History Recap / MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots

The nerds are having their day: besides Akiba, the only person who managed to keep his head was Otacon. He snuck the Mark II onto Liquid's boat as it sailed away down the Volta. Though it is caught and destroyed, it is first able to catch Ocelot, Vamp and Naomi discussing the remainder of the plan: to destroy a satellite which contains JD, the Patriot AI in charge of everything. Its loss will cause the NumberTwo AI, GW, to step up--and, since Ocelot already controls it, put him in charge of the world. To accomplish this, though, he needs a weapon system that can get things into orbit but predates ID locks. The only thing that fits the criteria is the railgun aboard Metal Gear REX. Consequently, Chapter 4 is a WholeEpisodeFlashback to ''Metal Gear Solid 1'', as Snake returns to Shadow Moses, the place where, for most of us, it all began (''Metal Gear 1'' and ''2'' were [[NoExportForYou not released in America]] until being bundled in an UpdatedRerelease of ''Snake Eater''), including a comment from Otacon about how Snake needs to switch to the game's second CD... Oh wait, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 runs on Blu-Ray now, ha-ha, that won't be necessary.

In the years between the [[Videogame/MetalGearSolid2 Big Shell Incident]] and today, the Patriots have expanded their control over the world, primarily by way of [[NanoMachines nanomachines]]. Nanos now regulate the physical and emotional responses of all soldiers on the battlefield, through a system called "SOP" (Sons of The Patriots). This system not only gives soldiers enhanced senses, reflexes, and the ability to better coordinate in teams, it includes ID locks that prevent a soldier from even firing a weapon that they are not authorized to use. As an added bonus, it also suppresses all the combat stress and [[ShellShockedVeteran trauma]] a soldier would otherwise accrue as s/he is exposed to more battles. PrivateMilitaryContractors have become the driving military forces of the day, and a "war economy" has sprung up around the constant proxy conflicts being fought throughout the world, which in turn make up a huge percentage of the revenues for most world economies. And the one thing a war always needs is [[WeHaveReserves reserves]], resulting in a somewhat dismal state of affairs as the game opens.

Not long after Operation Snake Eater, the six living members of the mission with ties to the West -- Naked Snake, Ocelot, EVA, Zero, SIGINT and Para-Medic -- gathered. With the help of the Philosophers' Legacy, they decided to fulfill The Boss's last wish: to create a world where nations would not discard soldiers for political expediency. Zero's method for accomplishing this was to rule the world from behind the scenes; after all, there would be no wars if the whole world was unified. In pursuit of this goal, Zero began to inflate Big Boss's reputation. Big Boss began to chafe under this agenda, having more interest in his own dream of a world where soldiers were free to choose their own fates and causes. The ''Les Enfants Terribles'' project, initiated without Big Boss's consent, was the final straw, and Big Boss left the cabal for good. EVA went with him, but Ocelot, clearly adept at playing the DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent, agreed to remain as their spy in the ranks. The three of them watched as Zero's "Patriots" exploded in size and scope over the years, gradually becoming the colossal monster of Solid Snake's time--all driven by a tragic misunderstanding of what The Boss wanted. Although Big Boss attempted to put a stop to these machinations at Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land, Solid Snake defeated him both times and rendered him comatose in the latter incident. Zero, not wanting to lose an icon and still bitter over the betrayal from someone he deemed a friend, then injected Big Boss's body with nanomachines to prevent him from ever waking up and to act as the biometric key to their system. EVA has now gained possession of that EmptyShell.

In the years between the Big Shell Incident and today, the Patriots have expanded their control over the world, primarily by way of [[NanoMachines nanomachines]]. Nanos now regulate the physical and emotional responses of all soldiers on the battlefield, through a system called "SOP" (Sons of The Patriots). This system not only gives soldiers enhanced senses, reflexes, and the ability to better coordinate in teams, it includes ID locks that prevent a soldier from even firing a weapon that they are not authorized to use. As an added bonus, it also suppresses all the combat stress and [[ShellShockedVeteran trauma]] a soldier would otherwise accrue as s/he is exposed to more battles. PrivateMilitaryContractors have become the driving military forces of the day, and a "war economy" has sprung up around the constant proxy conflicts being fought throughout the world, which in turn make up a huge percentage of the revenues for most world economies. And the one thing a war always needs is [[WeHaveReserves reserves]], resulting in a somewhat dismal state of affairs as the game opens.

Solid Snake is in Arlington, standing before his father's grave. He has one last mission to carry out: to [[{{AteHisGun}} commit suicide]] to prevent a worldwide FOXDIE outbreak. He puts aside his [[{{OneLastSmoke}} last cigarette]] and brings his weapon (the Springfield Operator that he originally procured in Act 1) to bear. [[TearJerker A shot rings out.]]

The virus does far more than intended: it not only destroys GW, but also deletes JD and the remaining Patriot AIs as well. A video from Naomi then plays, explaining that Sunny helped her write the virus--or rather, that she helped Sunny. Using her knowledge of FOXDIE, Sunny crafted a virus which Naomi has dubbed FOXALIVE. It will wipe out the controlling elements of SOP and the entire Patriot AI network while leaving behind the code which helps keep the infrastructure of the world running. Outside, Ocelot's soldiers begin to collapse in [[VillianousBreakdown emotional breakdowns]] as their feelings and regrets, previously suppressed by SOP, come screaming back to them. The AI-controlled war machines, like the [=RAY=]s and three-armed Dwarf Gekko, are all disabled ''en masse'', with some even tumbling into the ocean. Mei Ling calls for a surrender. The world is saved, and our heroes have seemingly prevailed.

Naomi passes a coded message to Snake, indicating that she is being compelled to perform Ocelot's research in South America and begging for rescue. Upon rendezvous, she puts Snake through a comprehensive physical examination and determines the cause of his accelerated aging: during the cloning process, the ''enfants terrible'' were deliberately programmed with CloningDegeneration in the form of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_syndrome Werner syndrome]]. She also discovers that the original FOXDIE virus, still lying dormant in his body, is beginning to decay, losing the careful targeting parameters she designed it with. She estimates that Snake has only about six months before it begins to kill indiscriminately, turning him into a walking plague, a biological WMD that can cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt thanks to FOXDIE's mutation.

Snake is ordered to meet up with Rat Patrol 01, a special forces team already on the ground who have been surveilling Ocelot for months. The four-person fire team consists of Ed, sniper and radioman; Jonathan, the heavy-weapons guy; Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki, a clumsy and uncoordinated tech expert and AscendedExtra from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''; and their leader, none other than Meryl Silverburgh. Snake also encounters a gun launderer, Drebin 893, who injects him with nanomachines that will allow him to bypass ID locks and use any weapon acquired on the battlefield, be it from the [=PMC=]s or the rebels he can befriend and ally with. This unlocks another mechanic of the game: collecting weapons will earn Snake "Drebin Points," which can later be used to gain access to new gear. Drebin's first gift becomes Snake's primary weapon: while Otacon has already gifted him with a tranquilizer pistol and a Springfield Operator (a version of the Colt M1911 .45 favored by his father, and indeed by many professional soldiers in RealLife), Snake now gets his hands on a [[CoolGuns/AssaultRifles M4 Carbine]] which can be modified with a variety of GunAccessories, turning into into a custom platform that suits the player's needs. Snake continues to wield this M4 throughout most {{Cut Scene}}s.

Solid Snake is 42 years old, but looks 70 due to RapidAging (much like Solidus Snake, he had a genetic failsafe installed during the cloning process to prevent him from becoming a threat in case he should become too independent for his creators' taste). He and Otacon have adopted Olga Gurlukovich's daughter and named her Sunny. Nonetheless, Col. Campbell hoists him out of retirement for one last campaign. Liquid Ocelot, as he now calls himself, has poised himself to take over five of the biggest [=PMC=]s and consolidate them into one. Snake is commissioned to kill him before he can do so. Since his body is deteriorating, he is outfitted with a muscle suit that augments his physique and also contains "[=OctoCamo=]," a context-sensitive color-shifting system that will automatically adopt the visual texture of anything Snake chooses to stand near, as well as an eyepatch, the "Solid Eye," that acts as a Heads Up Display. Supported primarily by Otacon, who drives a small, {{Invisibility Cloak}}ed robot called the Metal Gear Mark II, Snake is dropped into the Middle East where Ocelot is making his play.

Snake is ordered to meet up with Rat Patrol 01, a special forces team already on the ground who have been surveilling Ocelot for months. The four-person fire team consists of Ed, sniper and radioman; Jonathan, the heavy-weapons guy; Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki, a clumsy and uncoordinated tech expert and AscendedExtra from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''; and their leader, none other than Meryl Silverburgh. Snake also encounters a gun launderer, Drebin 893, who injects him with nanomachines that will allow him to bypass ID locks and use any weapon acquired on the battlefield. This unlocks another mechanic of the game: collecting weapons will earn Snake "Drebin Points," which can later be used to gain access to new gear. Drebin's first gift become's Snake's primary weapon: while Otacon has already gifted him with a tranquilizer pistol and a Springfield Operator (a version of the M1911 favored by his father, and indeed by many professional soldiers in RealLife), Snake now gets his hands on a [[CoolGuns/AssaultRifles M4 Carbine]] which can be modified with a variety of GunAccessories, turning into into a custom platform that suits the player's needs. Snake continues to wield this M4 throughout most {{Cut Scene}}s.

In addition to soldiers from both sides of the proxy conflict, Snake must also contend with "GEKKO," cyborg mecha which imitate animals, and the "[=FROGs=]," Liquid's private army of {{Action Girl}}s, so named because they can WallCrawl. He is also introduced to the BB Corps, the Beauty and the Beast Unit--traumatized women who have become cyborg war machines as their only means of coping with PTSD. Each embodies a trait from one member of the {{Quirky Miniboss Squad}}s of previous games: Crying Wolf combines The Sorrow's emotion, Sniper Wolf's job and Fortune's railgun; Raging Raven has Vulcan Raven's name, The Fury's emotion and Fatman's explosives; Laughing Octopus has Decoy Octopus's name, The Boss's emotion (remember, her original codename was The Joy) and Solidus's tentacles and FN P90; and Screaming Mantis has Vamp's throwing knives, The Fear ''and'' The Pain, and Psycho Mantis's name. After Snake defeats each one, Drebin will typically call over CODEC and give an InfoDump on the woman's BackStory, thanking Snake for helping her find peace. (Why Drebin cares about them is left [[PlotHole unexplained]], though their {{Stripperiffic}} costumes might have something to do with it.)

Snake reaches Ocelot's encampment with the help of Rat Patrol 01, and is surprised to find Dr. Naomi Hunter in his company. However, Snake is unable to complete the hit, as Ocelot somehow incapacitates every soldier present, including Snake. The sole immune survivor is Akiba, who gradually drags everyone to safety.

Naomi passes a coded message to Snake, indicating that she is being compelled to perform Ocelot's research in South America and begging for rescue. Upon rendezvous, she puts Snake through a comprehensive physical examination and determines the cause of his accelerated aging: during the cloning process, the ''enfants terrible'' were deliberately programmed with CloningDegeneration in the form of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_syndrome Werner syndrome]]. She also discovers that the original FOXDIE virus, still lying dormant in his body, is beginning to decay, losing the careful targeting parameters she designed it with. She estimates that Snake has only about six months before it begins to kill indiscriminately, turning him into a walking plague.

Naomi is hustled away by [=PMC=] soldiers while Snake takes on Laughing Octopus. After defeating her, receiving the Drebin spiel, and getting an item from her--an [=OctoCamo=] balaclava that allows him to disguise his entire head--he recovers Naomi and the two begin to head towards Otacon's chopper with the help of Drebin and his AFV. However, Liquid has a few too many Gekko to send, and all looks hopeless... until a cyborg ninja drops in to provide help. It's Raiden. Though he had intended to give up the soldierly life, he and Rosemary separated after she miscarried their child; she went on to marry ''Campbell'' of all people, and is actually one of Snake's CODEC contacts (along with Otacon and Campbell himself) throughout the game. Raiden, for his part, is instantly RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap when he takes on several Gekko with nothing but his sword. (His character model shows a Heckler und Koch Mk. 23 Mod 0 in a thigh holster, but he never once uses it.) Then Vamp shows up, and Raiden takes on ''him'' in a tour-de-force display of acrobatics and stabbery. The battle is inconclusive, due to Vamp's annoying ResurrectiveImmortality, and Raiden is forced to retreat to the chopper, badly wounded.

Snake and Otacon make contact with resistance group in Eastern Europe who have the equipment to heal Raiden. They also claim to have taken custody of Big Boss's remains, which makes them a target for Liquid as he will need Big Boss's biometrics to hack into The Patriots' system. Snake sets out to infiltrate "Paradise Lost" and meet its leader, Big Mama. Meanwhile, Naomi seduces Otacon, but slips away the next morning.

The exposition is interrupted by "Dwarf Gekko," little metal balls with one eye and three arms, who have found EVA's hideout and report it to Ocelot. As Paradise Lost deploys a number of vans and decoys to attempt to get Big Boss's remains out of the city, EVA herself takes to the streets on her motorcycle, with Snake riding shotgun. The opposition is led by Raging Raven, whose air forces prove to have the decisive edge. Snake shoots Raven down, gaining her Milkor MGL grenade launcher, but not before EVA takes a debilitating wound to the abdomen. The two limp their way to the Volta River, where Big Boss's ''actual'' corpse is waiting... but, alas, Liquid Ocelot has already found it. Even worse, he doesn't need it, having already found a backdoor into SOP. He sets Big Boss's remains alight, and Snake is burned across the face trying (unsuccessfully) to save it. Outnumbered by US Army and Marine Corps reinforcements brought in by the also-present Rat Patrol 01, Ocelot then demonstrates his mastery of SOP by disabling men, tanks, boats and even helicopters solely by shutting their nanomachines; his bodyguards [[{{CurbStompBattle}} massacre most of them]]. Akiba is once again the only person to withstand his influence. Snake cradles his mother as she apparently dies from the combination of exhaustion and the wounds she sustained. Fortunately, all of Rat Patrol survives (along with a handful of troops from the accompanying task force), and Drebin soon arrives to take Snake to safety.

Snake finds Vamp and Naomi at Shadow Moses, but is delayed in pursuing them by having to fight Crying Wolf in the same snowfield where he put an end to Sniper Wolf nine years earlier. He then descends into the hangar and finds REX basically where he left it. Unfortunately, its railgun is already gone. Even worse, Vamp wants a fight, and while Snake can totally kill him -- some {{Sniper Rifle}}s deal a OneHitKill, for instance -- he persists in his habit of not remaining dead. Snake, having learned from Naomi in Chapter 2 that Vamp's RegeneratingHealth comes from nanomachines, injects him with the same suppressor shot he (Snake) has been using to quell his own aging-related symptoms. This turns off Vam's ResurrectiveImmortality: the next time he dies, he's going to stay dead. So Raiden pops in to finish the job. As Otacon uses the Metal Gear Mark III (replacing the destroyed older model) to boot REX back up, Raiden takes Vamp in a KnifeFight atop [=REX=]'s back; Snake protects them in SplitScreen, fending off flocks of Suicide GEKKO with the help of Wolf's railgun. After Vamp is finally killed, Naomi, admitting she has cancer and is basically alive only because of nanomachines, injects herself with the same suppressors and expires on the spot, to Otacon's sorrow.

The situation is grim. ''Outer Haven'' will be in position to fire on JD before long. The only hope for the world is for a small strike team to infiltrate ''Outer Haven'' and upload a virus, programmed by Naomi, into GW. In addition to sneaking through a giant submarine crawling with enemy soldiers, the person attempting to reach GW will need to make it through a hallway that literally microwaves everything inside it. Meryl, Akiba and Snake, the only able-bodied soldiers left, volunteer. Their plan calls for insertion of the strike team onto ''Outer Haven'' via catapults while the latter ship is above water to conduct the nuclear strike against JD, which, owing to Earth's gravitational field, unstable seas, and the accuracy and blast radius limitations of REX's railgun, can only be done when the satellite reaches its perigee 494 nautical miles (915 km) from the Bering Strait. The remaining sailors and Marines of the ''Missouri'' are meanwhile tasked with fending off the inevitable counterattack from Liquid Ocelot's [=FROG=]s, Dwarf Gekko and automated Metal Gear [=RAY=]s. Drebin is also present to provide last-minute assistance by selling discounted "naked" weaponry and equipment to both the strike team and the ''Missouri'' crew. Our heroes are now the only thing standing between Liquid Ocelot and the total subjugation of the human race.

The virus does far more than intended: it not only destroys GW, but also deletes JD and the remaining Patriot AIs as well. A video from Naomi then plays, explaining that Sunny helped her write the virus--or rather, that she helped Sunny. Using her knowledge of FOXDIE, Sunny crafted a virus which Naomi has dubbed FOXALIVE. It will wipe out the controlling elements of SOP and the entire Patriot AI network while leaving behind the code which helps keep the infrastructure of the world running. Outside, Ocelot's soldiers begin to collapse in [[VillianousBreakdown emotional breakdown]] as their feelings and regrets, previously suppressed by SOP, come screaming back to them. The AI-controlled war machines, like the [=RAY=]s and three-armed dwarf Gekko, are all disabled ''en masse'', with some even tumbling into the ocean. Mei Ling calls for a surrender. The world is saved, and our heroes have seemingly prevailed.

Snake is ordered to meet up with Rat Patrol 01, a special forces team already on the ground who have been surveilling Ocelot for months. The four-person fire team consists of Ed, sniper and radioman; Jonathan, the heavy-weapons guy; Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki, a clumsy and uncoordinated tech expert and AscendedExtra from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''; and their leader, none other than Meryl Silverburgh. Snake also encounters a gun launderer, Drebin 893, who injects him with nanomachines that will allow him to bypass ID locks and use any weapon acquired on the battlefield. This unlocks the VendorTrash mechanic of the game: collecting weapons will earn Snake "Drebin Points," which can later be used to gain access to new gear. Drebin's first gift become's Snake's primary weapon: while Otacon has already gifted him with a tranquilizer pistol and a Springfield Operator (a version of the M1911 favored by his father, and indeed by many professional soldiers in RealLife), Snake now gets his hands on a [[CoolGuns/AssaultRifles M4 Carbine]] which can be modified with a variety of GunAccessories, turning into into a custom platform that suits the player's needs. Snake continues to wield this M4 throughout most {{Cut Scene}}s.

In the years between the Big Shell Incident and today, the Patriots have expanded their control over the world, primarily by way of [[NanoMachines nanomachines]]. Nanos now regulate the physical and emotional responses of all soldiers on the battlefield, through a system called "SOP" (Sons of The Patriots). This system not only gives soldiers enhanced senses, reflexes, and the ability to better coordinate in teams, it includes ID locks that prevent a soldier from even firing a weapon that they are not authorized to use. As an added bonus, it also suppresses all the combat stress and [[ShellShockedVeteran trauma]] a soldier would otherwise accrue as s/he is exposed to more battles. PrivateMilitaryContractors have become the driving military forces of the day, and a "war economy" has sprung up around the constant proxy conflicts being fought throughout the world, which in turn make up a huge percentage of the revenues for most world economies. And the one thing a war always needs [[WeHaveReserves reserves]], resulting in a somewhat dismal state of affairs as the game opens.