Do we like them?

Do we like Solid Snake?

A character from Metal Gear Solid (1998)

Our score: 8 out of 10. Yes. He's gruff and tired of war, but he keeps going to protect strangers. He also treats friends and enemies with more decency than the people giving his orders.

Solid Snake is the hero of Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear series, a run of stealth-action games about secret agents, giant walking nuclear weapons and shadowy governments. In Metal Gear Solid he is a retired special forces operative living quietly. Then the military calls him back for one last solo job. A rogue unit has seized a remote nuclear disposal facility in Alaska, and Snake has to sneak in, rescue the hostages and shut down their weapon.

Snake is a reluctant hero with a dry sense of humour. He's a gifted infiltrator who would rather be left alone, but he can't ignore people in danger. Across the story he makes friends, such as the nervous scientist Otacon and the tough rookie Meryl, and he shows real respect for the enemies he faces. He questions his orders and doubts the people giving them, yet he still does the job. That mix of skill, conscience and weariness is why players have stayed loyal to him for decades.

By the end of the game, Snake learns he has been used by the very people who sent him. He also learns the uncomfortable truth about where he came from. He answers by choosing his own path. Afterwards he and Otacon start an organisation to fight such threats independently, and he keeps doing so in the sequels. He is a hero in the Neutral Good mould: he cares more about people than about institutions, and his hands are not entirely clean.