Metaru Gia Sorridu

I think it started at band camp. I can remember sitting in my garden level Central Michigan University dorm room in the summer of '96 scrutinizing an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. From what I could read in between the splotches of Italian dressing cascading from my B.M.T. onto the page, the issue described a game from another dimension. A game unlike any other. A game ultra immersive, with characters rich and alive and conceivable, with controls as natural as speaking, breathing, masturbating. With espionage action greater than any Hollywood spectacle, greater than any epic Manga serial. With enemy artificial intelligence developed in a station somewhere out in space; with innovative, industry altering ideas birthed by a celestial being barely within the realm of human comprehension.



I'm talking about footprints. Motherfucking guards can see your footprints in the snow. And yes, they are going to follow them. The thing is, I remember more about being excited for this game than actually playing it (the game wasn't released until '98). I speculate that Konami wanted it that way. The franchise to date has always held the cards close. It's always one or two screens from gameplay, or a snippet of developer chat from years before the game is actually published that gets you (me) excited. The difference between this franchise and, say, the blokes working on Age of Conan, is that the hype Konami stirs up is legitimate. Pretty much every time. It sounds funny now, but yes, the footprint mechanic was mind-blowing a mere ten years ago. Ten years is an eternity when you're dealing with the technology involved in console gaming, and yet Konami is there on the edge with this series. These Metal Gear games have consistantly pushed the envelope. There is an element of surprise that other game makers tend to forget about when they put their ideas out there, when they claim to have something new. I guess it's hard to put my finger on, but the Metal Gear series is on top of this shit, it's the next level, the next generation that everyone keeps talking about. And, if you haven't seen this demonstrative video of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots yet (and since I pretty much know who's reading, I'm going to wager that you already have), do so and be amazed:



I'm playing through Metal Gear: Solid for the Playstation, but this time it's on Hard. No, there is no radar, if that's what you were wondering. And the joysticks don't work, in case you care. The shit is thrilling, though, and it helps me get hyped for the next episode. To progress through the game entirely undetected would be too much for me, I'll admit, so I've been killing the guards (mostly with neck snaps). It's true to the predecessors, though, in that there's a "trial & error" factor that dictates my actions in most stages. I mean, you've just gotta get all the items and if you screw up you goddamn well better start over. I can't count how many times I've just let Snake get shot up to pieces in order to get those chaff grenades clean. I don't care, though, I'll sit through the minute of dialogue each time (probably mostly because of David Hayter's brilliant voicework, but I digress) in order to get the extra rations, the supressor, thermal goggles, mine detector, etc.

Tigs out of Cranks, definitely. Pick it up again or for the first time. I'm urging you, for crying out loud!