Melee attacks are featured in countless games, but whether they’re prominent components of those titles is a whole other matter entirely. Many games, particularly shooters, tend to treatmelee combatas a last resort. Generally, one is tasked with limiting face-to-face encounters as much as possible; there’s usually no tactical advantage to be gained by purposefully getting up close and personal. But that’s not quite the case inMetal Gear,which is a series that has always had a unique obsession with good old-fashioned fisticuffs.
Close-ranged attacks have been a part of theMetal Gearseries since it debuted over 30 years ago, and they’ve grown to include an impressive catalog of techniques that collectively fall under the banner of Close Quarters Combat (CQC). As CQC has evolved from game to game, not only has it gotten more impressive to watch in action, but its utility in gameplay — the tactical advantage getting uncomfortably close with what the enemy offers — has grown in tandem.
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Metal Gear Before CQC
Prior to the “CQC” naming convention, theMetal Geargamesfeatured a fairly rudimentary approach to fist-fighting. In the MSX duology, Snake could only punch; one strike briefly stunned guards, while three knocked them out. However, these two retro titles still made inventive use of Snake’s sole strike. InMetal Gear 1,players could use their punches to check for hollow walls that could either be punched through or blown up with explosives. The subsequentMetal Gear 2allowed one to punch walls to create noisy distractions, and even had a one-on-one, barehanded boss fight. Each of these features would see similar implementations in later games.
Metal Gear Solidbrought a few things to the table. A new three-hit combo saw Snake handing out beatdowns with two quick jabs followed up by a strong kick, and he could also throw enemies or put them in chokeholds, the latter of which could be used to move foes around or incapacitate them.Metal Gear Solid 2took this one step further by introducing the HF Blade — a weapon designed exclusively for melee combat. Both games also continued the tradition started withMetal Gear 2by featuring climactic boss fights, challenging players to best some of the biggest bosses in each game using only physical attacks.
ByMetal Gear Solid 2,the series' close-range options had a fair amount of depth. But the subversive title’s follow-up would rewrite the book onMetal Gear’smelee combat in a big way that would impact the remainder of the series.
Metal Gear Solid 3: The Basics of CQC
Starting withMetal Gear Solid 3,melee would be known as CQC, a fighting style developed byBig Bossand his mentor, the Boss.MGS3establishes that CQC can only be used by one who is either barehanded, or carrying a smaller, single-handed weapon like a handgun. The martial art has some common elements with the series' previous melee techniques, like the three-hit combo, but its utility in the field is far greater, and is by far CQC’s defining feature.
CQC slams and interrogations are the bread and butter of Big Boss' unarmed approach to fighting. The slams more or less innovate onMetal Gear SolidandMetal Gear Solid2’squick throws, but this time around, they look and sound significantly more impactful and painful. The ease with which one can get a guard on the ground also makes hold-ups — a feature previously introduced inMGS2, in which one could extort guards at gunpoint for valuables — much easier to perform than before.
To identify areas of interest in previous games, one generally had to rely on codec conversations, or go out of their way to explore risky areas of their own accord. Such endeavors could often prove fruitless, butMetal Gear Solid 3fixed this with the inclusion of interrogations. Players could sneak behind an enemy, grab a hold of them, and extract intel on item locations or other informative tidbits that could assure players that checking out a particular area would not be a waste of time. Getting up close and personal might be a riskier route than aimlessly exploring a hostile enemy base, but it’s consistently rewarding — something that can’t be said for the latter.
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Metal Gear Solid 4, Peace Walker and MGS5: Refining CQC
OnceMGS3laid the foundation for CQC, subsequent games would build off of it, albeit in different ways.Metal Gear Solid 4’sversion of CQC was a step up in terms of aesthetics, but functionally, not so much. Players could now pull off tactical disarms, prone chokeholds, and even some CQC maneuvers with two-handed weapons that all, admittedly, looked impressive, but were each lacking in purpose. Much of CQC’s utility inMGS3was built around interrogations — a feature absent inMGS4.As such, there’s no advantage to be gained from getting up close and personal; CQC looks cool inMGS4, but that’s about it.
Fortunately,Peace Walkerwould bring back interrogations, which would produce information players could use to better build their bases, such as locations of high-ranking soldiers or blueprints for advanced weaponry. While none of the prominent features introduced inMGS4were present,Peace Walkerdid debut two new CQC techniques. While restraining an enemy, Big Boss could now throw them in any direction, which could easily disrupt large clusters of enemies. One could also now pull off chains of CQC throws while surrounded by foes. Previously, CQC was best-suited for one-on-one encounters with enemies, but inPeace Walker,it became an effective means of crowd control.
Finally,Metal Gear Solid 5seemingly borrowed some elements from all prior incarnations of CQC. Big Boss could punch, throw, grab, disarm, and interrogate enemies as in previous games, and new techniques like corner/cover takedowns, or the prone leg sweep afforded players fresh ways to not just incapacitate enemies, but also acquire intel while staying under the radar. Relative to other entries,MGS5’sversion of CQC doesn’t add much to it, but rather refines what already exists to create perhaps the most polished melee system seen in aMetal Geargame.
From its humble beginnings as a single punch,Metal Gear’smelee options have expanded to include a martial art packed with all manner of moves. While the future of the franchise is unclear, one can only hope that any future installments in theMetal Gearserieswill continue to add further depth to CQC with new techniques that are just as useful in accomplishing one’s objective as they are awe-inspiring to watch.
