I discovered the Metal Gear series through an unlikely source: Videogamedunkey. His series of videos on Metal Gear Solid V greatly piqued my interest on the game. When I bought MGSV for myself for $4 from a shitty key website I had no idea what to expect. I was blown away immediately from the hospital scene, and just like that I was catapulted into the crazy world of the Metal Gear series. After 100%-ing the game and playing through all of the mainline games, I can confidently say that the Metal Gear series is one of the consistently best game series out there.

To a person uninitiated with Metal Gear, their first response to hearing me say that I am a fan of the games is to express how complicated the story is. It very much is, but I like in its essence the story is relatively straightforward.

In Defense of Metal Gear's Story

Metal Gear's story is unabashedly complex in terms of the nitty gritty. Going through the literal events happening in each game and taking it all at face value will lead to nigh guaranteed insanity. However, Metal Gear was never about the world the game takes place in. It's about the messages the story is trying to get across. Take for example the first Metal Gear game. You can make a 45 minute video on the craziness of that plot, but the importance is not the story-it's the message that you are not defined by your genes. In that same light, MGS2's message was to not base yourself off of somebody else and become your own person. MGS3 was about how time changes your ideology, and how "good" and "evil" are nebulous and aren't set in stone. All of these are very clearly defined messages that are in each game, but are very often overlooked in leu of joking about how nothing makes sense in the series.

This kind of thinking can only realistically be mitigated by having someone play the games, but this is increasingly becoming harder and harder!

Metal Gear is Becoming Harder to Play

As games continue to advance, older games tend to be seen as obsolete. The Metal Gear series is famous for holding up to the test of time, but personally I think there is one glaring aspect of the game that has not held up to modern scrutiny. This aspect is that of the controls. Watch a novice player play the first couple MGS games and you will come to that same conclusion. Anybody that I have tried to get into Metal Gear plays the first hour of 1 or 2 and put it down because they kept getting caught and dying. V avoids that issue by introducing a more accesible control scheme. Some say that 3 is the pinnacle of gameplay for the series, but I personally think that honor goes to V.