Day 203, Game 203 - Metal Gear

---

Well, of all the "My Weeks" that I have done, this one might be the craziest, most insane one I have attempted thus far. Now, you have to remember that I am not beating  all these games that I am playing for this blog, because that would be ridiculous. Besides, I do have a full time job and social life, after all. 

But just because I am not beating all these games, does not mean that my undertaking to play the Metal Gear series is an easy one. So why is it difficult, you may be wondering? Because this series is literally the epitome of insanity and confusion. The storyline itself is based around espionage and mental gymnastics (I think?), so the games depicting this mad world that Hideo Kojima has created. 

Let's get this out of the way right now before I go any further. My knowledge about this series is very limited. I played Metal Gear Solid when it came out on the original Playstation, but other than that, my experience with the entire series is lacking, big time. And this is not the type of series where you can follow and understand it without playing the games, assuming you can even if you do play the games. I have heard them talked about on various podcasts, forums, reviews and from friends, but it's like someone trying to explain algebra without being shown the equations on a white board. 

So that is my main focus with this week, is trying to somehow comprehend something about this series, and take away some solid knowledge of the character, the storylines and the entire universe in which they exist. Essentially, I am trying to prepare myself for the awesomeness that should be Metal Gear 5. 

Doing little research before hand, I had no idea where to start. I know the chronology of this series is more complicated than I could imagine, and while doing a basic search on Wikipedia yielded some useful timeline information, it still didn't mean a whole lot to me. So I started with the original, and while it's not technically part of the "Solid" series, I'm still counting it - because well, I don't even know what the "Solid" series means. 

Now just so you know, am going to be playing this entire series thanks in part to the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection that was just recently released for the PS3, which packs in the entire series into one neat little package. Finding Metal Gear was a chore in itself, as I knew it was part of the collection, but it wasn't blatantly obvious where I could find it. Turns out, it is located within Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, for whatever reason. I guess maybe Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 were originally packaged with Snake Eater when it was released, and it carried over into this? I don't know, I'm already confused. 

So I played Metal Gear. It plays and looks great for being an original NES game, as you can tell they took some pride in polishing it up and making it not only playable, but enjoyable as well. As for the game itself? I know I am Solid Snake, and I talk to people on the radio including Big Boss, which for some reason I always thought was Snake. You have to sneak around as best as an NES game can depict, and use weapons of espionage and war to complete missions. It's a fun little romp, and I'm eager to see how this first game evolved into the ridiculous franchise that it is today.

Wish me luck. This is going to be one heck of a week, I think. 

---