My favourite DOOM level

He chose the path of perpetual torment

I'm sure that I've mentioned it a few times but recently I've been playing a frankly obscene amount of 2016's DOOM. I've pulled back a little recently with my acquisition of the Kingdom Hearts series and the full playthrough of Fallout 76 Wastelanders that I imposed upon myself, but everytime I stop to jam to music while I game I cannot help but get the itches to rip and tear my way across Mars, and Hell, to the beat. (Don't ask what kind of music I play DOOM too. You'll think even less of me than  you already do.) As such, I've reached the point where I'm actually intimately familiar with every single level in that game's lineup, to the extent where I even sort of know the location of enemy spawns and secret item rooms. Part of that comes from an obsession for mastering the rather stressful Arcade and the other is the aftermath of the extremely stressful Ultra-nightmare playthrough that I'm doing.

The upshot is that I'm familiar enough with Id software's level design and philosophy that I can appreciate the little things that they put into each level to make it pop, as well as acknowledge the moments when things don't quite pan out as they maybe should have. (Like in that hallway with the Two Barons, Two Mancubi and four Spectres. Seriously, screw that corridor.) All and all it's quite elegant as modern day Id managed to completely reinvigorate the spirit of DOOM for 2016 without giving up on the heart and spirit which made the original DOOM games so memorable; the focus on speed and the necessity for aggression. To really bring that out, ID added a dimension of verticality to the combat and movement which I'm told is amplified and built upon in this year's DOOM Eternal. (Although I wouldn't know myself because I'm already inundated with games, I cannot take on another right now.)

All that praise aside there is one level that stands head and shoulders above the others in my eyes as my undisputed favourite. Not that this particular level is 'the best' so to speak, nor that it really puts all the others to shame, just that it's that one level of DOOM that I can throw on to kill some time whenever I have no idea what it is that I want. It's my comfort level, neither too hard so as to irk me nor so easy as to bore me; instead it sits at the perfect equilibrium of a DOOM level. Since this is a game that's taken up so much of my free-time and this blog is the only person I have to unload to, I've decided to talk about my favourite DOOM level and exactly why this one just clicks with me so well. So without further ado, let me tell you about why The Foundry (or mission 3) is such a perfect level in my eyes and what other FPS' can learn from it.

The Foundry represents the first point in the game where DOOM really takes out it's mittens and throws you to the wolves, although not without training you first. The initial level of DOOM does a good job of introducing you to core mechanics that you'll be using throughout the game such as Key cards, Gore Nests and equipment. (i.e. Grenades) The second level reinforces all of that whilst being careful not to overwhelm the player by limiting the majority of the combat to small groups in narrow corridors. (There are perhaps two open space battles in that entire level.) The Foundry, however, completely changes your notions on the structure of this game, by discarding all of the linear paths and A=B objectives and letting the Slayer loose on the area with absolute free reign.

The set-up of the Foundry is that the Slayer needs to get through this area in order to get to the source of the hell invasion, only to find the blast doors locked due to an automatic lockdown that activated when the 'hell levels' got too high. Thus all you have to do to clear this area is wipe out the gore nests which are the root of the hell infestation and are scattered around the map, and you are completely free to choose whichever you go for first. Now, I'm a complete sucker for even the slightest amount of exploration freedom, therefore this is already the perfect sort of level for me. What really keeps me engaged in each gore nest, however, is the way that each one poses a different environmental challenge for the player to overcome. The first nest puts the player in a room with low ceilings, limiting your ability to jump out of the way of projectiles; whilst the second takes place on a broken network of walkways dangling above molten lava, testing the player's ability to jump in order to save their lives. The third Nest is essentially a narrow pathway, stopping the player from dodging to the side too much and the last boasts a couple of vertical levels to pay attention to.

The skills you'll begin developing from taking out these gore nests will be reinforced in later levels until the last levels, where they all get mixed together in complicated arena battles. But that doesn't mean this is another level that takes it easy by any stretch of the imagination, and that is largely due to the fact that this game throws the first of it's really significant demons at you. (You could go so far as to call them the first 'microboss' demon. Although by the end you'll have killed so many of them you'll likely think of them as just more fodder.) Up until now the slayer was killing grunts like the possessed, Imps and Soldiers; but all of a sudden in the foundry they'll come face to face with the fearsome Hell Knight. Hell Knights are big, strong, and oh-so-tanky, making them able to chew up just about any ammunition that you'll have at your disposal at this point in the game. They charge relentlessly at the player and can easily crush anyone not paying attention, the game even does something rare and sets one loose in the level to hunt you down. (That dude usually ends up jump scaring you at the single most inopportune time, teaching you the hard way never to let your guard down.)

From a set-up perspective this level gets just about everything right, but the thing that I think other FPS' can learn from The Foundry, and the reason I keep coming back to it time and time again, is because it's just a blast to go through. The sprawling layout of the level means that you have a lot of mobility to work with as you rip and tear, the 'Smithery' aesthetic of the level means that despite being indoors this level can have dynamically shifting lighting (The lava helps) and the volume of demons-per-gore-nest is great for going on an off-the-cuff slaughter spree. When designing this level there is no doubt in my mind that Id were extra careful to make something that was functional to the pace of the game whilst also being enjoyable on it's own, and it's incredibly difficult to meet two objectives like that and thus I applaud them. That's something that the later COD games lost as they began devoting more and more time to their Multiplayer over the campaigns; whilst the story is important, it also helps to remember that the moment itself should stand up as fun, otherwise where will the replay value come from?

Of course, I'll not throw any other DOOM levels under the bus; they're all incredible fun to go through time and time again. (As evidenced by the fact that I've done several start to finish throughways in March alone) As far as I'm concerned, DOOM 2016 will go down in FPS legend as a absolute classic, if it hasn't already, and it's successes are definitely the bar to which aspiring shooters should hold themselves up to. This was just a little spur-of-the-moment bit of fanboying that I wanted to get off my chest, so I'm not sure if I'll use this formula on other games. (I feel like I've been doing that a bit too much of late, it helps to keep things as a one off) But maybe once I've finally gotten around to DOOM Eternal I'll find another reason to rave about Id Software again.

The GTA rumours have already begun

You're a little early.

Rumours are aplenty across the Internet world, they always have been and always will be. They come, raise some hubbub, and then usually fade away with the tide of the news sea. But here and then there are those special little whispers that peak the interest of a wider audience and fester into persistent sores in the gaming world, never truly fading away like I desperately wish they would. (I feel like I've done that intro several times and each time it gets grosser) This is one of those rumours that is doing the nine yards as it would seem folk have officially started up the whisper wagon for that much memed subject; the creation and debut of Grand Theft Auto 6. (Lord help us all.)

Now of course this isn't the first time that folk on the internet have started flapping their gums about "The imminent Grand Theft Auto 6". In fact, I believe if we're being technical all this stuff started not too long after the launch of Grand Theft Auto Online. (Which was, let me remind you, about 3 months after GTA V. So we're dealing with that breed of people here.) But these sorts of wild accusations have been building pretty much ever since Red Dead Redemption 2 dropped as people immediately assumed; "Oh, Rockstar have done their other game which means GTA 6 is literally around the corner. That's how it works, afterall!" Of course, this is usually coming out of the mouths of the same folk who constantly predicted the release of 'GTA Zombies' every week for the past 9 years, so forgive me if I don't start holding my breath.

But today it seem something unique has piqued up alongside the thudding rumour mill, an actual honest-to-goodness source! (Well how in the heck did that get there?) Yes, according to that most reputable of information sources, some guy on Reddit, Grand Theft Auto Six is much further along in development than we all thought and has not been affected either by this Corona outbreak nor the departure of Rockstar's longtime head writer, Dan Houser. And that's because Dan had apparently entirely finished the script before he left, which sort of makes sense I guess. The part at where I drop off is when the rumours then go on to claim that this is normal procedure for Rockstar, that they start off with a script, record the voice acting, and then go on to make the rest of the game. Now I ain't no expert game developer myself with sources coming out the wazoo but as far as I've heard that is literally the exact opposite approach that ever other traditional game development studio takes, VO's are usually kept until the end. But then Rockstar have also danced to beat of their own drum, so I guess that's not too big of a jump.

I just find it hard to reconcile the fact that merely because the scripting (and apparently the VO) work is done that means the game itself is finished. Or "50% done" as the rumours actually imply. There is so much that goes into making a small budget game beyond the voice acting and story that such a claim would be inconceivable, and we're not talking about a small budget game here. Rockstar have a reputation to uphold as master worldcrafters who have redefined the industry standard for environment development time and time again, and that's the sort of mastery that typically take a lot of time to nail down. (At least that's what I've always been told, I don't have no experience of being that talented.) But hey; I don't know. Maybe this French Redditor and his many mysterious sources are right, as well as his maybe-not-French contemporary who seems to insist on the game being so close to the finish line. I mean it's not like there's any much more respected and well-connected member of the games media who's come out to completely pooh-pooh this entire narrative. Oh wait, yes there is.

You see, before announcing his retirement from Kotaku, Jason Schrier confirmed with his sources that the game was actually still in early development stages and nothing would be materialised for a good many years. But come on, who are you gonna believe? A couple of guys on Reddit who managed to correctly guess the departure of Dan Houser was coming. (As though that was even a secret. Don't people have to hand in some sort of notice? That's how that usually works) Or the man who's widely considered the only actual reporter in gaming media. (Or at least he was the only reporter, now he's off to Bloomberg: who don't actually have a dedicated gaming department as far as I can tell.) Well if you ask the Internet it's obviously going to be the underdogs, because I guess it's just so much more sexy to say something will happen than to say it won't.

But just in case that little info tease isn't enough to get folk all hot and bothered, our tipsters had a much more vague, safe guess to make regarding GTA 6. You see, they also harped on about how the map was going to "So huge, guys!". Quite the broad assumption to make considering the game is apparently only half constructed "But's it's gonna be like; 'bigger than all the other GTA maps'", which is perhaps one of the single most unimpressive predictions I have ever heard regarding a video game bar none for several reasons. (Oh and just a quick aside, I'm using quotations for effect, these aren't actual quotes.) Besides that, can we get over the whole 'the bigger the map means the better the game' mentality? It's pretty dumb. The size of the landmass is only one part of the puzzle compared to the way the team fills it. That little factor can contribute to making a large area feel small and a small place feel huge. Heck, I still attest that 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' has a bigger feeling landmass than 'Grand Theft Auto: V's purely through the inclusion of islands and lakes between them.

None of this matters of course, because the word has already set in the dirt whether it ends up being a lie or not, and I'm certainly no fan of this turn of events. Perhaps that comes from me being a suck up, but I've never really saw the appeal of hearing about a game through leaks instead of just waiting for the marketing web that the publishers plan to weave. Okay, maybe 'never' isn't exactly true, there was a time when I was all about that. A time where even hearing about and reading the casting call for GTA V's characters was worth my time. (Which is something that we still haven't heard about regarding GTA VI by-the-by. Just if you needed another point against the validity of this rumour) But since then it just hasn't felt as fun as keeping up with the word of the developers. I didn't listen to that 'leaked audio' from the Cyberpunk E3 showcase a couple years back, instead I heard the account from those that attended the gameplay and played into the hype; allowing me to appreciate it fully when CDPR released that gameplay to the world later on.

So there it is, the news cycle for Grand Theft Auto 6 has begun whether Rockstar want it to or not. I suppose with a company of the fame and mystery of theirs, it's inevitable for such a train to be started without their consent, but it's still sad to see so many folk ready and willing to jump the gun so spectacularly. Myself, I won't spend the next few weeks digging through forum posts on obscure boards and trading favours onto discord rooms all for the hope of 240p composite photograph of a map. (At least; not this time.) But hey, it's people's prerogative for how they choose to express their fandom; waiting for the magic moment the trailer hits or browsing through google and going "huh." at a headline. Argh, I'm too bitter, I'm going back to bed. (Harumph.)

SCP: Searching the Archives. Part Ia

Mission to the Unknown

I know that I've briefly gone over the SCP before, but let me elaborate once again because I'm a self-centred narcissist who loves the sound of his own... typing? The SCP (Secure Contain Protect) Foundation is an open source community led project to create a catalogue of fictional original cryptic mythologies from the perspective of a secret government organisation tasked with overseeing them all. Think Control but... actually it's literally the exact same premise as Control. (I'm fairly certain that Remedy took some heavy inspiration from the SCP.) This project manifests itself as a website full to the brim of stories and entries cataloguing all of this crazy, interesting stories, most of which with an enticing horror edge to them.

Over the years the whole SCP collection of stories has proven incredibly influential to Internet creepypasta culture as well as potentially influencing some actual big budget productions. (Even if not directly.) It serves as a testament to the power of creativity and the wonder of imagination, and I'm embarrassed to say that I've never sat down and spent a significant time on their website just looking at the pages worth of free creepy stories that are there for anyone to read. Don't me wrong, I've played the games, so I'm not a complete novice to the sort of world SCP conjures. On my old laptop I downloaded and went as far as I could into SCP-087 (Which wasn't very far because I'm a total coward) and I've started 'Containment Breach' several different times on several different computers. (Again, Coward) But I wanted to take a look back at the abundance of source material that these games spawned from and talk about my thoughts regarding each entry.

Of course, there's so many SCP entries available that it would unreasonable (and actually impossible) to look through them all in one blog, so I decided to start another series. (Because I love those. Saves me from having to be creative too often.) This is, however, one which you can join along with due to how easy it is to just type SCP into Google and come across the website dedicated to outdoor living essentials for the garden. Wait a minute... Oh, you'll want the result under that. The wiki itself is very cohesively laid out (Which just about every other Wiki in existence could learn from) so it's easy to take a look at these stories from where they started all the way in series I. There are a variety of SCP entities ranging from the benign to the deadly to those that will instantly teleport to steal you into their pocket dimension the second that you learn their name, so I think this will be a very interesting group of tales to shift through, especially as we try to imagine what they might be capable of in the middle world, but without further ado let's start at the beginning with SCP-001.

The significance of SCP-001 is obvious with it being the very first entry, and this it makes sense that the first ever SCP should have been met with some revisions over the years. This is doubly as important to acknowledge due to the fact that the SCP mythology upholds several different 'canons' that run separate to and interconnect to each other, making it impossible to establish a single progenitor SCP that'll suitable cater to them all. As such the Foundation have come up with a decent solution, (a solution I like to call "The Daggerfall conclusion") make them all canon. Upon visiting the page you'll be met with the knowledge that SCP-001 is so classified that several conflicting entries have been established alongside the true one so that a definitive can never be established. Which, acknowledging the multiple universes that this series juggles, could be interpreted as meaning all of these entries are true whilst none of them are true. (The truth is up to you.)

Either way, this makes the whole 'exploring the SCPs' task rather complicated, therefore I decided to take a fair glance at every entry to see which stood out to me the most. (Which ones were my favourite, so to be speak.) Not to throw any shade on the other stories at all, I just think that there are a few which are a lot more juicy and interesting to consider. But you can read all the stories and disagree with me if you wish, that is the beauty of multiple conflicting and collaborating canons. Also, diving into the stories of SCP-001 is such a chore that I honestly cannot cover all of them in one blog (Yes, there are that many files) so I'll call this entry Part 1a.

The first story relating to SCP-001 is perhaps my favourite due to it being just so straightforwards and non complicated, something you'll come to appreciate the more you dig into SCP. I also like the fact that it takes advantage of it's position as progenitor to provide a origin tale of sorts, which is always kinda cool. Identified only as Jonathan Ball's Proposal, this version of SCP-001 is considered to be the single most dangerous SCP in existence although the manner in which that danger manifests is deliciously abstract. You see this SCP-001 is a sheet of papers with a single stable in one corner, headed with a cover sheet entitled "Confidential Reports on Special Items- Classified". This is the sheet that appeared on some redacted individual's desk one day with no clue of how it came to be.

Inside this unnamed individual read a report on a most curious entity known as 'The Living Room', (which would later come to be known as SCP-002) something they found incredulous until they started receiving phone calls informing them of it's very real existence. When addressing the papers again, however, they found an entirely different report on Biological motherboard (SCP-003) and so on and so forth. Everytime these papers are opened they detail a brand new SCP in varying degrees of detail for the folk of the foundation to hunt down and contain. But here comes the interesting twist; in this iteration of the canon, no SCP has ever been discovered without first being read about in SCP-001. Now, this could mean either that SCP-001 acts as a warning device for soon to manifest anomalous entries or, more likely, that this set of papers is the catalyst which spawns such SCPs into the world.

I love this sort of concept wherein the curiosity of the unknown is the very thing which puts the people of the world in danger, as it's creates this environment where all your sorrows are your own doing. (Perfect horror fodder) In this form of the Canon, the SCP administration have isolated and locked down these papers whilst they try to make up for the thousand SCPs that they've already inadvertently created, hopefully ensuring that no one else gets ahold of them and accidentally creates something dangerous enough to end all life on earth. (Although looking at some of the SCPs for the first 100, I'd say that ship's already sailed) Although the current SCP administration are only in power for a limited amount of time, and who's to say that the next admins would have the same scruples? Seeing as how the number of SCP tales now reaches up to 6000, I'm guessing that they didn't.

The next proposal for SCP-001 is not really very interesting as far as I'm concerned so you'll forgive me if I brush past it. Known as Dr Gears' proposal, this SCP is just a blue lanky cyclops demon who creates miniblackholes with his mind and can teleport. pretty freaky stuff in it's own right but not really the sort of creature worthy of the number 001 slot in my opinion. I didn't really know what to make of this story and I didn't take much away from it, so I'll just swiftly move onto the much more interesting third iteration of SCP-001.

Now in order to understand Dr Clef's Proposal you need to wrap your head around one of the canon's because this SCP is essential to it. Essentially, one of SCP canon's takes things slightly away from the science fiction and into religious mythology, which is why this entry has so many references to Abrahamic faiths. This SCP-001 is best described as a flaming angel with a flaming sword who appears to guard what looks to be the gate to heaven. (Which is on Earth for some unknown reason.) This fella is very serious about his job, and will basically stop at nothing to ensure that these gates are defended, even if that means brutally killing anyone who approaches it without seeming to do anything at all.

Anyone who approaches within a 1km radius of this SCP-001 is considered a potential threat by the angel, and it will respond appropriately. To some that have been asked to approach it has merely psychically ordered them to leave and forget that they had ever been there, and to others who have launched weaponary at it from half a continent away, it has destroyed the weapon and killed all those involved with the attempted murder. (So there's certainly an escalation in scale.) Most interestingly, however, was one fellow who approached SCP-001 and was told to retreat and 'prepare'; and order which that fellow to found the SCP. This is an interesting enough story on the surface, but I personally feel it's just a tad too dramatic for the 'weird horror' vibe that SCP seems to thrive on. I mean, how am I supposed to reconcile a flaming Angel guarding Heaven as existing in the same universe as bowl of sweets which'll cut your hand off if you take too many. (We'll get to that one eventually.)

I do understand that the whole 'dramatic' angle is part of this particular branch of SCP, but it invites too many questions which can only be answered with "We'll, you've got to read this entry too". Now those sorts of rabbit holes are all well and good, but if there's no comprehensive starting point it can feel a little daunting, when I started reading at how they sent other SCPs at the 001, whom turned out to be Cain and Abel respectively, I was just completely turned off. Maybe once I know more about this particular branch of SCP I look upon this entry with new eyes, but right now it's just too much for me. The whole thing about a message from the future signalling the end of the world is pretty much the nail in that coffin. (It's works for an Anime, not so much for a creepypasta)

qntm's Proposal is a bit more abstract and weird, in keeping with the SCP that I know, but I'm unsure as to it's significance at number 001 as of yet. This SCP-001 is simple a onyx gemstone with a white pattern traced into it and golden filigree fractals that are ingrained to at an apparently impossibly microscopic level. It's history is primordial and it's mystery is palpable, as all this entry really reveals is that this is some sort of prison created to hold something called "Apakht". All of this sounds like a curious ground zero for another branch of SCP lore and I'm curious to see what becomes of it, as I'm sure we will down the line.

Lastly comes a story form of SCP-001 which appears to be from a fellow known as 05. This iteration of SCP-001 is... a lot. Told from a perspective which appears to be a top SCP researcher getting a surprise visit from the ancient Founder, we are treated to a story around the origins of something known as 'The Factory' and the means to which this man discovered there was more to his world than he originally thought. The story itself is well written and decent enough, it just throws so much at you that I don't know what to believe, I think it's an extension upon the flaming Angel mythos as that is mentioned briefly, (though dismissively) in the text. Once Faeries with iron allergies started showing up and beheading people, I was confused beyond all get out. I encourage you to go read this story for yourself and see what you get out of it, because for me it was kinda sensory overload and the reason why I cut this look into SCP-001 short.

Those are just a taste of the SCP-001 entries that currently exist and I do intend to get through them all, only once I've had a little time to process what I've read so far. it is quite fun to look through these stories, I'll admit; it's like role-playing detective across conflicting casefiles, finding your own truth hidden within them. (It's quite fun.) Over the next two blogs I hope to wrap up SCP-001's interpretations and get more into the meat of SCP, which should allow me to cover multiple entries per blog. (But there's no promises coming out of me yet.) Until then I'll keep my fingers crossed for more spooky entries, especially as I have feeling that soon we'll be touching upon The Scarlet King.

The Best Companion in: The Outer Worlds

And wander through the forest

Yup, I'm back with this series once again to take another oh-so-subjective look at who the best companion is in The Outer Worlds. This time it ain't a Bethesda title, but rather the Obsidian game that many say eclipses everything that Bethesda have put out in their long stint with the Fallout licence. That's not an argument that I want to really go over until my review, but it does legitimise my attempt to include this title in my 'best companions' lineup. On that subject... I know that I'm several months late on my Outer Worlds review but it's just one of the many blog-related projects that I've had to put on hold out of a mix of more interesting topics to write about and just plain laziness on my part. (I'll get to it eventually. Probably.) But that's neither here nor there, because today is all about the crew of the Unreliable.

Companions in the Outer Worlds are treated much how you'd expect any companion in a Western RPG to be. They are optional folk who you run into throughout your adventure with their own issues and gripes who agree to throw in their lot with you in exchange for you helping them with their problems. (Like a very hands-on kind of therapist) In more of a Mass Effect twist to this formula, these folk also become members of the player's crew, meaning that they follow you on your journeys across the cosmos and even have some things to say regarding the main quest every once and a while. Of course, this also allows for these folk to interact with each other and talk whilst you do your own thing around the ship, and that nets huge points from me right out of the gate. (I love that stuff!) But let's get into the specifics one-by-one.

First we have the companion SAM, and I very much did put him as the first entry because he is my least favourite of the crew and I'm still kinda bummed to admit that. SAM, (Sanitation and Maintenance Automechanical) fulfils the position of your resident robot crew member that was popularised by Knight of the Old Republic. But whereas HK-47 was unforgettable for his snarky unsympathetic disdain for everything none metal, SAM just sort of exists as a long-running joke of being a cleaning robot that you've reprogrammed to fight folk. Now alone that's a decent enough premise to make an small throwaway gag, but as a prolonged companion who is with you for the entire length of the campaign it sort of wears thin in a couple minutes. That couples with the fact that SAM has no personality or quest-line to speak off, making him probably one of the most boring additions to a companion roster that I've ever seen out of Obsidian. (Oh, and he sets off 'Robophobia' which made him practically useless for my playthroughs.)

The next fellow is a lot more developed as a character but still not really my cup of tea, and by that I'm referring to Felix. This is the rebellious little fellow who joins up with your crew the first time you arrive to Groundbreaker, and he latches onto the player in order to find his direction in life. He pretty much exists as a punk anti-establishment archetype although he lacks any significant cause or purpose of his own. This puts him in the position of being an impressionable youth who is taught through example by his elders, something which is fine enough from a narrative perspective but not really what I look for from companions in my action RPG games. I know that may sound pretty hypocritical after I've lauded New Vegas for having companions who mould to your influence, but let me explain. In New Vegas these characters were their own people, with their own goals or directions in life; The Courier would insert themselves into that plan and become a source of inspiration in doing so, it was a development that happened naturally rather than a more contrived arrangement as it is with Felix. What that allows for is development to work both ways as we get a glimpse into the sort of person we are through the ways we shape those around us, which is always the ultimate goal for me when I play an RPG; to figure out exactly who it is that I'm playing and who they will grow into by the end. With Felix that 'reflection of character' is not as apparent or too muddy, so even after we go through his character quest and amend, or encourage, his beliefs and philosophies, I'm still no closer to getting to the core of the player character, and that's a loss in my book. (To be fair, that's true with most of The Outer Worlds' companions, but with Felix it's a glaring misstep, as his reaction to the player seems to be his biggest character point.)

Okay, so maybe ADA isn't exactly a 'companion' so to speak, but her purpose in the story is similar enough to one so I'm counting it. ADA, or (Autonomous Digital Astrogator) is an experimental AI that runs the Unreliable and is foisted into your care after your escape pod accidentally lands on her former captain. ADA is quite frankly hilarious and any player would be doing themselves a disservice not to catch her opinion on every event in the story before you pursue it. When asked about how to deal with the settlement of Edgewater she actively encourages to do whatever you can to destroy the whole place merely for being the location where Captain Hawthrone died, and she's full of these delightfully illogical impulses that seem entirely antithetical to the character of a computer and yet fit her so well. In another scene she empathically denounces any assumption that she is sentient, whilst simultaneously providing evidence to that fact purely with the vehement passion of her response. ADA serves as this enigma that is never really unravelled throughout the narrative but she doesn't need to be, the fun is in the mystery. unfortunately she has no real questline to her so I can't really mark her too high.

Back to actual companions, however, and we'll end up at the hunter Nyoka from the beast-ruled moon of Monarch. This character is actually lightly embedded into the main story in a very superficial manner, but it's a suitable enough introduction to a character that I quite like. Nyoka is witty and sarcastic but not to an excessive degree. Plus, her particular gripes actually have a origin in her backstory, so that's nice. Nyoka has pretty insightful commentary on the situations you come up against and she is one of the party members that I always ended up relying upon in my playthroughs, to the point where I literally wouldn't have finished the game in my initial run without her skills. (Picking the 'Robophobia' flaw proved to bite me in the ass at the final bossfight.) Her questline is also very serviceable for all the beats I look for in a companion questline; a personal task which reveals some vulnerability to the character and provides a vehicle for the development of both parties involved. I just feel as though the actual quest in question was a little... generic. It's the kind of thing I've seen in a dozen MMO's before and I don't instantly remember Nyoka when I think of that setup. (The whole 'last member of a team goes and finds the last effects of their former team members' just doesn't feel unique.) Maybe that slight disappointment is just me and others loved Nyoka's story, but that's just what I came away with.

As there always seems to be one companion who ends up as the face of the game, for The Outer Worlds I think it'd have to be Ellie, which is strange seeing as how she has very little to do with both the main narrative or the main thematic conflict against utilitarianism. That being said, Ellie is still one of the most likeable companions, so I understand why Obsidian decided to show her off. Snarky and cynical, Ellie Fenhill is an interesting oxymoron as a trained doctor who also identifies as a bandit/pirate. She's neither as caring as one would expect from someone from the healthcare profession nor as bloodthirsty as stereotypical bandit/pirates, making her quite the label defy-er. As you get to know her a bit better you'll learn the truth behind her backstory, which is so perfect that I will not spoil it here. (And it makes absolute sense.) Unfortunately Ellie is oddly dismissive when it comes to chiming in for key decisions, and I understand that's part of her personality, but it makes it hard to bring her into the pace of the story. (Although again, that's sort of her point.)

Vicar Max is one companion who utterly surprised me in every single way. First of all, I didn't think he'd even be a companion even after meeting him face to face. (That almost never happens. Prospective companion's usually stick out like a sore thumb.) Then I thought that his standoffish introduction would make him an unlikable person, but he turned out to have much more personality to him than was initially apparent. Maximilian serves as a vicar for The Order of Scientific Inquiry, but he finds it difficult to maintain the stoic piety inherent with such an office as his search for intellectual validation clashes with his taught beliefs. As you delve into his personal story you end up delving into the heart of a man torn by who he was raised to be and who he thinks he should be, something that the player gets to experience very vividly. Max's journey is actually very unique and interesting, showcasing a man shattering his very foundations of belief and being profoundly affected by it, and his story is certainly one that fascinates me with every playthrough. Additionally, his presence serves as a very clever way of introducing players to the Halcyon religion and opposing Iconoclasts, immersively imparting oodles of important exposition. (Not too shabby, Obsidian.)

However, for my pick of best there's no one I can feasibly settle on other than Parvati, and amazingly that's purely due to her personality. (I'm usually very cold and unempathetic to such characters.) You meet Ms. Holcomb rather early on in the game, and that's very strategic as her perspective on events is akin to that of the Halcyon everyman, which is an important voice to consider as you blaze your trail across the colony. In personality, Parvati is a grounded soul who's lived her entire life in subservience, and consequently is very mild mannered and shy. Joining your crew is likely the most impulsive decision she's ever made thus building her confidence is the obvious point of her questline. In the grand scheme of things, however, nothing you achieve with her actually has any bearing on the main questline. Irregardless of that, I find her to be easily my favourite presence aboard The Unreliable. She seems to be the most genuinely nice person onboard at any given time and her companion quest of helping her get a date with the lead engineer of the Groundbreaker was simply adorable. Parvati served as a glimmer of innocence amidst the deluge of greed and corruption that this story centres around and I found myself really appreciating that by the late game. And so I guess that makes Parvati my choice for best companion in The Outer Worlds, a fact that I'm surprised to acknowledge even as I type this. But I guess she and Max are the only companions who I didn't feel fell slightly short of their potential, and she's more fun to hang around than Max. (Process of elimination, baby!)

I'll admit that I went into this particular blog not actually knowing who I'd pick by the end, so I'm slightly more elucidated merely from writing this. Of course, there will be a bit more Outer Worlds content due out at some time, so this might not actually be the full rooster of companions for the final game, but this is my selection for the time being. (Perhaps I'll write an addendum some time later.) Until then, however, I'll merely wrap this up with a slight tease about how my next companion-related blog will get a little more 'fantastical'. Stupid cliffhanger that I'm sure I've done before, but there it is.

Birthday Blog: 'Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater'

The past is gone...

Today, on my Birthday, I've decided that I would give myself a little treat by talking about my single favourite game of all time. Afterall, what better time is there to discuss a topic of such importance when it comes to personal video game preference? You can learn so much about someone by learning what their favourite game is; you learn why it is they play games, what they hope to get out of their time and what is the one thing they want for everytime they start a new game. As a lifelong gamer, my favourite game is especially important to me, as it took had active role in the development of my life. I'm talking about that one game which helped to ignite my passion for storytelling and essentially set me on the path that I am on today. A game that I unconditionally love through all of it's faults and imperfections, because it is perfect in my eyes. A game that is closer to me than many of my closet confidants. I am talking about: 'Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater'.

My History

I have detailed my history with the Metal Gear franchise before, however it's my birthday and I love telling this story so get off my back already! I did not hail from a particularly flush or affluent family in my youth; Although, I was lucky enough to be raised in a rather nice neighbourhood, albeit in a crappy city. We were still a lower class family living in a middle class area, however, so we weren't always, and still aren't, abundant in disposable funds. (I can only imagine what a headache it must have been for my parents once they realised I was getting into a hobby as expensive as gaming!) That being said, they still endeavoured to do everything that could in order to provide for me and later by brother too, eventually this would branch out to keeping us entertained. I would get a lot of hand-me-down toys and computer games to play around with (Which ultimately meant I ended up getting more things then those kids who only accepted brand new toys.) This philosophy would lead to the first system that I would call mine.

My father came back from work one day with a pretty big Christmas gift, A second-hand PS2 and a whole box worth of video games. Apparently a colleague of his was moving and needed to clear out her space and so I ended up profiting from the situation. In my first Metal Gear blog I talked about this in detail, but long story short this was how I came across what had become my copy of: 'Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater'. At first I found myself instantly repulsed by the game. I couldn't quite remember if I'd heard of the series before (I had.) and something about the exquisite box art didn't gel with my childish brain. It was only after I had exhausted every other game in that box, that I finally got around to giving Metal Gear a chance. Or rather, the manual a chance. Back in the day of physical games, manuals were the ideal piece of literature that every gamer partook in. They contained useful insight, stories, pictures and screenshots. It was the way that we would allow our imagination to the paint the picture of the game before we ever put the disc in our console. (Therefore guaranteeing that we would ruin any potential to be surprised. Kids are weird.) So instead of just trying the game that I had lying around I decided to test the water with it's manual, and what I saw shocked me.

Now I was no stranger to action video games by any stretch of the imagination, indeed I had played a great many, and yet they all seemed cut from the same cloth. Some were fantastical, others were more horror-based, but all seemed mechanically homogenised; that's just the consequence of widely accepted standards for game design. From what I read in that manual, however, 'Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater' seemed to challenge all of that. Actions were limited by a stamina bar, I'd seen that before, but I'd never seen a system where you needed to collect food by hunting in order to keep that bar stocked. You could take care of enemies by shooting them, yet if you snuck up you could hold them up and essentially mug the poor souls! Even cutscenes were more involved than what any of Metal Gear's contemporaries were doing at the time, with an interactive button allowing players to change their perspective in dynamic ways such as looking down binoculars or through the eyes of Snake. (Think Quibi but good.)

What stood out to me beyond all of that was the stealth system, specially the 'index', which was far beyond anything I could ever imagine a game to be. Now, clearly that was mostly due to the fact that I had never played any stealth game before (there were a lot of them, I just never got them.) But even then, the specific way in which Metal Gear bought stealth to life was simply unbelievable to my mind back then. A system within which players had to actually match the pattern of their camouflage with the specific environment in order to stay stealthy? Are you kidding me; that's witchcraft! And it would be dynamic, with the need to change camo as you move from grassy floor to rocky land. This was character customisation with a fantastically meaningful twist to it and I just couldn't get enough.

Of course, for my little adolescent eyes the real thing which sealed the deal was the gun page. Yeah, the game manual had an entire couple of pages dedicated to the vast array of items that could be acquired within the game, and that meant at least one page full of guns. Once again, I couldn't imagine this many weapons in one game, and all of them seemed so strange and varied. On one hand you had the old M16, (or XM16E1) those were practically in every single game, but what the heck was a Drugnov? Or a Mosin-Nagant? Remember that this was back in 2004 before Call of Duty became a phenomena and every single teenager developed an encyclopedic knowledge for the entire US weapon stockpile. (It's weird what COD culture did to us.)

So with all that to look through it only made since that Metal Gear Solid 3's booklet became my favourite go-to reading material whenever I didn't have the ability to game myself. I would keep it on my bedstand before I went to sleep, I would read it in the mornings before school; I'd like to think that I didn't go so far as to bring it into school to read it, but I was chronically geeky so there's a good chance that I did. (And that was before I developed my rudimentary social skills, so you can bet I'd rather read a game manual than talk to other kids at lunch.) I realise that this must make we sound like a total weirdo, and that would be because I was and still am. (Why do you think I waited until by birthday to rat myself out like this.) Also, I'm beating around the bush about it because I'm terrible at remember ages, but I was most certainly not old enough to play Metal Gear, so that's a whole can of worms I don't want to even think about right now...

Around that time I had another game that I was pining for, and that was because I'd played it around friend's places and was incredibly excited to see it end up as part of my collection by chance. Unfortunately, that was game was 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas', a series which every parent knows is too adult for their child. I could maybe brag off some of my 15-gated games by the natural benefit of my parents being naive, but there's no sneaking GTA past anyone, (it's too infamous) and so I found myself caught between a rock and a hard place with that title. All I wanted was to jump into what would become my favourite Rockstar title, but my Dad was wise enough to know I wasn't quite ready for it yet. (Although that didn't stop me sneaking play sessions at night. Kids gotta kid)

But in that time I was left with the void of needing a game to enjoy, before realising that there was one I knew a great deal about but had never tried. By that point I had played just about every single game that had caught my eye and was only left with picking through the extras, yet somehow it was only until that moment that I though it might be fun to throw on Metal Gear for a while. Of course, I wasn't exactly expecting good things but I was slightly curious after all the things that I had read. I mean, how bad could the game feasibly be, right? And so I snuck myself some time to play MGS one sunny afternoon and the rest is pretty much history.

A game like no other

Most people who have been gaming just a bit longer than me credit 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' for being the first time gaming really evolved into something truly cinematic. For me, however, Zelda was never a childhood obsession of mine, so I had to wait until Metal Gear to happen upon that particular revelation. It didn't take too long either, as pretty much from the moment go Metal Gear Solid 3 throws all of it's cards on the table with that iconic as heck introduction. That great scene cutting between the control room and the plane hangar as our hero prepares for the world's first HALO jump, is just a whole different ballgame to Spiderman 2 or Fable. From the camera angles, the shot composition, the noticeable artist's intent; for the first time ever I saw a game that managed to capture true cinematic magic!

Of course, now I know this is due to the talents of Kojima productions and the guiding eye of the movie-nut game director Hideo Kojima, but back then it felt like I was watching a movie come to life, and i was instantly enamoured. Snake Eater told the story of a CIA covert operations group known as FOX looking to cut it's teeth on an extraction mission deep in the Russian forest, and you get the honour of playing as their top agent; Naked Snake. Kojima always had this talent for making these easily digestible set-ups that build and build into something elaborate and insane by the credits, evolving the stakes along with the pace in a way we just don't see in films today. (Or really ever, to be honest. There isn't enough time for it.)

For me I was luckily that I started here in the Metal Gear series, as this was a prequel game intended to tell the story behind a figure famous to the lore of the series, whilst to me it was just a really cool story that I could jump into. I wasn't burdened by the games worth of lore involving clones, warring brothers and amputated replacement arms that contains the soul of your deceased brother maybe. (Metal Gear's lore does get trying sometimes) That perspective allowed me to approach the game in the manner that I felt it was intended; like a pure self-contained adventure following one man who slips into events far beyond his depth. It's a testament to the strength of the story and writing that this was even feasible, and that I could come to connect with Snake on his struggles without having to know who he was in his later years.

And that isn't even touching upon the strengths of the gameplay, and there were certainly a lot! By today's standards, of course, there would be a tad bit too many loading screens, (Although they honestly don't take more than a couple seconds anyway) but that is all understandable when you take into account the sheer amount of detail contained in literally every single corner of this game. Each slice of Tselinoyarsk is built to accommodate the stealthy individual with ferns of grass scattered all over the place, stealth index modifiers related to every visible texture and several routes around each guard encounter. But even beyond that there are secret pieces of discarded equipment in treetrunks, herbs and fruit in the environment for harvesting and even active ecosystems that the player can exploit in order to get one-up on those around him.

Coming to all this as a kid who thought he knew the extent of what games could be, I was quite frankly shook with everything I was getting my hands on. All of a sudden I was playing a game which redefined my parameters for 'immersive' and made me really feel like I was prowling the woods as an apex predator. Nothing I had read in my extensive time with the manual could accurately convey how fun adapting to all of these systems would be and how empowering the plain act of stealth-ing was. It's often joked about how all of these stealth-based games will inundate players with ways to kill and then tell them not to use them, but Metal Gear always seemed mindful to ensure we had just as many ways to distract, or forsee the patrolling soldiers, making either play-style as fun as the other. I still remember how blown away I was at the time by even the littlest things, like the way that Snake could knock his knife-hand against a wall face in order to attract  guards. (How is that not a thing in more games?) Long story kinda short; 'Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater' was a supremely fun game to play with, and it was inevitable that I was going to stick with it through to the end.

Snake's Story

Coming into it fresh, perhaps the most surprising element about Metal Gear as a game from the early 2000's was the way in which it's story proved just as engaging and interesting as anything you'd see in film. As I alluded to earlier, there were some significant games who weaved their stories into a deft thread, but those were always the exceptions, never the rule. Snake Eater, meanwhile, delivered a brilliantly paced, personally-charged, spy thriller to rival (and honestly trump) most of the James Bond movies. (I've always said that MGS 3 was the greatest Bond game ever made, they just forgot to throw in James.) The stakes are deliciously universal whilst intensely individual, the acts are perfectly pitched and the set-pieces are frankly unforgettable. (I may be jumping the gun a bit but it must be said; if you've never played Snake Eater because you're dubious if it holds up, change that right now because I promise you that it absolutely does.)

As a kid playing through this game I will be honest, there were quite a decent amount of story beats that I frankly didn't understand, but even then I was still fully capable of playing along and having fun. The one which still gets me, however, even to this day is the way in which Kojima tries to shock the audience with the surprise of Eva and Tatyana being one and the same. Seriously? The blonde haired blue eyed women with the exact same face structure who are never in the same place at the same time were the same person? Who'd have thought... Seriously, though, it was only in my third playthrough that I realised that was supposed to be a surprise reveal. So that's a bit silly looking back, but it still doesn't detract from the scenes she's in. (Especially not the one with the "Motorcycle oil")

I think what it was that 'Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater' in particular did so well, was marrying the natural ramping of the game with the pacing of the story and the growth of the main character. (A narrative polygamous extravaganza, if you will.) Once the prologue is behind you and the true stakes of the game are revealed, (spoilers) we are alerted to the fact that our former mentor and her entire crew of WW2 Heroes (Cobra Unit) have joined up with a former-Soviet megalomaniac in a defection so volatile that it has the potential to spark global conflict if it isn't resolved presently. (There's also the fact that, said megalomaniac, just blew up a Russian facility with an American nuke that your mentor handed over as a defection gift.) This means that you're literally racing against the potential end of the world whilst facing up against your mentor (fittingly named: The Boss) who abandoned you years before you felt your training was complete.

Right away Kojima sets up this feeling of inferiority as Snake and The Boss converse before her defection only to come to a small argument once Snake complains how she never taught him to "Think like a solider." The Boss merely remarks that she can't teach him that, and sows the seeds of Snake not being ready to be his own man, clearly not even knowing what that means. Then, at the moment of her defection, we get a much more hands-on demonstration of his inferiority to her when he tries to stop her from kidnapping the scientist he just recovered and promptly gets his arse handed to him. And I mean it, The Boss totally beats the ever living crap out of Snake and he doesn't even get a hit in. By this point the game has already taken the time to inform us that they know all the same moves, so clearly there must be something more innate setting them apart as The Boss breaks Snake's arm and throws him off a cliff.

So right there you have your set-up; Snake needs to kill The Boss in order to prove to the Kremlin that the CIA had nothing to do with The Boss' defection; (and the subsequent attack on Russian soil. Even though they kinda did, but that's a whole other story) but in order to do that he needs to recover, regroup, deploy one week later and stop whatever it is she's planning with her new BFF, Ex-GRU Colonel Volgin. He has to grow into the soldier that the Boss tried to make him, and prove that growth by fighting her former WW2 squad-mates in order to reach her. (Handily providing a good narrative reason for there to be boss fights.) I am being honest when I say that I've never seen another video game weave gameplay, story and character so tightly together and I know it's not easy to do. That's one of the many reasons why Kojima is so highly regarded for the auteur that he is. 

There and back again

Operation Snake Eater follows Snake on his journey as he is forged in the fire of ordeal through his attempts to survive the Russian Forest. That alone actually sets it quite apart from the other 'stealth game' contemporaries as rather than having the action occur in a sterile and sensible building structure (as the past two MGS games did) it happened to blossom out into the wild and dangerous wilds of an unkempt forest. Although the action did not stay there, but moved along with the plot to "The virgin cliffs" from which Tselinoyarsk gets it's name before finally going back to more industrious environments with the infiltration of Groznyj Grad. (Terrible Fortress.)

Along that journey there are several threats to overcome, from Volgin's GRU soldiers to The Boss' wartime friends to even an appearance from a young Revolver Ocelot. (Looking very much like a grown up version of Gary from Bully.) Your options for handling these threats are almost never linear, and some of the little tricks are so out of left field that even now I see folk completely blindsided by a few of them. I mean sure, you can shoot a gun or sneak past them, but did you know that you can capture a python and then chuck it at an enemy to watch them struggle? How about the way in which you can target and blow up certain supply rooms to negatively effect nearby enemies with permanent debuffs? (If you blow up the food then they'll be more eager to chase down any spare rations you leave in their path, blow up ammo and they'll be more sparing with shots in combat, etc.) In any other game these would be huge gimmicks that are slapped on the box and sold as the be-all end-all of dynamic gameplay systems, but in MGS 3 they're just there. The supply room trick isn't even in the game manual and the game doesn't tell you unless you specifically radio for SIGINT whilst literally staring one in the face.

But that's just the ways in which the emergent gameplay pans out. For the boss fights things are a little more straight-forward, but even then with room to breathe. But before I go into it, can I just lose myself for a moment in a time when games still had boss battles? What days those were! When you could expect the adventure to be inter-cut with one-on-one battles of endurance and wit. Sure there'll be a gimmick or sleight thrown in there to keep things fresh, but at it core it was your health bar against theirs, the ultimate test of wills. What happened to those days? Well, I know what happened. Less and less imaginative folk got ahold of game design and started making every boss into lazy bullet-sponge time sinks that took all the fun out of it. Nowadays almost every video game boss fight is little more than their gimmicks and sometimes just a few scripted quick time events. (That's part of the reason why I'm so glad that I found the Kingdom Hearts series recently, but I digress...)

Metal Gear Solid 3 launched a long time before that dark age of boss fights and, in fact, this title has a bit of a reputation for having some of the greatest bosses in gaming. Who could forget the subterranean flamethrower duel with The Fury, (who is totally supposed to be MGS' version of Yuri Gagarin) the cavern side gun slog against Ocelot or, the classic, the sniper showdown against the photosynthetic centenarian: The End. All of these fights are renowned for being distinct, cinematic and just a whole lot of fun to go through. Whatsmore, you can handle them through killing your opponent or, if you're feeling sly, by tranquillising them into submission. (Due to their microbombs most still die, but you'll get a cool reward for your patience.) The End even has two unique ways of killing him that are unlike anything I've ever seen in any other video game. One in which you can quickly snipe him after the end of his introductory cutscene, which is obviously before he has been 'awoken' and the other one which simply requires you to save during his fight and sod off for a week. Literally, when you come back he'll have died of old age. (How wild is that?)

For my money, however, no fight is better than the last few that are thrown during the climatic final act of the story. (With that finale being timeless.) Because afterall, how can you have a metal gear game without the Metal Gear? Speaking of, I applaud MGS 3 once again for doing the impossible: finding a sensible reason for the existence of the series' namesake. In previous games, the Metal Gear was a walking weapons platform that raised a lot of questions, such as why? What's the point of sticking a missile on a giant robot when you can just shoot it from a cannon? Of course, the answer was that the Metal Gear could be deployed anywhere but really think about it; how in the heck is anyone supposed to transport a giant steel monstrosity that's 21.5 meters tall? That thing would drop a jet out of the sky, it's more trouble than it's worth.

In MGS 3, however, being a prequel; you get to witness the progenitor of the Metal Gear line: The Shagohod. Now this weapon is the perfect answer to a timely question, how could the one win the Cuban missile crisis? Now of course, logistically this crisis came about due to an issue wherein nuclear ordinance was being moved into striking range of the US mainland, igniting a tense standoff that only avoided full blown World War due to cooler prevailing heads of state on both sides of the iron curtain. You all know this, it's ancient history at this point. In MGS 3, however, this is very recent news, and Colonel Volgin rebelled against his Soviet colleagues for being too weak to go to full blown war. (And other reasons which I cannot go into right now.)

The Shagohod was thus invented to circumvent such a crisis in the future, by being a large mobile weapons platform capable of being a ICMB carrier and be attached with jet rockets. This means that with enough rocket fuel and as little as 3 miles of runway, it can attain enough momentum to launch a rocket from anywhere in Russia to anywhere in the USA; hitting them before they even knew a missile had been launched. That is logical, and beyond that, it's scary; isn't it? Because it's sounds just technical enough to be real, and isn't the threat of something like that something to be worried about? Of course, by the time this game was made that threat is entirely trumped, now anyone can fire a nuke from anywhere to hit wherever they want, and you can bet your bottom-dollar that's something Kojima wanted folks to be thinking about, being an anti-nuclear activist like he is. 

A lot of this is something that I, as an amateur writer, can only dream of imitating; subtlety, mindfulness and real stakes. So much about the narrative of Metal Gear Solid 3 is like this, ideally cinematic with a little bit of something extra to it. Sometimes that extra can be a lifelike reflection of an issue, othertimes it's weird surrealism, never is it dull or pastiche like one would naturally assume a spy story to be. (Like James Bond so often is.) Speaking of writing, did I ever mention that Hideo Kojima, through this game, is the reason why I became attached to writing? (Which even today is the only aspect of my person that I don't completely despise.) That wasn't sparked from any of these overarching themes or plotlines, I was too young and stupid to understand any of that when I first played the game. No, instead it was something much more mundane that opened up the way I see storytelling.

You see I took for granted all of the effortlessly cinematic visuals and composite shots for the very reason I just described, because they seemed effortless. Much more interested was I in the big guns and the set piece moments and all the stuff that the storytelling enabled. That was until just after the legendary fight against The End, wherein I find myself up against another iconic scene; The ladder. (That's not code for anything, it's just a ladder.) Functionally, this tunnel space acts as a transition from one environment to another, as Snake enters this service space in the forest and alights from the top of the area's mountain, but Hideo Kojima and his team decided to make it much more than that. You see, when Snake is climbing this ladder there isn't a cutscene simulating the passage of time. (like one would naturally expect in times like this) No, instead you do it all in realtime.

Now climbing the ladder doesn't take too hideously long, it's about two and a half minutes of work, but when you think about it; that is a while now, isn't it? Any ladder that's two minutes high is a fair bit of distance, and asking the player to sit around and hold the analogue stick up for Snake is just a recipe for boredom, right? However even to this day this is one of favourite scenes and it's all down to one subtle addition. As a kid playing this game I legitimately thought I was imagining things when I heard Cythnia Harrell's voice crooning my ascent, but having played the game several times over I now can confirm that I was not going crazy, it's there. Whilst the player makes their arduous way up the mountain service tunnel, an acapella rendition of MGS' Bond-tastic main theme is played, and to this day it still gives me chills. But here's the kicker; it had no purpose to be there for the good of the game.

Think about that; the player is subjected to a two minute ladder trip with a fixed camera angle just to hear the main theme played again, sans instrumental, and none of it enriches the gameplay. As a kid this struck me as so deliberate, so distinct, that it forced me to open my eyes and look at everything else that Kojima and co were doing with this game, and that's when I saw it. The bleedin' obvious that I've reiterated time and time again over this blog. I saw that this game was designed from the ground-up to be a movie story told through the lenses of a game. (It's just good luck and skill which ensured both the movie and the game sections were exceptional.) And that, dear reader, was the catalyst that shook something loose in my ol' noggin. You see before that I'd only ever seen stories for what they were, Moby Dick was printed ink on a page, A Christmas Carol was just a bunch of actors in a studio. (Yes, it was a book first. Just go with it.) But now I had something that wasn't so simple. It was a movie, in a game. That got the ball rolling as I started to realise how malleable stories could be, how you can tell anything on any medium with enough skill, and that's why I do the things I do today. (For better or for worse. Mostly for worse, however, let's be fair.)

Tears in rain

If there is that one moment, in 'Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater' that will always stay with me, it's that finale. Just like that moment with Aerith in Final Fantasy 7; or the strangely similar moment with Lunafreya Nox Fleuret in Final Fantasy 15; Or... (A non FF game. Think! Think...) Oh, that moment when you confront Darth Malak in 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'! (Nailed it.) These are the scenes that don't just stay with you, but still evoke those same emotions and reactions everytime that you view them. Whether that is a moment of great sorrow for the loss of someone so well realised that they felt like a friend, or the shock of a brilliantly executed reveal or, in the case of this game, a confrontation of such weight and significance that you cannot help but stop and feel the power of it.

By the end of the game, Snake has been through the ringer. He's beaten each member of the Cobra Unit and proven himself in that regard, he's survived multiple deadly scenarios, uncovered the existence of The Shagohod, been captured and tortured, jumped off a cliff, endured a hazy trip into the afterlife which may have been in his head but maybe not, fought Colonel Volgin man-to-man, joined up with another spy (Eva) and blown up half of Groznyj Grad, battled the Shagohod whilst hanging out the back of a motorbike's sidecar, and dragged Eva through enemy infested woods once she crashed that bike and got skewered on a tree branch. He's already saved the world from a nuclear platform it wasn't ready to face and now just needs to get back home and take that break he's been waiting for, but things are never that easy. On the way to their MiG escape plane that's hidden on the lake, Eva hits Snake with a bomb; before she was found out as a spy, The Boss told Eva to direct Snake to her if they made it this far.

At this point Snake has a choice, he's clearly capable of just cutting and running, but his mission isn't technically done unless he kills The Boss; the woman who practically raised him. Although for Snake there isn't even really a choice to make, as this is a confrontation that he has endured everything to be ready for, and now he is. So he leaves Eva to prepare their exit so he can travel to one of the most visually evocative locations in the entire franchise; The Lake of Destiny. (I can't remember the Russian name.) This place is a beautiful clearing full to the brim of blooming water lilies, creating this eerie curtain of white atop the ground, and in the middle of that clearing: The Boss in her silvery stealth suit petting her milky Andalusian steed.

There they finally meet, student and teacher, but instead of descending immediately to blows or accusations, instead The Boss has a story to tell Snake. One last lesson, if you will. She tells him the story of her life, showing Snake the ways in which their lives have shadowed each other. She talks about how she was used as a guinea pig for military nuclear experimentation in her youth; how she rose to fight for America when the world fell to war; how she had to have a caesarean on the battlefield, only to have the baby taken away from her; and basically the many ways in which she had given so much of herself to a machine that only seems to take and take. She speaks more about herself in that moment than she ever had to anyone else before, and to me I always interpreted this as a warning to Snake. They were so similar, and she didn't want him to end up consumed by conflict his entire life like she was, as that is a loser's game. Before he can get too complacent, however, she radio's into her team and delivers a deadly ultimatum; in 10 minutes a strike team will home-in to bomb this entire area, and only one of them could leave before then. In her words, she had given him everything she could and the only thing left for him to take was her life. And with that she declares "Lets make this the greatest 10 minutes of our lives", and the final fight commences.

I still get chills just recounting the set-up to this fight, but the battle itself is just as iconic in my mind. I love the setting of the white grass-lily field, and the way her armour makes her almost invisible amidst the fauna. I love the way the fight itself is a mix between slow anticipation and flashes of intense, fast action. I love the Easter egg in which the only animals in this area are 3 silvery snakes which, should you capture them, are labelled 'Liquid' 'Solid' and 'Solidus'. (The three codenames that will be given to Snake's sons years from now.) And I love the dramatic tension and pathos that is conveyed through quite possibly the greatest final fight of all time. Yes, The Boss is without a doubt my favourite fight in Metal Gear, and incidentally, she is also my favourite character. Her plea to Snake is the foundation for much of the tragedy of the series, as she tries to be honest with the one person she feels is close enough to really hear her, only for him to totally mistake her intent. Those who know the series will be familiar with the fact that Snake embroils himself in warfare and being a solider in his later years, until he becomes a twisted shell of his heroic past. Only during this scene do we know the reason why he does that, because he thinks he's living up to the image of his mentor.

Of course, Snake beats The Boss whilst that fabulous main theme kicks up in the background to set the climatic nature of the fight. (And handily inform the player how long they have before the bombs drop) What follows is, and let's be honest here, blatant plagiarism; but can I really knock it for such a beautiful visual? The Boss lies defeated in the white lilies, waiting for Snake to finish her off. (an action which the game makes the player do) Only once the bullet is fired does something unexplainable happen; as the entire field of lilies bloom into red with subtle pulse of a thumping heart. It's a beautiful and surreal moment; it's also lifted directly from the 2002 epic martial arts film, Hero. (But can you really argue when the results are this good?)

The Metal Gear series is long and storied, but never again did they reach such a height as this finale did, and I'll possibly never experience a story that touches me so profoundly as this one did. Sometime I should take an entire blog to talk about the emotional significance of this one scene alone, but for now I am sated by the chance to just talk about and share it with you all today. As a recent chronophobe, I don't really find much to celebrate in a Birthday, but taking the time to recount beloved, even formulate, stories in my past does help to alleviate some of that stress. I'm glad I found this outlet to write to, as otherwise I think I'd likely succumb to that feeling of uselessness that I'm hounded by everyday. I'm not sure if this helps in any tangible sense, but I like to think it does. Thanks for sticking around, and if you're reading this, sorry for rambling so long. (MGS 3 tends to make me do that.) 

I got to play X-Com Chimera Squad! Here's what I thought...

Which is the bigger number; five or one?

I've had a trying day; ideas come few and far between as we speed ever closer to that really personally important blog I want to write, (It's tomorrow, BTW) the blog I wrote for next Friday won't upload with it's images for some reason (But this blog was written today. My schedule is weird, don't ask) and I just cut my small toe almost in half, and obviously there are no hospitals open so I'm having to hobble around everywhere like I'm drunk. (Luckily, that's a cut down the middle and not the alternative, otherwise I would probably kick down their door and demand someone help. With the other foot, obviously.) but all this means that I've gone through a full rebound to Fallout 76 literally one day after writing that I- well you'll see the blog next Friday. Also I've got a new game to kill some time with, and so that's what I'm going to be talking about today.

To pull the curtains back on this ramshackle operation a bit, I spend the weekends writing blogs that come out the same day but the weekday blogs are usually a week delayed. (Unless I set a special priority) As such, even though that 'X-Com: Chimera Squad' blog dropped two days ago, I've actually spent the whole last week pining for this game which you can bet I bought the second it was announced. (I need to stop impulse buying, this is becoming a problem.) But as such I was able to finally access the game early yesterday alongside everyone else on release day. (Well, almost alongside everyone else. Damn streamers and their priority downloads...) So I'm going to take a laid back blog for today whilst I talk about my initial reaction to Chimera Squad and why I think it's the X-Com that everyone should be playing right now.

Due to no preloading (thanks, Firaxis) I had a good few hours of downloading to waste combing through information on how this Chimera Squad works in it's metagame; so I cannot speak for how effective the tutorial system for the game is, but personally I didn't get overwhelmed with all the new systems on display. Chimera Squad severely pans back the scale of the other X-Com revival games from global coverage to a more intimate city management system, and with that comes a different feel to the scale of the issues. However there is still that framework which places pressure on the player to preform with tactical cohesion in their selection of mission, although not with a 'Hard time limit' like X-Com 2 worked with. (Which is honestly one of my biggest problems with that fantastic sequel.)

As the invisible leader of elite spin-off from the X-Com initiative with an interest in promoting alien/human relations, it's up to the player to track down the assassins of city 31's mayor whilst keeping the city from unravelling at the seams. The 31PD find themselves under constant assault from the gangs of the street and everytime these gangs attack, that district stacks up on 'unrest' to a total of 5. (Or more, if you select that extra in the settings when you start your campaign) Once these districts fill up on unrest, every day from then on will count towards the city anarchy until that caps out and the whole place falls into disarray, ending the campaign in failure. Therefore it behoves you to pay attention to the mission you're picking and the extra tools at your disposal to keep things relatively normal across the board. Personally I really like this approach to the metagame as it puts the burden of control in the hands of the player rather than some unseen forces ticking in the background, so when things start to go to hell you always feel like you have the power to bring things back around, rather than feeling like you've run out of time and are merely beating around the bush until a full campaign failure.

Facing down the discordant forces of City 31 is a matter of getting a hand over the three factions that oppose you and their talents that you'll need to counter. You have the Progeny, who are mostly made up of human psionics who hate the fact that the invaders have now become friends and want to establish themselves as a master race; The Gray Phoenix, who are a selection of alien scavengers with superior tech capabilities and a monopoly over the black tech market; And Sacred Coil who have a blend of humans and aliens working as part of them, although their preview images showcases a Chryssalid, so I feel like they're probably going to have a particularly brutal slant to their approach. Chimera Squad will have to investigate these folk one-by-one which essentially means launching full-blown offences on the gangs who threaten to tear the city apart.

To this end the player has at their disposal a rather unique team, as instead of having a squad full of X-Com rookies, they have instead a group of heroic pre-made characters with their own unique abilities and stats to them. These agents hail from a variety of different backgrounds and species, symbolising the united image of City 31, and that diversity proves to be their greatest strength in battle. Cherub carries a shield alongside him and can impart a damage-negation effect upon anybody nearby, Terminal lugs around her healing drone which is capable of remote access and hacking when needed, Godmother lugs around a big-ass shotgun, so on and so forth. This diversity creates quite a unique 'everyone is special' kind of mechanic to X-Com, but does so at the cost of some of the intimacy that we shared with these folk in past games. But this new 'hero' mechanic does amplify the diversity between each character, so I'll not ride Firaxis too hard for this.

The actual gameplay sections also differ from traditional X-Com in that they are more homogenised and streamlined. Each mission starts with a preliminary 'Breach Round' in which Chimera Squad gets to pick their insertion points with a variety of advantages and disadvantages to each spot. You can choose to split up your team or keep them together as you burst into the room and attempt to pull off as much initial damage as possible. From there you'll find your turns cut-up into a timeline and split between the enemy and yourself, making the actual acts of flanking and eliminating hostiles (Something which is inherent to X-Com) much more dynamic as players can put themselves in the firing line of one hostile under the assumption that another unit will neutralise them before their turn comes to fruition. This also opens up a new dimension of tactile play as the player has tools to mess with the timeline and group up their squad or delay the enemy. There's an almost D&D level of tactile dynamism to this mechanic and it honestly completely switches up the gameplay in an particularly unexpected way.

Of course, at the end of the day I've only had the chance to play for a little bit (I cut my toe open, so that sort of put a dampener on my 'gaming' time.) but I'm already sold on the fact that I'll pull at least one full playthrough. The speed of each mission makes this one of the most accessible X-Com experiences of all time and the lack of consequence for being injured (even being knocked down isn't seriously bad) means that this is a very new-comer friendly X-Com game. I still don't think this will replace X-Com 2 as my favourite of the series, but one of the beautiful things about this franchise is that no new game is meant to replace the old ones, they're just supposed to accompany them. Once more, for £10 you'd be silly not to pick this game up before it goes out of sale in May, but even then it's a steal. Definitely give this game a shot.