Part 11: Metal Gear Part Eleven: Snakes and Ducks

Metal Gear Part Eleven: Snakes and Ducks



Today, instead of ending the update with the elevator, I'm starting it with the elevator. We're going back to the first floor of building 2.


There are guards just off the elevator, but it's impossible to sneak past them. They already know Snake's there. There's only two of them and the room has easy cover, so it's not much of a fight.



The greater purpose on this floor is the north side, where we find a door. You can also see that the drainage ditch leads out to the north.


Also to the north is a desert that is positively rife with fucking scorpions. Scorpions can poison you, which drains your health over time, but Snake has infinite antidote. I guess if you were really fastidious, you could shoot the scorpions, but it's easier to just run through them.




In Outer Heaven, if the groundhog sees his shadow, it's three more screens of scorpions. By the way, this is the aptly-named Scorpion Desert.


This screen is basically a chance to just chill out, pop some antidote, then eat a ration after the scorpions.


Because the next screen is an ambush! Guards come out of the trucks and attack you.


Also on this screen, Big Boss rings Snake and finally decides to be proactively helpful. Thanks for finally doing your goddamn job, Boss!


Let's take his advice, shall we? I'm taking damage in this shot and managed to capture Snake in the middle of the flash that comes with that, so he has no torso.


Maybe it's taking us to Metal Gear!


Wait...

GODDAMMIT BIG BOSS.

So yeah, the truck on the right takes you all the way back to the courtyard outside the first building. This is the pair of trucks parked in a minefield.


Back to this building, this time ignoring our CO!


This is building 3, and the first thing inside it is another ambush. Something here is hinky.

I bet it's Schneider. That's why he was always so useless and vague; he's a traitor.


There's only one door in this room, by the way, so it looks like the Boss is being helpful again.


Whoops, it's a trap! A trap that you'll only trigger if you decide to run into the room and just take a break while it opens. Thankfully, the guards don't follow you into this room, or you wouldn't have enough space to dodge them/fight back.


Outer Heaven tries to trap Snake, but he just blows its walls right the fuck up.

Fuck you and your design, Schneider.


Hey sweet, a straight run to the elevator.


Hahaha, nope. Whatever, pit traps ain't shit.

Also, see what I meant about sneaking late in the game?


Welp, it's an elevator. Like the elevators in building 2, this elevator has a gimmick.


Its gimmick is that it's a long ride.


Really fuckin' long.


There's only one stop, though, all the way at the bottom.


This is the 100th basement floor of building 3, where we'll find Metal Gear in a little while. First, though, a call.


Which came first, the oxygen tank or the wall? Whichever way around, though, it looks like we've gotta make another architectural upgrade to this place.



The oxygen tank works as in the same way as the gas mask, preventing Snake from taking damage when he's swimming in deep water.

You would think that he would have had one already, seeing as this whole infiltration started with an underwater approach.

Just like FOX-HOUND to send an underequipped rookie agent into a massive enemy fortress with a giant nuclear missile launching robot.


Alright, back to the surface.


Fuck you, guards! Fuck you too, Big Boss!


After throwing on that 02 tank, we start swimming.


Yup, got a lotta swimming to do.


So much swimming.


Pettrovich said it was 20km from building 2 to building 3. That's 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

First walking 20km both ways (hope Snake has good shoes!), then swimming another 20. How glamorous it is to go on top-secret missions to save the world.


By the way, every one of these shots is of a different screen. No threats, just swimming.


Then at the end, guards! These guys don't know Snake is coming, though. Last set of guards you can sneak by in the game, by the way.


Past the guards is an electric floor. Haven't seen one of those in a while, have we?

On a related note, wouldn't rubber-soled shoes make an electrified floor totally pointless? Is Snake running around this place in sock feet?


Whatever, floor. Snake has an R/C Missile launcher.


Oh, it's just ammo. I wasted a missile on ammo, when I was already pretty much full. Gettin' a call, though, that's cool.



Ah, Schneider! And you were so close to being useful!

Did anybody remember that passage from the manual where it mentions Outer Heaven being led by a mystery man? Is anybody not familiar with the plot of this game? What does Schneider mean by "revealed"? Did the guy have a press conference or something, or was it just a strange translation? Is Schneider dead?

So many questions, presented bluntly and out of nowhere. It's too bad that Konami made this game with only half a script.


Now we're headed to the other room. Inside:



The eighth boss, Coward Duck!

Coward Duck, the ex-leader of Egg Plant and perennial favourite in the Worst-Named Terrorist of the Year contest.


My big brother is a hostage! Don't kill him... If anything happens to him I won't help you!

As soon as you walk into the Duck man's room, Jennifer calls you with this tidbit. If you do accidentally kill a hostage, she actually won't help you, because it automatically lowers your class one level and Jennifer only helps classy dudes.


A call to Diane gets you this information. Shooting a guy in the face kills him, who knew?

Big Boss is watching a movie or something and Schneider's dead or whatever, so these are the only calls you get.

See the fearsome skills of Coward Duck in motion!(Turns out, I can shoot him.)

Like Diane says, the best way to kill Sir Ducksalot is to run right the fuck up there and shoot him with your handgun. You can also use the rocket launcher, but it's slightly less accurate and the SMG sprays bullets in an S-shape, so you don't want to use that.



I don't know if it's the game or the emulator, but sprites are on top of text boxes in this game. This guy tells us that he's Jennifer's brother and to take the leftmost ladder when we're escaping.



Other POWs here have nothing for us. We also grab Card 8 here, which completes Snake's item collection.


A full third of these are keycards. I also still have those fuckin' binoculars, which I'd completely forgotten about.




A quick swim and a jog and we're back on the elevator that'll take us to Metal Gear.

Next time, I'm going to finish this game. For now, I'll leave you with this:


This is a group shot of the Outer Heaven mercenaries. Left to right: Machinegun Kid, Fire Trooper, The mysterious boss, Shoot Gunner, Coward Duck, and an Arnold. In the background is a pair of Hind-Ds.