Grind my Metal Gears

We've done it! We've finished the Metal Gear Solid games. Time to wrap things up as we say goodbye to Quiet (questioning why we were supposed to be ashamed of words and deeds in the first place in the process), learning the truth (that we totally already knew) about Venom Snake, and hearing for the first time in a long time from our ol' pal Zero.

With the Skull Face taken care of, it's time to direct our attention towards Mother Base. Like finding out what sort of shady stuff Eli and the child soldiers are up to (and also thinking about what they could have been up to if the development team got more time to make this game), and learning about just how awful Huey Emmerich really is. Oh, and Master Miller's busy trying to break into the food industry.

31 missions/episodes later, we've come to the end of Chapter 1 of The Phantom Pain. It's time to get to the bottom of what's happening with the virus with the help of a new (but also very old) ally, confront Skull Face via the back of a jeep, and put a stop to Sahelanthropus, but not so much of stop that we can't bring it home to Mother Base when we're done.

So last time we rescued a bunch of child soldiers. Now, what MGS character do we know was a child soldier around this time. That's right! It's Eli. You know, Eli. Or perhaps you know him by his other name: The White Mamba. No? Well that's ok. No time to worry about him anyway because now everyone on Mother Base is dying of a mystery virus, so we should probably try to sort that out first.

Last time we saw the return of Huey and Paz. Now it's time for the return of another MGS icon: child soldiers. After we rescue some of those, it's off to a reunion with Skull Face which gets rudely interrupted by The Man on Fire and baby Psycho Mantis. Luckily, they've decided to fight us in an area conveniently filled with many water sources to douse him with.

Episode 43: [Cowboy Voice] Boss...

With Quiet locked up on Mother Base, we can now do the thing we were trying to in the first place: extract Huey from Cipher's Afghanistan base. Maybe in all the time since Ground Zeroes he's chilled out a bit. Maybe he regrets his involvement in all of that. Or you know, maybe he sucks more than ever. Let's find out! All of that plus an unexpected (and undeserved) reunion with someone else from Ground Zeroes. Who could it be?

Episode 42: Portable Ops Nation

We've reached a very important moment in The Phantom Pain. Our journey to regretting our words and deeds starts here. That's right; it's time to recruit Quiet. But first we must face off in a sniper duel against her, listen to Mommy Miller and Daddy Ocelot argue over whether to keep her, and then watch as she snipes a jet out of the sky from a moving helicopter.

We're back at it with The Phantom Pain, and now that things are starting to pick up at Mother Base, it's time for some classic sneaking missions with Venom Snake culminating in a reunion with our old friend Skull Face, who's got a fun(?) new look, and a big ol' Metal Gear at his disposal. Also Snake and Ocelot decide to adopt.

We've tasted the appetizer, and it's on to the main course as we begin The Phantom Pain. Nine years after Ground Zeroes, Snake is back, full of Venom, and ready to build up yet another offshore military base, but first we've gotta rescue an old friend with the help of our favorite cowboy-coded gunslinger.

We're moving on to MGSV, but before we can start on the main entree of The Phantom Pain, we have to play through the appetizer that is Ground Zeroes. Despite being a bit of a prologue and teaser for what's to come in The Phantom Pain, there is a lot to dig into with Ground Zeroes, bad and good. If you know anything about GZ, you know exactly what I mean. Enjoy this extra beefy episode as we work through on thoughts and feelings about this strange entry in the series.