I have beaten Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I know what happens with the characters. I know the twists and turns of the plot. I have conquered the bosses. I know what really happens to Snake. I can say this because last month over a three-day period in the mountains of Japan, I played through the final chapter in the Metal Gear Saga in its entirety.

And sadly, for now, I can only talk about the first section of the game I played.

Along with five other North American and 10 European journalists, I got the chance of a lifetime in the middle of March -- to travel to Japan to participate in the Metal Gear Solid 4 Boot Camp. All we knew going in was that we would be able to play through the entire game someplace away from Tokyo. It was made clear to us that this was actually for Kojima Productions' benefit, and while we could report on some facets of the experience, we were there mainly to give feedback the team could use in the final tuning process.

We all met on Tuesday, March 11 at a hotel in downtown Tokyo to travel together via Shinkansen (the bullet train) to a place called Nasu. We were told we were going to Konami's Super Campus, and after the train we would travel by bus. To be quite honest, we really didn't understand why we were going all the way out to this place rather than just simply playing the game at a hotel somewhere in Japan or having a demo at Kojima Productions. For all of the Metal Gear fans that were going out to Nasu, I think any of us would probably have just as readily played through the game while being held upside down and beaten with a golf club.

Konami's Super Campus is beyond description. As the bus rolled up, we were shown the entire compound. On the side of this mountain Konami has basically created their own mini-city made up of a few main buildings including the hotel, the office building, and a museum dedicated to the company's original president, Kagemasa Kozuki (and current CEO and Chairman of the Board), called Spirit of Kozuki. We were also informed that if the campus lost power, we'd be fine, as the place could also be powered by solar and wind power. While still covered in some spring snow, there was a pond, tennis courts and fields where we were told Kojima Productions held their military and CQC training. As Kojima-san told us later that evening, they decided to hold the Boot Camp in Nasu because this is where the team gets away from it all to focus on the game. We could all quickly understand why.

As we arrived to the hotel, we were instructed to dump our bags, have lunch, and then immediately leave the hotel to board a bus to the office area where we would have our briefing. Upon entering the office space, it was as if we stepped into a James Bond movie and we were deep inside one of the nemesis' lairs. Everything was completely state-of-the-art and modern, with a clean, white, sterile appearance. We slid into slippers as we entered, as no normal footwear was allowed inside the premises. After being lead into a circular meeting room, our eyes were fixed on the monitors at each station that glowed with a message stating our ultimate goal.

"YOUR MISSION: CLEAR MGS4 IN ONLY THREE DAYS!"

Kojima Productions' Ryan Payton, MGS4 Producer Ken Imaizumi and Konami Japan's Aki Saito gave us the lowdown on what to expect in our three days at the Super Campus. On the first day we would play MGS4 for five hours until a welcome party dinner. We were instructed to choose a PlayStation 3 station that would be ours for the next three days, play the game on "Solid" mode (which Kojima Productions had named the main normal mode of the game) and play the game as a gamer -- not as a tester. This build of the game was almost final but still not finished, and certain things such as text and lip-sync elements were still being tweaked, along with the difficulty of the mode.

Spoiler Warning: Most of the stuff I'll be talking about in this feature is a deeper look into things tha

Metal Gear is the name for a series of fictional mecha in the Metal Gear series of video games. While each game has a new Metal Gear with a different role, they are typically autonomous nuclear launch platforms which the player must destroy in order to save the world and complete the game. Often (but not always), confronting the latest model of Metal Gear is one of the final challenges of each game.

Metal Gear TX-55
A technical diagram of the original Metal Gear; from the Japanese manual of the MSX version of Metal Gear.
A technical diagram of the original Metal Gear; from the Japanese manual of the MSX version of Metal Gear.

The original Metal Gear (featured in the eponymous first installment), sometimes referred by its full codename Metal Gear TX-55 (or alternatively, TX-55 Metal Gear), is designed at Outer Heaven by the Eastern scientist Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar. Dr. Madnar is coerced into developing Metal Gear, after his daughter is held hostage for blackmail. Metal Gear's weakspot is its feet, which could only be destroyed by placing plastic explosives over them in a determined order. This Metal Gear is destroyed before completion; the final challenge in Metal Gear is instead a battle with Big Boss and a race against time to escape the self-destructing base.

The Metal Gear mecha does not appear in the NES version of the game. Instead, the player has to take out a Super Computer which controls Metal Gear prior to the final battle with Big Boss. In Snake's Revenge, the non-canonical sequel to Metal Gear, mass-produced versions of the original Metal Gear appear, alongside Metal Gear 2, its successor. The wreckage of the original Metal Gear itself also appears in Stage 11 of Metal Gear: Ghost Babel.

Metal Gear D
A technical diagram of Metal Gear D, from the manual of the MSX version of Metal Gear 2.
A technical diagram of Metal Gear D, from the manual of the MSX version of Metal Gear 2.

The Revised Metal Gear D appears in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. This version of Metal Gear is designed in Zanzibar Land again by Dr. Madnar, although this time willingly. This Metal Gear, armed with a vulcan gun (a light machine gun) and a six-missile pod, is piloted by Gray Fox as he raids nuclear disposal sites for Zanzibar Land. Despite its formidable armament, its legs are lightly armored; the player, as Solid Snake, must attack this weak point with grenades in a confrontation near the end of Metal Gear 2.

Smaller, non-nuclear-armed Metal Gears, referred to alternately as Metal Gear G or Metal Gear Gustav, were designed for Metal Gear 2, but were cut from the game due to time constraints. [1] They are mentioned in the game by Dr. Madnar as being under development, but not yet deployed.

The original blueprints for Metal Gear D are visible on Granin's desk in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater along with the REX blueprints.

Metal Gear REX
Metal Gear Rex design drawings; by Yoji Shinkawa, from The Art of Metal Gear Solid. Shinkawa said that much of REX's design was based around technical limitations of the PlayStation system; hence the large, flat panels which make up its structure .
Metal Gear Rex design drawings; by Yoji Shinkawa, from The Art of Metal Gear Solid. Shinkawa said that much of REX's design was based around technical limitations of the PlayStation system; hence the large, flat panels which make up its structure [2].

Metal Gear REX, designed by Dr. Hal Emmerich, is the model of Metal Gear that appears in Metal Gear Solid. It is characterized by a railgun that, as is revealed in the game, can deliver undetectable nuclear warheads to anywhere in the world. In addition to its railgun, REX differs from the preceding Metal Gear D in that its legs are heavily armored and reinforced, not vulnerable like its predecessors'.

The Metal Gear REX has near-impenetrable compound armor, a pair of vulcan cannons, anti-tank missiles, and a free-electron laser, to protect itself from conventional forces. Its prim

Metal Gear Solid: Complete:



It is hard to believe that it has been twenty years since Snake’s Solid storyline began. To commemorate the impressive Solid story, Konami is re-releasing the Solid series. Each title will be priced accordingly and even the most recent PSP title will make it into the pack. No word on whether there will be new added content to any of the games or what to expect from the collector’s set, but we will keep you posted.

Source:
http://www.cheatcc.com/ccc_newsserve...