The 10-Best Video-Game Franchises
- July 10, 2006 13:24 PM PST
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With Metal Gear Solid (later remade as Twin Snakes), the series went to 3D with astonishing results.
7. Metal Gear
Developed by Konami
Without Metal Gear, there probably wouldn't have been a Tenchu, or even a Splinter Cell, and the game developing community for years strove to create "another Metal Gear," as developer Hideo Kojima and his team have established an enduring franchise for the ages. Metal Gear was an anomaly when it was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States in 1988, as it was a rare game that emphasized avoiding conflict rather than taking enemies head-on. In the game, you play as the main character, Solid Snake, and take on a mission to infiltrate an enemy base. The sequel, Snake's Revenge, was similar, thematically and was a hit in its own right, but the hardware limitations were beginning to become apparent.
In 1997, Konami bowled everyone over when it ran the first Metal Gear Solid PlayStation trailer at the Electronic Entertainment Expo to a stunned audience. People gasped in awe as Solid Snake ran around, fired weapons, dangled from ledges, and silently took out enemies with his bare hands or with exotic weapons-all in full 3D. It was one of the few games that delivered exactly what it promised, and it was a rare find in that it was as exciting to play as it was to watch. Released in 1998, the game was a remarkable and bold step forward in the evolution of action video games-especially with its use of cinema scenes. Crafted with the care, expertise, and dynamite voice acting, the game's cut-scenes were of the quality that one would find in a big-budget Hollywood movie.
One of the series' most enduring traits: Snake using the trademark cardboard box to avoid detection by his enemies.
The eagerly awaited sequel, Sons of Liberty (the first game on the PlayStation 2) was a huge risk for the series, and, for diehard fans, unsatisfactory. Not only was the main character, Solid Snake, taken out of the action after the prelude chapter (and replaced with a wuss named Raiden), but the game's repetitive soapbox speeches and convoluted plot all climaxed in an ending that didn't make much sense. However, Sons brought some new combat techniques to the series, such as switching to first-person view on the fly.
With the most recent Metal Gear, Snake Eater, Kojima and company pulled out all the stops and created one of the series' most engrossing and memorable adventures yet. Besides letting you play as Big Boss in the jungle during the Cold War, Snake Eater had all the successful gameplay facets of its predecessors, while throwing in some new character "micro managing" aspects, such as healing bone fractures and donning different camouflage to better adapt to the surroundings, as well as a compelling narrative. Kojima's future plans for Metal Gear: an adventure-taking place on the successor to the PlayStation 3 system under the subtitle Guns of the Patriots.
The Metal Gear Solid games have strong ties to Hollywood. David Hayter (who voiced Snake in Solid, Sons of Liberty, and Snake Eater) is a prominent screenwriter with credits on The Scorpion King, X-Men, and X-Men 2: X-Men United. His upcoming projects include the films The Watchmen and Iron Man. Kyle Cooper, title designer for Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater, created memorable movie title sequences for Seven, Twister, Zoolander, Spider-Man 2, Mission Impossible, and others. And in addition to composing the music for Solids 2 and 3, Harry Gregson-Williams also did the score for Armageddon, Spy Game, Man on Fire, and Shrek 2.--Major Mike
Metal Gear's smart dialogue, innovative play mechanics, and strong cinema scenes make it an essential to the action genre.
Key Games in the Metal Gear Series
- Metal Gear (NES/1988)
- Snake's Revenge (NES/1990)
- Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation/1998)
- Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions (PlayStation/1999)
- Metal Gear Solid (Game Boy Color/2000)
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2/2001)
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PS2, Xbox/2002)
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2/2004)
- Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes (GameCube/2004)
- Metal Gear Acid (PSP/2005)
