Metal Gear Solid/Rescuing the hostages

Welcome to Shadow Moses Island. Home to a nuclear weapons disposal facility, it was recently taken over by a rebelling faction of High-Tech Special Forces Unit FOX-HOUND, who are demanding that the US Government give them the remains of the legendary soldier known as Big Boss, or else they'll launch a nuclear warhead. Solid Snake, you have two mission objectives: one, rescue the DARPA chief Donald Anderson and ArmsTech president Kenneth Baker, both of whom are being held hostage by the terrorists; and two, to find out if the terrorists actually have the ability to launch a nuclear warhead.

Cavern
You arrive at the facility in an underground cavern just under the facility's tank hangar. The elevator in the back is the only way up to ground level. You're unarmed, so you'll have to sneak around the guards to the elevator. First, crouch with psx: x and move with to crawl under the structure just in front of you. Keep an eye on your radar for guards (the red dots are the guards, and the blue cones represent their fields of vision). If you push yourself up against a wall or crate, the guards are less likely to see you. Also, watch for puddles on the ground - if you just run blindly through them, nearby guards will hear your footsteps and find you easily. Wait until the guards are facing away from you before making your move. Watch for the guards' lines of sight, and quickly get yourself to the opposite side of the crate you're at to avoid being seen. If you can successfully sneak up behind a guard without him noticing you, you can use psx: s several times to break his neck and kill him. Be careful about doing this, though; if you aren't quick enough in grabbing him, he'll have enough time to call an alert before you silence him. If you get caught near the beginning, run for the starting point and push yourself up against the structure - the guards can't follow you there.

When you reach the elevator, Campbell will call you. Press psx: select to answer. He'll advise you to find a place to hide while you wait for the elevator to come back down. The forklift to the right is a good place to hide. Run over and hide between the forklift and the corner walls. You should find a Ration here as well - use this to recover any health you might have lost getting this far. To eat a Ration, hold psx: l2 to open the Item Menu, highlight the Ration, and press psx: c to eat. If a guard comes your way, simply switch to the other side of the forklift. After a while waiting here, the elevator will come down with another guard on board. Wait for him to move away from the elevator, then run for it.

Heliport
Once you reach the heliport, Mei Ling will explain the radar and the Codec frequency used to save the game, 140.96. You'll also be told about two air ducts, which you can use to get into the tank hangar. The one you can see has a guard and surveillance camera posted in front, and the one you can't see is obscured by the walkway on the upper level from your current position. First, head around the right of the helipad to the entrance on the right of the landing area (where the spotlights are constantly sweeping the ground area). Wait just outside the fence for the lights to stop at a point where the area between them leaves a clear path from where you are to the left, and quickly run across. Along the way, you should find three chaff grenades, which can be used to jam electronics such as surveillance cameras (but also shut off your radar while in effect). If the lights land on you, they'll raise an alert, so be quick about it. Enter the cargo room to the left (where Snake will point out the surveillance camera). The yellow cone on the radar represents the camera's field of vision, and being seen by it will alert the guards to your presence. Use a chaff grenade to jam the camera. To use a grenade, hold psx: r2 to open the Weapons Menu, and select the chaff grenades. Release psx: r2 to close the menu, and press psx: s to throw the grenade. Once it goes off, you'll lose your radar, but the camera will also be jammed. Quickly run left and grab the stun grenades, which can be used to temporarily stun all enemies, and leave the room. Make sure to look for guards patrolling the area outside before you go - if the chaff grenade is still in effect, use psx: t to enter first-person view and look around. If you spot a guard, wait for him to move away, or just use a stun grenade. Either way, your next destination is a cargo truck to the north-east of here.

This area is rife with guards, so get a stun grenade out quickly (they are thrown in the same way as chaff grenades). While the guards are stunned, climb into the truck, and look behind the boxes inside to find a SOCOM pistol. Equip it in the same way as you did the grenades. To shoot, hold psx: s hold to begin aiming. Snake should aim at the nearest enemy automatically; if not, aim the laser with. Release psx: s to fire. The guards in this area need around 2-3 bullets to take down. Hold your fire when more than one guard is near, however; the noise of the gunshots will be heard by nearby guards. Climb out of the truck when the coast is clear, and take out the guards between here and the air duct to the north-west of the truck. Be careful not to get too close to the air duct yet, or the camera will spot you. Once you've eliminated the guards, use a chaff grenade to freeze the camera, and crawl into the air duct.

Tank hangar and cells
Once inside go up and right. Here, you'll receive a Codec call from Master Miller, Snake's old mentor, who will give you information on Alaskan flora and fauna if you contact him. His frequency is 141.80. For now, he'll tell you to follow the mice through the duct, since their presence should indicate a nearby exit. Do so. At one point, you'll have to swim through a brief section of the duct that is underwater; don't stop while swimming through it, since your oxygen quickly depletes while underwater. If it runs out, you'll begin to lose health rapidly. Continue following the mice, and eventually you'll emerge inside the tank hangar.

Inside, Campbell will call you and tell you to find the cargo elevator. The elevator is located at the back of the room, to the right of a staircase. Avoid or kill the guards, using the tanks to avoid being seen. The elevator is the door with "EV." written on it. But first, head up the stairs here (avoiding or disabling the security camera), and around the upper floor to an open room with a camera inside. Disable the camera, and look in the area underneath the camera to find the thermal goggles, which, when equipped with psx: l2, make pitfalls, laser wires, and other similar dangers visible. If you missed the SOCOM in the truck outside, you'll find one here instead (or, if you still want the thermal goggles, leave it for now, and return later to get the thermal goggles). Return to the elevator. Stand by the panel to the right and press psx: c to call the elevator. Walk in and to the left to find the elevator controls. Select floor B1. When you arrive and exit the elevator, Mei Ling will call and point out the DARPA chief's location on your radar (the green dot). Head down the corridor and turn right. Climb the ladder by standing next to it and pressing psx: c. Go straight through the air duct to the grating at the very end. Place yourself above it and press psx: t to drop down.

After the cutscene, wait for the cell door to open after some commotion in the next cell. Leave, and the female prisoner, disguised in a Genome Soldier's uniform, will hold you up, but can't make herself pull the trigger. Hearing the noise inside, a group of enemy soldiers will enter and attack. Quickly take them out with the SOCOM (if you still haven't found one by now, there'll be one on the ground here). Once the first three are down, the female prisoner will begin shooting in random bursts, making it a little easier for you. Some enemies will drop rations and extra ammunition. After a few groups of enemy soldiers have been defeated, three grenades will be thrown in. Run towards the door to avoid the blast, then run back; if you get hit, you'll be killed instantly. After the attack, the woman will run away and escape in the elevator. When the cutscene ends, equip the Level 1 ID card the DARPA chief gave you with psx: l2. If you need ammo, return to the cells and look around the bottom area and in the toilet. When you've restocked, take the elevator to floor B2.

Armoury
The armoury, as the name suggests, is the place to go for weapons and ammunition. It also happens to contain pitfalls which will kill you if you fall into them, so be extra careful while exploring the area. If you hear a clicking noise while walking, this means you've triggered a trap, so quickly run down the corridor to escape. You can use the thermal goggles to make their locations visible. At the moment, the only rooms you can actually enter here are the two middle ones. The top room contains C4 explosives, and the bottom contains SOCOM ammo. In order to access the C4 room, you'll need to have the ID card equipped. The C4 is necessary to progress here. If you look closely at the top and bottom walls, you'll notice certain areas are a paler grey colour than the rest of the wall, and if you investigate them by pressing against them and knocking them with psx: c, they'll make a hollower sound than the solid walls. Set a C4 bomb against these areas (shown right) to destroy the walls. To use C4, stand near the wall you want to destroy and press psx: s to place a bomb, then step out of the blast range (about half of the screen's diagonal width away) and press psx: c to detonate the C4. The top-left room contains stun and chaff grenades, the top-right contains C4 and SOCOM bullets (and two pitfalls dangerously close to each other), and the bottom-left wall conceals the corridor to the next area. Make sure you have at least two C4 bombs before continuing (if you need more, enter the corridor, and immediately return to the C4 room to restock).

Your radar is unavailable in this area, though it isn't needed here anyway. If you call Mei Ling to save while here, she'll explain that it's due to "electronic jamming in that area". Along the right wall, where the floor's tiling ends, is a cemented wall. Destroy it with C4, and head down the corridor. Just before the end of the corridor, along the top wall, is another cemented wall. Destroy it, and enter to find the ArmsTech president and your first boss battle.

Boss: Revolver Ocelot
First things first, never touch the wires holding Baker, or you'll set off the C4 and kill him, resulting in a Game Over. Similarly, don't shoot near him, or let him get shot; Baker has his own health bar (the smallest of the three involved, meaning he goes down easiest), and if he gets shot to death, it's game over as well. Ocelot will generally run around the room, stopping momentarily to shoot at you. This gives you a moment in which to shoot back at him. Keep an eye on his bullets, though; even if he misses you, his bullets can still ricochet off the wall and possibly hit you. The basic idea is to chase Ocelot around the room, shooting him when he's directly in front of you. You can shoot while running by holding psx: s hold, then holding psx: x hold and moving. Release psx: s to fire, and as long as you keep psx: x hold held, you can shoot while running by pressing psx: s (however, this also significantly increases the difficulty of aiming; since also controls aiming, you can only hit Ocelot if he's straight in front of you). If you hit Ocelot, move quickly to avoid his counterattack. Don't get too close, or it makes it easier for Ocelot to get you. When Ocelot stops to reload, sneak up behind him and shoot before he can get away. After about 10 shots, Ocelot will go down. During the cutscene, Baker will tell you where to find Meryl's (the female prisoner you encountered earlier) Codec frequency ("on the back of the CD case"), and give you his level 2 ID card (replacing the current level 1 card) and an optical disc containing the test launch data for Metal Gear REX (which serves no purpose other than to advance the storyline). Snake's maximum health and ammo capacity will also be increased. When the cutscene is over, return to the Armoury.