Part 24: Episode XVIII: Explosives Emu

Canyon (MGS: The Twin Snakes)


Following Marionette Owl's death, Snake wanders through another random room in a cutscene before emerging in the great outdoors. Campbell immediately phones him up for the obligatory reminder of what he was told to do already.


"...phase."
"I ran a satellite check. Metal Gear is already above ground."
"Metal Gear is to the north -- Just keep going north. There's no time left! Go!"

Yeesh. Alright, alright. We're going. We're going already! I don't know why everyone is getting their panties in such a bunch. It's a Metal Gear. Those things have successfully launched a nuclear weapon exactly zero times in the series across nearly a dozen incarnations. I'm not too worried.


A short jog ahead we find another one of those ridiculous security systems. But nothing to fear here. This one has a trick. You see, if you try to deactivate it manually, you'll have to do the stupid puzzle from earlier. But...


...if Snake just waltzes toward the entrance, we'll find it's already open and easily walked through. Stage 7 is nice like that. It's easily the shortest stage in the entire game. But that's not to say nothing happens in it.


A bit to the northwest we'll find a cargo truck is barring the past to the west. I'm not sure how it drove in here given the current tight conditions in all directions. But details...


Inside this truck we find another useful item that is likely a strong hint as to this stage's gimmick: the mine detector. Slapping this thing on will make mines appear as little dots on Snake's radar. Simple enough.




With the radar in hand, Snake is free to continue north where the jungle immediately gives way to a rocky canyon.


The canyon is full of tight passages due to rocks scattered all over the place. If we take a look at the radar, we'll see a ton of little dots are pocking the map indicating the place is full to the brim with landmines. In case that wasn't enough of a hint, Colonel Campbell will also phone in saying "MINES! USE THE RADAR! BECAUSE OF MINES!" about three different ways in the same conversation. That guy needs a crossword puzzle or something...


Now while landmines and other unexploded ordinance might be a constant problem in war torn regions of the world. And the might still kill tons of civilians long after the conflict has ended, this is not the case in Metal Gear's universe. Here, all a person needs to do is just crawl right over a landmine and it will instantly disarm itself and leap into their pocket for redeployment later. Don't try this at home...


Several screens of landmines and rocks later and Snake finally reaches the end of the canyon. Go grab some popcorn, cuz we're in for some cutscenes...

Snake strolls northward to the next area...




Explosive Attack


"Who are you?!"




"...hell!"
"You must be Viper."
"Pleasure to see you, Solid Snake."


"Retribution begins now. Stand and watch the show, Snake."




Whoa. The new Metal Gear is a big boy. And it's got not one, but TWO rail cannons. For twice the tactical nuclear weapon firing, I guess. Well, it's a bit early for a Metal Gear boss battle already, but I'm g--


...Oh... Shit... That's umm... It actually fired the nuke. That's cheating, Ghost Babel. Metal Gears are only supposed to threaten doing that! What are you doing?!


"Ha, ha, ha! This is just the beginning. It's payback time!"

Viper's chopper flies offscreen...


"We'll met again, Solid Snake. The next time, you die!"

Meanwhile, on a nearby cliff face...




Encounter (Metal Gear Solid)


Clearly this is the Michael Bay stage of Ghost Babel.

Campbell calls over the Codec...


"There's an artillery unit to the north, just this side of the maintenance base. They're firing like crazy. Get out of there now!"
"But Metal Gear-"
"Get out there, Snake! There's no way through that barrage!"
"But -!"
"Snake! Metal Gear's already fired a nuke. We can't afford to lose you as well!"
"Damn it..."
"Go back the way you came. Now isn't the time to go in!"




"I've modified it to display the artillery impact points."
"Snake, avoid the artillery fire and go south!"

Snake runs south...


So, new mission objective for this stage: RUN AWAY!!!


Artillery is bombarding the area. It's not particularly accurate but if Snake stays in one place for too long, he'll take a bomb to the back of the head in short order. On top of that, we need to retreat back through the mine field we just went through. Couple that with the fact it just takes two explosives to kill Snake and you've got pretty hairy situation. Frankly, I've found that there are spots where you're pretty much just going to take an explosive due to chokepoints. It's best to jump on a landmine and take the guaranteed hit from that rather than getting hit from artillery and hoping the invincibility frames after getting up are enough to make it past a mine.


In any case, running all the way back to the jungle past the minefield canyon will bring this rather explosive stage to a close.


Less than THREE minutes is a poor time, game?! Really...? REALLY?!