Editing Metal Gear (section)

==Plot==
===Metal Gear ===
The original story on the NES. While the future 3D games are the stuff of legends, the old ones didn't get better with age (they're good for nostalgia, but gameplay as expected during the pioneer age of vidya gaems, is unpolished at best).

It has rookie FOXHOUND operative Solid Snake infiltrating Outer Haven, a mercenary empire led by a mysterious legendary mercenary. Big Boss, leader of FOXHOUND, originally sent one of their best operatives named "Grey Fox" to infiltrate the area, but was captured, leaving only the message "Metal Gear" before disappearing. BB then only sends Snake to investigate, in an operation dubbed "Operation Intrude N312".

So to make a long-story less long and all the obligatory plot twists: Big Boss is actually the leader of Outer Haven (this was later ret-conned to being Big Boss' body double: Venom Snake) and the real Big Boss (we think) only sent in Snake thinking that he would be killed as he didn't have the experience to go up against hardened war veterans (all those guys you fultoned in MGS5? They're these guys). Metal Gear is actually a bi-pedal tank capable of launching nuclear weapons from anywhere. Also Grey Fox is alive, and wants to kill you after being convinced by Big Boss to turn on the US government.

===Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake===
Sequel to the first game. The game now features the fictional nation of Zanzibar, another mercenary empire led by another "legendary mercenary". Zanzibar kidnapped Dr. Kio Marv, a scientist who created a compound named "OLIX" which could create an oil-substitute compound at little cost. Due to diminishing oil supplies, Zanzibar plans to hold the world hostage by controlling the only new reliable source of oil. They plan to enforce their position using OLIX and of course, a nuclear-equipped walking battle tank. Snake retired after the events of the first game, but was pressed by Campbell into service, due to this new crisis. Now, Snake must rescue Dr. Marv and bring an end to Zanzibar. 

Surprisingly, this mission also goes well for Snake, managing to save Dr. Magnar and destroy Zanzibar's Metal Gear. But you guessed it, plot twists: Grey Fox is still alive, and this would be his final days as he dies after fighting Snake (but is forcibly brought back from the grave by the Patriots later), and Big Boss is actually still alive (although technically he was always alive, you just killed his body-double at first, with recent retcons considered), but Snake puts him down, once and for all (And this is the actual Big Boss now, but he didn't actually die, rather he was saved by the Patriots after the battle, but was in a coma. This plot point gets wrapped up in MGS4.).

===Metal Gear Solid===
Metal Gear Solid is a bit of a "reboot" of the franchise, where most of future games will follow this style of gameplay (or improve upon it).

The story involves Solid Snake being forced back into service after Liquid Snake, his brother, stages a coup with the Next-Generation Special Forces, and Fox Hound, taking Metal Gear REX and several personalities hostage. Their demands are money and for the US government to surrender the remains of Big Boss, as they require his DNA to fix their genetic flaws. Failure to do so, will cause the terrorists to launch a nuclear weapon from REX.

As a solo infiltrator Snake must defeat the members of the NGSF and Fox Hound, save the DARPA chief and president of the ArmsTech corporation, and retrieve Metal Gear REX. But as much as it was intended; he wasn't alone. He's assisted by an operations team that he contacts via codec that's currently operating from a submarine, an NGSF defector named Meryl, and REX's designer; Otacon. Also a mysterious cyborg ninja who is there to both assist and kill you, specifically in a first-fight.

But, plot twist, the ninja was Grey Fox all along and only got you here as a duel to the death with you was his final wish, you were just there to be a carrier of the FOXDIE virus, to ensure the members of Fox Hound are killed either way, then allow the US government to retrieve REX undamaged. Snake sort of "succeeds" in his mission (Revolver Ocelot is still alive, two of the hostages are dead, and REX is "kind of" destroyed.), failing most of his objectives, but managing to prevent nuclear holocaust from occurring.

As an additional Plot Twist: Revolver Ocelot planned everything with then-president George Sears (AKA: Solidus Snake), and everything went [[Just as Planned|all according to plan]] from his stand-point (Whether him losing his gun hand is part of it or not, is up to debate).

===Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty===
Known mostly as where the story of the Patriots and information control started.

After MGS1, Ocelot leaks plans of REX to the world, causing numerous countries to start making their own home-grown nuclear weapons programs through this data. Due to this, the US Marines are commissioned Metal Gear RAY, a not-metal gear that's designed to take on other giant robots, rather than launch nukes. [[Rage|Why they needed their own is only explained in optional dialogue that you have to go out of your way to find]]. As conventional weaponry (anti air and anti tank mostly or just a crap ton of explosives) can easily defeat Metal Gears. In short the USMC want to stick it to the Navy who have their own Metal Gear project.

This is caught by Snake's and Otacon's attention, who infiltrate the tanker transporting RAY to get photo evidence of the US government building another Metal Gear (never actually considering that in the age of Photoshop, the USG can easily deny these claims).  Things go not as planned after Ocelot and a bunch of Russian mercenaries take over the tanker. Things are even more complicated after Ocelot betrays the mercenaries, then takes RAY for himself, sinking the oil tanker, and pinning the entire incident on Snake. Snake is assumed to have died during the tanker incident. Also Snake meets Olga Gurlukovich, daughter of the mercenary commander's daughter, for....reasons.

Fast forward a few years, and a facility called "Big Shell" is built on-top of the oil spill, to facilitate clean-up of the patch of water. Said facility is then taken over by the "Sons of Liberty" a disenfranchised US Special Forces group, led by former president George Sears, who intends to rid the world of the Patriots' influence, supported by a group of Russian mercenaries. He plans to do this by gaining access to nuclear weapons and requires the President's authorization to allow him to use it. During this time, they take the US president, and his cabinet hostage during a routine visit from them.

Along with a SEAL team, the US government sends "Raiden" a bishie "rookie" of Fox Hound.(he's trained with VR, but has no field experience to speak of. If you discount his stint as a child soldier. [[Twilight|Who was designed to appeal to teenage girls. A demographic known for its awful taste.]])  Also there's this SEAL named Iroquis Pliskin who sounds, looks, and acts a lot like Solid Snake, but it can't be him because he's dead. Plus there's also this female cyborg ninja with a thick Russian accent, who's....just there, I guess.

His objectives were to rescue the president, prevent the terrorists from blowing-up Big Shell (as the chemicals used for de-contaminating the oil would poison the area around Manhattan), and neutralize the Sons of Liberty....atleast that was the plan. As with the first game; Raiden fails his original mission as the Big Shell is eventually destroyed, the US President is dead, and Solidus gains access to another superweapon that he was able to use. But he was able to prevent Armageddon by stopping Solidus by having a sword-duel to the death. Anyways:

PLOT TWEEST: Pliskin is actually Solid Snake (whether this can still be considered a twist is debatable, but meh), the Ninja with the feminine Russian accent was Olga all along, Big Shell was just a cover for the Patriots attempting to build another Metal Gear called "Arsenal Gear", the oil spill was [[Just as Planned]] to allow it's construction and the Big Shell was never doing any clean-up work at all, and this entire flubdubbery was actually an exercise to allow the Patriots to gather data on the SSS program or "Solid Snake Simulator", a program that would allow them to train a soldier at-par with Solid Snake with Raiden's experiences, using Ocelot as an observer. Ocelot was actually working with the Patriots, if that was ever a surprise. Also the Colonel Campbell and Rosemary advising you were actually the Patriot AIs, bringing into question whether everything Raiden has been told by the two is real or not. Snake also comes off looking like an asshole in this game as he does things such as using Raiden as bait for Solidus and withholds information. Which is kind of the point. As being a super spy for twenty years some odd years would make just about anyone else into a jerkass. He also knew that the Patriots were monitoring Raiden. A proper reason for keeping somebody you don't trust in the dark about your plans.

A TWIST TO THE PLOT TWIST: Ocelot was just a pawn (or so the Patriots think), SSS was actually for "Selection for Societal Sanity", a program enacted by the Patriots to gather data on how they can filter and censor information, to ensure the world only listens to the Patriot's point of view, as they deem that humans are incapable of forming context for information, resulting in dozens, to hundreds of opinions and interpretations, that inevitably cause either a stagnation of progress and conflict. By creating a context for everyone to adhere to, it is that much easier to influence the masses on how to think.

Another twist: Everything Raiden knows may or may not be a lie, but the validity of it is left ambiguous to allow the player to decide whether its truth or a lie.

Retrospective: 
As many sources attest to. MGS2 was supposed to the magnum opus for Kojima and wanted to leave the series in the hands of younger developers. There are a few problems with this. Sons of Liberty would be the second game for most players. As the eight bit games were never released internationally until 2005.(other than a shitty port of MG1 and a really bad third person shooter on the NES) Making the game's twists feel forced and unearned. Another problem is that players got vastly different dubs. Not just language but Solidus and Olga have the same voice actors as Snake and Meryl. Talking no differently from their roles in MGS1. The devs also despised the changes that improved English dub of the game and refused to let it happen again. Disrespecting their larger audience who can't even play the Japanese version of MGS2. 

So again, despite being a fanboy of America. It's Kojima fault for not realizing that [[derp|Japan has different values]] from the rest of the world.  He and his staff didn't understand how western culture views things(and possibly still doesn't). As Raiden comes off as a poor man's Shinji Ikari for most of the game. So it came off to western players as one of many ripoffs of [[Neon_Genesis_Evangelion|Evangelion]]. [[fail|Another large problem is that one of the translators is a racist Karen who now whines about the MeToo movement and sues people when she is caught lying.]]

Another issue is that America wasn't bad off and didn't have the shitty economy Japan had in 2001 until 2007. Nor did big social media websites exist at the time to unwittingly assist in spreading conspiracy theories and accelerate the decline even further. [[Neckbeards|Geekdom]] also didn't accept anime otaku culture as they do now. It also blames no in particular for these problems. As Japanese culture has the rather dumb ass view of not shitting on the flaws of your enemy. [[Star Trek| Thus falling on its face compared to more successful franchises.]]

The largest flaw is that the game's story is based around Richard Dawken's The Selfish Gene.  A book at the time of development was over twenty years out of date. Which is a long time when it comes to science and long enough for most of its  theories to be discredited.
Worse for the devs and writers as a whole. Is that the Bioshock games, Specs Ops The Line(both subversive video games that did what MGS2 did but better) and anime such as Mobile Suit Gundam (shitting on those who glorify WW2 Japan) or Ghost in the Shell (itself based on Blade Runner) have the same messages but aren't as nice about it. MGS2 would most likely had been better received if it was meaner and actually went out of its way to criticize those whom it was railing against.
Of course most people in their twenties, even fresh military recruits, are not obviously going to be anything like Solid Snake. But it seems that Kojima and Fukushima don't realize or have forgotten [[Isekai| how shitty the tastes of most teenagers and twenty year olds actually are.]]

Also most people in the west unlike those in Asia. Think leaving plot threads open for non existent sequel as a sign of laziness, opposite of a large franchise such as the [[Marvel_Comics#Marvel_Cinematic_Universe|Marvel Cinematic Universe]]. Whose writers and producers actually planned ahead, even in the case of their most famous director leaving for his own projects.

===Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater===
Chronologically the first game in the series, MGS3 is pretty much a Fix Fic for the [[C.S. Goto|half assed story of MGS2]].  The game is still plays out like the old games, but as most of the activity is now in outdoor environments, additional features are added like the need to hunt and eat food for stamina, and the wound system that would cripple the player in certain areas due to injury (which was later pulled out of later games, because its just kinda dumb and needlessly slows the action down). MGS3 was initially made without Kojima's input but it was so bad that Konami had no choice but to ask him to come back. [[derp| Japanese culture being what it is]] means he couldn't refuse.

MGS3 follows the adventures of "Jack", code-named "Naked Snake" (named so because he has little gear during missions, hence "naked"). He was selected to be the pioneer of the FOX group, a military initiative aimed at training elite operatives for deep-infiltration missions, which is overseen by an ex-SAS operative known only as Major Zero (why the blue blazes the American government would enlist a British national as the leader one of their black ops groups is only something Kojima could explain) and also by The Boss, Jack's mentor and the greatest soldier America has ever known.

Their original mission that acts as a trial for FOX is to help scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov defect to the West, growing tired of his creations becoming weapons of war (not really realizing the West will pretty much press him for the same ends), by rescuing him from a stronghold deep in Russian territory. Said weapon is a giant tank, capable of launching nuclear missiles without the use of a silo, named "Shagohod" (Walker, even though it's screw-propelled). Things originally went well, up until the ambush led by GRU Major Ocelot (who appears to have mellowed with age, as he's an insufferable fanboy during his youth), which Snake manages to overcome, thanks to Ocelot's cockiness. But things went [[Not as Planned]] when he realized his mentor, The Boss, defected to a Soviet separatist faction led by Colonel Volgin. This led to Sokolov being kidnapped again, the Shagohod being stolen, and Snake being left almost for dead after a hilariously one-sided fight with The Boss. Things went even more not as planned after Volgin uses the Davy Crockett nuclear weapon that The Boss gave him to destroy Shagohod's design facility, blowing any chance of the US keeping this operation a secret completely out of the water.

To head off the prospect of open warfare between the US and USSR, the CIA sends Naked Snake back into the field a week later to kill The Boss, under the official story that she had gone rogue and the destruction was entirely her fault. He's also tasked to kill Colonel Volgin, as a favor to the Russians, destroy the Shagohod before Volgin can use it for his own ends, and rescue Sokolov properly this time. Standing against him are rogue Russian spec ops groups of the KGB, GRU, and most infamously the "Cobra Unit," The Boss's elite squad of quirky misfits, who served with her during WW2.

Surprisingly, Naked Snake actually accomplishes more than future protagonists ever could, with the help of another Soviet spy named Eva. Sokolov kinda "died" (he's alive in Portable Ops after being rescued, but PO's canonicity is dubious as the game wasn't written by Kojima, but he doesn't really impact the story past MGS3 so its kinda moot overall), but Volgin kinda "died" as well (apparently he was only in a near-death coma, kept alive by his unfaltering rage against Snake. Its kinda irrelevant in the long run), the Shagohod was destroyed, and The Boss is killed in what is probably one of the saddest moments in video games (mostly because of reasons listed below).

If you haven't gotten used to it yet, too bad, PLOT TWEESTS: The Boss was never really a traitor. Her original objective was to gain the trust of Colonel Volgin to obtain the "Philosopher's Legacy," fucktons of money left behind by a secret cabal of world leaders during WW1, but this was compromised after Volgin used an American nuclear weapon on Russian soil. To ensure that the US had a way out of starting WW3, The Boss was forced to accept the role of the villain, and had to rely on Snake to have the skills and fortitude to kill her, absolving the US of its crimes. By killing The Boss, Snake is heralded as a hero in the US and Russia, earning him the title of "Big Boss" from the President, [[Lamenters|but the trauma of sacrificing so much for his country made it feel like he was anything but a hero.]]

Also, Eva was actually a Chinese spy (if that wasn't kinda obvious, given Sigint's hints and her actions) and Ocelot was a triple agent (a GRU officer, working for a separatist faction, while working with the US government) who was actually Adam, the person meant to support Snake but was beaten to the punch (given this is his character trope, this probably should stop counting as a plot twist).

===Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops===
A game of questionable canon not directed or written by Hideo Kojima. The main antagonist is a bigger Villain Sue than Armstrong and Ocelot put together. Which is saying something because either would whip the floor with him. It was also a considered the worst game until recently (see Survive). Which is what you get when the primary writer is known for making shitty harem novels for morbidly obese otaku and directed by a script writer instead of a real director.

===Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots===
MGS4 is officially the "end" of the Solid timeline, as MGSV is about Big Boss's wacky misadventures in the 80's. The game is constantly criticized for basically being one long cutscene, due to the fact a lot of the game has a ''lot'' of cinematic content, than actual gameplay, to the point that MGS4 actually holds the world record for the longest cutscene in videogame history, who's finale spans a whopping 71 minutes (and reminder, this is JUST the ending).

The game follows Solid Snake, who has rapidly aged to an old man in his 60s due to being a clone, and apparently he's going to be a WMD as the FOXDIE virus injected into him back in the first ''Solid'' game is mutating into an indiscriminate bio-weapon. He's called in for one last mission by Colonel Campbell to assassinate "Liquid" Ocelot, the leader of one of the largest PMCs in the world, who has amassed too much power and is deemed a threat by world leaders. He reluctantly takes to the field again, as this is to be his final mission to end the madness he and his extended family was responsible for, before finally dying (by his hand if necessary). Along the way he's helped by just about every MG character from the previous games as one big nostalgiafest, including:

*Otacon, who's there for exposition;
*Raiden, who is now an impractically awesome near-immortal cyborg ninja;
*Dr. Naomi Hunter, who's attempting to atone for her sins;
*Colonel Campbell, who married Raiden's wife after becoming estranged to him;
*Rosemary, Raiden's wife who separated from him after a miscarriage. Acts as a psychologist to Snake;
*Vamp, who's trope as a bi-sexual vampire is ''really'' drilled into your skull here;
*Ocelot, who may or not be literally possessed by Liquid Snake's ghost (we're not kidding, this is the main reason why Ocelot became the series's big bad);
*Solidus, who's now in a coma;
*Meryl, who is now working for the US as an observer for PMCs;
*Johnny Sasaki, who somehow turned from comic relief to part-time action hero (because.....eh?);
*Mei Ling, who due to certain assets, is now a USN captain of her own ship;
*Big Boss, who finally woke up from his near-death coma;
*Eva, who's now leading an Eastern-European resistance group under the name "Big Mama";
*Sunny Gurlukovich, the daughter that Olga mentioned back in MGS2, now under the protection of Snake and Otacon.

To wrap up Kojima's decade-long fever dream: Big Mama dies attempting to save Big Boss's husk from being burned to ash, Vamp dies after being heavily wounded by Raiden and injected with a nanomachine suppressor, Naomi dies after being guilt-tripped by Vamp's death, Snake manages to upload a computer virus that finally destroys the Patriots for real (but their influence continues on) and manages to kill Ocelot for real after one of the most nostalgia-drilling fist-fights in the series. Meryl and Johnny get married, Campbell and Rose reveal that their relationship was a play to keep the Patriots thinking that Raiden's kid was Campbell's, and Snake goes to The Boss's grave to eat a bullet before he involuntarily kills everyone.

Except he doesn't: Big Boss stops him and reveals that he's not dead (obviously) and the corpse that EVA died for was actually Solidus, whose limbs were removed and transplanted onto him when he was revivified. He has a long heart-to-heart with his clone-son and reveals a lot of exposition: he and several of the MGS3 crew were founding members of the Patriots, aiming to fulfil The Boss's wishes, only for shit to go wrong and metastasize into the globe-spanning conspiracy they are today; he and Major Zero (now a comatose, crippled old man on life support) are the last surviving members in a world without a place for them. It also turns out that Drebin 893 (a shady arms dealer you've been buying weapons from throughout the game) injected Snake with a newer variant of FOXDIE, made by the Patriots to kill Big Mama, Liquid Ocelot, and Big Boss; this uprooted the old one, so Snake can live the final year or two of life he has left without fear of turning into a walking WMD.

Big Boss pulls the plug on Zero's life support, then salutes his mentor's grave as he gives Snake a few final fatherly words of wisdom before allowing himself to succumb to FOXDIE. [[Awesome|"This is good... isn't it?"]]

===Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker===
The other direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3 on the PSP. A much better game between the two. It should have been released on consoles instead as Big Boss can't move and be in the prone position at the same time. This is where the series started it's slow decline that was fast tracked by Konami's sabotage of MGSV and the release of Survive. As one of three main writers behind Metal Gear. Tomokazu Fukushima, left the company during the early development of MGS4. Peace Walker would have been called Metal Gear 5 if it wasn't for Konami's executive meddling. Most of the problems in the game were fixed in the HD releases.

Oddly, everything that was put into MGSV came from Peace Walker. Base building, blueprints, recruiting soldiers, grand theft auto of military vehicles, and tape conversations originated here. While being more detailed and less annoying about it. The story is also considered to be superior to Metal Gear V as well.

===Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance===
Set four years after Guns of the Patriots, Revengeace is a completely different beast from any other Metal Gear game. First off, you play as Raiden for the entire game instead of Snake or Big Boss. Second, since this game was developed by Platinum Games instead of Konami, [[Flesh Tearers|stealth is mostly thrown out the window for glorious carnage]] (you can still try to use stealth when it's applicable to make the game easier, as enemies are vulnerable to insta-kills while you're undetected, but nothing's stopping you from just going in and murderfucking everyone.). And third, the stupid over-the-top tropes Metal Gear Solid was known for are hitched up to eleven. Seriously, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM33Hr94SKw| look at this shit.] That's the equivalent of tossing around a [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)| Warhound Scout Titan]] like a rag doll.

Long story short, Raiden receives a far more powerful cyborg body and is sent to eliminate Desperado; an off-shoot faction of the Patriots led by U.S Senator Armstrong, known for the "Nanomachines, son" [[meme]] and the most patriotic villain ever known. Besides that the plot is pretty much nonexistent, with Raiden running around and pretty much being the living avatar of [[rip and tear|RIP N' TEAR]].  The plot though did have some really funny moments where Raiden discovered the villains plan to create an army, kidnap children from third-world countries, put their brains in jars, have them remote control robots/cyborgs, and once they were skilled enough put their brains in those bodies so that they could get killed on the battlefield, not to mention there's a part where Raiden just lets a bunch of children die because he's too busy posing to help them out.  Much like most of the series, this plan is doomed to failure before it starts when you realize that there's already a far better alternative in the form of nanomachines that make you invincible, they only stop working when it's plot convenient.  It also regresses Raidens' character a bit (because much like every MGS sequel, the theme of the previous games are ignored), but nobody really gave a shit about that because of all the over-the-top ninja bullshit he constantly pulls off.

It also has a BITCHIN’ soundtrack

===Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain===
==== Ground Zeroes ====
The story begins with Ground Zeroes, set one year after the events of Peace Walker. It turns out Paz, a former friend of Big Boss and secret agent for Cipher, is alive and is being held in an American Interrogation camp on the southern tip of Cuba. Big Boss originally wanted to assassinate Paz because of her ties to the mysterious Cipher organization and suspects she might may have leaked critical information about the Militaires Sans Frontières. Miller on the other hand doesn't believe this and convinces Big Boss to bring her back alive for questioning. Coincidentally, Mother Base (formerly Outer Heaven, formerly Mother Base) is scheduled for a United Nations nuclear weapon inspection. After rescuing Paz and Chico, they find out that Paz had a bomb surgically planted in her abdomen as a setup. After a very gruesome scene of surgically removing the bomb from Paz's body, Big Boss successfully disposes the bomb as Paz tries to recover. They return to Mother Base only to see that it has come under attack by Cipher's covert strike force XOF, meaning the inspection was only a smokescreen for an attack. Big Boss manages to save Miller and an unnamed soldier (we find out his real alias is Mosquito, but he comes back later on). They all escape as Mother Base collapses and cue for Miller's famous meme quote "They played us like a damn fiddle!". Miller realizes Big Boss was right and demands answers from Paz. That is until Paz claims there is another bomb inside of her ([[/d/|heavily implied to be in her vagina, what the fuck Kojima]]) as she falls out of the helicopter and the second bomb inside her explodes causing the helicopter to lose control and crashes into another helicopter.

==== The Phantom Pain ====
Big Boss manages to survive the crash but falls into a coma for nine years. A pretty cool opening scene of Big Boss waking up to ''The Man Who Sold the World'' in a hospital bed in Cyprus. The doctors show Big Boss after the explosion that not only did he get shrapnel sticking out of his head and the inside of his body, but he also lost his left forearm in the process. The following night an assassin kills the doctors who took care of Big Boss and nearly kills Big Boss himself. That is until another patient stops the assassin and sets her on fire causing her to jump out the window. The patient reveals himself as 'Ishmael' and helps Big Boss escape (This isn't the only reference to the book Moby Dick, Ishmael calls Big Boss 'Ahab' while Big Boss is equipped with a hook hand prosthetic). As they both approach the elevator, they encounter a child wearing a gas mask and a straight jacket floating in the air (we know what you're thinking and yes, that is Psycho Mantis as a little kid) and a man covered in fire. Since gunfire is useless against him his only weakness is water. They both see that XOF units start killing the patients and hospital staff to ensure there are no witnesses. It becomes clear that they were sent in to eliminate Big Boss after finding out he had just woken up. After facing certain death against XOF soldiers and the Man of Fire, Big Boss and Ishmael escape the hospital using an ambulance. Unfortunately, the ambulance gets attacked by XOF forces and crashes. Big Boss survives, but Ishmael has disappeared leaving Big Boss to fend for himself. Just as an XOF helicopter is hovering over Big Boss, Psycho Mantis shows up then suddenly a giant fucking whale covered in fire swallows the helicopter and destroys it. To make things even more ridiculous, the Man of Fire shows up again riding a fucking winged unicorn made of fire. Luckily, a man riding a horse shows up to Big Boss' aid and that man is none other than Revolver Ocelot (now voiced by Troy Baker). After a chase ensues between the Man of Fire and Big Boss and Ocelot, they both manage to escape. Ocelot reminds Big Boss of what has happened before he fell into a coma and wants to help him and Miller rebuild their private army. It turns out Miller was captured by the Soviets and is being held for interrogation in Afghanistan. Big Boss joins up with Ocelot and sets out for Afghanistan. And that's all just the prologue.

Unfortunately, the rest of the story isn't nearly as awesome or cinematic, partly due to Konami's budget cuts forcing the game to be left in an unfinished state. Here's the gist; Big Boss slowly starts rebuilding his army by recruiting (read: kidnapping) Soviet and African soldiers, stealing tanks with balloons, and completing various contracts for money. However, its not long before he runs back into XOF forces, this time using mutant supersoldiers called the "Skulls" who use modified versions of the superpowered parasites used by the Cobra Unit, giving them freaky abilities like mind-controlling nearby soldiers or turning rock-solid. XOF is working on a new Metal Gear in Afghanistan, while working on a brand new superweapon on the Angola-Zaire border to eliminate entire languages through vocal-cord parasites, which are actually related to the Cobra Unit parasites. Actually these parasites have a lot of strange and unexplained abilities, like somehow being able to refine uranium ore or being used in the walking mechanisms for metal gears, or destroying metal. Whatever the case, Big Boss captures and falls in love with XOF sniper Quiet (who he learns is the same assassin who tried to kill him in the hospital), who is in turn won over by him because he's the motherfucking Big Boss. He also accidentally unleashes a parasite outbreak in Angola, which infects his own men, until he gets to the bottom of the infection. Finally after a big showdown in Afghanistan, Big Boss finally corners and kills Skull Face and his Metal Gear. 

So, story over, right? HA no. Huey causes a second outbreak to try to bribe his way back into Cypher's hands, Quiet is forced to speak to rescue Big Boss (and thus runs away so she doesn't infect anyone, presumably to kill herself to avoid a slow and painful death), and baby Liquid runs away with all the child soldiers and steals the Metal Gear with him. And... that's pretty much it. The entire final battle was cut from the game, which according to plans would have been ''far'' more challenging and climactic than the two previous Metal Gear encounters, but unfortunately it never came to pass and likely never will. The only real ending we got was the reveal that Venom Snake was never Big Boss to begin with, just a brain-washed body double who would distract Cypher while the real Big Boss fucked off to do who-knows-what. We did get a decent epilogue, however, when several years after the game released, an Easter Egg was activated after every player-owned nuclear warhead was successfully deactivated in the PvP section of the game.

Phantom Pain is Skub incarnate; and is either considered one of the best game's in the series (thanks to it's ''amazing'' open stealth infiltration system and detailed mercenary management) or the ''worst'' mainline Metal Gear's (for it's often times sparse story, and undeveloped aspects) However, all will agree it ''is'' a Metal Gear game, which leads too...

===Metal Gear Survive===
What we got instead of remakes of the 8-bit games. However that would require remembering all the retcons, a little research about the politics and pop culture of the 90s and some creativity. Than paying David Hayter and Richard Doyle to return as the voices Solid Snake and Big Boss. Hell they could've had Hayter pull double duty as a script editor to keep them consistent with the canon. Lacking the ability and refusing to spend money to do just about any one of these things. Konami made this POS instead.

A portal in the sky transports you to an alternate dimension after Mother Base was destroyed by XOF, where nanomachines has mutated everyone into Romero-like [[zombie]]s (we're not kidding, this is as "Nanomachines son" for a plot device as it gets). As the name implies; your objective is to survive. Its basically every indie survival horror game you see on Steam, except this comes in with a hefty pricetag of 40 USD/EUR.

As the first game ever worked on without Kojima's input, it was originally supposed to be a testament if Konami can indeed replicate Kojima's brand of absurdly hilarious yet engaging writing, or if Kojima was indeed the only thing keeping Metal Gear afloat, and it indeed shows: it can easily be called the worst Metal Gear yet. The story is worse than Snake's Revenge and makes Bethesda era [[Fallout]] look good with sentient nanomachines from the 22nd century via time travel as the main villain.

It's story right out plagiarizes another video game made by Square Enix, Gunslinger Stratos. Just without the alternate universe dopplegangers.  One could also argue that it ripoffs the premise from [[Doctor Who]] two parter "The Empty Child". However, unlike Steven Moffat the people behind Survive have no idea how to make a coherent plot. Proving for a second time that [[C.S._Goto|Gakuto Mikumo]] (who wrote the shitty story of Portable Ops) is a [[Isekai|no talent hack like most light novel writers]]. Blatantly ignoring that the real future of the Metal Gear universe is the much superior [[Mecha|Zone of the Enders]].(Sahelanthropus looks like a much less advanced Jehuty.) Pathetic that they couldn't make a better future of the franchise than a half decent Gundam fanfic series.

The game mechanics are something the olden survival games of yore (which aged about as well as bread left out in the open for 6 years), with you having to build a base using resources that you grind for, and such.

The characters are bland and calling you every 30 seconds for who knows what. You are reminded to take food and drink often but it's very difficult to get either. The main character from the single player campaign is a [[Original_character,_do_not_steal|blatant ripoff of Chris Redfield.]] While the player character is a mute because they couldn't afford to hire real voice actors after blowing their money on Matt Mercer. And do not forget that this piece of crap demands always online compatibility even for the single-player, and asking $10 for an extra save slot. Yes, 10 bucks for an extra save slot, not even F2P mobile games have that audacity. Also the zombie AI is crap, whose biggest opponents are world objects like vehicles (even an open-topped vehicle like a jeep can make you invincible), and the entire experience just feels like a game that's stuck in 2012, and never bothered to evolve to be better. There is really nothing worth picking up about this game, that you can't get anywhere else for cheaper and better.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. After 30 years, this is how Metal Gear ends: not with a bang, but with a whimper as its dying body is devoured by Konami to salvage whatever profit they can from it before it finally rests in peace. (Well, that and Solid Snake's surprise return to ''Super Smash Bros.'', but Konami didn't need to do jack shit for that except say yes to Nintendo's money and let them do all the work.)

To put more nails in Konami's coffin, the new games made by Kojima and [[Castlevania]] producer Koji Igarashi after their departure from Konami (Death Stranding and Bloodstained, respectively), have become highly successful, while Konami's own new entries in the Metal Gear, Castlevania and Contra franchises have been met with derision and low sales. They can't even get sports or mobile games right, having lost their licenses for footy leagues they used for Pro Evolution Soccer to [[EA]] of all people. Nor can they keep a 10 year old dating sim port running without bugs. Fucking pathetic. The only hope for them at this point is selling their assets off to a large publisher such as Sega or Square Enix after they lose their Pachinko license. Due to Japan's illegal gambling crackdown and [[derp|parlors ignoring Coronavirus measures]]. At this point it seems Sony themselves has shown interest in doing so.