Metal Gear Solid 4 Walkthrough v1

The storyline of the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid franchises is deep and complex, with many, many characters and interconnecting threads of plot. The following is a very brief and condensed version of the complete story to get you refreshed before starting Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, if you so require it.

Naked Snake on the Virtuous Mission.

Jack, codenamed Naked Snake, is sent into the jungle as part of the government’s brand-new FOX Unit to complete the Virtuous Mission, and later Operation Snake Eater. In the former, Snake must rescue a Russian scientist named Sokolov who is being held at a research facility in the jungle. His commanding officer for this mission is Major Tom, later codenamed Major Zero.

It’s a fairly straightforward mission until Snake encounters The Boss, a mentor of his who taught him everything he knows about combat and being a soldier. Originally thought to be his radio assistance for his mission, The Boss turns out to be a traitor and defects to a resistance group looking to topple the Soviet government. The group is called COBRAS and they are made up of supernatural soldiers that all express an emotion plainly on the battlefield – The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, and The Sorrow – as well as their leader, Colonel Volgin.

At the end of the Virtuous Mission, The Boss badly injures Snake and throws him from a bridge, sending him toppling into a river below, bones broken. The Boss, Volgin, and the COBRAS escape the jungle via helicopter. Two Davy Crocket portable nuclear devices – a present from The Boss to mark her induction into the group – are given to Volgin, who fires one at the research facility where Sokolov was being held. By using the Davy Crocket missile, an American weapon, he successfully frames the Americans for launching a nuke in Soviet territory. Snake is picked up via recovery balloon.

A week later, Snake is healed enough and returns to the jungle for Operation Snake Eater. The primary objective is to clear America’s name and to successfully pin the blame where it belongs, on Volgin and his COBRAS. To do so, Snake will need to sneak through the jungle, avoiding traps and enemies, fighting the COBRAS one by one, and ultimately kill his mentor, The Boss, who explains that he cannot grow as a soldier without killing her to achieve his own morals about defection, soldiers, and war. Along the way, he learns about The Philosophers, a secret society made up of US, Russian, and Chinese world leaders. They produced the Philosopher’s Legacy, a huge sum of money from the collective participant’s national coffers. This huge sum of money (and thus, huge source of power) will become a very important part of the Metal Gear story.

Snake will also need to take on Sokolov’s creation, the one the Soviets made him complete before rescuing him in the Virtuous Mission; the Shagohod. A massive tank capable of launching nuclear missiles from any terrain, the Shagohod is actually an early precursor to Metal Gear, a walking tank that will show up later in history.

Snake will also have to deal with a love interest, EVA, who seems to constantly be changing sides almost as frequently as she seems to hit on Snake. In the end, the only things that are clear about Eva is that she loved Snake, and that ultimately her loyalty was still something that was being refined. Ultimately, she was in the right place.

After taking on all of these threats, Snake is sent home with a mission completed. The United States government has procured half of the massive sum of the Philosopher’s Legacy. His first time out in the field alone, Snake is bestowed with a new highest honour by the American government – the title of Big Boss. However, Snake is now in a severe crisis of faith, with the defection of his mentor The Boss and the tugs on his heartstrings from Eva looming hard over his head. Disillusioned, he snubs President Lyndon B. Johnson at his ceremony and grudgingly salutes for his award before visiting the grave of The Boss.

This story was contained in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a prequel to the series released in 2004 for the Playstation 2.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP.

Six years after Naked Snake’s first mission, Operation Snake Eater.

Big Boss– formerly Naked Snake – is back in a jungle environment. Himself, Major Zero, and the other members of the Snake Eater operation that made up the FOX Unit, are shocked to learn that other FOX members have gone rogue, splitting from the US government. The blame is pinned on Big Boss, who tries to clear his name by fighting back against the revolting FOX members.

After escaping from a FOX jail with a cellmate by the name of Roy Campbell, Big Boss traverses the ground in and around a decommissioned nuclear missile silo in Colombia. He kidnaps a variety of different soldiers, medics, and even powerful FOX members to join a growing army to help take on the traitors. He must build his own army because – although he is loyal – America refuses to help him clear his name.

After the game’s credits have run, a young Ocelot – whom Big Boss faced during Operation Snake Eater – is having a mysterious conversation with a man over the phone. It is revealed that he has come into possession of the remaining Philosopher’s Legacy, and wants to use it to start a new group called The Patriots. He tells the mysterious man that Big Boss should be included in the group’s leaders.

This story was contained in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, a side story released in late 2006 for the Playstation Portable.

The very first Metal Gear model shown in the series.

Gray Fox, a FOXHOUND recruit sent to Outer Heaven, has lost contact with the US Government. His last transmission sent back to America says, Metal Gear…

FOXHOUND sends a new recruit to infiltrate Outer Heaven, Solid Snake. His commanding officer is Big Boss, from Operation Snake Eater. Solid Snake’s mission is called Intrude N313, and initially the main objective is to rescue Gray Fox and inquire about the meaning of his final message should he be alive.

Snake accomplishes this very shortly, rescuing Gray Fox early in his mission. He tells Snake that Metal Gear is a massive, walking tank that is equipped to launch nuclear warheads. Upon learning this, Snake delves deeper into Outer Heaven to destroy this new threat.

As he proceeds through the complex, Snake seems to get precisely ambushed in highly efficient ways, leading him to believe that someone is watching him closely. Upon rescuing more hostages, one lets slip that the leader of Outer Heaven is actually Big Boss, Snake’s commanding officer.

Using his good grace with the US Government, Big Boss has slowly been stealing military intelligence to build cutting edge weapons technology. The government’s faith in him also allowed him to slip under the radar enough to build Outer Heaven, a place where the spirit of a soldier would never die. He actually chose Snake for the mission because he was a rookie; Big Boss was hoping to capture him in Outer Heaven and have him leak falsified information to the US Government so that he could continue in his military state. Snake, however, is deeply committed to his country, much as Big Boss was in Operation Snake Eater.

Snake destroys Metal Gear in the heart of Outer Heaven, and took out much of the state’s soldiers to get to that point. Infuriated that his dream will soon die, Big Boss starts a self-destruct sequence on the compound. Left with few other options, Snake must escape through an underground tunnel, where he confronts and battles Big Boss.

Victorious in the battle, Snake flees Outer Heaven just as it explodes, and his mission is completed.

Big Boss vows to meet Snake again in the future.

This story was contained in Metal Gear, released in 1987 for the MSX Home Computer System. It was also contained in a special edition of Metal Gear Solid 3 called Subsistence, as an extra on the game’s second disc.

A version was made for the NES as well, although this was made without the original creator’s permission. They regard the altered version as ‘garbage.’

Snake infiltrating Zanzibarland.

Solid Snake, who had retired early after such a draining first mission, is brought back to FOXHOUND by its new commander, Roy Campbell (who Big Boss freed from prison in 1970). His mission begins simply; rescue Dr. Marv from Zanzibar Land.

However, soon after he arrives at the site where Dr. Marv is supposedly held, he runs into Dr. Madnar, a scientist from Outer Heaven who was kidnapped to work on Metal Gear. He tells Snake he has now been kidnapped by Zanzibar Land troops and has been developing a new, more powerful Metal Gear, called Metal Gear D. Madnar also reveals that Big Boss, who Snake assumed had died in the Outer Heaven explosion, has survived and is currently leading Zanzibar Land.

Snake decides to rescue Madnar, but he is soon recaptured by the new Metal Gear D, which is piloted by Gray Fox, the man Snake was sent to rescue during his mission in Outer Heaven.

Snake runs, unable to destroy the new Metal Gear with his limited resources. He scours Zanzibar Land for explosives, which he finds. He also finds Dr. Marv, although he has been killed through repeated torture. Dr. Madnar is exposed as a traitor; he has not been kidnapped, and wanted to work on Metal Gear all along.

Snake finally discovers Dr. Marv’s OILIX renewable energy formula, and attempts to retreat Zanzibar Land. He is once again confronted by Gray Fox and Metal Gear D. Snake destroys it with his explosives and has a one-on-one fight with Gray Fox.

Losing all of his weapons in the Metal Gear fight, Snake again faces Big Boss. Forced to improvise, Snake makes a flamethrower from an aerosol can and lighter and burns Big Boss, defeating him again. He escapes and delivers the OILIX formula to his commanding officer, Roy Campbell.

This story was contained in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, released in 1990 for the MSX 2 Home Computer System. This was the only Metal Gear game that was not released in any English markets at the time of its release. Its only appearance in English was in Subsistence, the special edition of Metal Gear Solid 3, released in 2006.

A shot from the original PS1 version of Metal Gear Solid.

Snake quickly finds the hostages, who fill him in on the latest Metal Gear Project, codenamed REX, but they both mysteriously die shortly after meeting him, perishing from heart attack-like symptoms. As the ArmsTech President dies, Revolver Ocelot appears, challenging Snake to a shootout. A mysterious ninja appears, lopping off Ocelot’s hand and ending the fight.

A woman named Meryl appears, and Snake gets the impression that she can help him in his mission. Before meeting her in earnest, Snake must first find Metal Gear’s new designer, Otacon. The ninja again appears, scaring Otacon. He reveals himself to be Gray Fox, who Snake assumed dead after their fight on Zanzibar Land in Metal Gear 2. Snake, winning the fight against the ninja, saves Otacon’s life, and he agrees to help Snake by digging up info for him.

Snake then gets in touch with Meryl, who gives him key cards to get deeper into Shadow Moses. The two are ambushed by a member of FOXHOUND, Sniper Wolf, who injures Meryl. Otacon, who loved Wolf, mourns her death at the hands of Snake. Snake is shortly captured by FOXHOUND afterward. His brother, Liquid Snake, reveals that they are both clones of the legendary Big Boss, the result of a government science project called Les Enfants Terribles. Solid Snake was awarded all the dominant genes of Big Boss, or so Liquid says.

A boss fight from the Gamecube remake of MGS.

After taking out the FOXHOUND squad – consisting of Sniper Wolf, Psycho Mantis, and Vulcan Raven – Snake infiltrates the hangar with REX inside, and accidentally activates it with the clearance given to him by Meryl. Faced with no other choice, he destroys REX with explosive force, then defeats Liquid in a fistfight on top of Metal Gear. He then escapes Shadow Moses with Meryl in a Jeep, making it out just as the facility explodes.

The Colonel declares Snake killed in action to prevent the US Government from pulling him out of retirement any further, and he and Meryl ride off into the sunset on a snowmobile.

After the credits, Ocelot is revealed to be a double agent who has stolen the Metal Gear design plans for the President of the United States, who is revealed to be a third clone of Big Boss, Solidus Snake.

This story was contained in Metal Gear Solid, the first 3D Metal Gear game, released in 1998 for the original Playstation.

A bearded Snake returns to action.

Shortly after leaping onto the ship, Russian soldiers invade the ship, killing the US Seals aboard. Snake believes these invaders to be Spetsnaz Special Forces hijacking the tanker.

Snake proceeds sneaking through the tanker. On the ship’s bridge, he encounters Olga, the daughter of the man leading the Russian insurrection of the ship, Gurlukovich. The two discuss living on the battlefield shortly before they fight. Snake tranquilizes Olga with his Hush Puppy pistol and moves toward the ship’s holds, where the new Metal Gear is supposedly housed.

After a battle through the holds, Snake sneaks past rooms full of Marines being debriefed on RAY, the amphibious Metal Gear successor to REX from Shadow Moses. Meanwhile, Shalashaska – also known as Revolver Ocelot – breaks his supposed allegiance to the Russians and makes his way to the holding room as well.

Snake takes photos of Metal Gear RAY and sends them to Otacon. Then, Ocelot breaks in, taking the Marines by surprise. The US Marine CO, Commander Dolph, tells Ocelot that he, ‘will never defeat the la-li-lu-le-lo.’ Laughing, Ocelot storms the room, killing Gurlukovich and Dolph, and hijacking RAY. During his escape, Ocelot becomes taken over by Liquid Snake, who’s arm had been transfused to Ocelot’s body some time between Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2.

Liquid talks with Snake about the past before completing the hijacking of RAY, discharging the new Metal Gear into the Hudson River. The last we see of Snake, he is being pulled underwater by the sinking ship’s undertow.

Raiden, the new protagonist for Metal Gear Solid 2.

Snake, wearing a Skull Suit and mask, infiltrates the Big Shell through a break in a fence surrounding the facility underwater. As he rides an elevator up to the main facility, he removes his mask, revealing not to be the Snake from previous Metal Gear games. Behind the mask was a man named Jack – code-named Raiden – a rookie member of FOXHOUND whose only previous combat experience was in VR Simulations.

Raiden entered the Big Shell in tandem with Seal Team 10, although they are quickly slaughtered during their entry. Soon, Raiden is the only hope of diffusing the hostage situation brought up by the members of Dead Cell.

He soon encounters many Dead Cell members – Fatman, a bomb expert; Fortune, a melancholy soldier who cannot be injured or hit by any weapons; and Vamp, a blade specialist who is killed and resurrected several times over, giving the impression that he is immortal. Pinned in the corner by Vamp, Raiden is saved by a soldier named Iroquois Pliskin, who bears a striking resemblance to Solid Snake. Raiden asks about Seal Team 10 and Iroquois has no idea what he’s taking about. All the information Raiden is receiving from the Colonel and his girlfriend, Rosemary, the mission data analyst, seems to be foreign to Iroquois.

The two team up with Peter Stillman, a bomb disposal expert, to diffuse a number of C4 bombs rigged to blow to Big Shell facility. After freezing them all with coolant, Stillman realizes that these were dummy bombs that, when deactivated, would start a timer on a real bomb. After finding the real bombs, Stillman is caught in a microwave trigger and is killed. Raiden successfully freezes his with coolant. He then takes on the mastermind behind the bombs, Fatman. Again, he seems to have no knowledge of Dead Cell or the Seal Team that Raiden was told about.

The unkillable Vamp makes several appearances.

Raiden disguises himself as an enemy soldier and talks to Ames, shortly before being confronted by Ocelot. Before Raiden comes to harm, though, the ninja steps in and saves him. Raiden escapes and heads for Shell Two, where the President is being held. Destroyed by Stillman’s failed bomb defusal, Raiden must navigate the destroyed Shell.

On the way he’s confronted by Solidus Snake, a third clone of Big Boss (along with Solid and Liquid) who is said to be the most perfect clone of the legendary soldier. Raiden must fight him and a Harrier Jet before he can find the President. It’s here, in Solidus’ presence, that Iroquois reveals himself to be none other than Solid Snake.

After meeting the President, he says that he authorized the nuclear launch for Dead Cell because he was sick of being a figurehead. When asked why, the President reveals a secret society known as The Patriots. Run by a group of twelve called The Wiseman’s Committee, The Patriots control everything crucial in the world; the global and war economies, even who gets elected President. In short, President Johnson has no control over the shaping of his country. Raiden, bewildered, refuses to believe him.

The President also lets slip that a new type of Metal Gear is being developed at the Big Shell; in fact, the sinking of the tanker two years ago was staged so that the Big Shell could be built to develop it. Raiden asks where it is and President tells him he’s standing in it; the entirety of Big Shell is the new Metal Gear, called Arsenal Gear.

The President is then shot and killed by Ocelot, as the nuclear launch is locked in and they no longer have use for him. Raiden soon after learns of GW, a massive AI program developed by The Patriots. GW has the ability to filter information as it is introduced and stored digitally. In the Digital Age, The Patriots feel there is too much information, too many opinions. This information is screened and reshaped as they see fit through GW.

Raiden seeks out a programmer for the Big Shell, Emma Emmerich, Otacon’s sister. She has programmed a worm cluster that can destroy GW. However, they need to get back to Shell One to upload it into Arsenal Gear, thus rendering the new Metal Gear useless without GW as its support system. With the bridge destroyed from the Harrier assault, Raiden and Snake must play sniper for Emma as she tiptoes across an oil fence on the outskirts of the Big Shell.

Vamp appears and takes Emma hostageat knifepoint. Raiden must carefully aim a sniper shot past Emma and hit Vamp, sending him into the water. Emma, however, catches his blade in her stomach and is bleeding out. Snake and Emma rush to her on the oil fence and carry her back to Shell One, where Otacon is waiting to upload GW. Otacon and Emma reconcile a family issue; when Emma was a little girl, she almost drowned in a swimming pool. Otacon was always looking out for her, but on this occasion, he was not; he was upstairs, where his stepmother was seducing him. His father, upon learning this, committed suicide.

As they reconcile their past, Emma’s virus uploads into GW. Around the time the upload completes, Emma passes away. Otacon, devastated, drops to the floor and begins to cry. He sees Emma’s pet parrot, whom she brought to the Big Shell to keep her company while she worked. The Parrot says, Hal, I miss you, suggesting Emma talked about her brother a lot to her parrot. Snake pulls Otacon together and tells him that the mission needs to be completed. Otacon takes the surviving hostages from the Dead Cell incident and loads them into a chopper to get them to New York City. Everyone else has gone to a sub-basement, where an army of Metal Gear RAY units are housed to assist Arsenal Gear, which is too big to fully defend itself.

Raiden and Snake head toward the elevator when Snake stops. The ninja again appears, revealing herself to be Olga, whom Snake battled on the tanker two years ago. Before Raiden can process the situation, Olga knocks him out.

He awakes naked on a torture chamber, with Olga looming in front of him. She explains to Raiden that she is under orders from The Patriots to assist him in his mission on the Big Shell. The child she was conceiving at the time of the tanker mission was born in a Patriot-controlled hospital, and her child was promptly taken from her; she never got the chance to hold it. Now, her child’s vital signs are tied to Raiden’s nanomachines; if he dies, so will Olga’s baby. After being tortured by Solidus, Olga releases Raiden’s constraints.

Running through Arsenal Gear completely naked, Raiden receives extremely strange Codec messages from the Colonel, regarding past lives, worms committing suicide, alien abductions, and out-and-out gibberish. Raiden continues through Arsenal looking for Snake, who he believes has his gear.

In Arsenal Gear’s Ascending Colon, Raiden finds Snake, who delivers his sneaking suit and gear. He also gives Raiden a present from Olga; a sword. Together, Snake and Raiden fight through a score of super soldiers. As they fight, Raiden receives a number of misspelled Game Over screens, reading Fission Mailed. Otacon calls to tell Raiden that he thinks he knows why the Colonel has been acting so strange. It’s not actually the Colonel at all, but rather, the Patriots’ GW AI system generating speech and directives in the Colonel’s voice. Rosemary, too, is simply part of the AI system. Since Raiden and Snake seem to be inside GW, the world around them is coming apart fast. Raiden wonders if Rose had ever existed at all.

With no way to go but forward, the two continue into a room where Fortune awaits. The daughter of Commander Dolph, the CO killed on the tanker, Fortune mistakenly believes that Snake was responsible for his death. Raiden goes deeper into Arsenal while Snake fights Fortune.

Raiden is confronted by Solidus, who explains that – when he was a child – Raiden was under his control in a rogue army’s Small Boy Unit, where child soldiers fought. Raiden was fed gunpowder and trained to mark and remember each kill he made, and to compete with his fellow child soldiers. With these painful memories brought back to the surface, Solidus unleashes a dozen Metal Gear RAY units on Raiden, who must fight through them to proceed.

Afterward, Snake, Raiden, Solidus, Ocelot, and the remaining Dead Cell members are all aboard the top of Arsenal Gear as it heads on a crash course with Manhattan. The Patriots’ will is to unleash a nuclear blast in the atmosphere above New York, shorting its electric devices and causing a sort of reset in digital information, after which point they can fully control the flow of that information.

Many plot twists make this the most confusing game in the Metal Gear timeline.

Ocelot further delves into the Patriots’ powers over humanity. Most of the people at Big Shell had scripts written for them, and the Patriots had manipulated their nanomachines to perpetuate it. Every event and line had been produced with the intent of pushing Raiden to his limits, to see if a virtual circumstance could truly make him a soldier equal with Solid Snake.

Infuriated, Fortune shoots at Ocelot but, strangely, cannot hit him, much like she could not be hit throughout the Big Shell incident. Ocelot, pulling a revolver, shoots Fortune and hits, sending a very clear message that the Patriots were awarding her special talents.

Arsenal crashes into New York, sending Raiden and Solidus toppling onto Federal Hall. The Colonel calls. He explains that S3 actually stands for Selection for Societal Sanity. They created the Big Shell exercise to see if they really could control the flow of information, and to them it was a success, ready to implement in their soon to be ‘liberated’ Manhattan.

Raiden fights and defeats Solidus with the blade given to him by Olga, sending him to his death at the steps of Federal Hall. With the simulation over, Raiden catches up with Snake in New York City, where they discuss the importance of passing down information verbally, through actions, and not always through digital means.

After the credits, Snake and Otacon have a phone conversation. He tells Snake that he found a list containing the files of the Patriots’ Wiseman’s Committee inside GW, and that they’re all dead. Snake asks when they died, and he says it was about a hundred years ago.

This story was contained in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, released in 2001 on the Playstation 2. 

Here is a list of all of the Metal Gear games. First is the name of the game, what year it what was released it, for what system, and finally, whether or not it is part of the Metal Gear canon. In other words, whether or not the game is a consistent part of the storyline that should be considered in the big picture.

Here is a handy list of terms you can thumb through that may help get you unstuck in Metal Gear Solid 4’s past-heavy story, or just to refresh yourself on the series as a whole.

Arsenal Gear

A huge, cutting-edge Metal Gear model that needs an army of smaller RAY units as support. Has a massive nuclear payload deposit. Is crashed into New York City at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

Big Boss / Naked Snake

A legendary soldier that prevented nuclear holocaust in 1964 during his first mission in the FOX unit, Operation Snake Eater. Was considered into The Patriots during the 1970s. During that same decade, a government project called Les Enfants Terribles was run to create clones of Big Boss, whom the US Government deemed the ultimate soldier. Solid, Liquid, and Solidus Snake were born from this project, with the ability for them to reproduce engineered out of their genetic code. Although Liquid tells Solid Snake that he received all the recessive genes during Metal Gear Solid, Solid is actually the most inferior of the clones. The reason why Solid remains a superior soldier is explained in Metal Gear Solid 4.

Big Shell

An offshore oil cleanup facility that was built two years after an oil tanker crashed in the Hudson in 2007. Raiden infiltrates this facility to rescue the President. It turns out, however, that Big Shell is actually Arsenal Gear, a brand new, massive Metal Gear project, and that the tanker crash was planned to necessitate the construction of Big Shell. The entire exercise was designed by The Patriots to see if they could control the flow of digital information properly to dictate what people can learn and pass on.

Colonel Campbell

A green beret rescued by Big Boss in 1970, Campbell becomes Colonel and Solid Snake’s commanding officer during the events of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. An impulsive man, the Colonel typically makes several mistakes during the course of a mission but quickly atones for them. Solid Snake regards him as one of his only true friends, and the two have a great fondness for each other in the wake of most other people in their lives double-crossing them.

Emma Emmerich (E.E.)

Otacon’s younger sister, she followed in her brother’s footsteps to become a computer engineer and programmer. Raiden finds her on the Big Shell facility, her legs drugged so that she is unable to leave. She is working on Arsenal Gear, but she has secretly programmed a worm cluster to infect GW, an AI system created by The Patriots. Just as her work is complete, though, Emma passes away in Otacon’s arms after internally bleeding from a knife wound inflicted by Vamp.

Eva

A double double agent during Operation Snake Eater, Eva is pretending to work for Volgin’s men pretending to work with the Americans, working with the Chinese. She is a love interest for Big Boss, and she deeply loved him. It is unclear exactly what became of the young Eva in the wake of Operation Snake Eater.

FOX

A military unit begun in the 1960s, FOX was designed for solo operatives to infiltrate difficult political situations, solve the problem, and exit all without being seen. Naked Snake (aka Big Boss) completes FOX’s very first mission, Operation Snake Eater. The expanded FOX unit goes rogue in 1970, forcing Snake to fight them to clear his name during the events of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP.

FOXDIE

A virus injected into Snake before the events of Metal Gear Solid, FOXDIE is set only to destroy people whose genetic code is programmed into the virus. It is responsible for many deaths in the series and is further explained in Metal Gear Solid 4.

FOXHOUND

Created to deal with revolutions and terrorist activities after the FOX unit disbanded. During the first Metal Gear, Solid Snake (the son of Big Boss) works for FOXHOUND to infiltrate Outer Heaven. His commanding officer, Big Boss, betrays the unit at the end of the game, revealing himself to be the Outer Heaven leader. In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Colonel Campbell takes control of the unit, and no internal struggles occur during his mission.

GW

An AI computer consciousness constructed by The Patriots, GW is meant to filter the flow of digital information so that the majority of humanity will discover only what they intend them to. GW was badly damaged thanks to Emma’s worm cluster in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

La-li-lu-le-lo

The Patriots can filter their name from people who use nanomachines in their blood. If they try to say Patriots, la-li-lu-le-lo comes out instead. This distinction is made more pronounced in Metal Gear Solid 4.

Les Enfants Terribles

Translating to ‘The Terrible Children’ in English, Les Enfants Terribles was a government science initiative in the 1970s to clone Big Boss, a perfect soldier. Solid, Liquid, and Solidus Snake were created from this project.

Liquid Snake / Liquid Ocelot

‘Brother’ to Solid Snake, Liquid is a corrupted man, frequently making bids for unlawful and unethical power over others. He died from the FOXDIE virus Snake was carrying in Metal Gear Solid, but his arm was transfused to Ocelot’s body, and cell memory allowed him to periodically take control over him in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Liquid has completely taken control of Ocelot – becoming Liquid Ocelot – and he is the main antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 4.

Major Zero

Naked Snake’s commanding officer during Operation Snake Eater in the 1960s. Much of his activities after that Operation and Big Boss’ 1970s mission are unknown.

Meryl

A member of FOXHOUND during the Shadow Moses incident, Meryl is a friend and love interest of Snake’s in Metal Gear Solid. She is also the niece of Colonel Campbell. She returns in Metal Gear Solid 4 as a member of Rat Patrol 01.

Metal Gear

A bipedal, walking tank with the capacity to launch nuclear warheads from anywhere on Earth, Metal Gear is a cutting edge military super weapon. Many of Snake’s missions involve the production of a new Metal Gear that must be stopped.

Hal ‘Otacon’ Emmerich

The designer for Metal Gear REX, the model featured in Metal Gear Solid. Otacon (short for Otaku Convention, a Japanese anime event) got into weapons development because of a childhood obsession with anime and robots. Since Metal Gear Solid, Otacon and Snake have been close friends, working outside the influence of the government in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and coming back to the US together for Metal Gear Solid 4.

The Patriots

A secret society directed by a Wiseman’s Committee, The Patriots covertly control all major world systems and events. Democracy is simply filler in the modern world; social trends, politics, and social and war economies are controlled through this group. In 2009, during the Big Shell incident, the Patriots are attempting to see if they can use AI to alter the digital flow of information and see if they can control what would essentially be human evolution and knowledge. The list of names found at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty were actually the leaders of The Philosophers, a group that predates The Patriots’ creation following Operation Snake Eater. Who actually runs the Patriots now is revealed in Metal Gear Solid 4.

The Philosophers

A secret coalition between the US, Russian, and Chinese governments, The Philosophers combined their country’s coffers and used the money to control world events. Post World War II, The Philosophers decayed and split, sparking the Cold War and leading way to The Patriots.

The Philosopher’s Legacy

A sum of $100 billion US dollars (1964 money; over $1 trillion in modern-day money). The US retrieved half of this sum during Operation Snake Eater. The other half was seized to begin The Patriots.

Raiden

A rookie in the reformed FOXHOUND unit, Raiden was sent to infiltrate the Big Shell facility in 2009 to rescue the President and stop a nuclear strike. Little did he know he was simply a pawn in a test being conducted by the Patriots. What has become of Raiden since the incident is revealed in Metal Gear Solid 4.

Revolver Ocelot / Shalashaska / Liquid Ocelot

A long-time rival of Solid Snake, Revolver Ocelot was himself rivalled and somewhat instructed by Big Boss at a young age during Operation Snake Eater. Solid Snake meets him first at Shadow Moses in 2005. He is frequently revealed to be a double-crosser and traitor. As of Metal Gear Solid 4, he is completely engulfed by Liquid Snake’s personality, which he has received through cell memory of his arm, which was transplanted onto his body. He is now known as Liquid Ocelot.

Shadow Moses

An offshore nuclear disposal facility where Solid Snake had to take on a defecting FOXHOUND unit and prevent a nuclear strike. He was injected with the FOXDIE virus before this mission, leading to many deaths caused by it. Many of the stand-by characters in the franchise were introduced at Shadow Moses, including Otacon and Meryl.

Solid Snake

The hero of almost every Metal Gear game, Solid Snake is a clone of the legendary soldier, Big Boss. Although it’s revealed at the very end of Metal Gear Solid that he is actually the inferior clone, Snake seems to have the most impressive abilities of all his brothers. The reason for this is explained in Metal Gear Solid 4. Because he was cloned, Snake is rapid aging and appears much older in MGS 4, although really he is only about 40 years old. Otacon, his trusted friend, helps him through this aging process as best he can. He loves to smoke and is always loyal, sometimes to his detriment.

Solidus Snake

The third of the Big Boss clones, Solidus is a split between Liquid and Solid, creating a near-perfect clone of his father. He was President at the time of Metal Gear Solid, refusing to be a pawn of The Patriots and instigating the Shadow Moses incident in order to get his hands on plans for the new Metal Gear project being developed there. Ocelot was his inside man at Shadow Moses. The Patriots ousted him from Presidential status after the incident. At the Big Shell four years later, he is betrayed by Ocelot, revealed to be working for The Patriots, and is killed by Raiden on top of Federal Hall.

Vamp

A member of Dead Cell, Vamp is one of the key antagonizing forces at the Big Shell. Although he is shot in the head and drowned twice, he still lived on, leading everyone at the Big Shell to believe he was immortal. He returns in Metal Gear Solid 4.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is a much more involved game than its predecessors, and there are some things you will need to keep in mind as you play. Here are some basic tips to keep you grounded as you play.

Remember Your OctoCamo!

Snake's suit can now sample textures pretty much anywhere, so make sure to take advantage!

Use the heads-up display

Metal Gear Solid 4’s interface is constantly telling you things. How hidden you are. If your gun is loaded or not. What weapon and accessory you have equipped. When the Solid Eye is equipped, you’ll also be able to see enemy movement patterns and locations much better. Make sure to use these readouts to your advantage, and check them often.

Use what has been given to you

Your OctoCamo, combined with the Metal Gear Mk. II and your Mk. 22 tranquilizer pistol, can make you virtually undetectable. Don’t just fumble around the environment and hope for the best. Use all of your tools to see what’s up ahead, neutralize what you can, and then proceed.

Play when you’re ready to concentrate

Do not play Metal Gear Solid 4 when you’re very tired. Aside from it not being good for your eyes, there is simply too much going on – in the gameplay and in the very complex story – for someone to catch if they’re exhausted.

Use your Codec

When the cinematic gives you control of Snake, hold ‘X’ to crawl and make your way under the truck to your left. Watch the battle that ensues, and when Snake’s back in your control, pick up the AK-102 Assault Rifle next to body on the ground. Press start to open the menu and select ‘weapons.’ Move over and press X on the AK, then pick an empty slot on the left to equip it. This is how you equip all weapons, and you can flip through them in the game by holding R2. Run down the street to continue.

After the IRVING arrive, head right, off the street and into the crumbled buildings. The arrow in the top-right of the screen is North, and you should head that way. There’s a less crumbled building ahead, but there are soldiers in it. If you choose to go through, wait for a guard to emerge and go around him, or CQC him with your Stun Knife equipped (hold R1 when behind). To the right of the building is a pile of rubble Snake can crouch to get through. He’ll also get some ammo for his trouble.

After the rubble, you’ll have nowhere to go but left; at the dead end before that near a wooden door is a Ration on the ground for Snake. Once you’ve got that, head around the bend, and when an opening appears, take a right and follow the North arrow to trigger another cinematic. Save your game if you wish.

Now you’ll see another cinematic of how Snake got to the Middle East in the first place, after which you’ll be back in the East. Listen to Otacon’s codec call, then head forward to find…

You’ll receive the OctoCamo before this section begins. To use it, press Triangle to take cover behind something a wait a moment. The OctoCamo will take on the texture of what you’re up against and hide you better.

Behind Snake is a dead-end corridor. Walk around it to pick up some ammo, then head right after the dumpster. Around the next bend you should see two soldiers, and walking onto the street causes several more and an APC to show up. You should see a little shadowy alcove across the street, with a pillar. Dart across to here when nobody’s looking. There are Petro Bombs for Snake on the floor here.

There’s now a battle going on between a PMC company and local rebels. With their attention divided amongst each other, sneaking through here shouldn’t be too difficult. Get on your stomach and crawl back to the other side, to the sort of sidewalk with a roof held up by a bunch of pillars. Make your way down here until you see ammo and wooden boxes at your right, fairly close to the APC on the scene. If you see your camo percentage at the top-right drop suddenly, pause for a second so your camo can sample a new texture. Crawl around the boxes to your right, and you should find a sort of dead end, allowing you to hide behind the boxes and look out at the troops. There’s also a little crawlspace back here with a Compress inside. Grab it and come back out.

The Metal Gear Mk. II is very useful in locating sentries and staying silent.

In the next room are some soldiers. Sneaking past them isn’t too bad, but if they make you uncomfortable, equip your knife, sneak up and CQC them to knock them out. Sneak through the house to the right instead of using the streets, and keep to the right of the rooms. When you get to end of the house, take cover and look out onto the street. A few soldiers are probably making their way past now. See the ‘Praying Mantis’ poster on the wall across the street? Just to the left of that is the path to the Metal Gear Mk. II.

When it looks like the coast is clear run across the street to make it to the Middle East Red Zone. There are more soldiers here; go right and take cover behind the steel dumpster on the left hand side. Slowly make your way around the corner; the big pathway ahead is one you’ll need to make it across. Luckily, there’s some ample cover. See the archway to the right? When the coast is clear, go through it to get to a shadowed, partially covered area. Lay down and crawl through to the far wall, which has a ladder. Use the camera to make sure nobody’s looking and climb up.

At the end of the line upstairs, you’ll spot a Ration on the floor and a massive hole to your left. Press Triangle near it when nobody’s looking to flip over the edge. Press ‘X’ to drop down and make your way toward the red circle on your radar, which is in a building just ahead.

Inside, Otacon will give you three extremely important pieces of equipment. A Mk. 22 Tranquilizer Pistol, your Solid Eye, and the Metal Gear Mk. II. All of these will help you sneak around and get the drop on your enemies. After the cinematic, you’ll have the Solid Eye equipped. It makes your radar way better and shows you outlines of what’s laying on the ground, but careful; it runs on a battery that you’ll need to recharge when the power’s low.

It’s time to meet up with the people in the area who saw Liquid in the first place. Keep your Solid Eye equipped and use your Mk. 22 to tranq guards who get too close to you. If there are guards you can’t get the drop on yourself, equip the Metal Gear Mk. II, sneak up on a guard, hold L1 and press R1 to shock them unconscious.

Up ahead is another battle between the Rebels and PMCs. The rebels are ahead to the right; watch for enemy soldiers and an armed APC to the left. Your best bet is to run right for the rebels; they won’t attack you on sight. Ahead of them is the Militia Safe House, which is your next target; however, left of the red mark on your radar, is an RPG-7 Rocket Launcher – be sure to pick it up. Use it to take out the APC for the rebels or just go ahead.

Although the rebels aren’t hostile toward you outside, they still don’t take kindly to strangers in their stronghold; avoid them by using the Mk. 22 and switching your Solid Eye to NV mode (hold L2, press Square). It’s not too difficult to stay hidden; if you get caught once, though, the tight corridors make it hard to lose the guards.

It’s basically a straight shot to your target. It can get confusing to navigate, but keep your red target at the top of your radar and you shouldn’t have much trouble.

It’s basically a straight line; check your map to watch yourself as you progress. There are lots of side paths to the sides to get extra ammo and Rations, but if you don’t need them, you can keep on your path. 

When you get to the steel stairs, take them up to meet Drebin, a weapons wholesaler. He can launder ID-locked weapons you take from guards. Open the Drebin’s Shop section of the menu to buy and unlock guns, and also to buy ammo and items like Grenades.

After Drebin’s introduction, it’s time to continue on looking for your informants. You’ll get a Codec call as Snake steps outside about war economy and how Drebin’s prices work. 

You’ll need to take the stairs to your right, but head down the hall next to them first. You’ll find a gun by the body, and Noodles and a Playboy magazine at the dead end. Head back and climb the stairs.

Get the anaesthetic bullets behind the boxes on the first plateau, then climb the second set. Up top is a gun and more bullets. You’ll see a gap in the wall where you can see the stairs below. Lay down and hang off the edge, then drop. Snake will catch a middle section that has a missile launcher on it. If you picked up the other RPG-7 before the Rebel base, you’ll get big Drebin points for it. There’s also Sleep Gas Mines and a Dot Sight attachment in the corridors on each side of the RPG on this level.

When you’ve got all that stuff, head back down to ground level. Past the stairs is a huge mess of rubble, with an opening to the right. Head inside the covered section of the house and crouch through the hole in the wall. Get through the enclosed section ahead, climb the rubble, and you’ll see a bunch of dust cloud through the room. Down another enclosed hallway are two PMC troops. Tranq them and grab their weapons. In the corridor next to them you’ll find a Compress. Behind the Compress is a Ration on top of rubble you can climb up on. Run to the other end of the room and the roof will collapse, allowing you to go further in.

Round the bend and you should see rubble in the next room acting like a ramp. Run up it. There’s a little bit of floor left here that Snake will be able to shimmy on. Shimmy over to the doorway on the other side and press Triangle to climb back up. Drop down through the doorway and climb the checkerboard on the other end of the new room. Follow the path down until a cut scene triggers. Snake will get the Drum Can afterward. Er, if you’d want it…

Your informants are waiting for you.

Keep moving forward until you reach sandbags. The rebels will show up, so if you get spotted, you’ll at least have some help. There’s a mortar launcher surrounded by sandbags just ahead. If you want, use it! Aim with the right stick and fire with R1. You can take out the APC across the gap here, saving you a lot of trouble.

When you’re done having fun exploding things (it might be a while), head right from the mortar launcher. There’s a car blocking the road, but you can crawl under it. Ahead there’s a rebel being held hostage. Tranq the PMC soldiers to let him go free. Collect all the guns ahead. When you get to where the PMC soldiers are, start crawling. The table around the corner has Petro Bombs underneath – nab them. Ahead there are more soldiers; Tranq them if you can, but if you get spotted and the heat’s on you, switch to your M4 and let loose. Be sure to hit the guard in the top right, elevated above the arch in a sniping position. If you’re lucky, the sniper rifle he drops will fall to the ground, letting you take it!

Continue under the arch toward the van. Soldiers will run past here. Stay to the right of the van until they pass. If you want, Tranq them once they stop around the corner and take their guns. Past the van on the left is an opening to a house; stop in and grab some ammo, though beware that soldiers may enter here as well. Head back out and head straight past the van when you’re ready.

As long as you keep hidden and advance carefully from cover to cover, you shouldn’t get spotted here. If you do, try and hold your own with the M4. If that’s not working out for you, try retreating to a spot with some rebels to help you fight. If you need to retreat, carefully sneak back once the heat dies down. Around the corner from the van, you’ll find a bombed-out car. Sneak by to the right of it, and keep to the right around the corner where you’ll spot another van.

In this next place, you should spot Militia; these guys won’t hurt you, so it should be okay to stand up. De-equip your Solid Eye and let it charge back up for a second. Crouch and run around the area to grab all the loose weapons, then follow the red circle to a steel door past a set of large double doors on a big building.

Inside is Advent Palace. Equip your Solid Eye and head up the stairs right next to you. Peek out on the second floor to grab a Compress, then head back down. In the large open area on the main floor there are a few weapons, a Playboy on a couch, and also some mines. Equip the Metal Gear Mk. II, slowly approach the mine, and press Triangle to both disable it and collect it for Snake! If that sounds too time consuming, you can just shoot them as well.

In the East corner of this space is a mine plus another flight of stairs. There are goodies on the second and fourth floors, but the third floor is where you need to be, Watch for mines, and make you way to other side for another staircase. Climb up and you’ll be back in the sun!

Head left toward a kitchen area. Explore inside to get some healing items and ammo, then head through the second doorway close to where you entered the kitchen to trigger a cut scene. 

After meeting up with an old friend, Liquid’s private soldiers will crash the building. The next section is a straight shootout with Meryl. Equip your M4 and follow her lead.

The super soldiers can flip around pretty fast, and can be hard to shoot at times. They don’t really cause a whole lot of damage though; unless you really feel you need to, just shoot them out in the open up on top here. Collect all of their guns for Drebin Points.

Once the shooting’s all over in one area, Meryl and her team will move out. Make sure to keep an eye on them and follow them closely. If you lose them, their signatures should be visible on the Solid Eye. Track them down through radar and keep fighting.

When you fight in the open sections, be careful. Take cover here for sure. Watch for the soldiers clinging to the ceiling and to the walls. Meryl will take you through the kitchen and dining areas, and then downstairs. Use Rations as necessary, but try not to use them unless Snake’s health is more then half gone.

Eventually, the group will get through some small holes in a wall section, and a cut scene will take over.

When the lasers are disabled, jump down the hole with the rest of the group. Get out of the way at the bottom or prepare to be squashed! In the next room, more soldiers will crash through the wall; this is the last leg of this fight. Clear out all the soldiers in the room, then fall back with the group for another cut scene.

Grab the energy drink and ammo to your left, then jump down the elevator shaft. Walk out for another cut scene.

The final stretch of Act One begins now! Start by cleaning up all the guns in the room for a respectable helping of Drebin Points. If your Solid Eye battery is nearly dead, de-equip it and wait a minute before climbing the rubble by the van to get out.

Up ahead climb the boxes to the right and follow the path on the other side of them. Once the pathway opens up, the rebels and PMCs will be at it again. A rebel tank will pop through the area, giving you some additional cover and support.

Thus begins another battlefield stretch!

Get ready for some serious mischief when you finally reach Liquid.

Once you find it, use the connecting bridge to get to the next building over. Search its roof for a Ration. Head downstairs. On this floor there is a huge section of floor blown out down a hall. There’s a Compress right near the hole. Go back to the stairs and follow them until you’re back at street level. Watch out for soldiers, then head right toward the giant archway. To the left of it is a building with a ladder on it. Climb up and follow is path around. Drop down to trigger a cut scene that introduces important characters in MGS 4, the Beauty and the Beast Unit.

There’s a huge amount of guns on the ground in the wake of the B&B Unit; pick them all up for massive Drebin Points. Head left afterward. Ahead you’ll see two PMC guards. Tranq them or carefully go across the street behind the car before they start moving your way. Lie down to the left of the car and start making your way forward, being sure to tranq guards as soon as you see them.

Shortly before the mess of barbed wire and sandbags on the road ahead, there’s an alley to the left. Take it, then crouch through the hole in the wall to get into the house. Head upstairs and watch for patrolling guards. The hallway left from the stairs has a hole in the floor; drop through and carefully make your way outside. There’s sentries down here, so keep crouched and make sure you give your OctoCamo that split second to adjust.

To the left of this area is an opening. This is where you’re headed. There’s a guard tower in this next area. Make sure to tranq the guard in the tower first before doing anything else. If you start taking out other guards on the ground level, chances are the tower guard will spot it.

Once you’re in this area yourself, things get a lot less tricky, actually. The tight cramped corridors make sneaking easy. Just spot the guards and your radar, sneak behind them, and hold L1 with a gun equipped to hold them up. You can avoid them if you want, of tranq them all and take their guns. The choice is yours.

Your target is in this area; a steel-red door at the far end of the compound. Follow the red dot to get there and trigger the epic closer to Act One! Get ready for a few shockers, in true Metal Gear style.

Save your game when prompted.

Tranq the guards here carefully, lest you raise their alarm.

Lay down in front of the break in the wall so you can look out over the rebels. Equip your Solid Eye and try to spot all the guards in the area; there should be about three. Try and quickly tranq them all, but aim carefully; if you just barely miss their head and they feel the bullet whiz past, they’ll start the Caution phase and bring in more guards. After shooting the first two right near the rebels, they’ll get up and start gunning. If the caution phase is alerted, they’ll be goners. Find a good spot to hide if the timer starts and wait it out.

A good thing to do when there are a lot of guards like this is to tranq just one at first. The other guards will spot him and rush over, wait a second, and then kick him to wake him up. While they wait for that second, tranq them too. Then you’ll have tranq’d guards all in the same spot!

Check the building to the right of the rebels, with the bricked-up window. Equip your NV to see a Shotgun, come healing items, and ammo. Head back outside. Across the way you should spot a white truck with a wooden containment in the back. The building near the truck has a deck; crawl under it and you’ll find some Smoke Grenades and an M4 Suppressor deeper inside. Near where the suppressor was is a hole in the floor; crawl under it and tap ‘X’ to stand up, then scour both floors of the house for more goodies.

Back outside, the path you need to take next is in front of the front-end of the truck. There’s a wide-open road you can take, but there’s also a smaller, more discrete path to the left that’s easier to stay hidden in. The guards from the caution phase come from this area, so keep your Solid Eye equipped to spot them. Ahead you should see some little plateaus in the land to the left; climb these to take the higher path.

That gunfire you hear is a rebel and PMC shootout; the rebels are closer to you. Use your tranq pistol or equip the M4 Suppressor and use that. In your Camouflage menu you should see an option to ‘Change Costume.’ Equip ‘Disguise (S.A.)’ to look like a rebel and continue. Once the battle is over or if you trigger a Caution phase, switch back to OctoCamo [Auto].

If you keep looking left for plateaus, you’ll eventually climb to a spot with wooden boxes and 2x4 planks stacked; just to the right and a level down will be a building. The path will narrow ahead; walk into the path, de-equip and recharge your Solid Eye. Listen to a codec message introducing a familiar face, then head through to the next checkpoint.

More rebel and PMC action up ahead; a little cave at ground level just before the bend has some tranq bullets in it. Not much to say about this area, really; just follow the bends in the path that only leads you one way. It’s a bit open; I recommend staying to the right, crawling in the tall grass as close to the rocks as possible. This should keep you out of the path of patrolling guards.

Eventually you should see a house up on a small hill. The path to the right of this house leads you to the next area. Watch for a guard on a small plateau on the right hand side of the path. The rest of the way is generally clear, in my experience; follow it through to the Power Station.

You’ll get a Codec call from an acquaintance here, shortly before a bit of a fire fight up ahead. Wear your rebel disguise and equip your M4. You’ll need to head straight ahead, but watch out; up on top of the cliffs to the right, there are two guards who will spot you and trigger the Alert phase before the fight even really begins. Tranq them or quickly spray fire to wipe them out, then head straight-on with the rest of the rebels.

In this next open area, stick to the right against the rock wall. In a little cave-like inlet, you should spot a Ration. Right after this inlet, you should spot a steep path uphill. Take it. Stick left along the cliff’s edge and you should eventually come across a mortar launcher that looks across the entire PMC base! Use it to shell out guards until it looks safe to you. The enemy can’t spare reinforcements here, so eventually the numbers should thin out.

When you’re ready, head back down to the ground level and head toward the PMC base. If you get caught in the Alert phase, hide under the huge APC parked in front. Equip your OctoCamo again to blend in better and wait it out. It shouldn’t take long before the counter drops. The guards are too stupid to see you under here, generally, so if you can pick a few of them off, all the better.

When you’re ready, run along to the back of the building to the other APC to trigger a cut scene. You can go through the building if you need more healing items and ammo, but otherwise, it’s easier just to make a run around the outside.

After the rather lengthy cut scene, it’s time to continue a little further up to the lab with Naomi. Follow the way Drebin took, through the road ahead of you. Two guards should be coming down it; tranq them and follow the path to the Confinement Facility.

Note: During this prolonged battle scene, you may find Snake’s psyche meter (the thin bar underneath his health) dropping rapidly. Make sure to keep it up by drinking energy drinks, using Compress’, or by calling Rose on your Codec.

After some revealing Codec calls from Jack and Rose, it’s time to sneak through another battle. Lay down at the side of the road, looking out into the field. Tranq any guards you see, then jump into the water. You’ll want to follow the stream left. When the water stops, get out, and head right toward the big log and take cover behind it. Beyond the log to the left is a path leading to a new section of a PMC base. When the path opens up, head right toward the guard tower, which should be rebel controlled. Take cover at the boxes near the tower and start picking off PMCs.

The guards in this area drop XM320 attachments for your guns. If you already have one, they’ll sell for 12’000 Drebin Points a piece! Enter into the facility and carefully peak around corners and tranq guards. There are rebels being held in the buildings; eliminate the guards to set them free. The guards here use M60E4s, machine guns that are great to use and sell for 3’000 Drebin Points.

The path near the guard tower ends with an obstruction, so follow the rock wall past the PMC base to another path, which leads to Vista Mansion.

If you rescued rebels at the base beforehand, there should be lots of people helping you here. The guards here drop Masterkey attachments, which add a shotgun to your M4. Extras sell for 9’000 Drebin Points (DP). Be sure to equip one yourself.

Work your way to the opposite corner of where you started in this area. As you approach the road, a rebel vehicle will start driving through gates. Cover it by shooting PMCs. Eventually it’ll smash a path for you to get to the compound, and Naomi. When you see the mansion, head left toward the garden. Equip your OctoCamo if you’ve been using the rebel disguise. Stay on the wall far from the mansion here, and make your way around the bend. Use the bushes and hedges here as your cover.

Around the next corner you should see Stun Grenades resting on the concrete near the house, next to a window. Collect the grenades, stand up, and crash through the window to get inside. Head right, then right again around the corner. Head up the stairs. At the end of the hall on the left, there’s a door to a bedroom. Head in, collect the Playboy on the table, and head out the next door to end up outside with a machinegun and mortar launcher. Use them if you want to clear things up a bit for the rebels, then explore the roof to find a wooden add-on with a hole in it. Drop down, and then take the underground pathway.

This path is enemy-free. Make sure to check out all the rooms to collect the ammo. Eventually you’ll round a bend and come to a ladder. Climb it to get to the Research Lab! Enjoy the lengthy cinematics that follow, and prepare for…

Naomi’s lab will get raided by more of Liquid’s super soldiers. No stealth trickery here. Whip out your M4 or other weapon of choice and start unloading on them. If you have the Shotgun attachment for the M4, equip it to make short work of them. Make sure to pick up their P90s that they drop.

When there doesn’t seem to be any soldiers left, walk around for a bit until the first member of the B&B Unit greets you.

This boss is pretty simple. Firstly, keep a few feet away from her at all times, or she’ll try and whip you with her tentacles, which deal a fair amount of damage. Keep a nice buffer zone, follow her around the house, and shoot her. Eventually she’ll curl up into a ball and cover the area with smoke. Sometimes she’ll send slow moving, floating projectiles out of the smoke. You can easily shoot these before they’ll get to you. If one of them does stick to you, roll to lose it.

Search the house to find her again. From this point on it’s easier to fight Laughing Octopus with your NV on. She’ll be pressed up against a wall next, camouflaged against it. Search the outer walls of the building, find her, and start shooting. Again, the M4 with Shotgun attachment works well here, as does the P90.

She’ll be on the outer walls again, this time up in the rafters. Shoot her until she disappears. Go into the centre room next with your NV on. Look for what appear to be glowing pipes coming off a machine. Shoot them! It’s just Laughing Octopus. Next she’ll pretend to be a model of a human. Again, the glow she gives off in Night Vision makes her easy to spot.

Around this point, she’ll start crashing through windows. When you hear the sound, spin around and start shooting. She’ll try and roll into a ball here and knock you down; as soon as you see her start rolling toward you, dive out of the way.

After this she’ll pretend to be Otacon in the Metal Gear Mk. II. It’s a trick, naturally; shoot the Mk. II from a distance, because she’ll lay down explosives for you to hit if you follow closely. Next she’ll be a corpse on the ground in the centre rooms; blast away.

After this, she kind of runs out of tricks. Just wait for the laugh, use your NV, and blast her. When she runs out of health, she’ll lose the suit and become Laughing Beauty. Just keep your distance and shoot her. She’ll dodge your bullets a bit, but she always dodges right, so be ready with a follow-up shot. Use your tranqs instead of killing her to collect her FaceCamo. Soon, Laughing Octopus will be no more. 

After the fight, Drebin calls and tells you the story of how Laughing Octopus was transformed from an innocent young girl to…well, what she’s become. After the call, Snake will leave the area and start showing the effects of the virus. A call from Raiden will get you set up for the next section, where you’ll be trailing footprints to find out where Naomi was taken.

Although the way Raiden describes it sounds very difficult, this section is fairly straightforward. Equip your Mk. 22 pistol and set the Solid Eye for NV mode. Make sure the battery is charged before you go any further. Flick on the Solid Eye and you’ll see footprints ahead of you. Look closely – see the faint, tapered footprints? Those are from Naomi’s heels. Follow them, but don’t just point the camera at the ground and start charging – there are a few enemies around here whom are luckily easy to spot in infrared.

Try to stay a bit to the side of the footprints so you don’t mark them up in the event that you need to backtrack; Snake will leave fresh footprints as he walks around. When you get to tall grass, it’ll look trampled and the prints disappear. De-equip the Solid Eye as you sneak through the grass, then switch it back on when the grass ends to pick up the trail again.

Sometimes the path will split – again, just look for which way Naomi’s prints are going. Eventually you’ll run across a concrete bridge; this is where enemies tend to start popping up, so be careful. The prints split again, and it can be hard to spot after the bridge; look closely and you’ll see Naomi’s going right.

After the trampled grass here, there’s a sniper up top of a hill right in front of you; he can be tough to see without the NV or on a small television. Take him out. On the path you’ll find Naomi’s handkerchief. Follow the prints through some more trampled grass and enemies.

Eventually you’ll reach a beautiful wide-open stream, and the trail seemingly ends. Look across the river, though. One of the footprints has gotten a lot brighter on the NV – in other words, deeper. Someone is now carrying Naomi! Follow the deep prints instead, now.

Up ahead the path splits ahead a lot of times. Look carefully at the brightness and you’ll the north-west path is the right one, as it’s a bit easier to see with NV. Up ahead are more guards, and it’s pretty easy for them to spot you here. If one comes closer to investigate a noise, stay hidden for as long as possible. If they do spot you, quickly jump out and CQC them; the alert should go away if they haven’t had a chance to radio in.

After you head through a cave mouth, this time you’ll see footprints that split again. One has footprints going in two directions; the other just has one set. Follow the single set. Soon after following this, Otacon will mention the huge number of footprints up ahead; with tighter security, you must be close to Naomi. There’s an underground passage on the right hand side here; take it to trigger a cut scene.

As you can see, after this cinematic, Snake’s in a world of trouble. Luckily, Drebin steps in to give some assistance.

For the next little section, Snake will be playing gunner on top of Drebin’s truck. It works just like firing a handheld weapon. As you ride around, the zombie-like SOP soldiers will climb onto the truck and try to hurt you. If you spot one climb on top with you, quickly ditch the gun, run over, CQC him, and run back and keep shooting.

The IRVING walking tanks are obviously the biggest problem here, but the soldiers can get annoying. Pretty much all the steel drums you see explode when shot; use them to thin out numbers a little quicker when you’ve got them. Shoot the legs of the tanks to drop them faster, then when they’re down, shoot them any way you can. Try and take out the soldiers while they’re still in the radius of your gun so they can’t climb up in the first place.

Tanks will start showing up around the time you need to shoot down a green steel gate. The tanks go down easy; focus your attention on the tough gate right after you take them out.

The last few stretches are pretty straightforward; just shoot at what’s in your way as Drebin drives.

Check out Raiden breakdance-fight all those IRVING! After the cut scene, Snake has to get the hell out of dodge, basically. Go through the marketplace, and keep right. When you see the tank in your way up ahead, duck right down an alley. Pick up the M72A3 Missile Launcher.

Take the alley around the corner and head straight out back to the street. Turn right and keep running. If one gets close, use a Shotgun on their leg to knock them down. Otherwise they'll sweep you with their legs when you get close, nearly killing Snake. Keep heading down the street to trigger another cut scene, ending Act Two.

This is a bit of a curious section in Metal Gear Solid 4. In it, you’ll need to trail members of the resistance to find the location of the base and track down Big Mama, the leader.

It’s tough to write this out from a guide perspective, since so much of it hinges on simply following someone around from a distance. Here’s a few tips to help you out as you sneak around Europe.

n Try to keep about twenty paces behind the person you’re trailing, at least. Take cover when you can.

n If you got Laughing Octopus’ FaceCamo in Act Two, you can use it to trick the guards into thinking you’re a woman. They give you far less trouble this way.

n Ditch the civilian disguise. Nobody is allowed out on the streets anyway, so you may as well try and use the OctoCamo to blend in.

n If the person you’re trailing stops moving, there’s probably guards around hindering his progress. Look around and tranq anyone you see so that he can keep moving.

n At one point, the resistance member will slip into a closed space and come out wearing a soldier costume. From this point on you’ll need to be extra careful about who you’re shooting.

n Keep your Mk. 22 and Solid Eye equipped the whole time. It’s pretty easy to keep an eye on who you’re trailing if you use the NV mode.

n If you cause an Alert phase and the person you’re trailing runs off, don’t try and keep up with him. Instead, find a good place to hide (like under a car), wait out the timer, and equip the Signal Interceptor. Sneak around with it on until you find the trail again, and then continue on.

n Aim carefully! Don’t tranq the person you’re following by mistake; when they wake up, they’ll panic and run a fair ways back, and you’ll need to re-trail him through something you’ve already done.

n If you can plainly see the person you’re trailing, take the Solid Eye off so it can recharge.

n During the final stretch, vehicle patrols will start going up and down the streets. Use your OctoCamo here for sure; if you can keep the index at around 80-85% when you’re laying still, the patrols shouldn’t notice you. Use extra caution and try not to get caught right at the end.

The whole endeavour should take you about a half hour. When the resistance member changes back to his regular clothes from the PMC costume, you’re home free. It’s time for Snake to finally meet the leader Raiden worked for earlier; Big Mama.

Lots and lots of cinematics here! You’ll finally learn who the Patriots really are, after Snake starts and finishes kicking some ass, of course. You’ll also learn more about the cloning project Snake was a part of, Les Enfants Terribles.

For more information on the background of these story elements, check out the Recap section of this guide.

Snake will again be riding shotgun, this time protecting some rather important cargo. Big Mama will take care of all the driving; all you’ll need to do is shoot. Occasionally super soldiers will leap onto the van and start trying to cause trouble; when this happens, don’t worry about anything else until you shoot them off of the van.

Raging Raven, the second member of the BB Corps, shows up along your ride. Lots of super soldiers arrive after that; look for explosive barrels and use them to your advantage!

The winged creatures don’t take more than a few shots before they go down, so quickly pop them once you get them in your sights. Also, as a side note, if there’s nothing to shoot for a few moments, stop aiming and the game will switch to action camera angles that topple some of the finest action films out there. The Vz. 83 Big Mama gives you isn’t the greatest weapon out there, but you get unlimited ammo for it, so you may as well use it.

Use Rations to keep up your health as needed. When the chase rather abruptly ends, it’s time for another fight.

This Beauty and the Beast member takes a bit more of a beating than Laughing Octopus did, but she’s not too much more difficult, all things considered. The main difference here is that Raven will have her support winged units, and they’ll be on Snake as well as the boss, so you’ve got a little bit of multitasking to do.

When the fight starts, equip your favourite rifle and take the stairs all the way up to the roof. Equip the Solid Eye – her signature is bigger and brighter than the other enemies’. Start unloading whenever you see her; after a few hits she’ll get angry and start blowing up the roof a bit – stay away from the edges! If Snake is dangling from the edge, use Triangle to pull him back up. Raven’s actually pretty obedient for most of this fight; stopping often, she’s rather easy to shoot. If you see her lift her right arm, she’s about to launch a missile – dive out of the way if you spot it.

Eventually Raven will complain about overheating, and Otacon will tell you to run. When this happens, dive through a window and hoof it down the stairs. Eventually, she’ll return, this time up close and personal. If she grabs you with her feet, shake loose with the left stick. It’s basically the same deal as before. Just dodge around a bit and unload on her as much as you can.

When her health is gone, Raging Raven becomes Raging Beauty. Tranq her down just like you did with Octopus. You’ll get her Grenade Launcher and her FaceCamo as a spoil of war, and Drebin will call to tell you her story. Afterward…

A hugely important, very lengthy, and extremely impressive cut scene will fill you in on tons of story elements. Get ready for some serious revelations here.

When it’s all over, save your game and rest during the next few minutes; Act Three is finished.

Long time fans of Metal Gear will recognize this next section well. Run right past the helipad and onto the snow. Press up against the metal crate closest to you. When the guard approaches near you, sneak past him. Watch out though, he can track your footprints.

Run past the crates to the camera. When it’s turned away from the stairs, run up them. Press up against the wall in the cavity to the right at the top of the stairs. Wait for the guard to approach you and turn around. When he’s a bit away from you, follow him across the catwalk until you spot a vent at the floor level. Crawl through.

Even with the new Metal Gear Mk. III, Snake’s not in the best shape anymore. It’s time to start moving through the blizzard. Equip the Solid Eye and use your NV mode to see through the snow squalls. Head straight ahead and take the incline on the right. Watch out the IRVING tank. When it’s not looking drop off the cliff and start crawling.

To your right you’ll spot a crawlspace in the cliff; go through to get some healing items and ammo. On the other side, wait for the IRVING to walk back toward your drop point and crouch ahead. Welcome to the Heliport. Scour the rooms for healing items and ammo, and then, well…follow your dreams up to the vent on the second level.

Follow the vent and drop out where the vent breaks. Lots of little annoying unmanned weapons in here! Use your Chaff Grenades to confuse them and walk right past them. Dive over the hand rail to the first level and look for the slightly opened bay door. Crouch under it to reach the Canyon.

Two IRVING tanks are in the Canyon, well-hidden. They’re crouched near the corners of the map, so watch out for them. Chaff Grenades can help you distract them as you slip past. Crawl under the cargo door on the other side to reach the Warhead building. Head forward and under the next door. This should look familiar if you played the first Metal Gear Solid.

Head for the back door. Locked! Crud. Head upstairs and use the Elevator. Set the controls to B2. Downstairs, head down the hall and left at the fork in it to trigger a cut scene.

If you've forgotten already...the password is 48273.

As you head back to the elevator, an IRVING will crash through, seriously ruining your day. Throw some Chaff at it, then run right around the corner toward the elevator. You can’t get out yet though; go left past the elevator and around the corner into the office. You’re relatively safe here, so relax.

Equip the Metal Gear Mk. III and drive it to the panel just before the elevator. It’s glowing, meaning it’s still got some juice in it. Press Triangle to have the Mk. III boot it back up, charging the electric floor and frying the IRVING.

Take the lift back upstairs. Head back to the door that wouldn’t open before. IRVING will pop it’s ugly head back up again, unfortunately. Now you’ve got to defend the Mk. III for three minutes so he can open up the door for you.

When the IRVING jumps down to your level, hit it with some chaff if you’ve got it. Don’t shoot it until it comes to again; the idea here is to waste time, not unload unnecessarily and waste ammo. Shoot it as needed to keep it’s attention fixed solely on you. Aim for the legs; when it falls over, don’t shoot anymore, just let it squabble around a bit until it gets back up. Rinse wash and repeat for three minutes.

The M4’s Shotgun attachment works wonders here; two blasts to each leg and it’ll be down for upwards of 15 seconds. The P90s high firing rate also makes it valuable here. As soon as it stands up, knock it back down.

When the timer gets to 10 or so seconds, camp by the door and head through once it opens up.

Collect the ammo and head left off the platform below.

The key to this fight is to keep looking in the direction the wind is going. Crying Wolf will stay downwind to pick up your scent and take you down.

If you’re really low on healing items, use the tall buildings. Take the stairs, wait for her approach, and use your NV to spot her; the only part glowing will be her body, so you’ll need a sniper rifle to actually hit this tender area. The enemies in this area drop DSR-1 snipers, and these work great on Crying Wolf.

If you have a decent amount of rations though, the much quicker and direct approach is to head straight downwind. Usually the wind is going south – in other words, the opposite direction of your North arrow. Head that way to quickly encounter Wolf. If she charges you at close range, dive out of the way. Explosives can work pretty well here, as long as she’s not too close. Use some rockets or Claymore mines if you’ve got them. Your best bet, though, its waiting for her to pop up and start shooting with her rail gun. Dodge the shots, heal up when necessary, and quickly whip out the DSR-1 or other sniper and pop her in the body or head.

That’s about all there is to it, really; keep heading toward the wind, and when Wolf appears, take some shots before she runs away. Repeat until she’s out of health. Note that in extreme cold, your psyche meter drains very fast, worsening your aim. Obviously that’s a big issue here, so use your Syringe when necessary. Pentazemin will also help steady your aim, if you have any.

When she becomes Crying Beauty, tranq her until she falls over to collect her FaceCamo. Drebin will call with her story.

When the fight’s over, head through the door in front of you. You can play with the wolf a bit behind you first, if you want. As you head down the ramp inside, you’ll get a funny little Codec message from Otacon.

Inside, you’ll reach the Blast Furnace. What you want here is the elevator; check your map with Start. The elevator is in the top left corner of the map. It’s a small area here, so it’s not difficult to navigate. The hard part is getting through without being caught. Stay out of the laser sights of any of the small Gekko you see.

If you get caught, don’t waste bullets. Run standing up, and do a diving roll; it’ll knock the Gekko around you down. Keep doing that until you reach the elevator, call the lift, and ride it down to B5.

Down here is the Casting Facility. Getting caught down here is bad news, since IRVING aren’t all that easy to take on all by your lonesome. Take cover and wait for the IRVING right and the beginning of this area to move. When it corners right, go straight ahead so it won’t see you. You’ll find yourself in a hallway that’s all clear, which is a nice little break before the final room in this area, which is crawling with all sorts of unmanned weaponry, including multiple IRVING.

I found it easiest to keep left, since there’s little resistance here. Toward the end of the room, there are multiple moving Gekko that roll around, stop, and scan with their lasers. Remember, they can only see what breaks that laser. When they roll around before settling again, run by the dive behind the big steel crate right at the end of the room. Wedge yourself between the crate and the wall and wait. When the IRVING on the platform next to you turns away, quickly climb up onto the platform, and run straight ahead, through the little opening at the left.

To the left is a doorway; quickly jet through it, head down the ladder and through the door to the Underground Base.

This is the last area of this section, but can potentially be a tricky one. The two scanning Gekko definitely have most of this area covered, and it’s hard to move past them. Watch for the holes in the floor here as well.

When the Gekko close to you moves, inch forward a bit. Once it gets up the stairs, you can flip over the railing, wait for it to pass, climb back up and head toward the door. Watch for the stationery Gekko sweeping over the door though.

If you get caught, you’re in for a bit of a fight; the door won’t open if you’re in Alert or Evasion phase. The Gekko they have are limited though; if you get caught, bolt through the door and get as far as you can before it won’t open for you. Fight off the Gekko here until they stop coming, then head through the door once you hit the Caution phase.

Inside, you’ll find REX, along with an old enemy.

A tough fight if you don’t know what to do. They key here is eliminating Vamp’s power; his regeneration that lets him get up from anything you throw at him. Empty his health or psyche meters, and he’ll get right back up again for another round.

Instead, pull out a machine gun or assault rifle and shoot at him as he jumps around. He’ll throw knives (easily dodged by rolling), and sometimes he’ll charge you headlong (also easily dodged). Shoot him whenever he’s not directly attacking you until his health is very low, but don’t kill him.

Then switch to your Mk. 22 pistol and start shooting him to drain his psyche. This time, empty the psyche meter. He’ll fall down and Otacon will congratulate you. He’s not dead yet though; de-equip your weapon, equip the Syringe, and take a run at him. When he gets up, CQC him and tap Triangle to inject him. Now his nanomachines are suppressed and he can’t regenerate! If you don’t get him right away, don’t worry; he’s a slippery bastard, but you’ll get him eventually.

Raiden will show up and begin to fight Vamp. Snake – on a split screen – has to take care of the Suicide Gekko that will explode Shadow Moses. Equip your Rail Gun and Solid Eye. When the lights on those Gekko stop blinking, they explode, which is bad news for everyone in the room. Shoot the rails from your gun between the lights, on their heads. One fully charged shot (hold R1 until the meter below your ammo fills) should bring one down.

Be very careful about Gekko jumping into the little circular area with you; if they land on you, you’re dead. Similarly, if you’re too close to them when they explode, you’re dead, and you’ll need to start this Rail Gun section over. Be on the safe side and dodge away when you see one jumping at you.

Keep a watchful eye on your radar; Gekko can appear behind you as well. If you need more rail ammo, open Drebin’s shop and buy some. Is it expensive, though, so try and aim carefully.

Toward the end, a whole bunch of Gekko will swarm you in your little central area. Hold your ground here, and if you’re running low on ammo, just shoot the ones that have the timers over them; that are close to self-destruction, in other words.

Raiden will be the one to end this fight, followed by some heavy-handed cut scenes. After that…

Snake is now in control of Metal Gear REX! This section is very straightforward. REX has three weapons – a gattling gun, a laser, and some missiles. All you’ll need for now is the gun, which you’re equipped with already. Tap R1 to shoot – if you hold it, the gun will quickly overheat. Head forward down the corridors, and when your path ends, shimmy right a bit and head down the next corridor.

There’s not much to talk about here, really; just spray fire on the path ahead of you, and whatever you don’t kill, REX will stomp. Your health will take a hit, but don’t worry about it; it’s very unlikely that you’ll die here.

After three or four corridors, it’s time for a little clash of new and old technology.

Welcome to what’s probably one of the easiest fights in the game. Snake’s in Metal Gear REX, and Liquid has taken a RAY model Metal Gear. Start by assaulting him with your Gattling Gun. After a couple seconds of constant fire, you’ll see RAY look injured; this is because it’s stunned for a few moments. If you’re close by, run toward it and tap Triangle when told to do some serious damage to it.

Unless it’s stunned, though, keep your distance from RAY. He’ll occasionally try and charge you; it’s tough to get out of the way with such a slow-moving vehicle, but try your best. Bullets and the AT Missiles work great against RAY; don’t waste your time with the lame laser attack, which is powerful but takes too long to charge.

Stun RAY and use the Triangle melee attack when you can, and don’t let up the heat! Constant bombardment will end this fight quickly.

Liquid’s shiny new ship will cause some major destruction here in the next few cut scenes. Pay attention to them, as a lot happens in the next few minutes. When you’re all done, save your game, and a quick install later, you’ll be on the game’s final act!

Note: All of Drebin’s wares are half-off in this Final Act. Get shopping! Or save up for some special goodies the next time around (see Extra Playthroughs section of this guide).

After some exchanges on board, Snake will be launched onto Outer Haven to complete his final mission. Time to start fighting.

I recommend using an M4 Custom or P90 for the super soldiers that are on the deck and the Rail Gun for the Gekko.

Pick one side of the deck and run straight through. Take cover and carefully aim your shots. The M4’s Shotgun attachment works well on the soldiers at close range. Toward the end of the area, IRVING show up, four of them. Equip the Rail Gun. Holding L1 will charge a meter below the ammo count; when it fills up, fire. You should be able to take out a Gekko in one shot. Make sure to charge out of their line of sight though, then pop out and shoot.

Your goal is a water-tight door at the end of the area; Snake will have to tap Triangle to get through, so it’s pretty much impossible to get through here without taking out all the enemies first. There are soldiers up top in the balconies right by the door, if you’re wondering where you’re getting shot from.

With everyone out of the way, open the door and take the lift downstairs. Save your game and collect the ammo in the small room before continuing on. Meryl’s unconscious in the next room, and soldiers will flood in to attack you. Take them out; they are on ground level and upstairs on the balconies. Obviously, you want to avoid taking any shots in Meryl’s direction.

When all the soldiers are cleared out, you’ll have a bit of a situation on your hands.

Here we go; the last of the Beauty and the Beast unit is also the most interesting. Fans of the original Metal Gear Solid should find some similarities here.

Try and shoot Mantis and your cursor will go haywire; you can’t get a hit in on her. Or can you? She’s controlling you through your nanomachines, it turns out; inject yourself with your Syringe to break free from her spell. If you get the classic “Hideo” video screen, just wait a few seconds for the picture to come back.

After injecting yourself, you can shoot at her. It’s not her you want though, it’s the two small dolls that follow her. Shoot them instead. After a few hits to her little friends, Mantis will get frustrated and take Meryl hostage. Tranq her to knock her out; do not shoot her with actual bullets!

Mantis will occasionally yell out your name and teleport toward you; dodge out of the way to avoid a nasty blade attack. Keep shooting her dolls whenever you get a clear shot, and eventually she’ll drop her Mantis Doll. Quickly pick it up and equip it as a weapon. The Sorrow doll can also be shot off and used in a second play through of Metal Gear Solid 4 (see the Extra Playthroughs section of this guide).

Aim it at Mantis and shoot balls of energy at her. When one connects, a sign will pop up on screen that says L1+Controller Shake. So, do it! Hold L1 and shake your Sixaxis controller. If you get a good couple shakes in, it will take her entire health bar. If it doesn’t kill her the first time, just repeat.

Screaming Mantis becomes Screaming Beauty. Take her out with tranq bullets to end the fight and get her FaceCamo.

Snake will leave Meryl and Akiba to cover him while he goes for GW. Watch the cinematics for some interesting developments. When you get control of Snake, run him down the hall to hear some echoed clips that are relevant to Snake’s mission and life.

More cut scenes, then back to Snake. There are a lot of those tiny Gekko that Snake faced in Shadow Moses. Do the dive roll manoeuvre over and over again so that they don’t stick to you or cause damage and keep moving forward.

Eventually Snake will reach the microwave chamber just before GW. He’ll be in a world of trouble before an old friend shows up to give you a hand.

This next section uses the split screen effect you saw in Act Four. Snake will be on the bottom while a collage of other characters will play on the top. All you need to do here is keep moving forward. Snake’s health and psyche will rapidly decline here, but he’ll make it. Just keep moving on.

Eventually, prompts will tell you to mash the Triangle button to represent Snake’s growing difficulty moving through the microwaves. Just keep moving and mash your heart out and he’ll eventually reach the GW server room.

Lots of cut scenes ahead, including some series-long questions that get answered and resolved. Snake, as you can see, is in increasingly worse shape. After the scene on the ship, you’ll be rescued on Mei Ling’s naval cruiser. Liquid finds you and gives you a little speech. This is it; time for the final battle.

It’s time for a bit of a time-warp through the entire Metal Gear Solid series here. Your health bars and other heads-up display features will shift through the different games, as will the music.

In terms of actually fighting Liquid, the procedure is a little different than past boss fights. You can’t use any weapons or items, even healing items like Rations. It’s just you, Liquid, and your fists.

Use R1 to attack and L1 to block. Occasionally, special prompts will come up for special attacks or the ability to block a particularly devastating attack. Press the button it shows you as quickly as you can! Sometimes it’s not Triangle like it has been for the rest of the game, so pay close attention as you go.

If you mash R1, Snake will do a combo that ends with a kick. This last kick should knock Liquid down and do a fair amount of damage. Even if the first hit of the combo doesn’t hit him, sometimes following through helps; the last kicks may strike Liquid as he closes in on you.

Block when you can, but I found adopting a more aggressive approach tended to work a little better than being overly defensive.

During the last phase of the fight, the camera closes in and all of the information on-screen disappears. At this point, all you need to do is lay on the R1 button to give Liquid a thorough beating.

When the curtain falls on the game’s ending, you can choose to save. Do so! Afterward, load it up to start the game again, this time with extra perks and features.

After one play-through of Metal Gear Solid 4, you will receive:

n All of your items, weapons, and Drebin Points from your first play through; as soon as you reach the Metal Gear Mk. II in Act One, you’ll get it all back.

n The ability to play through the game on the extremely challenging Big Boss Extreme difficulty. Not for the easily frustrated!

n A bunch of new Combat Vests to wear (selectable from ‘Camouflage’).

n A business suit to wear. If being well-dressed for combat is your thing.

Here are some just-for-fun things you can do in your extra play throughs of Metal Gear Solid 4:

n Wear the young Snake or MGS1 Snake FaceCamo.

n During the mission briefings, switch to the Metal Gear Mk. II (or III) and run into people to earn secret FaceCamo.

n Amass over 60 weapons to get Drebin’s FaceCamo.

n Go through the game without triggering any alerts (to earn total invisibility) or without killing anybody, including the bosses (to earn the infinite ammo Bandana).

n Use The Sorrow doll taken from Screaming Mantis to see hidden ghosts throughout the game (especially in Shadow Moses).

n During the ‘beauty’ portions of B&B boss fight, wait three minutes, then play the Oshii song on your iPod.

n Run and gun through the entire game!

n Try a higher difficulty.

n Enter 14893 as the code for Otacon during Act Four.

n Save up 500’000 Drebin Points. A flintlock rifle is available for a million points at the store, an ancient weapon that – when fired in an open area – has a chance of producing a massive tornado that destroys everything in its path! During Act Five, however, everything is half-off, allowing you to purchase it.