Hideo Kojima
Metal Gear Solid

After recently discovering this delightful website, I found myself compelled to write my first review. I took a few days, then I thought about my childhood and the little big things that characterized it. One of the first encounters with art, because that's what it is, was the discovery of a video game. Yes, unfortunately, I have to define it as such, but I believe it is much more. I'm talking about "Metal Gear Solid," created by a bespectacled Japanese named Hideo Kojima. The story is thrilling, and I don't understand why the bespectacled creator hasn't decided to turn it into a cinematic version that is already evident from the video game itself, or perhaps that's the reason?

Anyway, the player finds themselves in the shoes of Solid Snake, a legend in Kojima's world, set in 2005 but published in the now not-so-recent 1998. It's a world where the legend is sent alone, without any protection from the higher-ups, to try to thwart a globally significant terrorist threat, as it involves a nuclear threat. The terrorist group wants to take possession, through the U.S. government, of the body of Big Boss, a legendary soldier defeated in the past by the same protagonist, from whose DNA Solid Snake and Liquid Snake, the head of the organization threatening the entire world, were created. Our hero finds himself needing to infiltrate a nuclear disposal site, Shadow Moses, comforted by a nearly paternal voice coming from his codec, that of his old colleague, Colonel Roy Campbell. Here, he encounters the DARPA director, who, held hostage by the terrorists, provides crucial information such as the name of the weapon in the terrorists' possession, the Metal Gear REX. The director then gives Snake an access card (there will be various levels throughout the game). Moments later, the director (who will be revealed to be an impostor) dies from an apparent heart attack. Snake finds himself first attacked and then assisted against some henchmen by a mysterious soldier who will later be revealed to be a woman, Meryl, the colonel's niece. Information acquired following a confrontation with Revolver Ocelot, Liquid's right-hand man, to free the president of Armstech. Our hero gets in touch with the lady, thus gaining access to the actual depot, but not before coming into conflict with Vulcan Raven. After defeating him, Snake enters an area of the depot where he meets Hal Hemeric, better known as Otacon, a well-intentioned scientist exploited by market logic to develop the very weapon threatening humanity's destruction and kept locked in a locker by a cyborg with a controversial, almost human character, in fact, an ex-soldier brought to the brink of death by Snake during his days in FOXHOUND. This cyborg is Gray Fox. After clashing with the latter, our hero continues his adventure, meeting Meryl and battling Psycho Mantis, a skilled mental manipulator who will force you to switch controllers to avoid having your thoughts intercepted. After defeating him, the two lovebirds continue until a sniper injures the girl. Snake sets out to find a sniper rifle to defeat her but, after defeating the sniper, advances in his path only to encounter her again—actually him—in the form of the icy, gloomy Kurdish Sniper Wolf. Snake will then be captured, awakening on a torture table autonomously managed by the sadistic Ocelot. Here you have two options: resist the torture or give in. This will determine the game's ending later. Liberated from the cell he was imprisoned in thanks to Otacon's help, who, in the meantime, developed a crush on the sniper. Snake retraces some ground already covered to then face a Hind D piloted by his genetic brother Liquid. Once defeated, the icy Sniper Wolf returns, and after being defeated, asks for the coup de grâce, amid Otacon's tears. Snake then advances through various locations to heat, cool, or keep the PAL card at ambient temperature, a move he makes to deactivate the Metal Gear REX. In reality, this action activates it, as he falls into the terrorists' trap. Our hero then finds himself face to face with the terrifying machine of death, which will also take away the controversial Gray Fox, the brother of Dr. Naomi, who initially seems to be part of the colonel's team but actually works for other terrorists and injects a deadly virus into Snake's veins from the beginning, the FOXDIE (remember the Octopus heart attack?), which also affects Liquid. The latter engages in hand-to-hand combat with our beloved protagonist, coming out defeated. At this point, our hero meets Meryl (or Otacon, depending on your decision during the torture), and after a phone call from the Defense Minister and a battle of machines and rifles with the now omnipresent Liquid, who will die from FOXDIE, finds himself returning on a snowmobile, reflecting on the time left and the relative influence our genes have on our lives.

After the credits, we are presented with impressive real data on the global nuclear situation at the end of the 20th century.

The video game, as previously stated, is a masterpiece, which combines a deep psychological study of the characters with a breathtaking plot and an unconventional gameplay mode, as the player must demonstrate all their evasion and attack skills, but only at the right moment.

May Hideo Kojima or the various fervent fans forgive me if, in this my first review, there are inaccuracies derived from my faded and idealized childhood memories.