Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Developer(s)	Silicon Knights Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Platform(s)	Nintendo GameCube
Release	March 9 2004 (NA) March 11 2004 (JP) March 26 2004 (EU)
Genre(s)	Stealth-based game
Mode(s)	Single player

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a stealth-based game that was developed by Silicon Knights and Konami for the GameCube and released in March 2004. It is an enhanced remake of the 1998 PlayStation best-seller Metal Gear Solid, the third canonical game in the Metal Gear series.

Vast updates were made to the graphics and gameplay in order to include new features introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty on the PlayStation 2. Also, the voice acting was re-recorded, with most of the original voice cast from Metal Gear Solid returning.

Novelisation

Template:Spoiler In February of 2005, during a training mission on Shadow Moses, a nuclear weapons facility on a remote island off the coast of Alaska, the Next-Generation Special Forces unit rebels against the United States government, led by the covert black ops team FOXHOUND and its senior member, Liquid Snake. Their target is the advanced weapon system "Metal Gear REX", a giant bipedal tank with a railgun capable of shooting uninterceptable stealth nuclear warheads at anywhere in the world ("stealth" because traditional systems track missile exhaust, which this system lacks). They have one demand: the body of the greatest soldier who ever lived, Big Boss. The Next-Generation Special Forces (colloquially known as the "Genome Soldiers", because of their advanced gene therapy) need the genes of Big Boss to rectify the genetic defects caused by their gene therapy, saving their lives and turning them into the ultimate soldiers. The government cannot let this happen. At the request of the Secretary of Defense, Colonel Roy Campbell, the former commander of FOXHOUND, summons Solid Snake out of retirement (reluctantly) and sends him to infiltrate Shadow Moses in one last solo covert operation. His objectives are to find out if Foxhound have nuclear strike capability, and to recover the hostages, ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker and DARPA Chief Donald Anderson.

Though Snake will be going in alone, he has significant intelligence support via his two-way "Codec" radio. Col. Campbell is in operational command of the mission. Mei Ling, a genius at improvisational hardware, handles Snake's data needs (IE saving the game), as well as inspirational quotes from both Eastern and Western cultures. McDonell "Master" Miller, a war buddy of Snake's, passes along advice on Alaskan conditions and wildlife. Nastasha Romaneko, a civilian weapons specialist in Los Angeles, California, provides data and operating instructions on most of Snake's weapons and equipment. Dr. Naomi Hunter, who can only be accessed via Campbell's frequency, augments Campbell's experience with FOXHOUND members from her experience as the unit medic. Finally, several residents of the base—REX's designer, Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich; Meryl Silverburgh, Col. Campbell's niece (or daughter, depending on what ending the player gets); and a mysterious informant calling himself Deep Throat—occasionally work alongside Snake, but mostly can only be contacted by Codec. All of these characters have their own histories and personal demons, which can be explored via Codec conversations (the game includes over four hours of recorded dialogue).

After a successful insertion, Snake meets with DARPA Chief Anderson and confirms that FOXHOUND has his half of the codes necessary to launch a nuclear weapon. Shortly after, Anderson is killed by what looks like a heart attack. Snake's suspicions are aroused when ArmsTech President Baker dies of similar causes. Before he dies, however, he explains that to arm the nuke, FOXHOUND will need three special card keys. Anderson gave his single key to a woman, Meryl, whom Snake meets with. In the process, Snake meets several members of FOXHOUND: Revolver Ocelot, a skilled and grizzled gunslinger; Vulcan Raven, an Inuit shaman who attacks Snake using an M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, and the bizarre levitating telepath Psycho Mantis.

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Gray Fox in Twin Snakes.

Since FOXHOUND appear to have most or all of the ability to launch a nuclear weapon, Snake makes contact with Otacon, REX's primary designer. First, though, he must rescue him from an odd cyborg ninja who thirsts only for battle. This mysterious figure turns out to be Gray Fox (Frank Jaeger), Snake's former FOXHOUND comrade, thought dead for six years. Snake, with Meryl in tow, then attempts to cross to REX's hanger on the other side of the Shadow Moses complex. They successfully fight off and kill Psycho Mantis, despite his occasional possession of Meryl. The journey to the hangar, on the other hand, is less successful: it involves a long concrete alleyway with a communications tower at the other end, the perfect place for a sniper ambush. Snake is able to dodge fire from FOXHOUND's Sniper Wolf, but Meryl is shot in both legs and an arm. To save her, Snake must backtrack to one of the first buildings in the game and retrieve a PSG-1 sniper rifle, and then duel Sniper Wolf at long range. Meryl, however, has been captured during the interval; and when Snake attempts to cross after defeating Wolf, he too is captured, and meets Liquid Snake, the man who shares his code name. He reveals that they are twins. Each of them is a genetically-manipulated clone of the 20th century's greatest soldier, Big Boss, and both of them were created as part of a secret genetic manipulation and cloning project titled "Les Enfants Terribles." Liquid hates Snake, as he believes that Snake was given all of Big Boss's dominant traits, while Liquid was given the recessive traits.

After a torture mini-game in which the player must repeatedly pound a face button, Snake finds himself in a holding cell with a roommate: the DARPA Chief, who seems to have been dead for a lot longer than a few hours. Snake enlists Otacon's help in escaping. Otacon can't fight, but he finds a specially-colored bottle of ketchup, which Snake uses to fake a bloody death, and then escape when the panicking guard (Johnny Sasaki) comes to investigate. Snake returns to the communications tower and climbs it, but before he can cross a bridge to its other half and descend again, Liquid destroys the bridge in a Mi-24 Hind-D attack helicopter. Snake escapes and crosses using a lower bridge. Searching for something to use against the Hind, like a Stinger missile launcher, he meets up with Otacon;who, improbably, has fallen in love with Sniper Wolf and begs Snake not to harm her. Snake manages to shoot down the helicopter, and finally descends to the bottom of the second tower. Just outside it, however, Sniper Wolf is waiting. Snake disables her, and Otacon arrives in time to bid her a tearful goodbye.

Snake has finally reached the Underground Base where REX is kept. At this point, Master Miller calls with startling news. Naomi claimed earlier that her Japanese grandfather worked in the FBI under Hoover—which, according to Miller, is a lie. Snake then encounters Vulcan Raven, this time equipped with an M61 Vulcan gatling gun. After being defeated, he reveals that the DARPA Chief Snake encountered was not the real one, but was rather Decoy Octopus, FOXHOUND's impersonation specialist. Why he did this, Raven leaves Snake to figure out for himself. Finally, Miller informs Snake and Col. Campbell that "Naomi Hunter" is no such person; she must be, in fact, a spy affiliated with FOXHOUND. He also reveals some sort of secret weapon: "FOXDIE," a secret assassination weapon—a genetically engineered virus that kills only specific people. Supposedly, it was deployed by Snake during this mission... And it kills by simulating a heart attack. With all this in mind, Naomi is placed under arrest.

Otacon, who has been hacking his way into Shadow Moses's files, has finally figured out the secret of the card key Snake got from Meryl. The nuclear weapon requires three card keys, but the single key Snake has is all three of them, because it is made of a "shape memory alloy" and will change form when exposed to different temperatures. The card keys are one-use-only: inserting them when the nuke is armed will disarm it, and vice-versa. Snake uses his three-in-one card key—and then, to his alarm, hears the computer report that the nuke is armed. Liquid Snake, chortling triumphantly, reveals how he's been manipulating the mission from the start: by posing as Master Miller. He explains that the DARPA Chief died under Ocelot's torture without revealing his half of the nuke's arming codes, but from Baker they learned the existence of the three-in-one key, which functions regardless of arming codes. Decoy Octopus then disguised himself as Chief Anderson to fool Snake into arming the nuke, exactly as he just did. Snake now has only one option: destroy Metal Gear REX.

Snake is in trouble until Gray Fox reappears. At the cost of his own life, he destroys REX's radar dish, forcing Liquid to open the cockpit itself and observe the situation manually. Snake succeeds in totalling REX, but is knocked unconscious, while Liquid remains intact. He lectures Snake for almost half an hour on the details of the Les Enfants Terribles project, not to mention the gene therapy that created the Genome Soldiers, and reveals Meryl, bound and near death. Campbell then calls and explains that he has been removed from command in favor of Secretary of Defense Jim Houseman, who is about to drop nuclear weapons onto Shadow Moses. Liquid and Snake duel hand-to-hand aboard the carcass of REX, and after Snake wins, he escapes in a Jeep, using its mounted machine gun for a final confrontation with Liquid (who appears to be impervious to bullets; it's FOXDIE that ultimately does him in). Finally, Campbell reasserts his command by getting in contact with President George Sears, recalls the bombers and nukes, and helps arrange for Snake's departure.

The game features two possible endings, affected by performance in the torture session. The player is given an option to 'break' and surrender, but if s/he does, Meryl is revealed to have died during Snake's bout with Liquid, and Otacon drives the jeep. If the player succeeds in withstanding Ocelot's torture, however, Meryl lives and drives the jeep, while Otacon stays behind in the "doomed" base. The game's sequel, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, makes it clear that the "Meryl" ending is canonical.

Finally, after the credits, the player is treated to a one-sided telephone report between Revolver Ocelot and a mysterious party. Ocelot reveals to his superior that Liquid was wrong: Snake was, in fact, inferior on a genetic level. Ocelot also retains data from the test-firing of REX's nuclear railgun, and plans to sell it on the black market. In the "Meryl" ending, he reveals that neither Solid nor Liquid knew of the existence of their third twin: Solidus Snake, a "well-balanced individual" and the man with whom Ocelot is now conversing. Finally, he signs off: "Yes. Thank you. Good-bye. Mr. President."

Division of work

The Twin Snakes is interesting as a collaboration between Nintendo's then second-party developer Silicon Knights, Konami, and film director Ryuhei Kitamura.

In 2002, Nintendo invited Konami to create a Metal Gear game for the GameCube. Series creator Hideo Kojima agreed, but decided that it should be a remake instead of an all-new game, and it was also decided that a new developer should work on it. Kojima claimed there was no point in having the staff repeat their earlier work, while his team at Konami Computer Entertainment Japan had little experience working with the GameCube, and was already busy developing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Nintendo ultimately found an available team with suitable experience; Silicon Knights' lead designer was casually offered the "commission" by Shigeru Miyamoto during a lunch meeting.

Silicon Knights

Silicon Knights handled the bulk of gameplay development and technical work. They created the character and stage models, and their in-house music staff also created some of the in-game music.

Some might consider Silicon Knights working on Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes ironic in light of the fact that the bizarre effects suffered by Raiden during the latter half of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (False "Game over" screens, several nonsensical codec conversations, references to previous Metal Gear games, etc.) are quite similar to the Insanity Effects that plauged chracters in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Ryuhei Kitamura

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Cult director Ryuhei Kitamura was responsible for directing the new cut scenes for the game. The action sequences are far more dynamic than those in the original and utilize bullet-time photography and choreographed gunplay extensively.

Konami

Konami developed all of the game's cut scenes under Kitamura's direction. Kojima oversaw the game as a whole.

Music

The game's composition duties were split: some of the in-game music was handled by Steve Henifin and Silicon Knights' and music staff, while the rest of the music (in-game, menus and cut scenes) was handled by Konami's music staff, including Metal Gear Solid 2 co-composer Norihiko Hibino.

As with previous games in the series, the cut-scene music has a more orchestral/choral basis than the in-game music, which is more electronic with an emphasis on strong beats during action sequences. As the game is a remake, many of the themes recall the music in the original game. Hibino composed a military-themed take on the "Metal Gear Solid Main Theme" for the game's trailer; "Mantis' Hymn" was transformed into a driving battle theme. The main theme itself was largely excised from the game, and replaced by a slightly modified version of Sniper Wolf's theme. However, a soundtrack album was not released.

Weapons

Along with all of the weapons from the original Metal Gear Solid, four weapons from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty are available: the M9 Pistol, the PSG1-T, the Book and the Magazine.

• M9 Pistol - M9 pistol converted to fire tranquilizer.
• PSG-1 (PSG1-T) - Sniper rifle converted to fire tranquilizers.
• Magazine - Empty weapon clip, it can be thrown to distract enemies. Snake automatically gains one when he manually reloads a weapon.
• Book - Mildly pornographic magazine, it can be placed to distract enemies.

Release information

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Premium Package box and contents.

Originally planned for release in November 2003, The Twin Snakes was pushed back four months.

As with previous Metal Gear Solid titles, a Premium Package of The Twin Snakes was released in Japan in addition to the stand-alone version. The box includes the game itself; a platinum-colored GameCube adorned with the FOXHOUND logo; a 44-page book titled Memorandum containing production notes, sketches and photos; and a GameCube disc called the "Special Disc" containing an emulated version of the Famicom version of the original Metal Gear and a Twin Snakes trailer.

In contrast to previous Metal Gear Solid releases, there were virtually no differences between the actual contents of the game themselves outside the packaging. No Japanese voiceovers were recorded for Twin Snakes. Instead the Japanese version uses English voice acting, much like Metal Gear Solid: Integral and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance did in their Japanese releases. Presumably this is why no updated version of Twin Snakes was produced.

Critical & fan reaction

The Twin Snakes received mostly positive reviews from critics [1], though the scores it was given were slightly lower than those given to original Metal Gear titles such as Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty [2] and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater [3]. Metal Gear fans generally agreed it was a quality title, but not one without flaws.

Most of the criticism stemmed from the fact that the structure of the original game was not designed for features from Metal Gear Solid 2 that were included, such as the ability to fire weapons in first-person mode (making what some already called an easy game even easier), hang from ledges, and hide bodies in lockers. The boss Revolver Ocelot, for instance can be defeated with four shots to his head in moments, whereas in the original game he took significantly longer to beat.

Also, some were disappointed with the direction of the new cut-scenes, despite the fact that Ryuhei Kitamura was hand-picked by Hideo Kojima to direct the cinematics. One particularly controversial cutscene involves Snake and Meryl standing for ten seconds just watching what is obviously a sniper's laser sight dancing over Meryl's body. However, proponents argue that the style of the new cut-scenes are more similar to the over-the-top nature of the rest of the franchise.

Metal Gear Solid purists however make a counter-argument against the characterization of Solid Snake. In this particular remake, Snake is portrayed as an acrobatic show-off as opposed to the down-to-earth hero portrayed in Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, and Metal Gear Solid 2.

Voice actors

The highly acclaimed voice cast from the PlayStation version returns in this update. The voice cast used pseudonyms during the recording session for the original PS version (due to union regulations), except for David Hayter and Doug Stone. In The Twin Snakes, the cast used their real names. One exception is that the Cyborg Ninja is now voiced by a different actor. At the time of the game's release, it was widely speculated that George Byrd (Greg Eagles), original voice actor for the Ninja, had passed away, when in fact it was Kaneto Shiozawa, the Ninja's Japanese voice actor. Greg Eagles did reprise his role as the DARPA Chief in the remake.

Unlike previous MGS titles, no Japanese voiceovers were recorded for The Twin Snakes. Instead, the Japanese release used the same English voice acting as the North American and European versions.

Cast

Legend: voice actor (name used in PS1 Version) — Character

• David Hayter — Solid Snake
• Cam Clarke (James Flinders) — Liquid Snake
• Debi Mae West (Mae Zadler) — Meryl Silverburgh
• Paul Eiding (Paul Otis) — Roy Campbell
• Jennifer Hale (Carren Learning) — Naomi Hunter
• Kim Mai Guest (Kim Nguyen) — Mei Ling
• Renee Raudman (Renne Collette) — Nastasha Romanenko
• Christopher Randolph (Christopher Fritz) — Hal 'Otacon' Emmerich
• Rob Paulsen — Gray Fox
• Patric Zimmerman (Patric Laine) — Revolver Ocelot
• Peter Lurie (Chuck Farley) — Vulcan Raven
• Doug Stone — Psycho Mantis
• Tasia Valenza (Julie Monroe) — Sniper Wolf/Computer Voice
• Greg Eagles (George Byrd) — Donald Anderson
• Allan Lurie (Bert Stewart) — Kenneth Baker
• William Bassett (Frederick Bloggs) — Jim Houseman
• Dean Scofield (Dino Schofield) — Johnny Sasaki
• Granville Van Dusen, Steven Blum, Scott Menville, Scott Bullock, Scott Dolph: Various Genome Soldiers

Trivia

• Even though the game uses the original Metal Gear Solid, Meryl's sneaking suit from Integral is featured as an unlockable outfit in the game along with Snake's tuxedo and the Ninja's red exoskeleton.
• According to an audio interview with Gamefaqs user Chris Ho, Paul Eiding stated that David Hayter gave up half of his own paycheck in order to bring the original cast for this particular remake.

Cameos

• A GameCube can be seen in Otacon's Office along with a Mario and Yoshi Figurine. Shooting the Yoshi Figurine will make Yoshi speak and shooting the Mario Figurine will make the 1-Up Sound and recover Snake's life bar a bit.
• The game contains references to Silicon Knight's previous game, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. First, Alex Roivas and Ellia the Dancer, the two female protagonists from the game can be seen on the magazines featured in The Twin Snakes. Then, there is a poster of the game in one of the rooms in the Armory. Finally, during the encounter with Psycho Mantis, he comments on the game and its developer upon scanning the memory card and finding a file for Eternal Darkness; then, during the fight with Mantis, some of ED's insanity effects are part of the repertoire of attacks used by Psycho Mantis.

External links

• Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes at MusicBrainz