Metal Gear Solid: Once Again



Let me start by saying that I am not an avid gamer. My parents weren’t exactly poor but we weren’t doing that well with money either so I never got my own gaming console in my youth. Usually I would go to my friend’s house and play games on his Nintendo 64. Back then I couldn’t wait to get my own console but nowadays it isn’t on my mind as much. I moved to England recently in order to study engineering and I was getting accustomed to my new home. I was walking around town when I saw a shop called Warez that bought and sold old consoled from the Atari 2600 to the PlayStation 1. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had never owned a PlayStation 1 since I was born long after the console stopped being sold, at least where I lived previously. They weren’t very expensive and were in pretty good condition. They also had a large library of games for most of the consoles.

I wanted to have something to do in my spare time and though a good ol’ PS1 would do the trick. I didn’t want to spend all my money since the life of a student means a very tight budget so I decided to buy only 1 game. I browsed the collection of PlayStation 1 games and found one that I had been meaning to play for a while. Metal Gear Solid. They had different quality levels for the games and the consoles, and since I knew I wasn’t going to be playing all the time, I decided to get the console and game in an acceptable yet not very good condition. Both the console with the game cost 31.50 British Pounds which is just a bit over 51 Dollars. Pretty damn cheap but, considering they weren’t in perfect condition, it only made sense.

I went back home, got the PS1 ready and started it up. I was excited to play this game that had passed me by for such a long time. The game started up normally except for one thing. On the title screen it said “Metal Gear Solid: Once Again”, which was weird because on the game case and the disc all it said was “Metal Gear Solid”. I thought maybe the developers decided to have it only within the game itself so I simply shrugged it off.

The game’s case had a name written in black marker. It said “Jimmy’s game” so I assumed Jimmy was the previous owner. In any case I started playing and as I went along I noticed some things that seemed a bit odd. Whenever I engaged an enemy it seemed more violent than what I saw on videos on the internet. For example, if a soldier was right next to me, they would take out a knife and try to stab me. If I was trying to throw them to the ground, Snake would get behind them and break their necks. It wasn’t too bad and, if anything, it was more realistic however I didn’t think that games could have that much detail at the time. Maybe it was just because of my inexperience with the console and its capabilities. And yet one thing kept reoccurring each time I killed someone. While they died, the enemies would all say “Once again”. Of all the things to say, that seemed like one of the least things a dying soldier would say as his last words but hey, I’m no expert. Occasionally Snake would say “Oh god what have you done? Not again”. This wasn’t as weird yet you wouldn’t think that a trained soldier like Snake would say that considering the things he must have gone through.

I like staying up late so I kept playing the game for a while and eventually got to the boss known as Psycho Mantis. When Meryl was being controlled I realized Snake had his pistol selected and I couldn’t choose anything else. I knew I wasn’t supposed to kill her and I didn’t want to but I had no other solution other than to shoot her. This was the first time I saw blood in the whole game. It was very pixelated and looked a bit silly but nonetheless it was weird seeing it only now. When the cutscene started, Meryl said quietly “It was bound to happen eventually. It’s not your fault Snake, it’s his…” after which she died.

Psycho Mantis started talking and what he said sent shivers down my spine. “Once again, how many times before you are all satisfied? First Charlie then Jimmy and now you, Robert…”. I was shocked. My name is Robert but how would the game know. I knew that Psycho Mantis would pretend to look at your past and would look through the memory card and see all the games you’ve played before but my memory card was new so there was nothing on it and he didn’t even mention any games.

At first I tried to rationalize the situation and somehow shrug it off as just a mere coincidence however, the name he mentioned before mine was Jimmy, the name that was written on the game case. It was too much of a coincidence. Psycho Mantis continued to talk, “Once again… Once again. I expected more out of you. While the other two were just mindless children you are an adult. Does it please you to see people dying?”. Was he actually talking to me? I decided to respond to his question though I didn’t know how he could possibly hear me. “No” I responded. At this point the screen zoomed closer to his face. “Ah but you had no problem killing so many people on your way here. Well… was it fun?”. I had no idea how to respond. My legs were shaking, my heart kept beating faster and faster. “No” I said quietly. He responded by saying “well those smiles on your face looked very genuine just a few hours ago.”. I was speechless, my mind went blank. He knew everything; he had been watching me the whole time.

<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">The camera now focused on Snake. He was on his knees looking down to his hands, whispering to himself repeatedly “Why? Why? Why? Why?” next to Meryl’s body. After that the camera focused on Psycho Mantis once more as he said his last words “Well, since you came this far it is only fitting that you should win something special. Good job Robert, your present is in the hallway. I do so hope you will enjoy it. Goodbye…”. The screen cut to black with the words “Once Again, Good Job” in the middle.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:36.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;text-indent:36pt;">I heard the door open downstairs. I was sweating like crazy and felt like I couldn’t breathe. I took my pocket knife off the table and was clutching it tightly in my hand. Deep down inside I was hoping it would be my housemates coming back from a club but, as I got closer, I could hear something being dragged on the floor. The door closed and there was silence. I walked down the stairs slowly and what I saw still haunts me to this day. My mom, my dad, my little brother and sister were all lined up, blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs in the middle of the hallway with gun shots through their chests. I screamed and started crying my eyes out. I went closer and saw that each of them had several pictures on their chests. They were pictures of enemies that I killed in the game and a message saying “Once Again, Good Job”.

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