard Crenna.

In Metal Gear Solid, he comes out of retirement to command Solid Snake once again. Campbell has more of a personal stake in this mission, as his niece,
Meryl Silverburgh, is held captive by the revolutionary force Snake is battling. While Campbell is initially forced to keep a number of secrets from Snake, he
gradually reveals more and more of them as the story continues, until, finally, Campbell is briefly arrested. However, he is exonerated after Solid Snake defeats
Liquid Snake. If the player beats the game in the alternate ending where Meryl is killed after the player submits in the Torture Room sequence, Campbell will
reveal to Snake at the end that Meryl was his daughter and he was going to tell her after the mission was over.

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a man who appears to be Col. Campbell (but simply referred as "The Colonel" in dialogue) serves as Raiden's
commanding officer, supporting him via radio. When a computer virus starts taking effect on Arsenal Gear, however, the Colonel begins acting erratically
(engaging in such non-sequitur behaviors as reading the stations on the Nose Electric Railway in communications with Raiden), revealing its true nature:
"the Colonel" is, in fact, not an actual person, but an elaborate A.I. constructed by GW, a supercomputer, and based on Raiden's perceptions and expectations
of the real Col. Campbell. The Colonel's advice to "turn off the game console" parallels Big Boss' final radio transmission in the original Metal Gear advising Snake
to abort his mission and "switch off (the) MSX computer".

In Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, a young Roy Campbell appears as one of Naked Snake's (Big Boss) comrades in the game. When the story begins, Naked
Snake finds himself imprisoned by the FOX unit in South America with Roy in the cell next to him. Roy is introduced as a captured Green Beret whose unit was
wiped out in an ambush by FOX members. The two formulate an escape plan and realize that in order to stop the FOX unit's revolt, they must form their own team
of specialists, leading to the foundation of FOXHOUND. A radio conversation triggered by calling Roy many times when the player is not on a mission and taking
control of another character besides Snake reveals that Roy was once in the Marine Corps and that Roy and his younger brother (Matt) were in love with the same
woman. Roy was dumped by the woman and Roy ended up letting his brother date her before joining the Green Berets. In the Portable Ops Plus expansion, it's
revealed in his in-game career stats that he had once been a headhunter either before or during his military career.

An aged Campbell also appeared in a trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In the scene, he visits Solid Snake in a cemetery via helicopter and explains
his next mission objective to Snake - eliminate Liquid. However, he does state that the mission comes from neither Washington nor the United Nations, but from himself,
as a hired hit.

NAOMI HUNTER
Naomi Hunter is the head of FOXHOUND's medical staff, and part of the support crew assembled to assist Solid Snake during the Shadow Moses Island incident
(the events of Metal Gear Solid) in 2005. It is revealed however that she is secretly Gray Fox's non-biological sister, and she is out for revenge on Snake.
She injects Snake with the FoxDie virus, but she set it to a "wildcard" value, sparing Snake's life during the mission, but leaving him vulnerable at a later date.
Naomi has made an appearance in Metal Gear Solid 4:
Guns of the Patriots. The last we see of her Naomi makes an ominous foresight of Snake's health, informing him that he has only six months left to live.

SUNNY
Sunny, the daughter of Olga Gurlukovich.
Olga Sergeyevna Gurlukovich is the daughter of Sergei Gurlukovich and a member of his private army. She is later forced to join the Patriots, and worked as
their agent, playing an important role in the plot of MGS2 by providing Raiden with enough hints to get through the Big Shell, similar to the Ninja in Metal Gear Solid.

Olga leads her father's mercenaries when they capture the Tanker in his attempt to seize Metal Gear RAY in 2007. Sergei's intention at the time is to use RAY as a
superweapon with which to re-establish Russia as a major world power. He boards the ship with the help of Revolver Ocelot. After the ship is secured, Sergei orders
her off the ship (out of concern for her unborn child), but she refuses and is subsequently confronted by Solid Snake; he subdues her, and continues on his mission
of surveying the Tanker.

After this, Olga took command of her father's forces and became a renegade, joining a branch of the Russian Mafia, which was in reality controlled by the Patriots.
After she gave birth, her child was taken hostage, and used as a means by which to force Olga into serving the Patriots.

Two years later, the Gurlukovich forces, under Olga, and the Dead Cell group capture the Big Shell, and hold President Johnson hostage. Olga is in fact working
against her own men as an agent of the Patriots, her mission being to ensure the success of Raiden, a test subject of the S3 plan. To accomplish her mission, she
disguises herself as a ninja at times, in order to intervene without her cover being blown. Her suit bears an extreme similarity to that of Gray Fox, and she also wields
a high frequency blade, the weapon Fox had used during the Shadow Moses incident. As a possible result of the suit's enhancement, she has the ability to deflect
bullets with the blade, a talent she shares with Gray Fox, Vamp, Raiden and Solidus.

After Raiden is held aboard Arsenal Gear, Olga reveals her identity to him, sets him free, and tells him of the S3 plan. Raiden escapes and is confronted by Solidus
Snake. At this point, Olga reveals her true identity to all, including Solidus, and is determined to help Raiden, since his death would mean the murder of her
child by the Patriots. After admitting her wrongs and imploring that Raiden survive for the sake of her innocent child, Olga is killed when Solidus shoots her
directly in the forehead with his FN P90.

At the end of the game, Snake promises Raiden that he will find Olga's child as long as Raiden keeps himself alive. In a recent trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4:
Guns of the Patriots, a girl named Sunny tells Naomi Hunter that her mother was Olga.

EVA
EVA first appears in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater as a female spy in the service of the People's Republic of China (more specifically, the Chinese branch
of The Philosophers) sent to retrieve the Philosophers' Legacy. EVA uses her charm and good looks to win over the trust of Snake and his enemies. During the events
of Snake Eater, she infiltrates Colonel Volgin's base through the disguise of being Sokolov's lover named Tatyana and assists Snake through the alternative disguise
of a KGB spy, to help him reach the Philosophers' Legacy so that she can later steal it from him, even seeming to fall in love with him. After the mission is completed,
EVA fails to carry out the order of assassinating Snake as she promised The Boss she would not, and flees with a false copy of the Philosophers' Legacy (The Boss gives
the real Legacy to Snake, shown in Ocelot's dialog with the DCI and America recovering half of the Legacy). The pre-credits epilogue states that EVA was
presumed dead, after disappearing in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1968.

She appears in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as a recruitable character by completing a series of side-missions. It is revealed that she was fired from her
job as a spy by PLA Intelligence after giving them a fake microfilm she thought was the Philosopher's Legacy. She escaped from China before they could kill her
and became a freelance pilot/delivery-woman, still using her alias, Tatyana, as seen in Russian writing in Snake's first conversation with her before recruiting her.
She is also inside the magazine in-game as the centerfold. It is also revealed in an optional radio conversation with Snake and Campbell in MPO that Snake
still has feelings for her despite her betrayal toward him. After recruiting her, a brief cutscene shows Snake and EVA reuniting and making peace.

EVA will be present in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The game takes place in 2014, 50 years after the events of Snake Eater, making EVA 78 years old,
based on her birthdate given in MGS3. Her role is currently unknown. She tells Snake to refer to her as "Big Mama", and the Metal Gear Solid 4 Integral Website
reveals that she is fighting against the Patriots.

VAMP
is a member of Dead Cell (as such, he is one of the bosses of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty). He has vampire-like attributes, including a taste for blood, the ability to
run across or stand on the surface of water or vertical walls, superhuman speed and agility, and the ability to shrug off what would typically be a mortal wound
(for example, he survives being shot in the head). Also, he does not seem to have acquired any of the vampire weaknesses. He is also an expert with both combat
knives and throwing knives.

Originally from Romania, Vamp lost his entire family during a church bombing when he was a child. He spent two days, while pierced by a crucifix, trapped. He
survived by feeding on the blood of his family, thus acquiring his taste for blood. It is not explained where he gained his powers however.

Snake reveals to Raiden via CODEC that Vamp is bisexual, having had a relationship with Fortune's late father. During the Big Shell incident (the main event of
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty), Vamp rebels with the rest of Dead Cell, and leads many attacks alongside Fortune.

His ability to read a man's every muscle movement before he makes it allows Vamp to dodge bullets easily.

Vamp prevents Raiden and Emma Emmerich from disabling the GW AI. He encounters them again, attempting to kidnap Emma as she attempts to go from
one strut of the Big Shell to another. Both times Vamp is dispatched and apparently killed by Raiden, but not before Vamp inflicts Emma with a mortal wound.
Vamp manages to survive, appearing briefly on the streets of New York City during the game's ending sequence.

Vamp returns in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots he is seen engaging in battle with Raiden where he brushes off multiple wounds that would prove fatal to
a normal human. Vamp is described by the Kojima Productions official website for Metal Gear Solid 4 as "a bloodsucker resurrected by modern civilization".

[BruceLeeRoy]

As established in Snake Eater, the Philosophers were comprised of societal elites from the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. These elites joined their
influence and their fortunes to remake the world in the image of peace and economic contentment. The key to the successful execution of their plans was the
Philosophers' Legacy: one-hundred billion dollars scattered across the globe in a variety of bank accounts. Volgin's father, a Treasurer for the Philosophers, embezzled
the Philosophers' reconstruction funds which Volgin then stole in order to finance his military organization.

Between the time when Volgin's father robbed the Philosophers and the events of Snake Eater, the absence of the reconstruction funds resulted in a loss
of direction among the Philosophers. They argued and split according to national affiliation, and each respective faction ate away at its own innards. Younger
elites assumed the positions of power as the societal
elites who formed the Philosophers during World War II passed away. These younger elites lacked the temperance on hubris and ambition that the incipient
members had earned during the hardships of the Second World War. While each faction's nationalist goals required the Philosophers' Legacy, the new Philosophers
were still wealthy enough to remain involved in warfare across the earth. The new blood was hot and warmongering, and the Philosophers' Legacy would
finance each nation's glory at the expense of the others.

In Snake Eater then we see the final showdown between the inheritors of the Philosophers' organizations. EVA was tricked into returning to China with a fake
microfilm, and the Boss secured the real microfilm for America by infiltrating Volgin's ranks. For reasons that are unclear, half of the Philosophers' Legacy remained
in Soviet Russia's possession until the end of the Cold War. The United States won the Cold War when it claimed the entire Philosophers' Legacy.

The Philosophers remained politically invisible; but they consistantly use the materials of the world in conjunction with their ideals to direct literal history; and
provide the foundations for the 20th century's major wartime history.

The Philosophers amassed their Legacy to give motion to their ideals of global unity after World War II. As the last direct descendant of any of the original Philosophers,
The Boss describes their vision best when she describes her view of Earth from outer space: "No nations, no countries."

However, the figures died whose ideals grew from suffering. Their successors were given mere power without the guidance of their predecessors' maturity as it
developed during the Second World War. This coheres with the spirit of the entire Metal Gear Solid series. We can trace the theme of incomplete inheritance through
the entire Metal Gear Solid trilogy: in Metal Gear Solid, Big Boss passes genetic power to Liquid Snake without the maturity to guide those genes toward true glory;
in Sons of Liberty, Peter Stillman passes on his demolition theories to Fatman without the wisdom to use those theories best; and in Snake Eater, The Boss's relationship
to Naked Snake revolves around the gift of knowledge without the communication of the values required to use knowledge for either virtue or vice.

As we learn in the epilogue to Snake Eater, the American Philosophers obtain the full Philosophers' Legacy and change their organization's name to "the Patriots."
The transformation marks the death of all scraps left of the original Philosophers' values. The movement toward economic single-mindedness in American political
life began.

The Philosophers intended to establish global economic relationships that would annul the possibility of future wars fueled by race supremacy ideals. We may deduce
that their most concrete goal was to abolish any chance that one nation might use force to dominate the world in the interest of cultural reformation. (We should
remember that both of these ideals were characteristics of Nazi Germany and WWII ShMwa Japan.) The Philosophers' ideal was to establish a world wherein holy
war could not occur: they saw the need to reckon all human beings as residents of Earth.

The Patriots intended to exploit all available avenues to advance American welfare at the expense of global welfare even to the extent of reforming information
according to their ideologies and controlling world culture. The Patriots used the Philosophers' momentum to achieve ends that the Philosophers specifically abhorred.

The Patriots no longer identify themselves as human beings at the end of Sons of Liberty. The transformation's literal process remains unknown within the
context of the games. Nevertheless, we may infer the Patriots' development from the events described in the timeline provided before the credits in Snake Eater. The
Les enfants terribles Project was the most crucial step in their evolution from "merely human" toward something indefinable and greater-than-human.

The three Snakes were conceived and born as weapons of war. They were designed to help the Patriots achieve their goals as conquerors. The project's genetic
conditioning ultimately expressed the ideals of Nazi totalitarianism through Liquid Snake.

During the final revelatory Codec conversation in Sons of Liberty, the Patriots defined themselves as "[a] kind of consciousness formed layer by layer in the crucible of
the White House." Again the Patriots invoked the language of evolution, natural selection, and genetic destiny when they compared their development to "the way life
started in the ocean four billion years ago." They described themselves in a disturbingly intimate way: "We are the very discipline and morality that Americans invoke so
often.... As long as this nation exists, so will we."

They disregarded the emotions and reactions that Raiden felt during the Plant Mission as flotsam prompted by context that they created. As they defined the S3
Plan (Selection for Societal Sanity) near the end of Sons of Liberty, their Legacy was not a set of ethics and values. It was a method of manipulating human behavior
and consciousness. By defining the specific information available for public consumption, they could create boundaries for human awareness. Any information that found
root outside those boundaries could be considered fantasy, since it would exist beyond the bounds of "societal sanity."

The Patriots' intentions through the S3 Plan (hereafter referred to as "the Patriots' Legacy") require the suppression of any other individual legacy. In Raiden's situation,
the legacy of his past was supposedly erased to make him an improved vessel for emulating Solid Snake. A whole host of cultural information needed to disappear in order
to empty Raiden of his memories: the historical erasure of a civil war, Raiden's recorded appearance in a foster home, and Solidus's leadership of the Army of the Devil.
Likewise, in order for the Patriots' Legacy to establish itself, the Patriots must have disregard the emotional and psychological contradictions of Raiden's experiences as
detritus. The S3 Plan's lapse in judgment comes through its inability to account for unquantified aspects of life.

At the end of Metal Gear Solid 2 we find Snake and Otacon leaving in a search to find out who the members of the Patriots are and to ultimately stop them.

[BruceLeeRoy]

Shagohod
The Shagohod (Russian "step-walker", occasionally referred to in English as "The Treading Behemoth") featured in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, while
not a Metal Gear variant per se, has a similar design and role. Rather than a bipedal mecha, it is an unconventional tank, armed with an intermediate-range ballistic
missile it can propel to intercontinental ranges. Like the various Metal Gear variants, it can be crewed by a single pilot, although it has a station for a copilot.

Metal Gear D
This Metal Gear, armed with a Vulcan gun and a six-missile pod, is piloted by Gray Fox as he raids nuclear disposal sites for Zanzibar Land. Despite its formidable armament,
its legs are lightly armored; the player, as Solid Snake, must attack this weak point with grenades in a confrontation near the end of Metal Gear 2.

Metal Gear REX
designed by Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, is the model of Metal Gear that appears in Metal Gear Solid. It is characterized by a railgun which, as revealed in the game, can
deliver undetectable nuclear warheads to anywhere in the world. In addition to its railgun, REX differs from the preceding Metal Gear D in that its legs are heavily armored
and reinforced, not vulnerable like its predecessors'.

Metal Gear RAY
RAY differs from previous Metal Gears in that it is not a nuclear launch platform, but instead a weapon of conventional warfare, originally designed to hunt down and destroy
the many derivatives of Metal Gear REX that became common after the leak of the REX plans following the events of Shadow Moses. It is designed to be even more
maneuverable and flexible in deployment than the REX, and can operate both on land and in the water. While RAY has a pair of machine guns and six missile tubes to
defend itself from more conventional battlefield threats, its primary weapon is a powerful water jet cutter, which can cut through heavily-armored foes, such as Metal Gear
REX derivatives.

Gekko
Gekko (gQI, GekkO?, meaning "moonlight") is the codename of the new generation of mecha that Solid Snake must face in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
They are mass-produced unmanned bipedal units manufactured by ArmsTech Corp (the makers of Metal Gear REX), and the US military designates them by the name
"Irving"; their frequent use by PMCs has caused it to be a replacement for tanks as a means of conducting armored warfare in Urban areas. The Gekko is used particularly
by the Praying Mantis company.

Although not a literal Metal Gear, the top half of this mecha is reminiscent of the Metal Gear REX design while the organic legs are somewhat similar to that of Metal Gear
RAY. It is unmanned and uses two large cameras as its "eyes", one mounted on its head, the other at the front of its hip assembly. These are backed up by other sensors,
mostly passive. New features include a small robotic tentacle used to pick up small objects or grab targets. The Gekko is incredibly agile and maneuverable, thanks to a pair
of flexible limbs that can act as either legs or arms. It can pick up a man and throw him hard enough to penetrate a brick wall, deliver a kick that can overturn a 6x6 truck,
dodge an RPG and kill its shooter (as shown in one of the latest trailers), climb walls, crouch to enter buildings, run at speeds equivalent to a motor vehicle, and leap
huge distances through the air. This model comes in two variants. While both carry anti-personnel machine guns mounted inside the "nose", one carries heavier machine guns
and missile launchers, while the other variant is equipped only with a radar.

Similar to combat against traditional Metal Gear models, Snake will most likely need heavy firepower to actually destroy one. A quick blast with an assault rifle may cause
one to trip if shot in the legs, but they appear to be well armored and quite dexterous - the mecha can quickly regain its footing even if tipped onto its head. They make
good use of sound in psychological warfare, particularly animal noises (such as cicadas while on the prowl to create an atmosphere of unease, and a bull in direct combat for
sheer intimidation). They feature characteristics that are biomechanoid to some degree, as they have been shown to "bleed" when sliced at the legs (understandably as the
machine could use a blood-like self-repairing nanopaste like the RAY), though severe wounds on seemingly mechanical components have been known to "bleed" as
well. In addition, they expel an unknown green liquid while roaring savagely in certain situations.

In a recent interview, Metal Gear director Hideo Kojima stated that the Gekkos are not the game's titular Metal Gears, stating that they are more like a jeep or a tank
compared to the actual Metal Gear.

[BruceLeeRoy]

Metal Gear Solid 4 introduces four new bosses, who are all part of a unit named "The Beauty and The Beast Unit". The theme around these characters is how the
horrors of war have transformed a beauty, in this case a beautiful woman, into a beast, the bosses which debued in the GC 2007 Trailer. Their names are Crying Wolf,
Raging Raven, Screaming Mantis, and Laughing Octopus. Metal Gear Solid fans will quickly notice that their names are related to the names of members of the
FOXHOUND unit, and the emotions relating to members of the Cobra Unit from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. For example, Crying Wolf = The Sorrow + Sniper Wolf.

Screaming Mantis
Screaming Mantis appears to share more than a name with Psycho Mantis. Screaming Mantius can manipluate anything seemingly with her mind, much like
Psycho Mantis. In the GC 2007 trailer she is seen literally crushing a PMC soldier with her mind, holding him up with what looks like puppet strings coming from no
where. On closer inspection, she has two puppets of two previous Metal Gear Solid bosses: The Sorrow and Psycho Mantis.

Laughing Octopus
Not much is known about Laughing Octopus, other than she uses her tentacles to move and attack at the same time. In the GC 2007 trailer she is seen lifting up a
man and impaling him on one of her tentacles. Relevant or not, her tentacles resemble Solidus' from MGS2 somewhat.

Raging Raven
Raging Raven acts as their ariel support. She has wings and can swoop down on an enemy, either lifting them and dropping them or simply bombing them. She
wears a mask, presumably for an oxygen tank which looks a lot like Naked Snake's mask from MGS3.

Crying Wolf
Almost nothing is known about this character. She has a gun on her back and appears to be rather strong and agile, more than able to take down the 10 or so
soldiers she does in the GC 2007 trailer.

For more in-depth character development check these sites here:
METAL GEAR GIRLS
METAL GEAR SOLID CHARACTERS EXPLAINED

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

The story of Metal Gear, in its entirety, begins with The Boss. The Boss is a woman who, in her mid-20s, assembled a cooperative special forces unit of
american and soviet operatives in WWII that played a significant role in the allied victory (the "Cobra Unit".) Upon the start of the cold war, the Cobras were
disbanded as her loyalties remained with the United States.

The Boss trained Naked Snake ("John," "Jack," "Big Boss".) for at least a decade after WWII they were partners, and he was her last and perhaps greatest
apprentice. They were closer than allies, than friends or family. In the late fifties they parted ways, Snake no longer her fledgling but fully capable as an
independent operative.

in 1964, in the height of the cold war, The Boss defected to the soviet union, rejoining the Cobras under the ambitions of Colonel Volgin's radicalist unit. There
she gave her new hosts a pair of american-made nuclear shells, along with the return of their asylum-seeking weapons development scientist Dr Sokolov
(the obligatory scientist-in-distress of MGS3.) Unexpectedly, Volgin used one of these shells to eradicate a
soviet development site, removing evidence of his
insurrections against the soviet government and Premier Khruschev.

Naked Snake, her last disciple, was enlisted to find her and eliminate her along with the growing soviet threat she has enabled. She never expresses to him
any purposes behind her defection, only that she is 'loyal to the end.'

Only in the end do we understand her purpose. only once snake's mission is complete does he understand. The Boss's defection was, at first, an order.
She was to defect to the soviet union, specifically to Volgin's command, as a ruse by the US government.

Volgin had stolen a vast wealth from the Philosophers, the underlying force behind the US, Chinese, and Soviet governments. After the time of World War I, they
were a united force with an enormous collected wealth. by the end of WWII, their loyalties were broken and the organization lost its international cooperation. The
bulk of the 'Philosophers' Legacy' was left in independent hands in the USSR. Through some deception and numerous details, it was obtained by Colonel Volgin
and it was being used to fuel his weapons development as he planned to oust Khruschev from power in a military coup.

The Boss was the only american soldier infamous enough and useful enough to be accepted into Volgin's ranks as a defector. Under orders, she betrayed her own
nation. Her mission was to reclaim the Philosophers' Legacy for America, where the remaining group was now known as the 'Patriots.'

Naked Snake was needed as no more than a witness to her defection. It would lend credibility to her 'betrayal' of the United States, and altogether seal the deal.
The problem came when Volgin used one of the nuclear shells over russian soil.

The Russian government was in upheaval over the incident. A foreign detonation over soviet territory was an act of war. Neither Lyndon Johnson nor Nikita Khruschev
wanted the cold war to erupt into a blazing hot one. Unfortunately, the balance of power within the soviet government could not allow Khruschev to hold back hostility
simply by word. The USSR needed proof that this event was the fault of an american defector, and not directly of the US government. To keep that detonation from
being an act of war, the Boss had to die.

The Boss had a new mission. To carry out her defection to the end, and ultimately be killed by Naked Snake, her last disciple. She had to play the charade to the
end, to no-one's knowledge but her own, before finally giving her life for her country.

With her death there would be balance and deterrance. War would be averted. Her sacrifice would save the world. But it could never be known. For her sacrifice to
save america, she would go down in history as a treasonous war criminal who instigated a nuclear crisis. A monster that threatened both America and the Soviet Union
with the effects of her betrayal.

To save the world, to prove her loyalty to 'the end' that her government ordered of her, she had to die without honor. She was ordered by the United States
government to fight to the death on the side of the Soviet Union. To her own death, at Snake's hands. That was her role. She fulfilled it entirely.

The Cobras, her former unit, joined with her again upon her defection. Their loyalties were entirely to her. She knowingly had to send her friends, the disciples she
trained and fought with against the axis, to their deaths at Snake's hands. That burden was hers to bear as well, all for the sake of her loyalty to America.

She could not let Snake join her. She very well could have tested his loyalties and found him to choose her over the United States, but that wasn't the point; he had
to stay behind. He had to be the one to stand against her, to destroy her. She could not let him fail, but she could not make him succeed. She had to be defeated.
She needed to be killed by Snake, to complete her mission.

In all of Metal Gear Solid mythos, The Boss is the truest 'patriot.' The Boss makes the greatest sacrifices, even beyond the finality of her own death, for her country,
and for her loyalty to the american government. She makes no choice of her own in this; she fights for
America, loyal to the end.

[BruceLeeRoy]

At the very height of his career, he had lost all faith in the United States government. He saw that their most loyal soldier, who would give her life for their
goals, could be thrown away so easily. The Boss was scapegoated, dishonored, and murdered for the sake of the US Government, and they had led him
to do it with his own hands. The story of Snake Eater ends at her grave, as we the viewers reach these revelations at the same time the newly-christened
Big Boss does. That story ends there, but Big Boss's life truly begins at that point.

After operation Snake Eater, the experimental 'FOX' unit Naked Snake was operating under was officially organized into a US military special operations
unit. Under Big Boss's leadership, the fledgling FOXHOUND was established in 1971. The best of the best, in skills, technology and resources, FOXHOUND
was an assemblage of some of the most lethal freaks the army could muster.

Slowly assembling an enormous wealth over the following decade, somewhere in the late seventies or early eighties Big Boss began and completed an
extensive plan of subversion. By the mid-eighties, his independent military nation 'Outer Heaven' finally emerged in the southern jungles of Africa. Big
Boss had constructed his own small mercenary country, a place for disillusioned soldiers such as himself to find work in what they did best without
swearing fealty to a government that would dishonor them.

Outer Heaven was built for warriors in a world where they were slowly becoming unwanted. As olive branches spread throughout the world, the times
changed but soldiers did not. Big Boss had always been a solider. Fighting was all he was good at. His dream, manifested in Outer Heaven, was a
haven for soldiers such as himself that sought to live their lives without being the expendable property of a nation they no longer cared for.

Within its boundaries,
the first 'Metal Gear' (supposedly the first derivitive of Granin's
leaked designs from Snake Eater) began its construction.

To defeat Big Boss, the founder of FOXHOUND and former "Naked Snake," America sent FOXHOUND's best: the operative 'Grey Fox.' When Grey
Fox was captured in Outer Heaven, their last resort was FOXHOUND's youngest operative, Solid Snake.

Solid Snake was one of the three 'snake triplets;' near-identical clones of Big Boss created by the government's 'Les Enfants Terribles' project in 1972,
shortly after FOXHOUND's foundation.

Snake fought his way through Outer Heaven, rescuing Gray Fox and reaching Big Boss. Knowing the man only as a traitor who abandoned his unit and
his country, he fought and defeated Big Boss for the sake of his mission. Metal Gear destroyed, he returned to the United States a small hero, earning
his rightful place in
FOXHOUND.

Gray Fox, Snake's closest friend in the unit, soon left FOXHOUND. In the late nineties, he resurfaced, now the mercenary leader of a small asian nation
akin to Outer Heaven, called 'Zanzibar Land.' His actual superior in the endeavor was none other than Big Boss, still alive after the fall of Outer Heaven.
Grey Fox and Big Boss began rebuilding what Outer Heaven once had, including retstarting work on the Metal Gear project.

Unaware of these details, Snake was sent yet again to defeat Metal Gear, but in the course of his mission he had to eliminate Gray Fox, his closest
friend. He went into his mission a soldier, loyal to his country, and moreover loyal to his mission. He had no intention of failing. He reached Gray Fox and,
barehanded amidst a minefield, fought him to the death. The prize, stolen OILIX petroleum microbes and the destruction of Metal Gear, were in Snake's
hands.

Snake emerged victorious, but he knew the cost. They were friends, best friends, even in death. As men, as human beings, they were friends. As soldiers,
as men of allegiance, they were enemies. Snake had to uphold his orders and serve the united states, and Fox had chosen a different path. Fox, like Big
Boss before him, had grown disillusioned with the life he spent as a tool for politicians. He was a solider, and would always be a soldier, but he did not
want to fight for a nation he did not believe in. On his deathbed he could explain himself to Snake, but it changed nothing; Snake fought for the United
States, and Grey Fox fought for Big Boss. They were friends and enemies, and Snake was the victorious enemy over his fallen friend.

Snake pushed on, eliminating again the threat of Metal Gear and facing Big Boss for the second time. Before they fought, Big Boss made the lofty claim
that he was Snake's father; it did not weaken Snake's resolve to his mission, but the words haunted him nonetheless. He defeated and ultimately killed
Big Boss, in a grim spectacle completely mirroring Naked Snake's reluctant triumph over The Boss thirty years earlier.

Snake defeated The Boss, earning him unparalleled prestige. He had killed the greatest soldier of the time, and more than that, his closest friend. Solid
Snake had been forced to fight and kill his own closest friend, Gray Fox, and then kill Big Boss, the greatest warrior of his time... and possibly his own
father. Solid Snake, much like Naked Snake thirty years earlier, returned home both a hero... and a broken man.

Snake left the military, and retreated to Alaska, where he lived alone for years to come, happily away from war and the conflicts of choosing duty and
allegiance.

In his absence, the FOXHOUND unit found a new prodigy, and soon a new
leader, in Liquid Snake.

[BruceLeeRoy]

Liquid Snake, labelled as the 'inferior' of the two at birth, began a military career despite lacking the 'privileged' start that Solid Snake had received. He rose
through the ranks of FOXHOUND quickly and became the unit commander between 2002 and 2004. Along with a small force of 'Next Generation Special Forces'
soldiers and the rest of FOXHOUND, he staged an insurrection at the nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island in Alaska's Fox Archipelago in 2005.


Liquid's goals were not immediately made obvious, but they soon fell into place. Shadow Moses island was the site of development for Metal Gear Rex, the
most dangerous and politically unforgiveable variation of Metal Gear yet... under production by the US government. Seizing this was his primary bargaining
chip

Liquid's rebellion gave him control of the entire facility, and he was in a suitable place to make demands. His demands were simple; an exorbitant cash sum,
and the remains of Big Boss. Summarily, Liquid was well aware of his own origins. The US Government had secured Big Boss's remains after the Zanzibar Land
uprising, and continued their genetic research where they left off in the seventies; the Next-Generation Special Forces soldiers were 'genome soldiers, genetically
altered soldiers that benefited from Big Boss's 'soldier genes.' With Metal Gear Rex, Big Boss's remains, and enough funds, Liquid could fulfill his goal: the ultimate
rebirth of Outer Heaven.

Solid Snake was pulled away from his retirement by Roy Campbell, his old CO and the former commander of FOXHOUND. The crisis on Shadow Moses required
a man like him. Told only of the armed uprising of FOXHOUND and their leader 'Liquid Snake,' Snake was asked to be the government's weapon to combat the
insurrection and rescue hostages taken at the facility.

Attempting to rescue the hostages, the nature of the facility was revealed to Snake. The black project under construction in its underbelly was an unpleasant
surprise to him, but he knew what he had to do. Disabling Metal Gear, now his personal pastime, was now
a part of his mission.

Solid Snake was pulled away from his retirement by Roy Campbell, his old CO and the former commander of FOXHOUND. The crisis on Shadow Moses required a man
like him. Told only of the armed uprising of FOXHOUND and their leader 'Liquid Snake,' Snake was asked to be the government's weapon to combat the insurrection and
rescue hostages taken at the facility.

Attempting to rescue the hostages, the nature of the facility was revealed to Snake. The black project under construction in its underbelly was an unpleasant surprise to him,
but he knew what he had to do. Disabling Metal Gear, now his personal pastime, was now a part of his mission.

Reaching Metal Gear, Snake was finally face-to-face with Liquid. Liquid finally put their entire shared heritage into perspective for Snake; The 'Les Enfants Terribles' project,
their conception, the lots in life they were given. Although he knew it was a lost cause, Liquid did briefly extend a hand to Snake. "We're both warriors fighting for a world
that doesn't need us!" he told Snake. Snake wanted no part in the revival of Outer Heaven or the ensuing war that would erupt.

It was at this point no longer a matter of following a mission. The government wanted its hostages rescued, the threat neutralized, and Metal Gear Rex preserved intact.
The hostages were long dead, and Snake deemed the 'threat' and Rex to be one and the same. On foot, Snake squared off to Liquid and his Metal Gear Rex. Vastly
outmatched, Snake was saved by Gray Fox.

Gray Fox, finally within his own senses, speaks with Snake one last time before critically damaging Rex and being killed. He tells Snake, "even if the only thing I was good
at was fighting, I can be glad that I fought for what I believed in." Gray Fox's words, and his sacrifice, carry a resounding influence with Snake for the years to follow.

The score evened, Snake destroys Metal Gear Rex himself and is left one-on-one against Liquid. Nearly defeated, Snake is looking down the barrel of Liquid's rifle when
the FOXDIE virus takes effect... on Liquid.



Snake leaves Shadow Moses with Metal Gear developer Hal Emmerich ('Otacon'). Fueled by the events that have taken place, and Gray Fox's dying words, Snake
finally chooses a definite path for his life. Much as Big Boss had Outer Heaven and Liquid had footsteps to follow in, Snake took it upon himself to fight alone against
global threats, especially that of Metal Gear proliferation. Not as a soldier of a nation, or a mercenary for hire, but as a warrior of his own ethics. Accepting that
"fighting is all he was good at," Snake chooses to finally fight for what he believes in.

[BruceLeeRoy]

When the events of Shadow Moses drew to a close, the acts of President George Sears (Solidus) allowed everything to be exposed to the public. The
disposal facility, the Genome army, and most of all Metal Gear Rex were all revealed to the public. The greatest revelation of all was the man responsible for
averting the catastrophic results of those events.

The Patriots had not intended Shadow Moses be revealed. Solid Snake was a national hero who had narrowly averted armageddon. The Patriots never desired a
hero that was not of their own creation. A hero they made and controlled, however, could be yet another powerful influence over the nation. The S3 plan was born.

S3, the 'Solid Snake Simulation,' (or 'Selection for Societal Sanity,' see 'THE PATRIOTS' section) was to take a single impressionable soldier, use VR training to
mold together his potential, and then create a scenario that ultimately mirrors the threats and situations of Shadow Moses to put him through. With the Patriots
pulling all the strings on both sides, that soldier would be guaranteed success, but only by the narrowest margins possible. The level of challenge is just enough
to drive him to his utmost potential. In the end, he would emerge victorious amidst a frenzied and worshipping public... and he would still be under the control of
the Patriots.

The entirety of S3 was to replicate a Solid Snake, a national hero, with variables the Patriots could monitor and control. The entire concept was in place, so
the Patriots were ready to put into action as soon as they could remove one thorn from their side; the real Solid Snake.

Solid Snake and Hal 'Otacon' Emmerich went underground almost immediately after Shadow Moses. Snake and Otacon had both found what they wanted
to fight for with their lives; the eradication of Metal Gear technology for the sake of mankind. Metal Gear proliferation threatened every nation in the world.
Snake and Otacon began a series of independent operations to disable Metal Gear variations in numerous nations. Rex's technology and schematics
survived Shadow Moses, no doubt thanks to Revolver Ocelot. Dozens of Rex derivatives were operational around the globe within two years of the
incident.

Snake and Otacon's destructive actions earned them the labels of international terrorists. The label was further encouraged by the Patriots so as
to drive away Snake's status as a 'hero' icon.

Ray was being transported down the Hudson River in the holds of a false oil tanker. Snake got himself aboard and secured the evidence needed, but
before he could pull out, the unthinkable happened. A mercenary force, led by Revolver Ocelot, seized control of the tanker. Ocelot boarded Ray and
blasted his way out of the tanker, sinking it with his own allies and the marines onboard. Ocelot escaped into the ocean with Ray, leaving the wreckage
in Hudson Bay.

Snake escaped alive, however the Patriots' plan was already in motion. Footage of Snake onboard the tanker leaked out to the public. The press and
media was universally informed that, in an act of outright terrorism, Solid Snake sank a loaded oil tanker in the Hudson river bay. Snake and Otacon's
attempts to bring Metal Gear Ray to light were useless, as they were deluged by the allegations. They remained in hiding, now wanted international
criminals.

To ensure their safety, Snake and Otacon procured Liquid Snake's corpse from shadow moses and arranged for it to be 'recovered' at the tanker
site soonafter. nearly identical on a genetic level, Liquid's corpse was confirmed to be Snake, and he was officially declared dead. The record would state
that he went down with the tanker.

Alive or dead, Snake was defamed and politically neutralized, as was the Patriots' intent. He was no longer a public threat to them, so they were
free to move forward with the S3 plan; Arsenal Gear began construction under the bay, with the Big Shell built above to manage the 'cleanup' of the
tanker oil spill. Of course, there never was an actual oil spill; the Patriots replicated the effect of a small-scale crude spill and immediately put the Big
Shell into place. The Big Shell quickly became a symbol of government benevolence; it was an icon of environmental responsibility and served as
the legacy of Solid Snake's dishonor. In the following years, Snake and Otacon became fully aware of the Patriots, their intents, and the purpose
of the Big Shell.

The Big Shell and the S3 plan came to a head in approximately 2009. Raiden, under the guise of a FOXHOUND agent, inflitrated the
Big Shell to rescue the President and neutralize the 'Sons of Liberty.' At the same time, Snake and Otacon were tipped off to the situation by
an informant. Simultaneously with Raiden's infiltration, Snake surfaced from hiding and made his way through the Big Shell disguised as a Navy
SEAL. It was there that he met Raiden, an together they began to assemble the details of Solidus' plans and furthermore, the extent of the
Patriots' grip over the entire situation.

Snake's presence in the story of Sons of Liberty is that of a mythological hero; a presence which he denounces, but has rightfully earned after
Shadow Moses. He is not the player character because he is no longer the everyman. Snake is now the elite, the master, and simultaneously
a relic of a story past. He guides Raiden through his ordeals as a sort of uncompassionate mentor. Snake knows more about the situation
than he ever lets on, has a greater wealth of experience than we can comprehend at this point, and is instrumental in the revelations that follow.

With the assistance of a mysterious cyborg ninja calling itself Mr. X, Raiden locates the President, and discovers that the Big Shell is the development
facility for a new Metal Gear. Known as Arsenal Gear, it houses a powerful AI supercomputer, "GW", capable of controlling information transmitted over
the Internet. The President also claims the democratic process is a sham, and the true rulers of the United States are an organization known as
the Patriots. Revolver Ocelot kills him soon after, and Raiden proceeds to his final objective: disabling Arsenal Gear and thus halting a nuclear strike.
Pliskin, having revealed himself as the true Solid Snake, and Emma Emmerich, an Arsenal Gear engineer, assist Raiden in attempting to destroy the
"GW" AI by uploading a virus. However, the transfer is aborted partway through, and Emma dies in the ensuing attack. Snake and Raiden are left
with no choice but to disable Arsenal physically. As Snake's partner Otacon escapes with the surviving hostages by helicopter, Mr. X returns,
revealing itself to be Olga Gurlukovich, and knocks Raiden unconscious by hitting him in the back with her sword.

Awakening naked in an Arsenal torture chamber, Raiden is probed by Solidus Snake, the true terrorist leader. Solidus reveals that he once
adopted Raiden, a former child soldier, as his son during an unspecified African civil war and that Raiden is now a Patriot agent. Olga,
working as a Patriot double-agent within the Sons of Liberty, helps Raiden escape, and he locates Snake within Arsenal Gear. As they
fight through the mammoth vessel, Raiden's commanding officer begins to act extremely erratically. It becomes apparent that the "Colonel"
that Raiden has been taking orders from is actually a creation of the GW super-computer, pieced together from information about
Colonel Roy Campbell coupled with Raiden's own expectations in order to manipulate him. The erratic behavior of the simulation is
the result of the virus uploaded earlier beginning to damage GW's systems.

With Snake holding off a vengeful Fortune, Raiden is forced into battle with the battalion of 25 Metal Gear RAY units guarding the Big
Shell. Olga intervenes to protect him, but is restrained by one of Solidus' robotic tentacles. Olga explains that 2 years ago, right after giving birth
to her child, the Patriots took her away and have been holding her child hostage ever since. Olga continues to explain that the Patriots blackmailed
her, ordering her to become a double-agent and make the S3 plan a success or her child would be killed. After explaining, Solidus shoots Olga
in the head and throws her corpse out of the way. Her last words are: "Live, you have to!" The RAY units begin to malfunction, attacking each
other and Solidus as the virus tears through the GW AI's program. Arsenal begins an emergency ascent, and Snake- now restrained by Fortune,
Solidus, and Raiden are carried to the roof of the fortress as it surfaces. To Solidus' increasing rage, Ocelot reveals that he too is a Patriot
agent, the entire episode of the day was a carefully coordinated attempt to reenact the events of the Shadow Moses Incident; what Ocelot describes
as the 'S3 Plan', or Solid Snake Simulation, designed to turn Raiden into the perfect soldier. He kills Fortune and boards the prototype Metal Gear
RAY stolen from the Tanker two years previous, and attempts to finish off the survivors of the exercise. However, Liquid possesses him, and announces
his plan to hunt down the Patriots based on his host's knowledge. Setting Arsenal on a collision-course with New York, Liquid-Ocelot launches RAY
into the ocean, followed by Snake.

Arsenal comes to a halt in downtown New York, launching Raiden and Solidus onto the roof of Federal Hall. Solidus reveals to Raiden his reasons
for trying to steal Arsenal: a nuclear electro-magnetic pulse would take down Manhattan's digital infrastructure and allow Solidus to lead it as a
republic against the Patriots, a nation of "Sons of Liberty". Likewise the Patriots, via another AI contact Raiden to reveal the truth of their actions,
the AIs being programmed to becoming "digital censors", removing trite and needless information from the electronic world in what they call
"Selection for Societal Sanity", or "S3 Plan". The information fed to Ocelot was another part of this plan. However, with such a control over the
flow of digital information, they could as easily be manipulating perceived history for the Patriot's needs. Believing the only option available is
to track down the Patriots using the information in Raiden's neural implants, Solidus offers his son one final duel.

Raiden defeats Solidus, and as crowds descend upon the wreckage of Arsenal Gear, Snake and Raiden meet one last time, where his mentor
informs him that only he can choose what to believe in, and that he must pass on what he believes to be true. Having planted a tracking device
on Liquid-Ocelot's Metal Gear, he and Otacon plan to follow him, and to hunt down the Patriots, whose details were hidden in the GW computer
virus disc. As Snake disappears into the crowd, Raiden is finally reunited with Rose, on April 30, 2009 - the 220th anniversary of George
Washington's inauguration as President of the United States, and the anniversary of Rose and Raiden's first meeting.

In a brief epilogue, Otacon and Snake discuss the decoding of the virus disc, which reveals that all 12 members of the Wisemen's Committee
(the Patriots' high council) have been dead for approximately 100 years, and that one of them is a major sponsor of Philanthropy.

[BruceLeeRoy]

Death's clock ticks for the legendary Solid Snake as he is ravaged with age due to his genetic curse. However, he still has the will in him to fight his final mission.
Snake’s brother, the second clone of Big Boss, Liquid Snake lives on in the arm of Revolver Ocelot who is now entirely overwhelmed by Liquid.

Set in the near-future, war has become control. PMCs (Private Military Contractors) have build armies and forces of the likes of which could taken on even the
United States army. The 5 largest PMCs are in control of one large dummy corporation, Outer Heaven run by none other than Liquid Snake. Snake is stirred
out of retirement by Otacton and Colonel Campbell who try to convince him to fight against Liquids plans of creating perpetual war where the soldier will
never have to search for work again.

Only a clone of big boss can destroy a clone of big boss. Snake is the only one who can do it. As Campbell rightly states, Snake is “The worlds only hope”.
Snake is dispatched by the UN to an [unnamed] Middle Easter country [Perhaps Zanzibar from MGS2?] to infiltrate with a group of rebels to go up against
Outer Heaven’s PMCs. With an AK and a cloak he makes his way into the Middle East only to be greeted by a huge metal beast resembling the feared
Metal Gear. According to Konami Productions, MGS4 will tie up all the loose ends the past 20 years of Metal Gear/Solid gaming has handed to us all
in this one, and final Playstation 3 hit. Only for Playstation 3.

[BruceLeeRoy]

[BruceLeeRoy]

I cannot stress enough how great these retrospective videos are as a refresher and
especially if you have never played the series. They do a excellent job of getting you
up to speed for the new game.

Currently the soundtrack only appears to be available on Play-Asia.

The bluetooth headset should be in stores by June 5th or 6th.

[BruceLeeRoy]

[EviLore]

Behold, NeoGAF.

[Ninja Kn1ght]

Game of the Forever! Can't wait.

Also, this OP is awesome.

[SolidSnakex]

Goodness gracious! o_O

[jiggle]

holy jeebus

[Y2Kev]

This is the best thread to have ever graced this forum.

Godspeed, everyone.

[Wario64]

I had to scroll my mouse down like 2 minutes just to get to the bottom of the thread

[dfyb]

.....epic OP

[Corran Horn]

Omg...best thread ever! (thumbs up)

*goes to read the whole OP for the next 2hours so I wont get banned*

[chimster]

wow great post, thanks

[DMPrince]

Thread and Game of Forever! Fucking epic!

[No_Style]

OMFG @ Thread

/bow

Bars have been raised, folks.