big boss – Alternative Mindz

Lets Talk- Truth:The Man Who Sold the World (MGSV)

December 28, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Despite the knee-jerk reaction of many across the internet, I love it. I think the last few seconds are a little hard to understand, and I think it’s hard to build a complete picture without a little conjecture or some assumptions, but I really enjoy what is going on here. I think this game fits well into the greater thematic arc of Metal Gear and in itself finishes off Big Boss’s story satisfactorily. A lot of people say the ending raises too many questions, but if you grasp from around Metal Gear, I think you can put together a coherent narrative even if the pieces are kind of a mess. Luckily, I spent too much time thinking about this series and am a human Metal Gear encyclopedia.

So at the end of the game, you get a tape explaining that you are not Big Boss, but an exact duplicate created by Zero to protect the real Big Boss from his own organization. This scene is really really good, and I love Kiefer’s mocap work when Venom Snake smirks and looks at himself in the mirror with this look of power.

But the last few seconds of this scene are extremely important. When he flips the tape over, there’s a time jump to 1995.

Be perceptive: in the reflection of the mirror, there is a Diamond Dogs emblem on the bathroom door. However, when Venom flips the tape over, that emblem becomes an Outer Heaven logo. What’s the other side of that tape labeled? Operation N313 aka the operation Solid Snake goes on in Metal Gear 1.

Venom puts the tape into an MSX and it reads data on a screen, data Venom can see, but we can’t. He then walks over to the mirror again, and in anger punches it. On the other side stands his reflection, which then turns away from us and walks away into darkness. Given that we’re in Outer Heaven in 1995, and you can hear the chaos of gunfire outside, it can be safely assumed that this scene happens immediately before Solid Snake arrives to shoot some rockets at him. He breaks the mirror in rebellion against the mission given to him on that tape, but he accepts it anyways, stoically walking to what will become his death. It’s also important how this is depicted visually; Venom walks away in black, silhouetted against smoke. As he walks, the space around him becomes darker, until finally he disappears completely.

I think this scene is important not just for characterizing Venom Snake as he strolls off, but also ties into the game thematically. In a lot of ways, MGSV is about the forgotten people that operate in the background to support the big players. Skullface, XOF, us as the players of these games, and Venom Snake; all of them were used to create the Metal Gear world as we know it, and all of them were lost to time. If the original games are about the titans of the universe, this game is about their shadows. Venom Snake disappears at the end of this game; he is washed away from history. Everyone thinks he was Big Boss, and that is all that is ever known of him. He quite literally disappears.

Many people upon seeing the ending assume Venom Snake built Outer Heaven, but this isn’t true. At the hospital in Cyprus, Ocelot gives Big Boss a new passport with a new name on it. This is Big Boss’s new identity while Venom Snake is Big Boss; the name on that passport is whatever you make it during the character creator, but for the sake of simplicity here, let’s just say the name is Steve. Venom Snake, aka the medic, unwittingly gets Big Boss’s identity and makes Diamond Dogs and the events of MGSV happen as we see them. During this time, Big Boss is under the name Steve and is building Outer Heaven in South Africa.

But wait, it says that Solid Snake kills Venom Snake in Outer Heaven!?

Yes, but the credits also say Big Boss built Outer Heaven. Notice how the credits refer to real Big Boss as Big Boss exclusively; they refer to Venom Snake as Big Boss’s Phantom, never just Big Boss. There’s also a discussion after the credits between Kaz and Ocelot about this.

But then what the heck is Venom Snake doing there in Metal Gear 1?

Venom Snake was originally created to be a decoy for Big Boss so that he may live when the whole world wants him dead. Sometime during the events of MGSV, Big Boss realizes another purpose Venom can be used for: he and Big Boss can work together to build Big Boss’s legend and achieve his ideological goals.

Many people thought that Big Boss’s turn was going to happen in this game, that we would finally see what made him turn to villainy. But Metal Gear is never so black and white, and in reality, Big Boss’s turn was more subtle, and actually happened in Peace Walker.

It further details Big Boss’s fall and shows us everything we ever needed to know about him. While in a coma, Zero comissions a memetic clone of Big Boss. The parallels between Les Enfants Terribles and the creation of Venom Snake are obvious. When Zero did this the first time, Big Boss was disgusted and rejected it. But what did Big Boss do this time? He embraced it, he embraced the cult of personality, he embraced the legend. After MSF was obliterated in Ground Zeroes, Big Boss realized that in order to achieve his sweeping dreams, he had to work from the shadows, even if that meant tying the noose around someone else’s neck.

Venom Snake builds Diamond Dogs and eliminates XOF as a threat. It is now that Big Boss lets him in on the whole ruse and opens up an avenue of partnership.

This is the point where conjecture begins

So what we know is that Big Boss is again under the Big Boss identity by the time of MG1; everyone knows him as Big Boss, leader of FOXHOUND, while no one knows who is commanding Outer Heaven. As I said before, Big Boss is building Outer Heaven during MGSV, and as such, Diamond Dogs cannot be Outer Heaven. Everyone in Diamond Dogs (Kaz, Ocelot, Big Boss) eventually ends up in FOXHOUND. What this tells me is that at some point shortly after MGSV ends, Big Boss and Venom Snake switch identities again; Big Boss resumes the title of Big Boss while Venom Snake resumes the Steve alias and takes over as head of Outer Heaven. That’s how everyone knows Big Boss is the CO of FOXHOUND, but nobody knows who is leading Outer Heaven in MG1.

It is known that to Zero, and ultimately the Patriots, having Big Boss return to them is favorable to having him killed. So then it makes sense that Big Boss returns to them with Diamond Dogs, Kaz, and Ocelot. He again becomes leader of FOXHOUND, finds Sniper Wolf and Gray Fox, and trains Solid Snake.

But why? Why would Big Boss go back to the US/Cipher/the Patriots?

So that he and Venom can play the field from both sides. He communicates to Venom Snake through cassette tape, and later through MSX tape.

Ok, so what happened in MG1? Why would Big Boss have Solid Snake kill Venom Snake?

This isn’t, and never will be, clear to a concrete extent. Because Kojima is gone, all we can ever do is try to build a complete picture from what is, at best, ambiguous information. I’m basically trying to explain character motivations and such using nothing but the last 10 minutes of Phantom Pain, the paper thin plot of a 30 year old MSX game, and the thematic undercurrents of the MGS saga.

But this is my theory, and I’m sticking to it.

It can be safely assumed that whatever is on that N313 tape, Venom doesn’t like it. He reads the info and immediately destroys a mirror in rage because he has lost everything (his sanity, love interest, comrades, and identity) and he saw what he became. That does not sound to me like the reaction of a happy man. Given the info we have, it can be reasonably assumed that Big Boss and Venom communicate through those cassette tapes; it can also be reasonably assumed that towards the end of Metal Gear 1, Venom Snake becomes aware of the fact that Solid Snake is coming to kill him and tries to sabotage that operation. During the game, your CO is Big Boss. He’s basically the Campbell of Metal Gear 1; he gives you hints and suggestions on what to do. But suddenly, towards the end of the game, Big Boss contacts you on a new frequency and begins giving you bogus advice to try and sabotage your mission.

Real Big Boss’s frequency: 120.85

Venom Snake’s frequency: 120.13

This second Big Boss on the new frequency is Venom Snake trying to stall Solid Snake’s mission. Now, what we see in MG1 is that the entire time, Big Boss is helpful in assisting Solid Snake in his mission to destroy the Metal Gear TX-55 and Outer Heaven. We also know that Venom Snake contacts Solid and tries to stop the mission. If Big Boss didn’t want Solid to kill Venom, he would have also worked to stop the mission, not assisted the whole time.

It isn’t clear, and it will never be clear, what Big Boss’s grand plan was for Operation Intrude N313 (AKA the Outer Heaven Uprising). As it stands in canon now, he expected Solid Snake to fail. Given the new information about Venom Snake, his motivations become even more nebulous. It was established in early canon that Big Boss sent Solid Snake to Outer Heaven to die. We will continue accepting that this is true since there is nothing that directly contradicts it.

What we also know is that around the time of the mission, Venom Snake gets a tape labeled N313 from Big Boss. This tape likely contains information from Big Boss about this mission, and maybe some orders for Venom Snake as well. After seeing the tape, Venom punches the mirror. Then we have that shot that immediately follows it: he stoically walks into oblivion, accepting his fate.

It is also unclear if the Outer Heaven uprising was Big Boss’s or Venom Snake’s plan. Again, in canon it is Big Boss’s, and at this time nothing directly contradicts that information. The Uprising was the end goal of Big Boss’s dream, the final result of Outer Heaven. It was an outright war against the Patriots, and Venom Snake goes along with Big Boss’s orders to start it.

The Patriots react to this by sending Solid Snake into Outer Heaven to kill its mysterious leader. Big Boss commands him throughout that mission because he is under cover and doesn’t want his cover blown. He hopes that his Uprising will be successful in not just killing Solid Snake, but also in challenging the grip of the Patriots.

However, there is one other favorable outcome. If all goes wrong, Venom Snake can still fulfill his duty as Big Boss’s doppleganger. If Venom is able to convince Solid Snake that he is the real Big Boss, and gets killed by Solid Snake, then the real Big Boss can use this to fake his own death and go underground to establish Zanzibar Land, aka Outer Heaven 2.0.

I believe that tape contained a general outline of Solid Snake’s mission, which is how Venom was able to mislead him on the radio. I also believe it contained instructions from Big Boss for Venom to convince everyone that he is actually the real Big Boss so that if he dies in Outer Heaven, Big Boss can still work in secret to achieve his true dream. This order is what makes Venom furious, what makes him punch that mirror: he was in many ways given the same mission as the Boss. If he cannot defeat Solid Snake, he must die. He must sacrifice himself so that Big Boss can carry on with his plans. He has to give up his identity, his face, his emotions, his ideology, his life; all of it to Big Boss. No one will ever know who he was, no one will ever know what he did. He will go down in history as a criminal, as a monster who instigated an armed uprising and almost brought the world to nuclear disaster.

And Venom accepts his mission. He convinces Solid Snake that he is the real Big Boss by feeding that information to Gray Fox and then by telling Snake himself. He gives killing Solid Snake an honest shot, but he also makes sure that if he goes down, everyone thinks it is Big Boss who went down.

The Man Who Sold The World Meaning

The song ‘Man Who Sold the world’ was a single by David Bowie way back in November 1970, and it was covered by nirvana and released in 1994.

around that time of releasing the song, Bowie was a closet heterosexual but he was a bisexual ( wife once told he had an affair with mick jagger), it is this inner conflict – he created an alter ego called ziggy stardust an androgynous rock star who spoke with aliens.

So the song is something David Bowie used to be (Ziggy stardust) and he seeing himself as people do ( Bowie) and convincing himself he has changed. The conversation with his alter ego is clear when Bowie Says in the lyrics that I thought you died alone and oh no not me we never lost control ( we never is the bisexual in him) ziggy talking back oh not me I never lost control.

The man who sold the world is the image that is Bowie has sold to the world, and his search foreign land and years to roam is his inner journey to find his identity.

So for this case, Big Boss is the man who sold the world and Venom Snake is nothing more than an phantom/body double of big boss no matter how legendary “he” is, he is not the real “legend”.

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METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN REVIEW

September 2, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

After spending fourteen days straight with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, I can safely say it’s Hideo Kojima’s magnum opus. It’s quite simply the best game he’s ever done, plus the amount of freedom given to you throughout its entirety is absurd. If you’re a die hard fan of Metal Gear and are up to date with its timeline, Phantom Pain takes place during 1984 after the events of Metal Gear Solid V:Ground Zeroes (1975) and before the first Metal Gear (1995) on MSX. It has been 9 years since the tragic events in Ground Zeroes and Snake is a little worse for wear, having just woken up from his coma that nearly spanned a decade.

After a prologue that sets up the rest of the game Snake is rescued by his comrade and friend, Revolver Ocelot, before continuing his war path for vengeance and freeing his former partner Kazuhira Miller from the clutches of Soviet forces in Afghanistan. I’m not going to spoil the story or talk about the plot points (I agree with Kojima Productions’ wish to keep it a surprise), but I will say that there are twists and turns, and it ranks as one of the best tales in the series yet.

There’s no doubt that this is the largest and most accessible Metal Gear to date, full to the brim with content. But it’s not just a case of quantity over quality, every inch of the game is meticulously detailed, and has a vast amount of replay ability. It’s also incredibly fun, which always helps! The tone is vastly different to any other MGS game, as there are no more overly-long cut scenes and most of the detailed narration is dealt through cassette tapes, which you can listen to at your own pleasure. If you’ve played Ground Zeroes and think you know what to expect, I suggest you put that taster behind you and get ready to embark on a journey with no half-measures.

Unlike the confined spaces found during other entries in the series, MGS V consists of two enormous maps, Afghanistan and Africa, each of which house a plethora of side-ops and main missions; enabling you to explore and complete objectives in a dynamic and natural way. Each mission is structured like an episode from a TV show, operating in bite-sized chunks like if you were watching hit TV shows such as Breaking Bad and Sons Of Anarchy. Even if you’re in the middle of a mission that leads into the next with a tense cut scene, a small “to be continued” caption will appear, sending you back to your base of operations to prepare. It was a bit awkward for me, because 5 seconds later I’d simply continue, but if people need a break and want to gear up/upgrade sufficiently, it’s actually a very smart move.

Characters that will appear in this game:

Big Boss/Punished “Venom” Snake

Kazuhira Miller

Ocelot

Quiet

Skullface

Eli

Tretij Rebenok

Code Talker

Huey Emmerich

“Man on Fire”

There are more Characters and Groups that are in the game but I will not spoil the rest.

The variety of missions at hand will see you take out specific targets, gather Intel and garner more help. Funnily enough there isn’t a difficulty mode present, despite other titles encompassing tons of different options. Though I did find the gameplay pretty tough at certain points, it only made me want to upgrade further and try a different approach. Some people might get tired of a handful of repetitive missions, but I always had fun replaying them with a different tactic in mind. Being able to choose whether I operated during the night or day gave me a lot of flexibility, since enemy locations would alter depending on the time I chose.

Before setting off to fight it’s vital that you prep accordingly. Your Air Command Centre (ACC), gives you full control over all your upgrades and missions, tasking you to select which one you’d like to conduct first. As previously seen in Peace Walker, managing your Mother Base remains an integral part in Phantom Pain, allowing you to recruit staff and utilize resources for upgrades.

Acquiring items from the battlefield such as biological material and fuel canisters is incredibly important. These will allow you to develop extra platforms designed to boost your stats, including combat, R&D, support and medical. If you choose to focus on leveling up your R&D level and get the best Fulton, for example, you’ll then be able to extract entire containers of resources at a much earlier stage; reaping rewards much quicker and progressing more comfortably. You’ll also be able to extract vehicles as well, such as tanks or cars to take on missions.

Staff management is also key, and you can automatically or manually assign your comrades to the best departments. Despite being able to systematically place staff in their most skilled department, I decided to fully focus on R&D first, which let me take advantage of more advanced upgrades a lot sooner. It’s not always the best option, but just like any part of MGS V, it’s up to you to decide on how to proceed. Furthermore, you can send staff on their own missions to obtain more resources or extra recruits. Whilst I did get into the habit of sourcing soldiers with higher skill ratings (via upgrading my scope), I often attempted to extract anyone and everyone, in order to beef up my units and unlock upgrades at a quicker pace.

No matter what you try and accomplish, having the support of your army is always the heart of your experience. For instance, buddies can join you and aid your quest for vengeance in a multitude of ways. Bringing in a horse or bi-pedal Walker will allow you to traverse the environment more quickly – along with the other vehicles you’ve acquired as well. A dog can help distract your enemies or make you aware of their presence, and your comrade Quiet (who you can choose to kill or recruit) will aid you in combat, scout out maps and coordinate while dispatching enemies. Each aspect of a buddy’s armor and equipment can also be upgraded, such as changing Quiet’s cleavage with a little gold or silver paint. Lovely.

Your ACC can be used for mission briefs or organizing your army, but it also provides some vital support. As well as taking you in and out of missions, once on the ground you can also strategically place air strikes or smoke for cover, which can often be the life line you need in the midst of a firefight. There’s simply so much available to the player, no one will have the same experience. I constantly tested different ways to enter a mission, often resorting to complete stealth and learning from my many mistakes along the way.

After initially hearing about the absence of the veteran voice actor David Hayter in this game, it took me a while to move past the change in vocal chords. However, much like the constant change of actors playing Bond, I embraced the change and am now more than happy with Kiefer Sutherland’s portrayal. I have been an fan of him since the 24 TV show so I am used to hearing his voice and delivery of dialog. In fact, I believe Sutherland sounded more like an soldier than Hayter ever did. Exploring the beautiful vistas of Afghanistan is amazing, and the added jungle as you progress to Africa enhances the experience. The persistent image of a dusty wasteland is sometimes hard to muster. Having said that, the rest of the game’s extremely high quality means it doesn’t bother me. Now, where’s that remake of MGS 1 in Fox Engine?

With Kojima Productions’ impressive Fox Engine powering the entire experience, everything looks suitably crisp and clean, packaging in a tone of detail. Despite this being released on older hardware as well, I’m impressed with the core experience and I don’t think it has been hindered on more powerful consoles as a result. Then again, the fact that its design and graphical fidelity has had to cater to equipment with less power, it does make me wonder what could have been should Phantom Pain have released exclusively to PS4 and Xbox One, and not their older siblings.

To me, Robin Atkin Downes as Kaz Miller was more enjoyable in this game than he was in Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes. His anger really shows during the cut scenes. I would be mad at the world if I lost my leg and arm so I understand why. Troy Baker as Ocelot to me, was his best voice acting in any video game since Snow from Final Fantasy XIII. And James Horan as Skullface not only delivered an great and believable performance as an villain, but also made the player wanted to take him down for good. I can call him the Joker of the Metal Gear series since his and Big Boss’ upbringings kind of parallel each other.

Conclusion

Phantom Pain presents the most flexible gameplay in the series to date, and fills in unseen moments from the Metal Gear saga with style. I strongly suggest you pick this up and experiment with your own strategies, as you’re presented with endless possibilities. Grab your cardboard box, the world needs saving!

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Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain-What do we know so far about the story?

February 17, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

It has been over one year since the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and fans including myself are anxious for the release of MGS5: The Phantom Pain. This game has been in development for about 4 years now and the release is coming sometime this year for the PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. For this entry, I will explain what we know about the story and characters so far based on trailers and interviews from the Metal Gear creator himself, Hideo Kojima.

SETTING.

The theme for this game is “Race and Revenge” as with the story touching upon the misunderstanding, prejudice, hatred, and conflict caused by the difference of language, race, custom, culture, and preference.

Kojima set out to depict the damage present in all returning soldiers in The Phantom Pain. Physical injuries such as the loss of limbs, and emotional wounds created through the loss of comrades and loved ones will all be part of this theme of pain. Kojima said that having his characters lose limbs is one way to depict the pain they carry.

This game follows up from the ending of Ground Zeroes where MSF (Militaires Sans Frontières. Big Boss’ private military company) has been under attack by XOF due to an Trojan Horse Operation carried out by SkullFace. Once Big Boss saved Kaz Miller and escaped from their base which was under destruction, Paz (who was rescued hours before) revealed that there was a second bomb inside of her. She then jumped out of the chopper but unfortunately, she jumped out too late before the bomb exploded, sending it careening into a pursuing XOF chopper. Since after that scene faded to black, we are not sure what happens next but we do know that in the hospital near by when Big Boss, Kaz and a third patient are treated in a nearby hospital and Big Boss fell into a coma.

9 years later (keep in mind that this game takes place in 1984. This is the sequel to Ground Zeroes and that took place in 1975 and the prequel to the very first Metal Gear which took place in 1995), Big Boss Awakens from his coma and the doctor informed him about how long he has been there. Also, Big Boss’ left arm is missing and replaced with a prosthetic hook and he has a shrapnel debris on the right side of his head. Later that night, The hospital is attacked by XOF where they also killed many patients. A patient going by the name of Ishmael aids Big Boss with his escape since he is way too weak and his muscles atrophied. During the escape, we see a young Psycho Mantis, a ghostly flaming figure of Volgin from MGS3, a flaming whale and more. After some time, Ocelot appears and rescued Big Boss as they escaped the area.

A number of days later with recovery included, it s time for Big Boss to go on his first mission and it is at Afghanistan. Kaz Millier has been held hostage for 10 days Prior to Big Boss awakening up from his coma. his mission is to rescue him within 3 days and leave the area. While all of this is going on, a new unit formed between a Big Boss, Kaz and Ocelot and it is named Dianond Dogs. It’s purpose is to take back revenge to Cipher/The Patriots to what happened 9 years ago and for soldiers to have a home without any control of Cipher or any government. This is all we know about the story for now so I am glad that Hideo Kojima is not spoiling too much.

LOCATIONS

Since this will be a first for the Metal Gear series to be an open world stealth action game, the maps in the game will be much larger than any other Metal Gear game to date. Troy Baker who is doing the voice acting for Ocelot, recently stated in an interview that the game’s very larger scale and map size is much bigger than the highly popular open world RPG game Skyrim. The comfirmed locations where the story and missions will take place at will be in Cyprus, Afghanistan and Africa.

In the Metal Gear series, Hideo Kojima has always used real life events in his fictional universe. For example, the hospital escape sequence and attack is a reference to the Princess Mary hospital attack/suicide bombing that happened in Cyprus in 1983. Between 1979-1989, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan took place and in this game, most of the areas on the Afghanistan location are under Soviet control. The location of Africa, we know a few things that happened in that time period such as the Mozambique Civil War. There are also child soldiers in this game being shown that they are participating in the war.

And finally, Outer Heaven, Big Boss’ military nation in which we first found out in the very first Metal Gear, is located in South Africa so this game may possibly introduce us to the creation of Outer Heaven.

CHARACTERS

Big Boss/Venom Snake (Voiced by Kiefer Sutherland)

Once a legend and an enemy to others, Big Boss is back and is ready too take back revenge against Cipher for what they did to him 9 years ago. He is no longer the same person he once was anymore as he is deprived with nothing but hate and pain. He leads the new unit Diamond Dogs as his quest for revenge begins. Nobody is sure about how he lost his left arm and how that debris got on his head but we will sure find out once we play the game for ourselves. He will stop at nothing whether if his actions are for good or for bad. Pretty much, he is turning into the main antagonist against America in the first Metal Gear.

OCELOT (Voiced by Troy Baker)

A triple spy, agent for Cipher/The Patriots and someone who idolized Big Boss since the 1960’s, Ocelot returns in this game. Ocelot is also on Big Boss’ side for the quest for revenge but we don’t know why. We however, do know that in the beginning of the Soviet Invasion, It was during this time that he became feared amongst the mujahideen as a sadist, for which they named him “Shalashaska.” At some point, he also ended up working in the Soviet Union’s concentration camps as a special torture advisor. Ocelot also joined the Diamond Dogs unit as he became the interrogation specialist and the weapons trainer for the soldiers.

KAZ MILLER (Voiced by Robin Atkin Downes)

Kaz is more hell bent on revenge more than both Big Boss and Ocelot. I would be too if I’ve lost my unit, been captured by the Soviets, tortured and lose my arm and leg. He is also the sub-commander for Diamond Dogs but unlike when he was the sub-commander for MSF, he shows no mercy and does not hold back on his anger. The Developers of the game stated that Kaz this time around will be unpredictable so I am looking forward to seeing how darker they will take the character’s direction.

QUIET ( Voiced and motion capture by Stefanie Joosten)

There is only a few things we know about this mute sniper.

She cannot talk but can make sounds.
She has special abilities.
Ocelot tortured her for reasons unknown as of right now.
As stated by the developers, there is a reason she does not have on a lot of clothes but we will have to find out once the game releases.

SKULLFACE (Voiced by James Horan)

The man and leader of XOF who caused the destruction (under Cipher’s orders) of MSF 9 years ago, is here again. There is a lot we know about SkullFace we know since Ground Zeroes but there is a lot more we need to know in this game. One of the most important things that we need to find out is when and where did him and Big Boss meet before since he said in one of the recording files to Chico that “me and your Boss go way back”. what will be his motives in this game and at the near end of the E3 2014 trailer for this game, we see him and Big Boss in the same location where a Metal Gear is. Will he side with Big Boss in this game or will he not? I consider him the Joker of the Metal Gear series as his torture audio files in Ground Zeroes makes him one of the most convincing villains in the series for a long time.

ELI (Voiced by Piers Stubbs)

Another character we do not know too much about besides the few scenes we have seen him in the recent trailers. Many fans including myself may think this kid is the Young Liquid Snake (Big Boss was cloned by a project which caused him to have 3 sons in 1972. Solid, Liquid and Solidus Snake). He looks very similar to him, he was in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, and the bible reference where David ( Solid Snake’s real name) was the superior son while Eli was the inferior. There are many more theories to back this up that Eli is liquid Snake since his real name went classified for so many years until maybe now.

HUEY EMMERICH (Voiced by Christopher Randolph)

The father of Hal “Otacon” Emmerich. Huey is suspected that he was the sole person that lead to the destruction of MSF but there are also other theories to why Ocelot and Kaz tortured him. We also do know that he is not in a wheelchair no more as he now uses bipedal legs to help him walk.

There are many more characters that we do not know yet and I have not explained such as Ishmael, Psycho Mantis, Code Talker and more but their bios has not been fully explained yet but again, I am glad that Hideo Kojima is not spoiling way too much. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain should be released sometime in 2015. Next month, I will cover the gameplay and multiplayer aspect of the game.

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Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros Preview

January 3, 2014Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

It was recently announced that the first part of Metal Gear Solid V which is titled Metal Gear Solid V:Ground Zeros, will be released in spring 2014. It will be released in retail or by download for the price of $29.99. The reason MGSV is split into two games is because MGSV: Ground Zeros is the prologue to the upcoming MGSV: The Phantom Pain which is the main game. Also, the development of the main game is taking too long as stated by the developers so the fans can get this game to play while the main game will be completed soon. Hideo Kojima made a statement about the game’s size. Kojima stated that the main game is 300% larger than the prologue. Even though Ground Zeros is smaller, the area it takes place in is still very large in my opinion. Also, the new voice actor for snake Kiefer Sutherland, will do both MGSV: Ground Zeros and MGSV: ThePhantom Pain. Now lets get to the preview.

Ground Zeros will have the storyline mission that will lead into the main game once it releases. Outside from the story, there are many extra ops missions to complete. Some gameplay changes and additions have been either added or removed. The alert phase has been reworked so that you can be spotted from any angle. The newest addition called “Reflex Mode”, slows down the time for a few seconds for you to take out the guard before a base wide alert goes off. This mode was added for first time players but this feature can be turned off. The other new addition is the IDroid device. This device is the pause menu and you can call for an chopper, get mission information and more options. It is also you’re map for the game. The tagging feature replaces the radar from the past games. It was put in for the player to see the guards and items and more things very easily and from a far distance since this game is an open world game. The bullet drop feature has been added for more realism to the weapons you are using. It is also a feature that makes sure that you are in the right range when you are firing a weapon. For example, you will know you are in the right range once the crosshairs of that weapon turn from white to red. It will take some time to get used too but I am looking forward to this. The CQC (close quarters combat) has also been reworked. In past games, it was not as realistic as it is in this game. This time you can steal enemy weapons and use it against them. Also, the hand to hand combat is exactly how CQC is supposed to be. Quick, Fast and effective. Another thing I want to mention is the ability to call for choppers. In MGS Peace Walker, you can call for airstrikes and care packages but in this game, you can call for a chopper to pick you up at one location to go to another or to use it for combat. However, in Ground Zeros, You can only call for one chopper per mission (see the reason why on the story preview below). Once it is destroyed, you will have to use you’re head for another option on how to escape or to go somewhere else. In MGSV: The Phantom Pain, you can call for as many choppers you want. The final part of gameplay I will mention is the alert phase. When you are playing in the night, it is less likely you will get spotted but however, if the guards see something suspicious or wrong (for example, another guard is knocked out or hear you’re footsteps while you walk or sprint or etc), the alert phase begins and they will use their flashlights to search for you. When this happens, it means that you are closer to getting spotted and if you are spotted, the guard will call for a base wide alert. In the daytime, you will have a high chance of getting spotted. The guards will not always stand in the same spot as the AI have been advanced from past games. There will also be times where the guards will work in teams. For example, if guard A tells guard B to cover a location in the area, guard B will go there but he will let guard A know when he will either go to another location or come back to meet up again. There will be more dialogue to ease drop when the guards talk but this is what I saw in one of the gameplay trailers. Another example is when two guards are patrolling an area, snake can hold a guard hostage. If you hold him for too long, the other guard will notice and will try to look for him. That is another way an alert phase will begin. I almost forget to add this but when the base wide alert happens, you will have to use everything and everything to take the enemies down or escape the area because it will not go to the caution phase since that has been removed .It will not only be the soldiers after you, it will also be choppers, tanks and more.

STORYMODE PERVIEW

This is known based off the trailers and interviews from Hideo Kojima. This part of the game takes place in 1975 and it is the sequel to MGS Peace Walker. Due to the ending of MGS Peace Walker, Big Boss (Naked/Punished Snake) and Kaz Miller, the leader and commanders of MSF, are now a target and a threat to the entire world. The Cipher (The Patriots) agent Paz, survived the battle from the previous game, have been found and captured by XOF leader Skull Face. She knows too much information from Big Boss and she has been hiding information from both Cipher and Major Zero. Skull Face, under the orders of Zero, wants to interrogate Paz to the whereabouts of MSF and Big Boss. Chico from the previous game as well goes on his own to rescue Paz but ends up being captured by XOF and Skull Face and is now being held in Camp Omega. Meanwhile at the same time, there were rumors that MSF was holding weapons of mass destruction so there is an inspection going on at Big Boss’ base (this is the reason you can only use one chopper per mission in this part of the game, it would be too suspicious to send out many choppers during the inspection). The mission for Snake is to rescue Chico and Paz and get out of Camp Omega in Cuba. A few more scenes shown in various trailers is that Paz is getting a bomb removed from inside her stomach, the surprise attack on MSF from XOF, and Big Boss falling into a coma. I believe that will be the end of the prologue once Snake falls into the coma so when he wakes up in 1984 (the year MGSV: The Phantom Pain takes place), that will be the beginning of the second part of the game that should be released by the end of next year. The special edition of the game will come with a figure of Snake, and the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker novel. This novel is for the players who have never played the game to read about the events of the Peace Walker Incident. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeross will come out in spring 2014 for the PS3, Ps4, Xbox 360 andXbox One

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