The Metal Gear franchise played a huge part in my gaming experience and life growing up. I absolutely love it, and the original Metal Gear Solid is still in my top 10 favorite games, even though I’ve easily played several hundred (maybe a thousand, but who keeps count?). So yeah, I love this franchise.
That being said, I was somewhat disappointed with MGS5 and the whole Kojima/Konami split that was going on. Sometimes I feel that the game maybe pushed the storytelling innovation too far, and while I’m used to following the complex and convoluted stories of MGS games, I still have trouble understanding what was going on in MGS5.
I also still think that MGS5 was probably released before it was finished, especially since there are clear gaps in the plot that obviously lead to something else. So, as you can imagine, when my editor assigned me this article, I felt somewhat bittersweet about it. On the one hand, I get to write about a franchise I love, and on the other hand, I get to write about a franchise that I felt was killed in front of my very eyes.
There were certainly many emotions involved. All that put aside, I still think the Metal Gear franchise is a must play for anybody who loves video games. The massive amount of innovations from storytelling to mechanics had long lasting effects on video game development.
So, without wasting more of your time waxing nostalgics and giving you personal opinions, let’s get into the meat of things. Just a quick primer before you begin though: I’ve listed the games below in release order, and covered aspects of the mechanics, the development of the game, as well as major plot points (which are hidden behind spoilers).
The idea here is that if you’re new to the franchise, you can sort of get up to speed on what’s going on generally, and then just plop yourself in at any point in the release order. Of course, I really am just ever so slightly covering the tip of the iceberg, the stories are so complex that I could easily write a 5,000 word article on each, so I really suggest you play the games if you can, or failing that watch Let’s Plays.
Metal Gear Main Series
#1 Metal Gear
- In-Game Year: 1995
- Release Date: July 13, 1987
Ostensibly the game that started the whole thing, Metal Gear was originally not even going to be a tactical stealth shooter. In fact, it first started out as your typical action shooter game and wasn’t even being developed by Kojima, shockingly enough. At some point though, he was asked to take over and he quickly realized that the limitation of the platform they were putting it on (The MSX2) basically meant that he could not deliver on the original scope.
Instead, those limitations led to one of the most beloved franchises in gaming history, and all it took was some barriers in the path of progress. I guess it’s true what they say; necessity is the mother of all invention.
Speaking of that invention, it was this game that also introduced the exclamation mark hovering over an NPCs head that’s been memed to death. Back then though, the different alert levels were identified by one or two exclamation marks. Getting to two meant that you either had to kill all the enemies, get out of the room and come back in, or just leave completely.
Unlike later Metal Gear games, you actually start out completely unarmed, and need to figure out how to get things on your own. Weapon and general loot scarcity also started from here, so a bit of survival aspect also started to creep in slowly. Funnily enough, this game had a bit of an RPG element as well, with each level up allowing you to carry more ammo and increases your health (what a time to be alive).
In terms of story [and also spoiler alert], Snake was originally just a newbie in FOXHOUND, a fancy special forces unit that did a bunch of hush, hush black ops stuff. Snake was sent into a fortified state to combat a rogue nation/army that really wanted to just nuke everything if people didn’t comply with them. This plan of course involved the eponymous Metal Gear and was truly a freakishly large boss to kill back in the day.
Along the way you befriend a variety of different characters, all with their own agendas, weird quirks and complete mystery. Big Boss made his first appearance here, although the true extent of his identity is not fully revealed. You also meet Grey Fox (or Gray Fox later in the series) who’s another member of FOXHOUND that was sent in but went radio silent. So a couple of big players in the Metal Gear franchise appear in the first game.
While it may seem sort of bland and simple for today’s standards, Metal Gear really birthed not only a franchise, but a whole genre of gameplay. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if there’s anyway to play Metal Gear other than maybe using an emulator. Kojimma did discuss maybe remaking the original two games in the franchise with modern technology and fixing some plot holes, but now that he’s left, who knows if it will ever happen?
#2 Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- In-Game Year: 1999
- Release Date: July 20, 1990
Another title made almost completely due to circumstance, Metal Gear 2 cemented the franchise and really made it what it was in terms of its narrative depth and complexity. Originally, Konami was planning to create a sequel to Metal Gear specifically for the NA and EU called Snake’s Revenge which isn’t canonical in any way, shape or form (more on that in a later section).
After Kojima heard of Snake’s Revenge, he decided to create his own canonical entry into the franchise for the MXS2. Building on the stealth elements from the previous game, Metal Gear 2 added some smarter AI, as well as giving them an ability to be alerted by sound. This means that as the player, you really have to be careful where you walk.
Thankfully, you do have some workarounds that were added, such as the ability to kneel and crawl, to help avoid making loud sounds, pretty much like how it is in later installments in the franchise. Other advancements and additions included increasing carrying capacity whenever you kill a boss, rather than when leveling up as well as being able to use the radar for mine detection.
Similarly, radio conversations were made contextual, rather than area-specific, which certainly helped a ton with the immersion. Similarly, this was the first time the franchise saw additional side-puzzles, hidden stuff and varied environments, basically the stuff that made us all love exploring MGS maps.
In terms of story, Solid Snake comes out of retirement for another mission going deep into the super-realistically sounding Zanzibarland to ostensibly rescue a kidnapped scientist. Ultimately though, we end up seeing the same level of intrigue and complex story like you would expect from an MGS game.
Of course, the Metal Gear robot itself makes an appearance, named ‘Metal Gear D’, a revised version from the previous game, and of course, you have to absolutely kill it dead. What really made this game stand-out, not just for it’s era but in general, is that it was one of the few games at the time that actually went deep into the nature of warfare, nuclear proliferation, and how private militaries are just maybe not that super great.
It arguably improved on the narrative complexity of the previous game by a ton, and really made the whole story a staple of gaming. Of course, it would just get weirder and more complex as the franchise moved forward, but for back then, it was really a stand-out game in a sea of games that weren’t that deep narratively.
All in all, Metal Gear 2 really was an exceptional sequel, and thankfully, actually one that can be played. While it was originally just released in Japan, an HD remake of the game was provided in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, and as far as I’m aware, that’s the only way to play it nowadays. I’d certainly suggest taking a gander at it if you can, especially if you plan to play through the whole franchise.
#3 Metal Gear Solid
- In-Game Year: 2005
- Release Date: September 3, 1998
Alright, well now we come to the MGS game that I consider to be the one that really launched the modern franchise. It’s also easily in my top 10 games, and it even has one of my favorite songs, ‘The Best is Yet To Come’ which still raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
Unsurprisingly, I’m not the only one who feels that way and this game is widely considered one of the most important games of all time, both cementing the genre and showing what games can really do in terms of storytelling. It almost feels weird going over this game, but honestly I love it so much I don’t mind.
For starters, MGS took the game from the MSX2 to the Playstation, and form 2D graphics to 3D graphics. Interestingly enough, it was originally going to be developed for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, 3DO for short, before the console itself was discontinued and the decisoin was made to move it to the playstation.
Another thing that’s interesting is the choice of name; rather than going for Metal Gear 3, they went for Solid because the original two games weren’t widely distributed, so it made this sort of a re-start of the franchise. They chose Solid to also signify the change from 2D to 3D graphics, and of course for Solid Snake.
They really went hard with the realism here, involving both SWAT teams and weapons experts to instruct them on how a real life operative would carry out a mission. Kojima also believed that the devil was in the details, and so went to great lengths to customize everything and make it look unique, even random desks.
While originally he wanted to have dynamic orchestral music and an ability to hide bodies, the console’s limitations meant they had to do without (although how awesome would that be?). As for the story . . . where to even begin.
Snake is forced out of retirement by his old commander Colonel Cambell, as FOXHOUND has pretty much gone rouge, taken control of an island in Alaska (Shadow Moses), and setup their own nuclear-equipped metal gear. Of course, Snake has to go in and figure out what the heck is going on while not alerting anybody of his presence. Infiltrating through the water, we get one of the most iconic scenes in video games.
Moving on from there, Snake infiltrates through a series of vents, avoiding a bunch of super annoying guards dressed in winter garb, and generally sets about carrying out his mission. In the process, he runs into the DARPA chief Donald Anderson who informs him of the Metal Gear and how to switch off if. Snake also finds Keneth Baker, the head of Armstech and a hostage, before being confronted by Ocelot in another really iconic scene.
Of course at that point things begin to go downhill really rapidly, and the story gets complex, convoluted and just plain weird. Snake ends up fighting a variety of strange foes, from mind controllers to world-class snipers and just dominates like a pro.
[Spoiler Alert]
Ultimately, he finds out that he’s just a pawn in a bigger game, that he’s actually a clone of big boss, along with his ‘brother’ Liquid Snake, and manages to destroy Metal Gear Rex. He’s also carrying a specifically designed virus to kill FOXHOUND members, which includes himself, and he only has a small but indeterminate time to live.
[End Spoiler]
Honestly, MGS is such a great game that pretty much nobody can do it justice in a review. Thankfully, there is a PC version you can play, or if you have a gamecube that still works you could try and get your hands on Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, which is a remaster of the original. Either way though, you need to play it if you never have.
#4 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- In-Game Year: 2007 – 2009
- Release Date: November 13, 2001
So this is the game that sneaky Kojima pulled the ole’ switcheroo on us, making us think that we’re going to be playing with Snake, but instead ended up playing with Raiden. Now, at the time a lot of people really hated that switch, and Raiden got a lot of unfair hate thrown at him, including by yours truly.
Over time though, Raiden has sort of grown on me, and compared to the other stuff that Kojima has pulled, the whole MGS2 thing doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. Another thing that was somewhat criticized at the time was the approach to the story telling, especially in terms of social media control, artificial intelligence and existentialism.
Especially that last one, I mean it feels like every other fight or conversation involved some level of deep existential crisis and a questioning of what life really is all about. Of course, with the modern zeitgeist being what it is, MGS 2 certainly foreshadowed quite a lot, and in hindsight was actually quite brilliant.
The narrative wasn’t the only thing that changed a lot in MGS 2, and the mechanics got quite a bit of an overhaul, especially considering Raiden’s flexibility and dexterity. Hanging and moving along rails became a thing which you could use to your tactical advantage, and you can now also not only peak around corners, but also shoot from cover, a pretty revolutionary concept at the time.
The environment also played a larger part in the stealth than in previous games, with guards being able to be blinded by steam, shooting out guard radios and holding guards at gunpoint to relieve them of their goods.
Similarly, the AI were massively expanded and made waaaay smarter, as anybody who’s played MGS and MGS 2 can attest to. Calling for back-up, complex area weeps, taking cover, and flank maneuvers were a few of the tricks that were added to the AI retinue. Also, the types of enemies were expanded from just your average joe soldier, with some of them now having full body armor or riot shields, making the whole situation a big pain.
As for the plot, I would say is probably twice as complex and long as MGS, with the game actually broken up into two chapters; a prologue taking part on a tanker that potentially houses a new metal gear, and the main game on an off-shore facility that was taken over by a bunch of terrorists.
[Spoilers Alert]
The prologue itself is rather simple, with Solid Snake infiltrating a tanker that houses a new Metal Gear, actually produced by the US Marine Corps, named Metal Gear Ray. As it turns out, a group of russian mercenaries are in the process of attacking this tanker to retrieve the Metal Gear, with Snake acting to foil the clearly insane plot.
In the process, Snake runs into Ocelot, who had his arm replaced with Liquid’s when it was cut off. When Snake does confront Ocelot, Liquid comes out (somehow) and steals Metal Gear Ray for his own nefarious purposes.
The game then moves to ‘Big Shell’ an off-shore platform that was publicly built to clean up the ‘tanker spill’, but was actually used as a research facility. It’s at this point that Raiden is revealed and we embark on a journey of a rookie spec-ops agent trying to unravel a bunch of conspiracies.
As you do, you run into the ‘Sons of Liberty’ the aforementioned terrorist organization, made up of members that have supernatural like abilities, such as Vamp who seems immortale, and Fortune who can’t get hit by bullets. You also find out about a hidden group called ‘The Patriots’ who essentially control all social media and information flow in the world for their own purposes.
As you do, you discover that the Sons of Liberty are run by Solidus Snake, another clone in the Les Enfant Terrible project. He essentially wants to break free of The Patriot’s control by hunting them down and killing them, with the information of their location being somewhere on Big Shell.
[Spoilers End Here]
MGS2 is a great, complicated and sometimes confusing game that is both critically acclaimed, and divisive among MGS fans. Thankfully, you can also play it if you buy the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which includes MGS and bumps up the graphical quality to 720p. If you’re a fan of the MGS series, then I implore you to play the game if you can.
#5 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- In-Game Year: 1964
- Release Date: November 17, 2004
MGS 3 was quite a departure from the traditional storytelling that you’d expect of an MGS game. While it did move away from the social and cultural commentary that we’ve come to expect from the games, it did establish a lot of the background lore and fill in the gaps of information that were missing. In a way, MGS 3 is a supporting game in terms of narrative, rather than a full-blown and somewhat contained story.
The story was not the only place that the game departed from the norm though, with the setting changing from your traditional military bases and closed quarters to the open domain of a Soviet jungle.
Kojima intentionally wanted to change the look and feel of MGS and what was traditionally offered, and originally the game was going to come out on the PS3 to support the larger and open environments. Of course, the PS3 took a while to come out, so MGS 3 was released on the PS2 instead, with Kojima having a lot of problems with creating the new environment, weather and wildlife of a jungle.
In terms of mechanics there were also a lot of new additions, as you’d imagine in a jungle environment. For one, there was a new camouflage mechanic that was heavily relied on in the game, with the player getting different types of clothes and facepaint to fit different situations. There was also a bar at the top next to your camouflage that told you how hidden you were with 100% being most hidden and 0% being not hidden at all.
Similarly, a survival element creeped into the game, with the player actually having to scavenge and manage their food supply. Some rations would even spoil completely if you didn’t eat them soon enough, and eating rotten food would give you stomach problems.
That’s the other new mechanic which dealt with injuries individual lally, rather than as a whole, where specific areas of the body could be injured like a leg or an arm, and the player needing to heal for debuffs to go away.
Combat was also massively changed at this point, with more focus placed on Close Quarters Combat or CQC. Snake could now grab onto enemies and either subdue them lethally, non-lethally or shake them down for info and stuff. So the emphasis was taken off of gunplay even more in MGS3.
As for the story, it’s still somewhat complex, with Naked Snake being sent into the Soviet Union to rescue a rocket scientist working on a nuclear powered weapon. The game is set in 1964, 30 years before Metal Gear, so it fills in a lot of info.
[Spoiler Alert]
Much like MGS2, the story here is cut up into two parts; The smaller chunk called ‘Virtuous Mission’ and the main game called ‘Operation Snake Eater’.
Virtuous mission saw you infiltrating as Naked Snake, the one Solid Snake was cloned off of. As you try to help exfiltrate the aforementioned russian scientist things go pear shaped, and Snake’s old mentor and one of the original creates of FOX, The Boss, reveals that she’s defecting to the USSR.
She promptly throws you off a bridge and delivers a small nuclear device to the main antagonist of the game Colonel Volgin, who denotes one of the nukes.
In Operation Snake Eater, you’re sent back in to ostensibly carry out a promise by the US government that would see them save face in the view of that nuclear explosion (which they were blamed for). As you traverse the jungle, you run into Volgin’s army and special bosses who are just as weird as the bosses in previous games. You also discover Shagohod, a nuclear powered tank created by the defecting scientist.
Similarly, you find out about ‘The Philosophers’ a precursor group to ‘The Patriots’ who compromised the most powerful men in the world. You find out that they had amassed $100 billion to fund their wars, but infighting meant that the money was split up and hidden around the world, with Volgin illegally inheriting that money. As it turns out ‘The Philosopher’s Legacy’ plays a large part in the whole story.
[Heavy Spoiler]
While there’s a ton more that went on, the upshot is that The Boss was actually a double-agent sent by the US to infiltrate Volgin’s army and find the Philosopher’s Legacy, with part of her mission being to look like a traitor and give up her life for the US to save face.
When Naked Snake get’s back, he is given the new title of ‘Big Boss’, but he’s so disillusioned from this whole mess that he retires immediately. We also discover that Ocelot is and has been a CIA agent the whole time.
[Spoilers End Here]
While MGS3 didn’t make as big an impact as the previous MGS games, it was a foundational game in the lore and really explained a lot of things that happened behind the scenes from the previous games. If you want to learn more about what the whole franchise is about, this is one of the most important games to play.
#6 Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
- In-Game Year: 1970
- Release Date: December 5, 2006
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, usually referred to as MPO, takes a weird spot in the canon of the franchise. You see, MPO wasn’t written or directed by Kojima, but instead directed by Masahiro Yamamoto and written by Gakuto Mikumo, with Kojima only acting as producer in the series.
As such, there was a lot of back and forth for years as to whether MPO was part of the canonical sage, with Kojima himself sometimes saying it wasn’t, although he finally clarified that MPO was canonical, he just differentiated it because he didn’t direct it. Either way, MPO was actually quite a big entry into the franchise mechanics wise, with a lot of it being used in more MGS games, most notably in MGS 5.
The main change here was transitioning the game from solo play as one character, usually Snake, and expanding it to a group of four, all of which can go on a mission and be playable. Usually this took the form of one of the four hiding in a cardboard box, locker or just hiding in general, which allowed you to play as another character.
With each mission you could choose who you brought along with you, each having their own unique abilities from combat to utility, such as providing healing or info during the mission.
Another big thing was that you could now capture enemies in game and ‘convince’ them to join your cause. Doing so would make those characters choosable for the missions you go on. Why would you do that? Well because all non-critical characters could absolutely die in a mission, so you would need to replenish the ranks from time to time.
As for the story, it follows Naked Snake after he leaves FOX and goes into retirement, after which, FOX goes rogue and start a revolt in South America. They also begin to go after previous FOX members, including Snake (now Big Boss), and so leads Big Boss into having to fight them off. It also sets up the events of Metal Gear and Peace Walker.
[Spoilers Ahead]
As the game begins, you are captured by FOX soldiers and interrogated by the second-in-command, Lt. Cunningham, who’s trying to find the other half of the Philosopher’s Legacy.
Big Boss is imprisoned next to Roy Cambell, a Green Beret member who was previously sent to investigate the revolt, and also a recurring character in the franchise. Big Boss finds out through Cambell that they’re in Columbia, and the two manage to escape imprisonment.
Turns out that Snake is branded as a terrorist and blamed for the rebellion, and now has to clear his name by finding and capturing the leader of this rebellion, Gene. In the process, Big Boss finds out that Cunningham works for the Pentagon and wanted to push Gene to nuke the Soviet Union to make the CIA look bad. Of course, Gene already knew this because of Ocelot, who was working with him at the time and was part of the CIA.
After Big Boss defeats the first iteration of the Metal Gear, he manages to track down Gene and defeat him as well. After this defeat, Gene gives Big Boss all the resources and information he had, which Big Boss takes and uses to establish FOXHOUND, the military unit which appears in pretty much all the games. So yeah, lots of seminal information here.
[Spoilers End Here]
MPO made an interesting impact on the franchise, even though it was only on the PSP. Kojima drew a lot from the mechanics of the game, and even though he always talked about Peace Walker as the first true portable entry into the saga, MPO still holds an important place in the cannon.
#7 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
- In-Game Year: 2014
- Release Date: June 12, 2008
Interestingly enough, MGS 4 was never going to originally happen, at least not with Kojima at the wheel, as he had retired from leading the franchise. Of course, a huge fan backlash happened and he was kind of forced back on to the project, bringing his trademark complexity and depth to the franchise as before.
In doing so, he wanted to really represent 24/7 warring, which is why pretty much all the game takes place in places where combat of some form or another is ongoing.
One thing that was brought back from the previous game, MGS3, was the camouflage system called the OctoCamo suit, that was able to mimic any background Solid Snake was standing against if he stayed still. You also got FaceCamo, which was somewhat the same equivalent to OctoCamo, allowing you to pair it with the body camouflage for one contiguous look, or set it to recreate the faces of other characters.
Getting those other faces required completing certain in-game requirements, so you didn’t have them off the bat (and was generally a nice motivator to do additional stuff).
Snake’s abilities were also expanded through a small robot called Metal Gear Mk.II, or MK.III later on in the game. By controlling it, you could send it out to do reconnaissance or even stun enemies without being caught. Similarly you got the ‘Solid Eye’ device which basically gave you binocular and night vision modes, it also functions as a radar/map with enemies being highlighted.
Finally, Snake was given a Psyche meter, which gave him debuffs if it wasn’t full up, such as a shaking hand, back pains which could incapacitate you, or just being prone to one-punch-knockouts. The meter was depleted through ‘Stressors’ on the battlefield, such as being hunted or temperature extremes. Thankfully, you could absolutely refill your Psyche bar by drinking, eating, smoking and ermm . . . reading an adult magazine.
As for story-wise, MGS4 sees a quickly aging Solid Snake go in for one final mission to assassinate Liquid snake, who has now taken over Ocelot’s body and is doing some pretty uncool things.
[Spoiler Alert]
As it turns out, the world’s PMCs are now backed up by nanomachines in their bodies, controlled by the Patriot AI, which is also carrying out ongoing global war to prop up the world economy.
Liquid wants to take over this Patriot AI with his own AI, essentially giving him control over the whole world, although he needs Big Boss’ biometric data to do so. Finding EVA and Big Boss’ comatose body, he finds out that she was the surrogate mother of the Les Enfant Terribles project, basically making her his mother as well.
Unfortunately, Liquid manages to get his hands on Big Boss’ data, and starts the next phase of his plan; carrying out a nuclear strike on the patriot AI so his own AI can take control, but not before he destroys Big Boss’ body. Of course, he needs a nuke that isn’t tagged and controlled by the patriots, one that he can find in the old Shadow Mosses facility.
Reaching there and meeting up with Raiden, Snake fights off a Metal Gear Ray with another Metal Gear they found at the facility, although ultimately, Liquid shows his own purpose built ‘arsenal gear’ which is essentially a massive Metal Gear-like ship.
Finally finding their way on board, Snake races to the core of this new arsenal gear, disabling both Liquid’s AI and the Patriot AI, leaving only the bear essentials for civilization to survive, and completely stopping the war economy.
[Super-Heavy Spoilers Ahead]
In the aftermath, we learn that Big Boss is actually alive, and that he had masterminded the whole thing to end the patriots. Turns out that The Patriots were created to carry out The Boss’ image of a world where soldiers fight for what they believe in, rather than money, which is what was happening. The split in ended up creating two rival factions, Big Boss’ and Major Zero, one of the original founders of FOX.
With everything now resolved, Big Boss dies through a new strain of the FOXDIE virus, finally ending the Metal gear story. Solid Snake retires to see what the new world has in store for him.
[Spoilers End Here]
MGS4 essentially gave us the ending to the whole Snake narrative and also added some pretty interesting and fun mechanics. Honestly, the story bits and mechanics I covered here are the tip of the iceberg, so you really should play this game if you can get your hands on it.
#8 Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
- In-Game Year: 1974
- Release Date: April 29, 2010
Peace Walker somewhat departs from the traditional canonical Metal Gear games by including a base building element. The game itself is actually broken up in two different parts; Missions, which are similar to what you’d see in MPO and Mother Base, which is the base building portion of the game. Interestingly enough, since the game was made for the PSP, Peace Walker was made with co-op play in mind in missions.
The missions themselves were also broken up into two, with one part being the main narrative missions which you must do in a specific order, and are more like your traditional MGS game. Extra ops are exactly what they sound like, side-missions that you can do which vary in complexity and difficulty.
Every time you finish a mission, the game evaluates how you did and assigns you a score which affects your rank and heroism, with penalties usually being applied for excessive killing or being discovered often. Much like MPO, you can also ‘recruit’ (read capture) enemy soldiers for your own cause, although now the game uses the Fulton Recovery System, rather than the truck from the previous game.
Before each mission you can pick your loadout and gear, which includes the camfulage system from MGS3, although you can’t really change your camo mid-mission. There’s actually four different categories of camo you can use, each of which altering a different stat, such as stealth index, carrying capacity and armor. Interestingly, any extra gear you gain in-mission that goes over your carrying capacity gets sent to Mother Base for later use.
Speaking of Mother Base, the base building portion of the game is not as complex as you’d imagine, with the majority of it revolving around managing and organizing your troops, such as sending them to sick bay or assigning injured ones to sickbay.
You can also manage any vehicles you recover from missions, up to 50 in total, with the same sort of repair and organization as there is for troops. So basically you’re just administering with Mother Base. Of course, that admin is important because you can actually send your soldiers out to missions called ‘Outer Ops’ with up to eight slots for each team for soldiers and equipment, a mechanic which you’ll see again in a later MGS installments.
As for the story, it’s similar to MGS3 in that it sets up Big Boss’ characters and motivations. Leading a mercenary army called Militaires Sans Frontières (Military Without Borders) in Columbia, Big Boss is approached to investigate a mysterious new army that’s set up in Costa Rica. As you can imagine, the CIA, KGB and a bunch of different secret organizations are involved in the whole mess.
[Spoilers Ahead]
When Big Boss arrives in Costa Rica, he discovers that this military force has nuclear weapons mounted on ‘Peace Walker’ a quadrupedal nuclear tank which is meant to act as a dead-man’s-switch in case of nuclear attack. After doing some investigating, Big Boss discovers that the Peace Walker AI is modeled after The Boss’ personality, although Big Boss gets tortured in the process.
Big Boss manages to escape and chases Peace Walker across the Nicaraguan border to an american military base which has apparently been taken over by the Soviets. Big Boss infiltrates and ultimate fights the head of this organization Hot Coldman (I know, I know), Coldman reveals that the purpose of Peace Walker is to act as an impartial retaliation for a nuclear strike, since he fears human beings wouldn’t wipe out their own race.
To prove that point, in his dying moments he contacts NORAD and convinces them a nuclear strike is imminent, and they decide to retaliate. Big Boss tries to convince them otherwise, but they won’t relent, but thankfully The Boss’ personality in the AI takes over and sinks the Peace Walker, avoid a nuclear war.
[Spoilers End Here]
While Peace Walker isn’t necessarily a seminal entry into the franchise, it’s still important in establishing Big Boss’ motivations and character. Also, some of the base building mechanics of the game will feature in MGS5, so it’s certainly nice to see the progression from MPO to Peace Walker to MGS5.
#9 Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes
- In-Game Year: 1975
- Release Date: March 18, 2014
While Ground Zeroes is an excellent game overall, it was a bit divisive when it came out for how short it is and how much it costs. The majority of the game takes place in one single location, Camp Omega, which is actually reasonably massive. Essentially, Ground Zeroes acts as a prologue to Phantom Pain, setting up that game and introducing the new MGS game(s).
Mechanics wise, there’s the focus on CQC like you saw in previous games, but this time there’s a ‘Reflex Mode’ which essentially gives you a short time in slow motion to nullify somebody who’s detected you.
The binocular system has also been hotkeyed, making it easier to pull up and, what is arguably one of my favorite things, you can finally mark enemies. The Alert system has been drastically changed, and instead of having a bar, you’re instead given environmental feedback and cues as to what alert level you’re on.
In terms of story, the game is broken up into 7 missions, again all taking place in Camp Omega, with 4 additional side-missions being unlockable. Set a few months after Peace Walker, Big Boss goes to infiltrate an American black site that doesn’t exist, and therefore perfect for extraordinary rendition.
[Spoilers Ahead]
Ostensibly, Big Boss is there to rescue two former members of the group: Paz and ‘Chico’. As he begins to infiltrate the base, Big Boss discovers that the base is run by XOF, with their leader Skull Face taking off to some unknown location. As Big Boss progresses through the camp, he extracts Chico, who tells him that Paz is dead, something they figure out isn’t true through tapes left to Big Boss.
As Chico, Paz and Big Boss return to Mother Base, they see it being assaulted by XOF, having entered under the guise of UN inspectors for nuclear weapons. The whole base is destroyed with only a few of the Militaires Sans Frontières (MFS) presumed to be alive.
[Spoilers End Here]
Personally, I’m a bit ambivalent about Ground Zeroes. Yes, it’s a good game, but breaking it up into its own thing was not a great move by Kojima. While I would originally suggest skipping it, both it and Phantom Pain come bundled in the Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience, so at least you aren’t going to spend a ton on it.
#10 Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
- In-Game Year: 1984
- Release Date: September 1, 2015
Finally, we came to the true ‘last’ game in the Metal Gear franchise, boy was it quite a journey.
MGSV was actually mired in quite a bit of controversy from the beginning. For one, the choice of Sunderland over Hayter for voicing Snake didn’t go down well with a lot of people (me included, even though I love Sunderland). Another issue was the choice to include microtransactions, which were meant as a way to ‘speed up’ progress for those who didn’t have the time (a likely excuse).
Finally, there was some criticism over one of the female character’s clothing, which was, shall we say, rather revealing. Putting that aside for a moment though, Phantom Pain was a very large departure from previous Metal Gear games, in that this one was completely open world, what I often like to describe as GTA-esque (although more realistically closer to Red Dead Redemption).
To that effect, you have lots of ways to traverse the map, from jeeps to D-Walkers and even horses. Having an open-world map also means that the game had a sort of settlement system where you could take over or nullify certain bases and areas to make life easier for yourself.
Another mechanic brought back from Peace Walker is Mother Base, although the whole thing has been expanded massively. During your normal play you can capture soldiers, vehicles and even animals, all of which go towards shoring up Mother Base and expanding it. This costs money and materials, both of which you can get through playing in the game, or by capturing it in the multiplayer mode against other people.
The storytelling is arguablly the strangest in the series, with you essentially being able to play all the missions in any order that you want. In a way, they’re basically episodic missions that take place on one map, similar to Ground Zeroes, with credits at the end. Honestly, I didn’t really like this change, and a lot of critics agreed with me, saying the game isn’t very focused, which is true.
As for the story, it takes place nine years after Ground Zeroes, with Big Boss waking up from a coma in Cyprus. While trying to recover, the hospital is attacked by Cipher, a nemesis of Big Boss. Thankfully, he gets saved by a mysterious figure called Ishmael, and they both escape with the help of Ocelot, who brings them into his new paramilitary group called Diamond Dogs at which point Big Boss sets off to find Cipher.
You know, at this point I’d be putting a spoiler alert and giving you some more of the major narrative plot points, but I’m not going to. The game is relatively new enough that you’re likely to play it, and quite frankly it’s still somewhat confusing to me even after playing through it once. Of course, now I say that I’m compelled to load up the game and play through it again.
MGS5 is strange in many ways, changing almost everything about the Metal Gear franchise that we’ve come to expect. Are these changes good? Well honestly I’m just going to let you come to your own conclusions, rather than color your opinions with my own.
Metal Gear Spinoffs
#1 Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
- Release Date: April 24, 2000
Interestingly, this spinoff came about by a request from Konami’s European division, wanting to release a game for the Game Boy Color. Ghost Babel isn’t technically part of the cannon and takes place in an alternative timeline. That being said, it did bring in a lot of the mechanics that existed in the franchise to the portable format.
For one, Snake could now flatten himself against a wall to sneak through tight passages or just to knock on walls to distract guards. It also allowed you to peak around corners or ahead to give you a better idea of what you were up against. So a couple of things that would appear in later versions on the playstation.
Some other things that changed was that the screen now scrolls with snake, rather than moving to a new screen like previous versions on the MXS2. Similarly, snake and enemies could now fire in eight different directions, rather than the previous four, which is a massive improvement. As for the story, it was broken up into 13 different stages, sort of like the episodic thing from MGS5.
[Spoilers Ahead]
The story takes place 7 years after Metal Gear, with a new paramilitary group stealing a prototype Metal Gear and taking it to the Gindara region in Central Africa. After much failure on the part of the US government, Snake is pulled back out again from retirement and sent after them. On the way he ends up fighting your typical foes that you’d expect from an MG game, with each having their own weird and supernatural abilities.
[Spoilers End Here]
Even though Ghost Babel isn’t an official part of the cannon, it’s still a fun game that made huge improvements to the Metal Gear formula, with many of them carrying over to the main franchise. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s any way to play the game unless you have a Game Boy Color and get your hands on the cartridge.
#2 Metal Gear Acid
- Release Date: March 22, 2005
Metal Gear Acid is basically a deck-building game, similar to Hearthstone. The cards themselves are drawn from the overall Metal Gear franchise, from the weapons, characters and even the Metal Gear. So it was certainly an interesting and novel concept at the time.
When the game starts, you only get to have six cards in your hands, with that number increasing as you progress along. Every card that you play has an associated ‘weight’ cost to it, so that the more weight you have, the later your turn starts. Think of it as initiative that is additive based on the number of cards you play. Some cards can also be equipped, such as weapons, with additional cards added to them, such as a silencer or added ammunition.
As for the story, it’s your standard MGS fare; an important politician is kidnapped and ransomed for some mysterious research program called Pythagoras. Of course, Snake is pulled out of retirement yet again to go on a non-canonical saga and act as the background of the game’s deck building mechanics.
Honestly, Acid isn’t a bad or strange game, and I think it’s cool that Konami was willing to invest in a deck building game before the genre became popular.
#3 Metal Gear Acid 2
- Release Date: March 21, 2006
Metal Gear Acid 2 is pretty much more of the same from the previous game, with a few updated mechanics here and there and a slightly more complex story, which of course is non-canonical. Interestingly, the game came with a cardboard box you could place over the PSP called ‘Solid Eye’ which creates a somewhat 3D effect.
In terms of mechanics, it’s pretty much the same deck building game as before with a couple of changes, for example the ability to sell cards that you have waaay too much of. Similarly, there’s a new cover fire mechanic, which isn’t covering from fire so much as it is having an ally take an opportunistic shot alongside you.
Another minor change is you can now move passed doors and pick up stuff as you move over it, rather than having to stop to do both in the previous game. There’s also twice the number of cards in Acid 2, with some cards being upgradable, which is a pretty cool mechanic.
As for the story it’s certainly convoluted, with Snake and a group of people flying into the United States illegally and get caught, of course. In exchange for Snake and his companions freedom, Snake must infiltrate a research facility run by SaintLogic, which is located somewhere in a North American island.
[Spoilers Ahead]
As you may be absolutely not shocked to hear, it turns out that Snake is being used, and that SaintLogic is developing their own metal gear, with Snake being used as a pawn in the whole process. It also transpires that you aren’t playing with the ‘real’ Snake, but instead you’re a Model 3 clone of Solid Snake, and you were earlier tasked with killing a bunch of Model 2 clones, where you lost your memory.
You then discover that one of your companions is actually a female clone of Solid Snake, engineered to be the perfect killing machine. Of course, you manage to escape after everything goes terribly wrong for everybody. Thankfully there is a happy ending for you as a clone, with the US government buying out your silence with a new identity and $15 million in cash.
[Spoilers End Here]
All in all, Acid 2 is quite an upgrade from the first game, and if can actually get your hands on it, I’d suggest you skip the first and play the second directly.
#4 Metal Gear Solid Mobile
- Release Date: December 11, 2008
There’s not much out there about this game, since it only ever released on Nokia’s N-Gage, a mobile phone that didn’t become too popular (and therefore is surprising that Konami made a game specific for it). A lot of the game’s mechanics were similar to previous MGS games, with some specific stuff made for the N-Gauge’s control scheme.
[Spoilers Ahead]
As for the story, it takes place between MGS and MGS2, with Snake and Otacon forming Philanthropy, a group made to eradicate all Metal Gears on the planet. Half-way through the game though, it turns out you’re in a massive VR simulation, and you formulate and carry out a plan to escape.
After fighting a massive VR Metal Gear, you awake with unknown voices saying that you’re useful, but didn’t provide what they were looking for, with Raiden being the next text subject.
[Spoilers End Here]
Yeah, there wasn’t very much to Metal Gear Solid Mobile, mostly due to the limitations of the N-Gauge.
#5 Metal Gear Solid Touch
- Release Date: March 18, 2009
Released on the iOS, Metal Gear Solid Touch is a recreation of MGS4 for the iPhone. Of course, it’s not a full fledged experience like the one you’d find on consoles, but instead it’s on-rails, divided up in different missions or stages. You control Old Snake by using your fingers; moving your finger across the screen aims, taping fires and moving your fingers apart zooms.
The main objective of each stage is to kill a certain number of enemies, making it even more of a rail shooter. You do get to fight some boss as well from MGS4, which is actually kinda cool. There’s also friendly targets that you can accidentally hit and get penalized for.
At the end of each mission, you’re given a rank based on your speed, and accuracy, with higher ranks unlocking Drebin points that you can use to buy wallpapers for your phone. Metal Gear Solid Touch isn’t anything fancy, but it’s certainly a fun and contained experience of the MGS franchise.
#6 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- Release Date: March 22, 2005
Metal Gear Rising holds a sort of weird place within the Metal Gear saga, being an action hack and slash, rather than a tactical stealth game, a massive departure from the formula. Similarly, while it was originally being produced by Kojima Productions, issues with getting the hack and slash to work properly meant that the game was given to another studio, PlatinumGames, to finish.
Of course, Kojima still had creative control over the look of the game, so it’s not a massive departure from the franchise. Well, PlatinumGames went really took the hack and slash concept and ran with it, as Raiden, the person you play with, mostly attacks and goes about doing things with his blade. A lot of the action also revolves around ‘Blade Mode’, which essentially allows you to slice in any direction you want by using the joystick.
It also kicks you into slow motion, so that you can do much more precise cuts or attacks, such as slicing something that is flying through midair. Blade Mode does use up Raiden’s energy though, so you have to be strategic about its use and no go whole hog on it. That being said, another feature of the mechanics is Zandatsu which basically allows you to pick up items from enemies that you have sliced, such as ammo and energy.
Another feature is Raiden’s ability to parry attacks, even ones coming from the back, so there’s a lot of similarity with the Batman games in terms of combat. There’s also a stealth mode that allows you to bypass certain areas, as well as ambush enemies rather than run headlong into them.
As for the story, it takes place four years after MGS4 and follows the destruction of the Patriots and the nanomachines that soldiers were using. This has lead to PMCs moving towards cybernetics and trying to revive the war economy as it once was. As you might have guessed, we play as Raiden, who has joined one a PMC that is essentially trying to keep the peace.
[Spoilers Ahead]
The story starts us off with Raiden protecting a convoy for the president of an African nation when it’s attacked by a rogue PMC called Desperado. Throwing a Metal Gear Ray at Raiden, Desperado manage to kidnap the president, and even though Raiden defeats the Metal Gear, he’s unfortunately too late to save the president from execution.
Raiden duels the second in command of Desperado but fails miserably, losing his eye and one of his arms in the process, which are later replaced by cyborg upgrades. Following Desperado to Abkhazia where they are trying to instigate a military coup, Raiden manages to find and kill the commander of their local forces.
After that Raiden is sent to Mexico to investigate a research facility where he discovers that Desperado is trying to harvest a bunch of orphan’s brains, stick them in cyborg bodies and train them through VR to create the perfect soldiers. As it turns out, this deal is sanctioned by US senator Steven Armstrong who owns another PMC called World Marshal, as the orphans are from the US. Thankfully, Raiden manages to save them.
Raiden then vows to go after World Marshal, and launching a one-man assault on them, he fights through the streets of Denver, reaching their headquarters and infiltrating it. He manages to kill the leader of Desperado, Sundowner, but ultimately finds out that the whole thing was a ruse to distract him.
You see, that senator Steven Armstrong is planning to assassinate the president of the US while he’s in pakistan, ostensibly to start another War on Terror. Zipping of to Pakistan, Raiden finds his way to Shabhazabad Air Base, as US military base where he finds Armstrong in a Metal Gear EXCELSUS, a hexapedal tank.
As is on par for the franchise, Armstrong reveals his true motives; he wants to kill the soldiers in the Air Base to galvanize the US people. With his connections to PMCs, Armstrong would then win any election in the US hands down. Of course, following that there’s a massive final boss fight where Raiden defeats the Metal Gear, then goes on to defeat Armstrong himself.
[Spoiler Ends Here]
I know that many people might look at Metal Gear Rising and be very ‘meh’ about it, but it’s honestly a really fun game. Yes, it isn’t the traditional MGS experience that you might expect, but the new formula actually works pretty well. Of course, the story is still convoluted, so at least that won’t be too far from what you’re used to.
#7 Metal Gear Survive
- Release Date: February 20, 2018
The first Metal Gear game released after Kojima’s leaving of Konami, Metal Gear Survive is weird . . . and not necessarily in a good way. Of course, any game that comes out after Kojima’s leaving is going to get a lot of negative press, but the departure from the genre, story and production value of the previous game certainly left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths.
As you may have gathered from the name of the game, Metal Gear survive is a mostly survival action-adventure game with some tower building mechanics.
Most of the survival element focuses around ‘The Dust’ some mysterious toxic element that’s in the air, and so you have to always be aware of your oxygen level. Similarly, you have to go out and harvest resources from materials to animals, as well as water which you can boil to decontaminate. You can of course use those resources you gathered to build up Base Camp, the building element of the game.
Aside from building a variety of forges, you can even bring in survivors to the camp to staff different things and even go out on their own missions for additional resources. There Base Camp also has the tower defense portion of the game, where you can trigger waves of enemies.
Speaking of enemies, they’re the MGS equivalent of zombies called ‘Wanderers’, although they’re much more hardy than your typical zombie and are reminiscent of the zombies in The Last of Us. Funnily enough, when you first start the game you don’t have access to guns, but instead have to work through spears, machetes and bows before you can craft your first proper gun. You also have an injury system similar to MGS3 and game thereafter.
In terms of story, you take the role of an unknown soldier (which you can customize), who is sent through a portal to a parallel dimension. A portal actually appeared right after the attack on Mother Base during Ground Zeroes, where the player character loses their arm and makes them seem dead. Of course, your body is recovered, the arm regenerates and you’re sent through the portal.
Special Mentions
#1 Snake’s Revenge
- Release Date: April, 1990
This is a weird one, made completely without Kojima’s involvement and isn’t actually part of the cannon, even though it’s technically a sequel to Metal Gear. Kojima would later go on to make his own sequa, Metal Gear 2, so this game is kind out there in the ether.
The game played very similarly to Metal Gear, without much change to the formula except for a few things here and there. For example, while the stealth element remained, you now started with a knife and handgun in your inventory, rather than having to pick those items up as you go along. The transceiver was also changed from being able to dial it in, to just having three frequencies you can choose from, which I find kind of a shame.
[Spoilers Ahead]
The game takes place three years after the Metal gear with Solid Snake, now a Lieutenant, being tasked with leading a three-man team to a hostile Middle-Eastern country that is building their own Metal Gear. Snake discovers that this nation is mass-producing Metal Gear tanks and transporting them with a ship, which Snake promptly destroys and escapes from. As you’d expect from a MGS story though, there’s a second model, the Metal Gear 2, which is being stored in a close-by facility.
It transpires that the commander of this military unit wants to pretty much nuke the world for some reason or another. Snake makes his way to the storage facility and confronts the commander, who’s actually a cybernetically enhanced version of Big Boss (who’d have thought?), and Snake manages to defeat him in battle, and destroy Metal Gear 2 before it launches it’s nukes.
[Spoilers End Here]
You know, what I find interesting about Snake’s Revenge is that even though Kojima wasn’t involved, the story still had a lot of the conspiratorial, warfare and nuclear aspects to it. Granted, there weren’t many innovations in the game like there would be in later games, but it’s still an interesting installment. In-fact, even Kojima admits that it follows the Metal Gear ethos and isn’t necessarily a bad game in and of itself.
#2 Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
- Release Date: March 9, 2004
Twin Snakes is a remastering of the original Metal Gear Solid for the GameCube, although it’s certainly a shame that they didn’t release it for other platforms.
For the most part, the basic story of the game is the same, but they’ve added a lot of the mechanics and gameplay style from MGS2. For example, shooting from first person was added, and the AI of enemies was upgraded to be smarter and communicate with each other better.
Interestingly, they actually re-recorded all the voice acting for the game, since the increased quality of the GameCube meant that the original audio had a lot of sound artifacts and other noises that were picked up. All in all, Twin Snakes was a great remake, and it certainly gave Nintendo fans a chance to checkout a small piece of the MGS franchise.
#3 Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus
- Release Date: November 13, 2007
As the name suggests, this was a standalone expansion to MPO, with some upgrades and changes here and there. The most significant change was that the story mode was completely removed, and instead, you got randomly generated missions based off the settings and environments of the previous story mode. Aside from that, your retinue was expanded to 200 soldiers, who now also had new careers and skill levels.
They also added a variety of new recruitable soldiers to the mix, which is interesting.Aside from that, they also added a bunch of new items, weapons, multiplayer maps and game modes. MPO+ was a significant change the MPO formula, although it’s a shame they removed the story mode completely.
What Order Should You Play the Metal Gear Solid Games?
So, after all that I’m sure you’re possibly thinking about playing the games chronologically with the in-game years. The thing is, the franchise story is meant to be presented in release order, since pretty much every game in the series was going to be ‘the last one’ for Kojima, with the only exceptions being MGS2 and 3. Therefore, if you haven’t played the franchise before, I’d suggest playing it in release order.
That being said, if you have played the franchise before and want to play it chronologically, I’ve listed the order of the main series below.
- 1964: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- 1970: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
- 1974: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
- 1975: Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes
- 1984: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
- 1995: Metal Gear
- 1999: Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- 2005: Metal Gear Solid
- 2007 – 2009: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- 2014: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Will There Be a Metal Gear 6?
The only real answer here is: Who knows? Now that Kojima has left Konami, the state of Metal Gear Solid 6 is pretty much up in the air. Of course, Konami is willing to work on the franchise, as is evidenced with Metal Gear Survive, so I’m pretty sure at some point they’re going to get started on MGS 6, if they haven’t already. I mean, the franchise does still make them money, even given the lukewarm reception of Metal Gear Survive.
Of course, it has been about a year since Metal Gear Survive was released and yet Konami remains tight lipped about the whole thing and with their focus on their Pachinko devision, we may very well never see another MGS game. Or maybe we will. Who knows? Still, we can hope for it to show up on some upcoming video games list.
Conclusion
Phew! What a trip, not just for you dear reader, but also for myself. I’ve relieved a lot of fond memories growing up with this franchise, and hopefully you have too if you’ve managed to play it as well. If you haven’t though, don’t worry, you can still get your hands on most of the games in the main series, and you absolutely should because this franchise just rocks.
So, after all this, all I can say is good luck and have fun exploring the franchise. As for myself? Well, I’m going to boot up MGS5 again and give it another shot, hopefully after all the dust has settled, maybe I’ll be able to see the game in a clearer light. Now that you’re done with this, you might be interested in our guides on the best survival games, or maybe even some of the most amazing horror games!