Metal Gear is notorious for its expansive cast of characters, although some of its playable characters are more interesting than others. With a complicated body of lore, Metal Gear has frequently switched perspectives and settings over its 35-year run. Even though the game sticks to a small cast of rotating protagonists, almost every Metal Gear main series title has a different protagonist from the last.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Metal Gear series.]Although the mechanics of the series remain largely the same in their focus on stealth, Metal Gear's playable characters vary greatly in their abilities, designs, and motivations. The series explores the traits that make for a better video game spy: Solid Snake’s honor, or Big Boss’ natural skill. For a series with an emphasis on tactical gameplay and engaging narrative, that can make all the difference. These are all of Metal Gear's main series playable characters, ranked from worst to best.
#5 - Big Boss' Recruits & Allies
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops introduced a squad system in which Big Boss could recruit new allies to his cause and direct them in battle. This mechanic returned in Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid V, eventually being expanded into an army management simulator that allowed players to construct new facilities and dispatch troops on side missions. Players can select from these characters in all three games, but they don't have any unique abilities of their own.
Still, playing as Big Boss' recruits has its advantages. Some Metal Gear games have hidden secrets or cheats that players can activate to control major Metal Gear players like Revolver Ocelot, EVA, or Gray Fox via cheats or Easter eggs. However, this doesn't affect the gameplay beyond adding a couple of unique voice lines or animations. And since these appearances are non-canon, they don't weigh on the narrative. Most of the other recruited characters are procedurally generated. Players can select the troops that most closely resemble themselves and take them out in the field for a more immersive experience. There's little reason to choose Big Boss' recruits when the man himself is an option.
#4 - Venom Snake
Playable in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Venom Snake is a poor imitation of one of Metal Gear's greatest protagonists. Longtime fans had plenty of reasons to dislike Venom Snake from the start. With his introduction, the voice actor for Metal Gear Solid's Snake, David Hayter, was replaced by Kiefer Sutherland. Sutherland took on the role of Venom Snake's facial motion capture and English voice.
Still, this casting choice makes sense in the context of the story. Venom Snake is actually one of Big Boss' medics who sacrificed himself to save Big Boss during the XOF attack on Mother Base. Having lost part of his left arm and much of his brain function in the explosion, the medic falls into a nine-year coma, during which he unwittingly undergoes extensive plastic surgery and hypnosis in order to turn him into a convincing copy of Big Boss. It's a fascinating character background, but it never really goes anywhere. Venom Snake serves as a figurehead for Ocelot and Kazuhira Miller to carry out Big Boss' will, but he has little drive of his own.
The series has always relied on dialogue to tell stories, so Venom Snake's silent treatment in MGS 5 is jarring, making him one of the series' less compelling characters. However, he has some unique abilities. With Metal Gear Solid 5's base-building features, Venom Snake can construct his own upgrades. His prosthesis can become a means of attracting or detecting enemies, or even a weapon. He may not be Metal Gear's most talkative playable character, but he is an interesting one mechanically.
#3 - Raiden
Something about replacing Snake just seems to tick a lot of Metal Gear fans off. Raiden's debut in Metal Gear Solid 2 met with so much scorn that MGS 3 incorporated a Raiden lookalike for the sole purpose of being the player's punching bag. At the beginning of MGS2, his bad reputation is understandable. His girlfriend Rosemary keeps asking him the significance of April 30, but Raiden can't that it's their anniversary. Snake ridicules him for having been trained in virtual reality to sneak around undetected, a Metal Gear lore staple. He's often the butt of the joke, like when a soldier taking a bathroom break rains on his parade, or when he loses his armor and has to run around naked.
However, Raiden eventually comes into his own. Metal Gear Solid 2 eventually reveals that he can't recall his past because he was traumatized as a child soldier. His strange experiences are revealed to have been part of a carefully scripted simulation, orchestrated by the shadowy Patriots organization in order to turn him into their human weapon. The game ends with Raiden defeating Solidus Snake, the man responsible for making him a child soldier, and choosing to forgive Rosemary and live on his own . He later returns with a new cybernetic body, a high-frequency katana, a new sense of worth, and memes galore in Metal Gear Rising, his very own spinoff game where he seeks revenge on a corrupt system.
#2 - Naked Snake (AKA Big Boss)
Big Boss debuted with the series in 1987's Metal Gear, but he wasn't yet playable - he was actually the game's final boss. Portrayed as a villain, his true motivations weren't revealed until he became a playable character in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. In MGS 3, Big Boss - codenamed Naked Snake - is a young but accomplished soldier who must go behind Soviet lines and take out an American defector in order to prevent an all-out nuclear war. Unlike Solid Snake and Raiden, who rely on technology for stealth, Big Boss uses physical camouflage in Snake Eater in order to evade enemies. There's just one problem: the defector is his mentor and mother figure, The Boss.
Though a lifelong soldier, The Boss has been blamed for other people's failures and discredited for her own successes. Her defection and eventual death at Naked Snake's hands were part of her grand plan to smuggle the Philosopher's Legacy, a hundred billion dollar war chest, out of the USSR, thereby bringing about world peace. However, Naked Snake, who gains the title Big Boss after defeating The Boss in combat, misinterprets her will and instead creates an organization of soldiers with no national ties, ed financially by a state of unceasing war. Metal Gear Solid 3 transforms Big Boss from a warmongering villain into a tragic protagonist, doomed to repeat his mistakes against his late mentor's will.
#1 - Solid Snake
There's simply no substitute for Solid Snake. The most important MGS protagonist, Solid Snake has starred in four main series games of his own, including the first three, but makes appearances in many others. Modeled after Snake Plissken from the film Escape from New York, Solid Snake's design is nothing short of iconic - so much so that other series protagonists like Big Boss and Venom Snake are often mistaken for him. He often uses high-tech gadgets, like his radar system and binoculars, to detect and sneak around enemies. However, he can also be resourceful when the situation calls for it, like when he uses cigarette smoke to locate invisible infrared lasers.
Despite his finally ing the torch in Metal Gear Solid 4, Solid Snake remains the series' greatest playable character and go-to representative in cameo appearances. Solid Snake is introduced as a consummate professional, a grizzled veteran who carries out his orders without letting his emotions get in the way. However, he slowly opens up over the course of the series, rescuing and forming relationships with rookie soldier Meryl Silverburgh, military scientist Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, and fellow playable character Raiden. Although he prevents a nuclear strike during the Shadow Moses Incident and later puts an end to the Patriots' machinations, he rejects the public's perception of him as a hero, believing that there are no heroes in war.
Rumors abound about new Metal Gear projects that may be announced in 2023 to coincide with the series' 35 anniversary. However, with the stories of Solid Snake, Venom Snake, and Big Boss already concluded, Konami has precious few options for playable protagonists in future games. Whether the next entry in the Metal Gear franchise will star Snake, Raiden, or a new playable character remains to be seen - as does any information about whether such a game will even exist.
Source: GameSpot/YouTube
