Part 31: Metal Gear 2 Part Twelve: "Tactical" Backtracking "Action"

Metal Gear 2 Part Twelve: "Tactical" Backtracking "Action"

Previously, on Metal Gear 2...



Snake and Natasha sat in a sewer and Natasha told him her life story. It was very touching, spectacular character development that fostered a real attachment in the player.



Then Grey Fox blew her up with a missile and she died. These two events were about ten minutes apart.


She also gave us card 6 and a brooch. It is described thusly by the manual:

Its apparent use? Jack shit.


Now we're looking for a hang glider so that we can get past the bridge Grey Fox blew up.


So, now that you're caught up, here's Snake. He's just outside the Tower Building, south of the bridge (which the manual tells me is called the Bridge of Sorrow). To get the hang glider, we have to return to the Zanzibar Building.

Which means we have to walk back across pretty much every area we've been through so far.


Let's get started, shall we?


You might have forgotten, by the way, that this screen shows up whenever Snake goes into a new area. It shows up something like half a dozen times on the way back to the Zanzibar Building.


You're lucky you're just reading this, though, so you don't have to go through all that crap.

I decided to call Campbell and see what he had to say.


This is...sort of useful, I guess? There aren't a lot of resources you're likely to find yourself wanting for in this game, especially at this point. I think the last time I was short on something was rations right after the Hind D fight.


I tried to call Yozef, too, but he wouldn't answer my calls.


After I had to walk all the way back across Zanzibar Land, I decided to play some bucket pranks on the green beret guy. You take what you can get in this game.


I also murdered a man and stole his bullets. I don't need them, I just need to take them.




The first thing to be found in the Zanzibar Building this time is the blue card. It does the same thing as the red card, but replace "1 to 3" with "4 to 6".


I like running around in the bucket. The noises confuse the hell out of the guards.


And it looks silly to see Snake's legs coming out of it.


Bucket antics aside, it's time to get back to our old friend, elevators.


Every time you enter or exit an elevator, Foxy the FOXHOUND Fox shows up to welcome you. It takes a few seconds every time, which adds up quickly, and you already spend too much time on elevators in this game. It's not even really loading anything. He's just mocking me.




I'm heading to the fourth floor, but the elevator stops on every floor on the way.


Skipping a bunch of crap, I'm back here. If you'll recall, during Snake's earlier trip to the fourth floor (looking for the women's room), I couldn't open either of these doors.


One contains even more of the dummy soldiers (why not?) and two children. Let's see what these kids have to say.

: If you catch a cold, go to the medical room to find pills.

I think we've heard this one before. I still can't remember if I actually had to use the pills in the past. There are a lot of items in this game.

: Wanna know a secret? A woman has a brooch that changes shape.

Thanks, kid. That's a real useful secret.


To the north!


Here, we find a locker room, with one man in it.


That man pulls a bag out of his locker. His lunch, maybe?


He then pushes the bag to the right side of the screen. I found this strangely interesting while I played.

The last time we had a boss fight was against Red Blaster, back in part seven. The last time something really exciting happened was when we killed Schneider, back in part two.

Metal Gear 2 has some pacing issues.


We can pop into one of the lockers and find out that the Zanzibarians have mastered the technology to create a room that's larger on the inside.

Guys, if you just patented this and sold it to people, you wouldn't have to hold the world nuclear hostage to sustain yourselves. Just a suggestion.

There is also a child in here.


Little girl, someone is supposed to find you if you're playing hide-and-seek. How long have you been in here?

No wonder the death rate in Zanzibar Land is so high. Not only are the kids allowed to hang around with explosives, they're dumb as hell.


We can also duck into that soldier's locker, but there's nothing in it.


The next screen has a weird floor and a dust chute.


I gotta know what's down there.


A dead rat!




Fine! Just shit on my dreams, game!


Escaping the garbage room dumps you out in the sewer.


There is no reason to explore the sewer right now. Just reload your game.



: Watch it carefully. ...Bye.

Calling Holly at this point gets this result. It's not terribly useful (in fact, I don't think it's useful at all). Calling Campbell gets us a much more useful conversation.

: Beware of floors and grounds that produce sounds. Even your noise-containment boots can't prevent it. The only way to avoid all sound is crawling. ...Over.

"Noise-containment boots" doesn't sound like something that exists.

Even now that I know they have a "footstep noise contamination system" and a "footsteps jamming system", they still sound made up. I'm not sure who felt this article was necessary or why, but it sure was written and put in the manual.


That aside, though, the funky hardwood floor under the beds here functions like the squeaky sand back in the desert. The manual tells me it is called "bush warbler" floor.

I think you can make a squeaky floor without "ancient Japanese architectures", but I'm not the Metal Gear 2 design team, so what do I know?



There are beds here, and there are soldiers sleeping in the beds, under the watchful eye of a camera. If you don't crawl, you'll wake up the soldiers.

Did you know that there's a manual article about this area? Because there is.

The most comforting thing I've found for my human emotions is to put a floor that squeaks whenever someone walks on it right in my bedroom.



Making a noise wakes everybody up, and being spotted causes them to jump out of bed and immediately start looking for you.


I called Miller for advice while I was hiding under one of the beds, but I got this instead.


Yozef still won't talk to me. I want to know about animals, man.


In the next room, darkness. I would have expected this in the bedrooms, but I think it's pretty clear now that Zanzibar Land used space ninja architecture in the designs.


You can turn on the lights like a fool, but then it turns out that the room was full of guards (and actually is another bedroom), and triggers an instant alert. I tried, but you can't be a dick and fake this one out with the bucket/box.


No, the trick is to use night vision.


That way, you can also find this room with a cross on it. Is it the infirmary? The base chapel? Math classroom? Let's find out together.


Ah, it's the chocolate milk cooler! Of course!


Nevermind, those are pills. This is the medical room.

Cold pills, just like that kid said! I have nothing to add to that.


Heading south through the bedroom, there's another door. Behind it...


A sauna!

The only place where you are allowed to remove your combat gears. Zanzibarians sleep with their uniforms on, probably holding their guns. This is a very strange country.


As I'm admiring the scenery, a guard comes in, very much taking advantage of the chance to remove his "gears" and forcing me to take quick action.


He immediately leaves.


When I go to remove my clever disguise, I see that the brooch has been replaced with a key! Is this the mysterious shape-changing brooch? What does it unlock? Will it help me find the hang glider?

 Yes, a locker, and no, respectively.