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Content review for this game:
Pertaining to content listed in the upper left corner of this site.
Blood and gore: There is a moderate amount of blood in this game, mostly in the form of splattering/puffs when your character or enemies are shot, hit or stabbed. Also, blood lingers in puddles and stains the characters' clothes. However, it can be turned off at the title screen, under options, which will disable it for gameplay and cutscenes. Dispatched enemy bodies do linger, and you see several dead, bloodied enemy and allied soldiers' bodies scattered throughout the game. There is also gore, which the ESRB didn't mention in their rating.
Specific scenes of blood & gore:
- The opening scene seems to be ripped straight from an action war movie, and shows dozens of soldiers fighting in a middle eastern setting. When the firefight breaks out, many of the soldiers are shot (with appropriate blood effects) in the head, chest, neck, etc. As Snake (the main character) is making his way through the chaos, three large, bipedal half organic/machines (which resemble AT-STs from Star Wars), called Gekko, show up, and start attacking soldiers. As the Gekko jump in, one lands on and crushes a soldier resulting in some blood spurting, and then the Gekko start to massacre every soldier in sight. While Snake tries to evade the Gekko, he stops in a half destroyed building to take a breather. As he's resting, three drops of what appears to be blood fall on his shoulder. When he looks up, he sees a Gekko standing over him, holding a dead, bloodied soldier in its jaws. The Gekko then tosses the body aside, and starts to pursue Snake. Snake proceeds to shoot the Gekko in its organic legs (weak point) several times, resulting in it shedding some blood, but to no avail, as the Gekko gets up and continues to chase him.
- The B&Bs (Beauty and the Beast, explained later) make their first appearance, and start to attack Snake's allied soldiers. The first beast grabs a soldier with its tentacles and squeezes until he is crushed (with appropriate blood & sound effects). Then the second beast uses the body of another soldier to shoot and kill 4 of his fellow soldiers (with blood effects), and finishes him off by breaking his spine with her mind. Then, the beast with tentacles uses one to pierce a soldier all the way through his mid-section (with you seeing/hearing the bloody impact), lift him in the air, and smash him to the ground. The last beast (who runs on four legs like a wolf), dashes through a group of soldiers, ramming into and killing them with pure force.
- Vamp (a main villain) and one of the B&B looking for Snake among soldiers. The beast tells Vamp that Snake isn't with them, so Vamp gestures to the beast to kill them. The beast uses its tetacles to grab and smash a soldier to the floor, and then uses its tentacle to pierce through the second soldier's body, with bloody results. The beast is about to kill the third, when Vamp stops her and tells her to keep him alive so that he can spread distrust among his allies (this beast has the power to disguise her face as anyone, and has been disguised as Snake since the beginning of the scene).
- Snake finds Vamp with a few enemy soldiers, and Naomi (a main character), who Snake is there to rescue. Vamp is about to extract Naomi by helicopter, when Snake finds a opening and shoots Vamp square in the forehead, resulting in blood splattering as you see the impact. Yet he mysteriously doesn't seem to die; instead he just falls on the floor and loses consciousness about a minute after he's shot. Liquid Ocelot (the main villain) disables the nano machines in the enemy soldiers' bodies (explained fully in Violence section), which this time creates a zombie-like effect (unlike the first time, again, explained in Violence). As the soldiers and Gekko are closing in, Drebin comes in on his all-terrain tank and drives Snake and Naomi out of there.
- Later when Snake, Drebin and Naomi escape the area, they wait for Otacon (a main character) to extract them by helicopter. But, as they wait, several more Gekko close in on their position. When their situation seems dire, Raiden (main character from MGS2) comes in and starts to dispatch dozens of Gekko with his sword. Since the Gekko are part organic and their legs are their weak point, Raiden uses this to his advantage and starts cutting away. As a result, you see plenty off blood spurt from their legs, as he slices 'n dices, stabs and severs them with his sword. After he's cut their legs in half you can see what's left of the muscle tissue and bone. He proceeds to do this for a couple of minutes while Snake, Otacon, and Naomi fly over in the helicopter to pick him up. As they reach his location, Vamp shows up and makes his way toward Raiden. The Gekko have pinned Raiden with several cords, rendering Raiden immobile. As he tries to free himself from the bonds, Vamp reaches him, pulls out his knife and stabs Raiden in the chest. When Vamp pulls it out, the blood Raiden sheds isn't red, instead it's white and made out of synthetic material (as Raiden is now part cyborg/human and in full body armor). Vamp then slowly grazes his knife across Raiden's upper body and then again plunges it into Raiden's chest. Snake, seeing Raiden is in trouble, shoots (from the helicopter) one of the cords, freeing Raiden. He (Raiden) then immediately engages in battle with Vamp while simultaneously dealing with the Gekko that get in his way. Vamp stabs Raiden many more times in the chest and feet, resulting in more white blood, but supposedly not much ill-effect. They continue to battle as Raiden manages to stab Vamp multiple times in the upper chest and neck with a knife attached to his feet (Vamp sheds red blood and you hear the squishing sounds and see blood). Vamp then takes one of the knives still stuck in his chest, chuckles and (with bloody results) pushes it all the way through to his back, and places the knife in his holster. Vamp then knocks Raiden over and dances on his chest with clawed feet (as you hear the crushing sounds). Raiden manages to get up, and after a bit of dodging Vamp grabs Raiden from behind and starts to choke him. Raiden then takes his sword and runs both himself and Vamp through. Eventually Raiden withdraws the sword and as they turn around they stab each other; Vamp with a knife to Raiden's side, and Raiden with a sword through Vamp's middle (with blood effects, of course). The battle then ends as Vamp supposedly drops dead (yeah, right) and Raiden escapes by helicopter. But you soon find out Raiden isn't as resilient as he seems, because as soon as he enters the helicopter he starts to cough up loads of white blood. The scene ends with him continuing to do so, as Snake and the others try to help him.
- Later, Big Mama (a main character) shows Snake a side character they've been protecting, since he is considered a biological key to them and the main villain, Liquid Ocelot. The side character is a half living corpse, who is kept that way by life support. He resembles a breathing mummy and is essentially braindead. Overall he is quite grotesque looking; you can see the upper layer of muscle and underlying bone on his face and upper chest. They keep him lying on a hospital table, with what's left of his body enclosed in plastic. I will refer to this body as "the key" from now on whenever I mention him.
- As Snake, Big Mama and her men are trying to escape Liquid's army with the "the key," his army shoots the van containing "the key" and the motorcycle Snake and Big Mama are riding on beside it, with explosive effect. The van crashes into a building and Snake and Big Mama are violently thrown off the bike. As Snake checks on Big Mama to see if she's alright, he finds that she's landed on a spike protruding from a fence, which has pierced all the way from her back through her left side. You see the bloody wound and spike protruding from it, as you then see and graphically hear her pull herself off from it. Big Mama then tells Snake the van that was destroyed was a decoy, and that the real one is actually floating downriver to the canals. When they arive at the van's location, they find Liquid already there. Snake then engages in battle with Liquid, only to lose heavily, as Liquid takes Snake's own knife and stabs him in the front right shoulder, and proceeds to beat him several times in multiple parts of his body. To finish Snake off, he uses the knife still in his shoulder to electrocute Snake (it's a stun knife).
- As Liquid escapes by boat with "the key," Meryl, The Rat Patrol, Snake, Big Mama, and Meryl's army surround Liquid with multiple boats, helicopters and spotlights. As they are about to open fire on Liquid, he uses his new system to disable their guns and helicopters, causing the helicopters to lose power and crash in fiery explosions. Liquid then has his men fire on Meryl's army, killing several of them, and for the third total time, disables their nano machines. Now that the soliders are completely helpless, he has his men fire on every soldier in sight, now killing the majority of them (with apropriate blood effects). Liquid then pulls his boat over to the one Snake and Big Mama are currently on, and fires on it with a mounted gun. This causes part of their boat to set on fire. Liquid then throws what's left of "the key" (as he got what he wanted off it) onto Snake and Big Mama's boat. "The key" (who is still grotesque in appearance) lands in the fire and starts to burn (which you gradualy see in detail). Seeing this, Big Mama crawls into the flames and tries to save it, but gets caught and also starts to burn. Snake jumps to her rescue and throws her to safety, severly burning the left side of his face in the process.
- Later, as Snake and Raiden are escaping a facility, the exit collapses as Raiden passes under, resulting in tons of rock falling onto his body. Later in the same scene, Snake is about to get crushed by a tanker (long story), while Raiden is still pinned by debris. To save Snake, Raiden dislocates his shoulder to reach his sword, and then uses it to sever his arm from his shoulder (even though he is part cyborg, it still hurts), with you seeing the arm lopped off and the white blood spurt/spray--all while he screams in pain and slowly crawls out. Just when Snake is about to be crushed by the huge boat, Radien shows up and holds it with his back, but is soon crushed by the force.
- Last of all, a scene shows Snake as he has been exposed to heavy doses of microwave radiation. As a result, you see him throw up heavily on the floor.
The B&B (Beauty and the Beast), whom I mentioned earlier, are a group of 4 beautiful but deranged women in large bulky suits that give them specific powers. They were once normal civilians until war changed their life. Each one has had something terrible happen to them causing each of them to lose their minds in unique ways. They were soon found by the enemy and made into what they are: beasts. Liquid Ocelot has them search for Snake throughout the entire game, and they constitute the bulk of what are the boss battles. The overall objective is to strip them of their power suit first, and then finish them off once they're exposed. I will be listing the encounters in Suggestive themes, and Violence, as when you get them out of their power suits they act and look in a very sensual manner, and once you defeat them, Drebin (a main character) tells you each one's graphically tragic and disturbing story. And though, as I said, the stories are pretty gross, you actually don't see anything on screen; Drebin just tells you in text and voice.
Crude humor: You can sneak up on enemies, disarm, and then search them for supplies. At one point in the search as you pat them down, you pat their crotch, and have the option to squeeze it hard enough for them to be rendered unconscious.
- Snake's gun launderer, Drebin, likes soda, and after drinking it, burps/belches several times throughout the game.
- An early scene shows a soldier come across a rusty, old metal barrel. As he approaches it, he hears a man moaning and digestive noises coming from the barrel. You continue to hear the digestive/flatulent noises as the soldier gets closer. When the soldier flips the barrel, it reveals another masked soldier (main character named Johnny) squatting on the floor with his pants half down, revealing part of his bare behind. As the Johnny and the soldier stare at each other, Johnny passes gas and the soldier smelling it, holds his nose in disgust. Johnny then starts to run with his pants half down as the soldier chases him.
- During an early fight with the main villains' private soldiers, Johnny tells his team he really needs to go to the bathroom. As there isn't one, you see and hear as he goes in his pants. Later, while he's disarming a set of lasers for Snake and the team, you see his stained pants, with flies buzzing around the spot. Snake and the team react in disgust and hold their noses.
- In one area you come upon an enemy soldier from behind, who is urinating in a river. Later on, while you're following a man on a reconnaissance mission, he at one point runs to a bush and starts to urinate, while saying, "Whew! I though I was going to explode!" In both instances you also hear the sound, and in the first encounter, see the stream.
Strong language: There are 12 uses of d**n, 9 uses of h**l, 7 uses of a**, 2 uses of b****rd, 12 uses of s**t, 1 use of the f-word, and 4 misuses of God. Other than the main script, allied soldiers will say things like "You saved my a**!", and sometimes "S**t!" Soldiers also use d**n and h**l lightly throughout the areas they're present.
Suggestive themes: Early in the game, you come across a ruined square, with two naked, male statues on a pedestal. One is crouched, with his genitals and behind showing, and the other is standing, with the same exposed. You have the option to disguise yourself as one of these statues; your suit will blend in with the texture of the statues, which will help you hide from enemies. The statues resemble The David, and even though the graphics are very detailed, the statues' private parts are not. In other words it's not very offensive, but mentionable.
There are Playboy magazines available as weapons in this game, and if placed on the floor, enemies will be distracted by them. You can also look through about a dozen pages in the magazine that show real Playboy models. However, unlike the real magazine, the models are dressed in somewhat skimpy bikinis, not naked. And, as in real life, they look cheap.
As I said in the Blood & gore section, the B&B act and look pretty sensuously once you have them out of their power suits. Their bodies and faces are all based on real-world models, and noticeable breast physics are in play. They walk slowly towards you in a erotic way, and if you let them, they will hug or straddle you (almost sexually), and suck your health in the process. The camera angles also focus on their behinds and chest heavily through the cutscenes, and they are in skintight suits, leaving very little to the imagination. Once you've defeated them, they scream and curl up in the fetal position. Drebin calls and tells you that you supposedly cleansed their minds through the battle, and now they're free of their madness.
- Naomi (one of the main female characters) shows a lot of cleavage. She wears a science robe and a black button-up shirt underneath. But she has no bra and wears the black button-up with the buttons unfastened about half way down.
- While Snake and the team are on their way to the next objective on their cargo plane, Naomi starts to flirt heavily with Otacon. It escalates until she asks him to show her the way to the helicopter bay, so she can have some privacy while she gets ready and sleeps. He shows her, and when he's about to leave she pulls him in, and it is suggested they sleep together, although nothing is shown or heard.
- Big Mama (a main character) wears a full jumpsuit and has it zipped down half way, revealing lots of cleavage. However, it is offset by the fact that she is over 60 years old, and though she is pretty for an older woman, you could consider it more crude humor, than appealing ;P
- During a mission briefing an attractive female character walks by Johnny while he's sitting in a chair. He starts to look at her behind and is apparently mesmerized, as he then goes to touch it. However Meryl stops him before he can.
Violence: The overall story is about war and information control, with the effects and consequences of these issues in a modern society. The story also has many strange and bizarre elements; from a main character's hairless pet monkey in a speedo, to a character that can't die, and another character that is supposedly possessed by the main character's twin brother. Add all this, and a load of complicated politics and theology, and you have Metal Gear Solid.
Specific scenes of violence:
- An early scene has Snake come across Johnny, Meryl (main female character from MGS1) and her team, the Rat Patrol. After they talk for a while an alarm goes off, telling them that Liquid's private army, the FROGS, a group of fully armored and helmeted half female/machine soldiers, are enroute to their position. You then have to fight your way from the top of the building to the basement, by killing/tranquilizing (as you kill them, they make high pitch screams every time) dozens of the FROG soldiers. When they reach the basement, three FROG soldiers ambush them, and shoot one of the members of the patrol in the shoulder. The Rat Patrol responds by shooting all three simultaneously, and the one who was shot in the shoulder finishes his offender off by shooting it several times while it's down.
- Later, Liquid Ocelot test a new technique on his soldiers while Snake and the Rat Patrol are present. Because of this technique, soldiers start to drop their guns and grip their heads, while screaming in painful tones. Some foam at the mouth, others lose bowl control, some die from the strain. Many of the soldiers writhe on the floor uncontrollably, and many others turn on each other in a wild and confused state and start to beat one another with their fists and guns. Snake and the Rat Patrol are affected similarly. They react like this because all of the soldiers have nano machines in their bodies that regulate everything in their body, including emotion. So, when Liquid Ocelot turns these nano machines off, all of the soldiers' backed-up emotions of fear, panic, guilt, etc. are thrust back onto them in an unregulated form.
- The first boss is one of the 4 beasts named Laughing Octopus. She's in a full bodysuit with a mask that can mimic any human face. She has 4 large mechanical tentacles attached to her back, and she speaks in a half male, half female voice that resembles that of a demon (for future reference, they all sound like this because of a voicebox). After you defeat her, Drebin calls you and tells you her story. She's from a little fishing village, and for some reason, a strange cult hates her village and its people. So, one night the cult enters the village with weapons while the villagers are asleep, and executes them one by one, except for her. Instead, they make her torture and kill her friends, all the while having her laugh hysterically. This is how she lost her mind and came to be Laughing Octopus.
- The next boss is the second of the B&B named Raging Raven. She is also in full body armor, and has a set of mechanical wings attached to her back. After you've defeated her, Drebin calls in and tells you her story. As a child she was captured by enemy soldiers along with countless other children. The soldiers kept them locked up in cramped cages like animals, and gave them very little food, all the while beating them day after day. But one day the soldiers abandoned them and left them to be eaten alive by wild birds. The birds ate the remaining children alive one by one, until they came to her. She turned the tables and ripped them to pieces and escaped her cage. She then tracked down the soldiers and in a mindless rage, killed them and their prisoners. This is how she lost her mind and eventually became Raging Raven.
- The third boss and third beast is called Crying Wolf; she's in a large mechanical suit, runs on all fours and resembles a wolf. She will ram you, and then snipe you from afar. After you've defeated her, Drebin calls and tells you her story. Rebel soldiers killed all her family, save her and her younger brother. She fled with her brother to find a safer place to live. While traveling they come across a group of enemy soldiers, so she takes her brother to a nearby shack to hide. Her brother then starts to cry from fear. In a panic, knowing the soldiers will hear him, she covers his mouth tightly until they pass. When she removes her hand, she finds him dead from suffocation. She continues her journey, all the while carrying the dead body of her little brother. When she finally reaches a refugee camp, her brother's body is almost decomposed, and she's already gone mad. In her madness, hearing the cries and screams of children in the refugee camp (reminding her of her brother), she kills them one by one, until their cries are silenced. This is how she lost her mind and came to be Crying Wolf.
- The fourth boss and leader of the B&B is named Screaming Mantis. She floats in the air, has 6 mechanical arms and uses puppets at her side to control living and dead bodies with her mind. After you've defeated her, Drebin calls and tells you her story. Her family was killed by enemy soldiers, but she escaped and eventually managed to hide in a basement. It was full of dead bodies that had apparently been disposed of; she had inadvertantly hid in the basement of a makeshift torture house. Weeks passed as she survived by eating the dead bodies and drinking the filthy water pooled on the floor, all the while waiting for the upstairs residents to abandon the house. This is how she lost her mind, and became Screaming Mantis.
- The last boss battle is set up like a boxing match, but without rules or gloves. To defeat the boss you pretty much have to beat him to death in a variety of ways with your fists and legs. This battle consists of extremely brutal combat, where both you and the boss use moves like choking each other to death, bashing each other in the head and smashing each other with anything you can find. This goes on for at least ten minutes and is very intense and violent.
Use of alcohol & tobacco: The ESRB didn't mention this, and though there isn't much alcohol use, there is plenty of use of tobacco. Snake is seen smoking his cigarette constantly. He's even smoking in the load screens between chapters, and the smoke effects are very realistic and convincing. However, the other main characters are always telling Snake he should quit, as it's seen as a negative habit in the series. Cigarettes are also selectable in the inventory, and if you equip them they will result in bringing down Snake's stress meter, but they also sap his health meter.
- Drebin's hairless pet monkey steals Snake's cigarette and starts to smoke it. When Drebin sees the cigarette he tells the monkey, "I don't think so!" and gestures him to throw it down. The monkey complies, as Snake picks up the discarded cigarette for later use. Near the end of the game, Snake gives the cigarette to the Drebin's hairless monkey, and this time Drebin concedes.
- Near the very end of the game Drebin is seen drinking. He didn't drink before because the nano machines in his body would break down the alcohol before he could get drunk (guess it's not the taste). Later in this scene he starts to slur his speech and sway his steps. You also see some main characters in the background, drinking/pouring champain to celebrate a recent victory. Last but not least, you see Drebin's monkey drinking champaign and smoking a cigarette.
Closing comment: This game, in my opinion, is better than all the previous Metal Gears combined. It has incredible graphics, amazing gameplay and one of the best, most engrossing stories in any video game--or some movies for that matter. Unlike Grand Theft IV, the story has a point, and the characters are actually likable. The only negative is that some people could find the story to be a bit long-winded and/or bizzare (hey it's a taste). Content-wise, as you've read, it has plenty of blood, gore, language, and suggestive themes on par with an R-rated movie (and sometimes worse and/or more bizarre). So I recommend this game for ages 17+.
- Available on: PS3
- More information: wikipedia
- Cover scans: mobygames - covergalaxy
- FAQ's/cheats: gamefaqs
- Press reviews: ign - gamespot - gamespy - gametrailers
