Here's a fun fact: Hideo Kojima has now been making Metal Gear games for over half of his life, and most of you will have been playing them for half of yours. Despite being a huge success, Metal Gear Solid remains a unique beast. Its games are ingrained with a stark sense of realism, and technological prowess is always at the forefront of every instalment. And while character models and environments continue to become more detailed, the absurd tropes of the series remain: the cardboard boxes, the ridiculous, sometimes cringe-inducing boss fights (like a fat bloke prancing around on roller-skates) and the exclamation marks that pop up over an enemies head when they spot you. In other games this would feel horribly out of place, but with Metal Gear it somehow works, because despite all its preachings about the perils of nuclear war and the dangers of the digital age; it never take itself too seriously. For every exposition-heavy conversation, there's a nicotine-addicted monkey or a guard with a chronic bowel problem. It's this schizophrenic framework that makes up the core DNA of the series, shaping both its narrative and its gameplay mechanics. Metal Gear Solid is a series that is tonally all over the place, but consistently so. It has moments that are funny, moving, somber or even even plain baffling; but they all serve to remind fans of why they fell in love with this delightfully eccentric series in the first place.
13. Going Back To Shadow Moses (MGS 4)
https://youtu.be/bNdi8IDzsok For anyone that grew up with the series, revisiting Shadow Moses as Old Snake in MGS 4 was a melancholic, spine-tingling moment. Much like Snake, the poor old base has been withered away by the ravages of time. Exploring the decrepit, but familiar environment in wonderful HD while old music and voice clips from MGS 1 played over the top really got the nostalgia juices flowing. It was a touching tribute to the series that perfectly demonstrated how far games had come in the 10 years since Snake's first 3D adventure in 1998. Also, Snake angrily snapping at Otacon for bragging about not having to switch discs at the blast furnace - thanks to the high storage capacity of Blu-ray - is one of the funniest moments in the whole series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_69rBtxG1k
