We return to the story in which the world is on the brink of widespread turmoil. Major Tom gives a briefing of the situation as Snake, patched up after a week in the best ICU the West could muster, flies inside a sort of shuttle pod (a D-21 to spy plane fanatics) attached to a Lockheed M-21 (precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance jet and variant of the A-12. for those who don't know planes, it's the thing that the X-men get around in). Basically, FOX unit looks awful because the mission that should've been a quick easy in n' out has brought the Cold War closer to eruption into World War III. The events that occurred were unforeseeable and as a result Snake and the FOX unit are given a second chance. Operation Snake Eater.
Cold War had awesome planes, that's for sure.
A phone call between Khrushchev and President Lyndon B. Johnson involves the two world leaders piecing together what all has occurred on this mission. The issue of The Boss' defection to Volgin's side has frightened the Soviet establishment and as such they need Snake to assassinate Volgin, The Cobra Unit, The Boss, and destroy the Shagohod. Since the nuclear assault has been interpreted as American aggression, Snake will not be welcome in Russia, and he will still be hunted by Russian soldiers. Not leaving Snake completely helpless, the Reds agree to send in two former NSA operatives who defected to the Soviets and have infiltrated Volgin's ranks. These operatives are under the codenames ADAM and EVA. Also, Snake has the support team of Major Tom (now called Major Zero because he mistakenly chose the first one after one of the discovered tunnels in the movie The Great Escape), Para Medic (who is about to lose her medical license if Snake Eater fails, she also really likes movies), and Sigint (the new guy, a black man who specializes in R&D of weapons and equipment).
Zero and Paramedic. They must live in a movie theater or something.
The D-21 detaches from really high up in the atmosphere as it passes Soviet air patrols undetected. Snake deploys into just about the same clearing he landed in for the Virtuous Mission. After sneaking around some, he hears a horse in the jungle. After approaching the horse, The Boss comes out. She is displeased with Snake and the fact he holds onto the past (as represented by the bandanna he wears that he took from her after he plummeted off the bridge). She shoots the D-21 that landed nearby enough times that it explodes. After disassembling Snake's gun (seeing how Snake is an amazing soldier and how this is the second time The Boss has destroyed his gun, it says something about how unstoppable she is), she rides off on her horse, but not without stomping on Snake's hand. She vows that she will kill Snake the next time they meet.
Anyone who can wear a white combat uniform at night is inviting you to get destroyed.
Snake is pretty upset about this, but he continues with the mission because that's the only thing that makes sense (spoiler: not for long). Arriving at the place he found Sokolov the first time, he encounters an individual on a motorcycle. Having been told this was where he would meet ADAM, he requests the password. The person on the motorcycle doesn't give a password, nor does this individual turn off the light or motor of the bike. It draws a lot of attention as you could imagine. As Russian soldiers come out to get them, the person on the motorcycle pulls out a Chinese pistol and kills all of the Russians. After this madness, the person is revealed to be a woman as she removes her helmet and for good measure unzips her combat uniform down to her navel. I know that sounds incredibly unprofessional and probably gets at the claim that video games have sexist elements, and it might be just a little, but I swear if you haven't caught on already the developers going for something here. Her name is EVA by the way.
She asks Jack whats his code name, to which he says Snake. She then follows up with "So have you come to tempt me?" You see, the grand irony of it all is that although she is supposed to be on his side, she is doing pretty much everything in her power to get his attention away from the mission. There is also the Biblical irony that it is the woman that is tempting the snake in the garden. It presents this idea that all conventional wisdom has been turned on its head. It should also be noted that Snake is incredibly meek for someone who is supposed to be crawling on his stomach, sneaking around, and killing some crazy terrorists. It almost gives a sense that an angel fell (HALO jump) to become a Snake (Naked Snake) to set straight a Garden (the jungle) seized by pandemonium (the mission). At least the Snake encountered the woman first, that lines up (spoiler: not really)
In the face of such temptation, Snake manages to resist. He just ran into The Boss, whom he worshiped, and she pretty much gave him the shaft. However, EVA does give Snake something that would help with the mission, a gun. It's pretty much a case of love at first sight when Snake beholds the gun. He praises all of its qualities as though it was handcrafted for him. He accepts the gun and consequentially accepts EVA as well (I could write pages about the character of EVA. There's a lot of to be said for and against her characterization with regards to feminism, misogyny, and the video game industry. Maybe I will later. If Anita Sarkeesian should stumble upon this, I'd be more than willing to share all my thoughts on this matter, though I bet she could say it a lot better than I can.)
By way of Para-Medic's request, Snake decides to get some sleep (by saving the game). EVA wanders off to do something that we will address next time.
So I'm taking us back to square zero, before the cyborgs, before the clones, before the private military contractors and even before the namesake Metal Gears. Our story takes us back to 1964. It begins as pretty much all historic films begin, white words on a black background. "After the end of World War II, the world was split into two -- east and west. This marked the beginning of the era called the Cold War." It's nice to know in a story about crazy science fiction and terrorists, we can begin with something we are familiar with. Or so we thought, and as we shall soon see, so our hero also thought.
Once upon a time, over the skies of Soviet Russia, a single plane flies through the night. The plane flies over the lonely clouds, and it is an American plane. Within, a sort of mission control preps for a combat deployment, and below the plane sits a single soldier smoking a cigar. His name is Jack, and he suggests his name is John Doe (whether or not this is truly his name is up to the audience, as are most things in this series). As the plane flies over the drop site, Jack reluctantly puts out his cigar and puts an oxygen mask over his face. As the the door opens for Jack to prepare his dive, the sun rises over the clouds. Jack is the morning star rising from the uniformity of the drab clouds. He takes his dive from the plane, performing the first HALO (High Altitude-Low Opening) jump in history. As he falls, his British commanding officer explains the gravity of the coming mission. Jack was selected for a special forces unit called FOX and he will be embarking upon its virtuous mission (a sort of maiden voyage/proving ground in the intelligence community).
He is informed that the VIP he will be recovering is Russian rocket scientist and weapons engineer Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov. This scientist (in fiction of course) was responsible for the Sputnik rockets, launching Yuri Gagarin into space, and countless other projects for the USSR. When pressured to design something terrible, Sokolov and his family defected to the United States. This resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the nukes in Cuba would be dismantled under the condition that Sokolov be returned to the Soviet Union. America consented, promising Sokolov they would rescue him again.
Jack touches down in a forest around the research facility. He pulls away his parachuting equipment and oxygen mask to reveal a face too familiar to the series.
The man who would be boss.
The commanding officer (codename Major Tom) gives Jack the codename Naked Snake (not Solid Snake, this is the 60s). The codename is Naked because Snake cannot bring anything on this mission that would suggest his ties to America. Although he is the only man on the ground, he has a support team up in the plane. Major Tom keeps him updated on the mission objectives, Para Medic is the team doctor to instruct Snake on nature survival, and finally The Boss. The Boss, perhaps the most influential character in the series, is the mother of the special forces, the woman who won WWII for the allies, and Snake's personal mentor when he was in the Green Berets. She practically created the world in which the series is set. Snake is quite upset that it has been so long since he heard from her (ya gotta understand, they're soldiers and there's a war, the characterization in these games is pretty serious even though the series doesn't always take itself seriously). The Boss tells Snake that he should not be upset in the absence of his comrades. She mentions that today's allies could be tomorrow's enemies and a soldier's virtues are dependent upon how well they keep the mission first and foremost. Snakes doesn't really understand what she is telling him, but he gets the part about following the mission. Major Tom tells Snake that the Boss is presently in a submarine in the Arctic Circle. The Boss reminds Snake that since he doesn't have weapons beyond his tranquilizer gun and knife, he must resort to the CQC (close quarters combat) training she taught him.
Snake gets through the jungle after evading Russian guards and crocodiles in a swamp (its a research facility, so there's gonna be a lot of flora and fauna from around the world. also, Hideo Kojima, the creator of these games has a thing for animals as you will soon see). Upon reaching the place the Russians are holding Sokolov hostage, he finds Sokolov burning pages of a tank he calls the Shagohod. He tells Snake that he is too late and that the weapon he was designing is almost complete. Snake had only come to recover Sokolov and by taking him the Soviets will not have the means of successfully operating the Shagohod. The Shagohod is a treaded tank armed to the teeth with weapons for any situation. Its crowning weapon is the ability to launch nuclear warheads anywhere in the world (but it is not a Metal Gear, so you know). As Snake is leaving the facility with Sokolov, a Russian guard catches sight of him.
As it turns out, the Russians are not looking for Snake, because another Russian with an oddly American accent shows up. This Russian kills all seven Soviet Guards. Sokolov tells Snake this is Ocelot, commander of the special Ocelot unit of an ultranationalist party (think like the Nazi SS but in Soviet Russia). When he sees Snake and realizes he is American, he tries to show off how cool he is by spinning his Makarov pistol like a gunslinger would (did I mention this series doesn't always take itself seriously?) and then trying to shoot Snake. The bullet jams in the chamber and Snake proceeds to beat up this guy with the CQC tactics he knows. With his ego wounded, the Russian summons the soldiers under his command. Snake basically tells Ocelot that he would suck less if he used a revolver instead of a Makarov based on how he shoots the pistol. This is the first chapter of the awkward humble beginnings of the series main antagonist, Revolver Ocelot.
Snake avoids Ocelot and his soldiers (which basically get reduced to cheerleaders under the crushing weight of Ocelot's massive ego), he arrives at a rope bridge. As he begins to cross the rope bridge, he sees another figure coming from the other side with two crates. The figure drops the crates, blocking all passage across the bridge, revealing to be no one other than The Boss (who for the record is not in a submarine in the Arctic Circle). Suddenly a swarm of hornets come with such ferocity that they lift Sokolov off the ground to a helicopter above. Two freakish soldiers look down at The Boss and a third is flying the helicopter with a parrot on his shoulder, she says they are her friends and that everyone has come together. A silent man in a hood with glowing red eyes transparently floating behind The Boss materalizes. Only The Boss seems think something is up, but then this feeling goes away. We'll get to him later. A Russian with a strange mark over his face shows up. This marked Russian is Colonel Volgin, leader of a radical communist faction looking to overthrow Khrushchev. It is at this moment that The Boss reveals she is defecting to the Soviet Union and will fight with Colonel Volgin.
Colonel Volgin and The Boss
Volgin cannot let the Americans stop his insurrection, so he orders that Snake be killed. The Boss sees to it since Snake is her student. The scene is perfectly set like something from a samurai movie, where student and teacher must fight to the death on a bridge to gain passage. The Boss dislocates Snake's arm at the elbow, breaks some ribs, and then flings him off the bridge to the river below. Snake only manages to grab the bandanna around her forehead. The Boss gives Volgin the crates, which prove to be two recoilless nuclear warheads known as Davy Crocketts.
As the helicopter flies away with The Boss, her allies(known as the Cobra unit), Volgin, Ocelot, Sokolov and a young woman claiming to be Sokolov's mistress, Snake washes up somewhere down the river. He catches sight of The Boss in the helicopter as they fly away as well as The Shagohod which is being moved to a new facility. Volgin then takes one of the warheads and, to the shock of Ocelot, nukes the research facility full of Russian scientists. Snake somehow survives the resulting explosion without a refrigerator and passes out after making an effort to patch himself up.
It is at this moment that the James Bond-esque theme and intro sequence kicks in. This is Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater.
