Note: Keep in mind that this game is over a decade old, and as such, many of the really violent and gory moments listed below are pretty abstract because of the blocky, blurry and outdated graphics. That said, the cutscenes have more overall violence than the actual gameplay.

Animated blood & gore: There is small, almost transparent puffs/clouds of blood when you or the enemy is shot or hit. Blood also lingers and pools on the ground. There is no option to turn blood off in this game.

Specific scenes of blood and gore:

• A very early scene shows the aftermath of a gun fight, with several dead enemy soldiers lying on the ground with their blood smeared on the floor.
• Snake (the main character) happens upon a beaten hostage with what appears to be a broken arm, tied and pinned to a wall of trip wire explosives. After the Snake defeats the hostage's capture, Revolver Ocelot (a main villain), an unknown assailant cuts of the Revolver Ocelot's arm, resulting in the limb falling to the floor and puffs of blood spurting from the wound. Later in the same scene the hostage also has a violent heart attack, leading to his death.
• Snake starts to walk into a narrow hallway and sees there are several dead soldiers with blood streaked on the ceiling and floor with crater marks in the walls. The soldiers are also visibly cut open with what appears to be damage from a bladed weapon. You then see a soldier skewered through with a sword and being held up by a mysterious force--but if you look closer, you see it is some sort of ninja with stealth camouflage. The ninja then approaches Otacon (a main character), who, with fear, wets himself.
• Snake and Meyrl (main female character) come upon the unbenounced Sniper Wolf (a main female villain). Sniper Wolf aims and shoots Meyrl several times, resulting in her falling to the ground with appropriate, but mild blood effects spraying from the wounds. After you defeat Sniper Wolf, you must not have done a very good job because she and her men capture you immediately after. She proceeds to scratch the Snake's cheek with her fingernails, resulting in the wound shedding some blood. She then says she now has him marked for later killing.
• Snake finds himself captured and in a cell. When he wakes up he sees that he is not alone. In one of the corners is a body, and it looks like it's been there for some time because it is starting to decompose with maggots crawling over it. Its blood has also been drained, giving its skin a pale grey appearance.
• The next boss is again Sniper Wolf. After you defeat her, you see that you've punctured both her lungs during the fight. It then shows her lying on the ground, you see blood staining her clothes and hear her struggled breathing. Since she is suffering and will die, she asks Snake to put her out of her misery. He reluctantly does, as you hear the shot.
• After you defeat the next boss, a self-proclaimed shaman and raven keeper, he is visibly bloody from the fight. He then has his ravens eat him alive. There is a quick shot of the ravens eating at his body, resulting in small puffs of blood. But, the camera then cuts away as the rest of the process takes place.
The last major boss is the game's name sake, "Metal Gear," and resembles a tank on two legs, or, Japanese anime Gundams, if you are familiar with them. Half way through the battle Gray Fox shows up, and for some reason, decides to give Snake a better chance of beating it by wearing it down some. He starts off well, by giving it a few slices with his sword and shooting it with his gun. But, eventually he wears himself down. Metal Gear then proceeds to shoot him several times as he rushes it, and then uses a laser to sever his arm from the shoulder, showing a moderate amount of blood puff from the wound, as his arm falls to the floor. Metal Gear then pins him to the wall with one of its arms, resulting in some lightly splattered blood on the wall. To finish Gray Fox, it throws him to the floor and crushes him with its leg. You do see some blood puff from underneath Metal Gear's leg, and blood stained on the floor, but not the actual impact.