The artistic merit of video games is an oft-debated topic in creative circles. Amongst Generation X and beyond this is an uncontroversial idea, but older generations can sometimes struggle with this concept. This can take the form of mere handwave dismissals or go to more extreme lengths such as blaming video games for an assortment of violent acts. While it is undeniable that some games have less artistic merit than others (Fortnite, Call of Duty), impressive and brilliantly crafted stories have come out of the virtual world. One such franchise which goes above and beyond in this regard is Konami’s Metal Gear. Created by legendary game designer Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear which started as a pastiche of 80s action movies single-handedly invented the stealth game genre and reinvented how stories could be told on-screen. While the franchise itself has been thrown in limbo due to a dispute between Kojima and Konami, Metal Gear has left an important mark on the games industry and one which strongly argues the case for games being an artform worthy of critical analysis and praise. Without further ado, let’s look at 10 classic moments which exemplify the brilliance of this franchise.

10. The Sorrow Boss Fight – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

One of the most unconventional boss fights in gaming history and one of the weirdest battles in the franchise. As Naked Snake in the chronologically first installment of the franchise, you are tasked with taking down the Cobra Unit, a legendary group of WWII commandos with unique abilities. One of these commandos is The Sorrow, a Soviet spirit medium. There’s a catch though. The Sorrow died three years ago. You are tasked with fighting a spirit, who cannot be killed. In this fight you trek down a river, confronting all the past enemies you killed in-game. It’s weird, post-modern, and provides a unique lens by which gamers can understand the human consequences of war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40chueG-4II

9. Ocelot’s Torture – Metal Gear Solid

The Geneva Convention goes right out the window when dealing with gun-slinger and interrogator Revolver Ocelot. As Solid Snake, you are given a taste of Ocelot’s sadistic passion, when you are captured after a sniper duel. This sequence is unique in that you have an easy way out of the torture. You are told from the beginning you can submit and end everything painlessly. However, it will result in the execution of your love interest an comrade in arms, Meryl Silverburgh. If you want to save Meryl you will have to resist the torture courtesy of electric shocks. But if you die from the torture there is no restart. In fact make sure you save early, as otherwise you could lose all your progress. A meditation on the cruel nature of torture and mortality itself, this is a gruelling button-mashing sequence, which despite its seeming mini-game aesthetic, retains a dark and poignant undertone.

8. Naked Raiden – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Bizarre, satirical, post-modern, these all describe Metal Gear Solid 2 all too well. Playing as rookie agent Raiden, you find yourself captured aboard a submersible mech called Arsenal Gear. In this sequence in which your hands cover your genitals, you are forced to move past legions of enemy soldiers. However, you are also faced with a series of strange Codec calls from your commanding officer, which reveal a “mechanical” nature to your seemingly human CO. This sequence manages to make you both laugh and question the subjective nature of reality. It’s Kojima magic at its finest!

7. Psycho Mantis Boss Fight – Metal Gear Solid

Psycho Mantis. Is there a name more beloved for fans of the franchise? Probably not as he revolutionized what people in 1998 thought a boss fight could be. Psycho Mantis didn’t just break the fourth wall, he detonated a nuclear bomb which went through the screen to your controller. The first baddie to “read your memory card” and make your “controller move via psychokinesis”, the Psycho Mantis boss fight is amazingly meta and perfectly encapsulates what Metal Gear is all about. Using a medium to tell a brilliant story, while at the same time pushing the boundaries of the medium and blurring the line between the real and virtual. Now witness the power of this psychokinesis!

6. The Entirety of the Outer Haven Battle Sequence – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Emotional, wide-screen, and worthy of challenging the dramatic beats of any Hollywood blockbuster, the penultimate installment of the franchise gets bold on the cinematic front. While this makes for some excruciatingly long cut-scenes, the final battle of MGS4 is well worth it. Blending cut-scenes with gameplay, we watch Solid Snake and friends do battle with Liquid Ocelot and his private army on the high seas. Meryl and Johnny are caught in a last stand gun battle, Raiden fights cyber ninjas with sword in jaws, and a WWII battleship goes head-to-head with a tricked out Arsenal Gear with a Mount Snakemore monument to boot. That’s not to say Snake doesn’t do cool stuff too, Snake goes through a hallway of microwaves which challenge the limits of his strength, only for one final hand-to-hand battle with Ocelot which serves as a callback to the previous three MGS games. This final battle was epic in every sense of the word.

5. Fighting Sahelanthropus Across The Map – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

In the Metal Gear franchise you take on a lot of giant mechs. It’s in the title and it makes for a lot of fun. REX, RAY, Shagohod, Peace Walker, all of them make for tough challengers, but none even remotely match Sahelanthropus. Named after humanity’s first upright walking ancestor, this Metal Gear stands as tall as Voltron and it inspires a terror like no other. In the final battle against Sahelanthropus, you as Venom Snake are charged with battling it across the entire map of Northern Kabul, Afghanistan. It’s a boss fight which truly challenges the limits of the hardware, making for one of the most exciting battles in the entire franchise. It’s incredible and epic in every single sense of the word.

4. Face… The End – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Before Sahelanthropus there was The End. In terms of boss fights testing the limits of the hardware, this one kicked things up a notch back in 2004. Spanning multiple levels in-game, this was a long sniper duel with the world’s oldest living and best marksmen, appropriately named “The End”. This fight could take as long as you wanted it to and was unique in that, The End never tried to kill you. In fact he deliberately used tranquilizer rounds only to slow you down. The End knows he will die, but doesn’t seem to care. He just wants one last fight and for you to give it to him. This is a truly memorable battle and shows Kojima’s innovative brilliance in twisting the formula of boss encounters into something which enhances the overall narrative and experience for the player. Oh and before I forget, The End can also die of old age as well.

3. The Death of E.E. – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Poor Otacon, he’s always the survivor. Over the course of the series, he loses many of his loves. Whether it be sexy assassin Sniper Wolf or the nanomachine obsessed Dr. Naomi Hunter. But none are perhaps more tragic than that of his step-sister Emma Emmerich or E.E. Stabbed by the vampiric and appropriately named Vamp, E.E. has minutes left to live in which she confides her deep love of her brother. Otacon is left heartbroken due to his own feelings of guilt about not being there for her. Strong emotions and handling of difficult topics including loneliness, childhood sexual abuse, and feelings of being an outsider are explored in both Otacon’s and E.E.’s monologues. It’s a tearjerking and beautiful moment, showing the emotional pathos of Kojima’s storytelling.

2. The Truth of the Patriots Revealed – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

While less action-y or dramatic than the previous sequences, some deep and highly relevant topics are explored in this final Codec conversation in MGS2. The Colonel, your enigmatic commanding officer, reveals his A.I. nature to you before your final battle with Solidus Snake in this sequence. Topics including the information society, the nature of truth, the necessity of regulation, and free will, are explored in this fascinating moment which has gotten even more relevant in our post-modern era of Brexit, Trump, and shadowy electoral influence. Was Kojima just spit-balling his worries for the future or was he just laying out the path set before us. Either way this 2001 game, predicted ideas that would become relevant over ten years later.

1. THE Boss Battle – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

The Boss is quite literally “the boss” of MGS3. An American hero of WWII, she now faces you in a field of brilliant white flowers, foreshadowing the finality of the battle between herself and her apprentice Naked Snake. It’s a beautiful moment in which she monologues about the nature of conflict and the futility of nations fighting one another. Her exploration of soldiers as pawns lays the ideological groundwork for Naked Snake aka Big Boss’ own Outer Heaven. But for now this is a fight between master and student. It’s brilliant, it’s beautiful, it’s majestically scored with the titular “Snake Eater” theme. It’s a battle which will truly break your heart and make you feel guilty for being the victor. It shows the awfulness of war and it’s affects on soldiers, it saddens you as much as it excites you, and above all it’s downright fun to play through. It’s the perfect example of what makes the Metal Gear franchise so great and Hideo Kojima’s work so beloved.

Agree with my choices? Or perhaps you disagree? Sound off in the comments below! I look forward to hearing what you have to say and for Death Stranding to drop in the future. Long live Kojima-san!

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