To be delivered tomorrow morning at 8:30 lol.
Oh, btw, here it is. I couldn't mention everything.
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Informative Speech Outline
A. Introduction
a. How many people have heard of Metal Gear Solid? People who didn't raise your hands, you're in luck! I'm about to tell you all about it.
b. It's not going to be easy, there's plenty of plot twists, developments, deaths, etc. that might not make sense at first.
c. There's more to it than that, though. The game mechanics, innovations, and influences are more than enough to keep you awake for the following six minutes and thirty-five seconds.
d. Let's begin shall we?
B. Metal Gear
a. The Metal Gear (MG) series first popped up in 1987 on a Japanese only computer system called the MSX. The game was written and directed by Hideo Kojima, and developed and published by Konami.
b. Now imagine what a videogame looked like in 1987. Two dimensions, 16 bits, a little man made out of little more than a collection of pixels. This is what Metal Gear looked like.
c. The game chronicled the story of a legendary soldier codenamed "Solid Snake" tasked with infiltrating a large military encampment called "Outer Heaven". He is sent in to rescue and help continue the mission of another soldier, "Gray Fox", who the U.S. lost contact with days earlier. Snake needs to destroy a bipedal tank capable of launching nukes before the compound can use it to extort the U.N.
d. The story of Metal Gear, to me, is almost negligible. Very few people have ever even seen it in action, and the story itself can stand by itself.
e. What made MG stand apart from other shooting, action games what that it was based almost entirely around stealth. The goal of the game was not to kill all the soldiers you encountered, but rather to sneak around them, use disguises, and otherwise avoid detection. You were given the tools to defend yourself, but it would be very difficult to escape detection if you were seen.
f. This is the trend that future MGS games would see - a stealth mission, where the hero has the ability to go from start to finish without alerting the enemy a single time.
C. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
a. (1990) MG2 is basically more of the same. Not very much of a graphical change, but certainly much more in terms of color.
b. However, the game does get a boost in plot development. Snake is again charged with infiltrating a huge military compound, called Zanzibarland. It is within the walls that Snake needs to find a kidnapped bio-engineer that has been threatened into designing a new Metal Gear.
c. Along the way, Snake learns that his old buddy, Gray Fox, has been recruited by the compound. He also learns that the leader of and mastermind behind both Zanzibarland and Outer Heaven is Big Boss, another legendary mercenary in his 60s. Snake eventually defeats the new Metal Gear (piloted by Gray Fox) and apparently kills Big Boss.
d. MG2 improved a lot on what MG did right. Whereas in the first game, enemies could see in a straight line, MG2 soldiers have a 45 degree range of vision. They would also respond to sound, such as footsteps on metal, or tapping on walls. Snake was also given the infinitely useful ability to crawl on his stomach, in case he needed to hide under beds, traverse air ducts and the like.
e. This would be the last official 8 bit era Metal Gear installation, aside from an unauthorized offshoot which Kojima had nothing to do with, but stated "stayed true to the Metal Gear concept" (Gamerstoday.com)
D. Metal Gear Solid
a. Easily the most iconic of the series, MGS is a beautifully crafted work that is often considered one of the best Playstation games ever.
b. Fully 3D and fully voiced, at the time (1998) it was a technical marvel. The game was simply incredible to look at. The cut scenes were distinctly cinematic, used the in-game engine (which means that they weren't prerecorded video - they were using the in-game characters as puppets, and was one of the first games to do so), and all of them were directed by Hideo Kojima himself.
c. The story involved Solid Snake, in the year 2005, once again infiltrating a highly fortified military compound, Shadow Moses Island. The reason for infiltrating this time, though, was that international terrorists had gained control of a nuclear weapons facility and demanded that the U.S. government turn over the remains of Big Boss, who Snake had killed in MG2. The terrorists have control of a new type of Metal Gear, REX, which could launch ICBMs from Alaska to Washington D.C, and Snake must destroy it.
d. Through the course of the game, you are introduced to 3D version of the 2D mechanics from the first two Metal Gears. Security cameras, soldiers, hiding places, even the infamous cardboard box that guards just can't seem to figure out. You also gain access to a new and improved CODEC system, a sort of radio between Snake and his superiors, which provides Snake with plenty of conversation opportunities and information that can be used to his advantage.
e. You encounter what many would consider some of the most clever videogame bosses in history, and particularly that of the terrorist's resident psychic, Psycho Mantis. It was at this point that Kojima first broke the fourth wall. By that, I mean that the game seemingly breaks free of its universe and interacts with yours. The character attempts to read your mind, tells if you're a good or bad person based on your playing strategy, and even reads memory card and comments on certain game saves.
f. The moment that really stands out though is when Mantis instructs you to put your controller on a flat surface. Once you do that, he claims to be able to move it with only his mind. On screen, he shakes his arms, and next to you, your controller vibrates and shimmies across the floor. Breaking the fourth wall indeed.
g. Of course, there are other memorably bosses, such as a female Sniper, a huge native Alaskan shaman with a Vulcan cannon, a revolver wielding old man named Ocelot, and even Gray Fox, whose dead body had been reanimated into a cyborg ninja (who chops off Ocelot's hand towards the end). Eventually, he confronts the leader of the terrorist group, Liquid Snake.
h. This guy liquid has the same codename as Snake. Why is that? Well, it turns out that Snake and Liquid are brothers, separated at birth to pursue different lives. They are in fact clones, in which Liquid has all of the recessive genes, and Solid has all of the dominant genes. They were cloned from none other than Big Boss's DNA to create the perfect soldier in a project called the Les Enfant Terrible.
i. Snake destroys REX, and nearly escapes when he is attacked by Liquid again. Liquid almost kills Snake, but not before suffering a violent heart attack. The heart attack is caused by a disease Snake had been inadvertently carrying as an insurance policy. It is called FOXDIE, and it only targets specific DNA patterns programmed into its own DNA. But because Liquid's DNA is identical to Snake's own, shouldn't Snake be dead as well?
j. Although hard to follow, the game is elementally a giant anti-nuclear weapons message, and is Kojima's way of expressing his own philosophies through the video game medium.
E. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
a. MGS2 was released for the Playstation 2 in 2001 and was one of the flagship games of the new system. After the critical reception of the MGS, fans simply wanted more of Solid Snake and his escapades.
b. Although the game started out great, following Snake's infiltration of a tanker on the Hudson river, with incredible graphics as ever, a huge twist is revealed when a new character, named Raiden, is revealed to be the main protagonist when he is set to infiltrate the large cleanup facility that is dealing with cleaning the oil spill created by the sinking of the tanker that Snake supposedly caused 2 years earlier. Terrorists had kidnapped the U.S. president and Raiden needs to rescue him.
c. From this point onward, the entire series becomes a convoluted mess of a story. As Raiden progresses through the cleanup facility, he encounters Snake disguised as a Navy Seal, a seemingly immortal, bloodsucking man named Vamp, an overweight maniac who plants huge bombs for fun, and an extraordinarily lucky woman named Fortune (who also has a rail gun). As it turns out, Ocelot dug up Liquid's dead body and used his arm as an amputation, and was now leading the terrorists. Unfortunately, Liquid's soul was still coursing through his arm and would take control of Ocelot at times.
d. Ocelot had been orchestrating a detailed recreation of the events of Shadow Moses on the tanker through the use of highly advanced AI. The Metal Gear that Raiden encounters near the end is merely one of 25 used to guard a gargantuan Metal Gear that was being constructed under the cleanup facility, that is the house for the world's more complex AI, called GW (after George Washington).
e. What I did like about this game was that not only could you go through the entire game without killing a single person, but you were almost encouraged to. All weapons were capable of incapacitating an enemy non-lethally, including a samurai sword that was deadly when faced with the sharp side, but merely painful when faced with the blunt edge. Also, the fourth wall was shattered once again when the computer AI system apparently hacks into your PS2 and begs you to turn off the system and walk away. Little moments like these, and callbacks to previous games are really rewarding for people that have been with the series since the beginning, and are fun to find.
f. This and MGS1 are both heavily influenced by creator Hideo Kojima's favorite films. For example, Snake's computer genius companion is named Hal, after the murderous AI from 2001. Ocelot is a collection of all sorts of spaghetti western clichés (spurred boots, quick draw revolvers). The character of Snake is actually derived from the 1980s cult ****c Escape from New York protagonist Snake Plisken.
F. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
a. My favorite of the series, MGS3 is more like a James Bond film than anything else. There's an opening theme song called "Snake Eater" that is played over an intro sequence, and really gets the 007 vibe down.
b. In this mission, Snake is sent to the Soviet Union to rescue a Soviet Scientist who has been kidnapped. You see, the game actually takes place in 1964, and you're playing as a man who looks like Solid Snake and talks like him, but clearly isn't and couldn't be him.
c. Along the way, Snake meets a spy/love interest codenamed "EVA" and encounters his old mentor, now Soviet defector "The Boss". It's Snake's job to rescue the scientist and kill The Boss with the help of EVA.
d. Well, it turns out that the scientist already helped the Soviets build a weapon, a sort of Metal Gear, but not quite (1960s remember) that uses speed to launch cold warheads, called the Shagohad. The leader of the soviet faction, Colonel Volgin, has the ability to channel electricity through is body, and is easily recognized as one of the final bosses of the game.
e. Snake reaches the facility after the encountering the Cobra unit, a group of specialized soldiers each with a special emotion they bring to the battlefield. The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, The Sorrow, and The Joy (The Boss, leader). Each one is a unique boss fight that makes you think survival, rather than kill. The End, in particular, takes place over 10 acres of wooded area and is essentially a sniper battle, which requires you to find The End without him finding you, and either snipe him or sneak up on him.
f. The battle of The Sorrow is not really a battle at all, but really a trudge down a riverbed as you pass by the ghosts of the people you've killed in the game. It's at this point that you really wish you hadn't killed anybody in the game and is a great deterrent to kill any more, as the length of this segment depends on the number of people whose lives you've ended.
g. You also come across an extremely young Ocelot, one who hasn't yet gained his Revolver skills. In another instance of story continuity, if you actually kill Ocelot, you get a Game Over screen with the words "TIME PARADOX". You see, if you killed Ocelot (or die yourself) you create a paradox of time that would negate the effects of the games that came before hand.
h. At the end of the game, you complete your mission, and Snake is the given the title of Big Boss. That's right, the same man who Solid Snake would defeat decades in the future. Big Boss's views toward war change as he realizes that sides are relative, and that he had to kill his former mentor, who had switched political sides, but not emotional.
i. This game brought forth a new innovation - the need to survive. Snake has to hunt and eat animals to keep his stamina up. Rats, frogs, birds, snakes (hence the title), alligator, goats, and whatever else he can find in the Russian jungle. Also included in the game was the necessity to cure and treat your own wounds. For example, you would need to you use your knife to dig out a bullet, use sutures to sew the wound together, use a styptic to stem the bleeding, and a bandage to cover the whole thing up. It really kept the survival theme together.
G. Metal Gear Solid 4
a. Although there is a Metal Gear Solid 4, which was released for the Playstation 3 just last June, I believe that spoilers should be saved until at least 5 years after a game is released. But just know that MGS4 clears up every question that may have been raised in any of the previous games.
H. Conclusion
a. Why does the MGS series continue to enthrall players after more than two decades? Perhaps it's the cinematic presentation, or the irregular non-violent strategies, or players just want to know how the story continues. Although Kojima has stated that he has "three different ideas for continuing the series after the fourth installment, [he] would have to be more involved then [he]'d like to be." (1up.com)
b. This doesn't mean the end of the series, but as Kojima pursues other projects, he has provided the world with a solid story that can be enjoyed from beginning to end by anyone willing enough. It is truly an experience you have to try for yourself, and if anyone has never played a Metal Gear game, there's always time to try.
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LOL
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