Top 10 Metal Gear Solid moments

 Ah Metal Gear Solid, one of the more famous game franchises in recent history. There are four main games, and two PSP games. It's a stealth/action series with a deep, complex story and tons of awesome moments. I recently played Portable Ops; the only MGS game I hadn't played until then. While I certainly enjoyed that game, it contained nothing worthy of this list. Just a warning, this list is full of spoilers and references to various plot points that will make little sense to anyone who hasn't played the series. Without further introductions, here's the top 10 Metal Gear Solid moments.

10. AI malfunctioning (mgs2) - Earlier in Metal Gear Solid 2, it is revealed that the Patriots control pretty much everything. However, up until you get captured, you believe that your boss is Roy Campbell from the first Metal Gear Solid. Then out of no where, this boss starts to malfunction, revealing how he's nothing but a computer program. This is where you realize nothing in this game is really what it seems. Not only do the Patriots control everything, but this entire mission was a simulation set up by the patriots to prove that they could control everything. Besides, it's here where we get the famous phrase "I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on hiri-kiri rock... I need scissors! 61!"

9. The End boss fight (mgs3) - Up until this point, the bosses in the Metal Gear franchise are fairly standard in the traditional sense (although often creative as well) - a rather intense battle that should be over in a few minutes. Then we reach The End, and a long epic sniper fight taking place in an entire forest. This battle involves sneaking through the woods, spotting your enemy, and staying out of sight as much as possible. This battle can literally take hours. Not only that, but there are two ways to skip it. One, you can kill him earlier in the game, and two, you can save in the middle of the boss fight, move your console's clock forward several years, and The End has died of old age. Honestly though, it's worth fighting The End, because this is one of the most epic boss battles ever.

8. Shadow Moses revisit (mgs4) - Ahh Shadow Moses, the island where the entire first Metal Gear Solid game takes place. Also the location of Act 4 in MGS4. Yup, you return to that island, travel through the entire facility, hear many flashbacks from the first game, and even use something that I'll describe later. This entire act brings back memories of one of the most revolutionary Playstation titles ever. This act also finishes several subplots that were introduced in the first Metal Gear Solid game. Long story short, the Shadow Moses revisit was incredible in several ways.

7. Main character plot twist (mgs2) - This one is probably the most controvertial on this list, at least when the game first released. For the prologue, you play as Solid Snake on a cargo ship. For the remainder of the game however, you play as Raiden, a young operative on his first mission for the government. None of the previews or advertisements mentioned any character change, making MGS2's biggest plot twist a rather early one too. Many people got angry back then, but now it's just awesome and proved that Konomi really has guts.

6. Torture/escape (mgs) - Around two thirds through MGS, you get captured. While captured, there is a torture scene. You can either fight the torture or give in. If you give in, Meryl dies. While the cannon ending is that Meryl survives, this alternate ending was one of the first multiple-ending videogames in it's genre. Using the ketchup bottle to escape your cell was great too.

5. Volgin boss fight (mgs3) - As much as I enjoyed The End in MGS3, my favorite boss fight in that game was Volgin. This fight started in the Shagohod's hanger, where the electrically charged Volgin shoots lightning at you among other electical attacks. After a while, you beat him up and escape. However, he soon follows in the Shagohod, beginning a rather intense chase scene all around the Soviet defector's base. Eventually you cross a bridge and destroy it, yet the Shagohod survives. Now you fight the prototype tank itself in a multi-stage battle to finally eliminate the villain. Once you start this fight, the game doesn't slow down 'till the end.

4. Ocelot (all of them) - I know it's kind of cheating using a character as a moment, but Ocelot is just awesome. There is one fundamental rule with Ocelot's character - you never know who he's really working for. In the first game, you think he's working for Liquid Snake when he's really working for the President. In MGS2, he's pretending to work for Solidus Snake when he's in control of everything. In MGS3, he's a triple agent working for the CIA. In Portable Ops, he's kind of a double agent, but also working for himself. In MGS4, he acts as the primary antagonist when his goals are to destroy The Patriots...just like you. He's also deadly with a revolver, loves the thrill of battle, and is one of the co-founders of The Patriots. In otherwords, Ocelot is awesome.

3. Using Metal Gear (mgs4) - Throughout the whole Metal Gear series, your fighting against the Metal Gear projects. You destoy either a Metal Gear machine or some prototype/ancestor in every Metal Gear game (including the original MSX games and the NES ports). However in the middle of the Shadow Moses revisit, you actually get to use one. Better yet, this section ends with a duel between your standard Metal Gear and Liquid controlling Metal Gear Ray. This part was simply epic, 'nuff said.

2. Psycho Mantis boss fight (mgs) - This is one of the most creative boss fights ever. Psycho Mantis is a psychic; he can predict your every move. How do you stop this? By putting your controller in port 2. That's right, a boss fight that requires you to swap controller ports. He can also read your memory card (whether your playing the PSX version or the Gamecube remake), he can control Meryl's mind, and some other freaky stuff. Add some haunting music, and you've got one of the most memorable boss fights ever.

1. Final fights (all of them; best in mgs3) - All four games end with a fight between the main protagonist and the villain. In MGS, it's Solid Snake vs his twin brother Liquid Snake in a fist fight on top of metal gear. This was the most surprising of the four fights. In MGS2, it's Raiden vs Solidus Snake (who used Raiden as a child soldier). In that fight, you use a sword against his machinery. In Metal Gear Solid 4, it's Old Snake vs Liquid Ocelot in another fist fight on top of Outer Haven. This was the most epic of the four fights, as you finally get to beat up Ocelot after being an antagonist throughout the entire series. However, my favorite final fight was in MGS3 - Naked Snake vs The Boss. This was easily the most emotional fight of the four, as these two characters were very close. They had worked together many times, and now Naked Snake had been sent to kill The Boss. Worse yet, you later learn that she wasn't a bad guy at all, and her mission was to let you kill her. That and the fight was a fairly intense gun/cqc duel in a field. Overall though, all of these fights close their respective games well.