Sniper Wolf | The cast of characters in Metal Gear Solid is so rich that it's hard to pick one who stands up to the rest. In fact, Liquid Snake, the leader of the terrorist cabal FOXHOUND, is the least interesting of the bunch. Of the rest, take your pick. There's Psycho Mantis, whose fear and guilt of his telekinetic powers fed a lifelong spiral into madness and nihilism, and who finds redemption on his deathbed by showing Solid Snake the path forward ("Strange – it feels kind of nice.") There's Revolver Ocelot, the scheming sharpshooter who gets his jollies torturing interrogation subjects. There's Vulcan Raven, the Inuit mystic who takes Snake's presence in Alaska personally. But for my money, the best of all is Sniper Wolf. Like Psycho Mantis, she bears scars from a traumatic childhood. After witnessing her family and thousands of others exterminated, she began to live the way she fought: always from a distance, afraid to get too close. Melodramatic, maybe, but that's designer Hideo Kojima's stock in trade. Sniper Wolf's lonely death in a snow-covered field is one of gaming's most poignant scenes. I get misty-eyed just thinking about it – not like Solid Snake, who leaves the scene by remarking to a blubbering Otacon, "I don't have any tears left to shed." - Mitch Krpata |
