La Li Lu Le Lo

   So next up we're doing the Metal Gear series, better known from the more recent titles as Metal Gear Solid.  Personally, I've felt like these games have had something different to offer than really any other franchise.  It says on the title card of pretty much every game "tactical espionage action."  The basis of the game is heavily around the concept of stealth.  Being a single person in a military base where the enemies are highly trained suggests subtlety is of utmost importance.  However, Metal Gear Solid also carries elements of the shooters that are popular today.  After all, destroying helicopters and tanks cannot be done by hiding under a cardboard box.  The versatility in style of play has made Metal Gear Solid (MGS for short) a very unique series in an industry that strives to hold to the status quo.  It also carries excellent characterization and a story that is comparable to the Count of Monte Cristo in breadth and depth.  So here we begin.

Solid Snake

   Now, for my readers who are unfamiliar with the Metal Gear franchise, it starts off rather simple, gets confusing, and then kinda sorts itself out by the end.  It's roots began as an homage to action movies of the time, but it quickly took off into conspiracy theories and science fiction.  The games follow a spy and soldier code named Solid Snake.  Snake (for short) is a clone of the perfect soldier, code named Big Boss.  In each of the first three games (Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, and Metal Gear Solid), Snake must enter into a military compound alone, usually being run by domestic terrorists, with the help of a support team via his radio often called a codec.  These three games end with a battle with a weapon called Metal Gear, which is a term with loose meanings that basically denotes a bipedal tank that can also shoot nuclear warheads.  Following the battle with Metal Gear, Snake must then fight the leader of the terrorists who is always one of his superiors as a sort of surprise ending.  

   Metal Gear Solid was the first title that heavily focused on the sci-fi aspects of the series.  As if a bipedal, nuke launching tank wasn't enough, Metal Gear Solid introduced genetically enhanced soldiers, a psychic, a shaman, bio weapons, human augmentation (cyborgs), and Solid Snake's vengeful clone brother Liquid Snake.  

Liquid Snake (note blond hair)

   Metal Gear Solid 2:  Sons of Liberty took the series even further into the realm of uncertainty.  On top of everything that was introduced in Metal Gear Solid, the sequel introduced government conspiracy, artificial intelligence that control every aspect of society, and nano technology.  This game ended without solving any of the mysteries it addressed.  They would not be addressed until Metal Gear Solid 4:  Guns of the Patriots as the world begins to collapse with the establishment of a global economy built on war.  

  So from this long series of twists and turns that I have now described, which title shall my next series revolve around?  Well, in order for any of this to make sense (because it doesn't and that's ok), we're gonna start back at square one.  Or rather, square zero.