Part 18: 17. "Metal Gear?"

17. "Metal Gear?"

(Alternate title: "No! That is NOT Solid Snake!")



When we last saw Solid Snake, he'd snuck into the Skull Spider Cult to discover the truth about possible Snatcher sect involvement.



Snake: It appears that everyone-



Campb: Snake, do you read me?
Snake: Loud and clear. These people are too enthralled in the sermon to notice me. Moving in. Commence Operation DS4415.

(Some of you may be asking, "Why not Otacon?" Because we're on the MSX, that's why!)





Snake: There he is.
Campb: Robert Crumpton. I'm changing my Codec frqeuency to 140.35, so if you want to call me, use that from now on.
Snake: Got it.





Snake: Threath?

See? It's the second time he's done that. That's a weird typo to make, too. Must be a Dutch thing.









Snake: Why aren't they understanding that Snatchers kill you?
Campb: Snake. It's heavy indoctrination.
Snake: I'm just saying. It doesn't seem like it would be a hard sell normally otherwise. "Don't worship the robot skeleton things. They kill you."
Campb: Snake. I'm changing the frequency to 141.33.
Snake: Hrrrr...









Worshipper 1: Well, it makes sense if you think about it.
Worshipper 2: Spiritually, I wasn't sure before. But I feel much better about the whole thing.
Worshipper 1: To hell with the Church of Optimology, this makes more sense.





Time! Robert Clap- I mean Crumpton... Huh?

You're going to see this Clapton/Crumpton thing again, and I can't lie to you. I don't get it at all.



Snake: Hrmmm. He's done.
Campb: Talk to the crowd. See what they think.









Snake: Hurmm... this is crazy.
Campb: Snake. Your new mission objective is to inflitrate the enemy's higher floor bases. Find where the Snatcher fortress is.



The church has really tight, winding passages. This is going to make life fairly brutal later on. I probably don't have to tell you why.





A dead end! And also, more candles... And also, this church is awful.



Snake: They said Christ's body holds the key... I'll just ignore that clue for now.



Snake: Hurmm...
Campb: Snake, there's a trick to all this.
Snake: Back at all the statues of Christ...
Campb: I'd better change frequencies to be safe. 141.79.
Snake: Got it.



This kind of annoys me. To get farther, you push the fifth statue to the left. Keep in mind, you've actually not ever pushed anything in this game. Ever. I had to look up hints here because, seriously, I'd not been given any indication that it was even possible to do so.





Campb: Good job, Snake. You blew out every single candle.
Snake: So what's next?
Campb: What's next? You find out that none of that was necessary and go to a completely different corner of the map. That way, the guy playing doesn't realize he's wasted time blowing out candles because that's a gameplay element that comes later.
Snake: ......
Campb: And also that that's only 22 candles anyway.



This is another "smack the monitor" moment. You just wander aimlessly until you figure out this is the point under the "not soundproof" ceiling.







Yep, for any of you noticing that terribly placed vertical scar for no reason at all in the priest flight earlier, that's why. The Snatchers lobotomized that poor guy.

Haphazardly.

Keep in mind too, Kojima also gave us The Boss, who had a Caesarian section scar across her sternum somehow. Maybe he's just fucking awful with anatomy.





Gilian: I got zinged!
Campb: What?
Snake: Er, I don't understand what was just said.







(Queens Hospital, he means, if anyone was confused by the fact that plural nouns aren't always SD Snatcher's strong suit.)



This is also something new. You don't get any hint or concept that Snatchers have a Master until near the very end of the game in the original... in fact, it only happens when you find the church where they worship their creator.

(Though it's hinted that there is a master plan moving to "phase 2".)





(And, oh yeah, it's a completely different master plan.)



Campb: Snake, you've got the evidence to clear your name!
Snake: Alright. Heading to the extraction point.



Snake: Wait, Colenol. I need more evidence. Actually, I need evidence. Like any. I just overheard someone. That can't be enough.
Campb: I need scissors! 61!

Alright, well I guess assuming that he recorded that without mention or the whole "priest I shot was lobotomized" thing is enough, we might have enough to keep Snake's job safe.

Back to Jamie!



Snake: Fantastic. Thanks for all the help, Colenol!
Jamie: Gilian, why are you talking like that?
Gilian: Uh, no reason! (Phew. Got a little too into character, there!)





Gilian: Phew! My throat was killing me. And now it's time for some tactical snatch action!

Hey, for the record, I didn't love writing that, either.





And now off to the only person who can extricate us from this crazy fourth-wall/game-converging plot thread, the mayor of Neo Kobe! (This character is also completely new to SD Snatcher.)







And with our old sprite back, it's time to head in!