I have to admit of all the Metal Gear games, I have played MGS1 far more than any other, and so I've produced this lovely little free strategy guide so that you can get help or advice if you're stuck anywhere in the game. Enjoy!
After the cutscene and following the elevator's ascent, go into the water and pick up the food ration behind the barrel. Come out of the water and crawl under the pipe next to the big container. Press up against the wall in front of you until the guard ahead has turned round and gone back the way he came. Follow him (he won't spot you) and when he turns right at the end, follow. Cross the big open space (try not to run in the puddle cos it'll make a noise!) and hide behind the mini fork-lift truck there. Pick up the food ration. Keep an eye on your radar so that when a guard comes up from the south, you can just hide behind the truck so he doesn't spot you. The elevator will come down. When the coast is clear, run to the elevator and enjoy the ride!
You step out of the elevator to find a quiet corridor. There are two doors but neither of which you can open becuase you don't have a security card yet. Run to the end of the corridor where there is a ladder. Next to the ladder is a shot vent shaft with a ration in it if you need it. Climb the ladder. Inside crawl along until you reach a junction where you can either continue or turn left. Turn left. Spy through the two grates and pick up the SOCOM bullets. Return back to where you were a minute ago and proceed up the vent. Turn left at the end and look down into a red-haired woman's cell (this is Meryl). Then continue up the vent and look down into the DARPA Chief's cell. Cue cut scene. Once the DARPA Chief has died, pick up the ration under his bed and wait a bit for Meryl to unlock your cell door. Leave the cell. Cue second cut scene. Three guards will enter the room. Take them out with your SOCOM. Continue to do this as more guards enter. At one point they will throw grenades in at you. Run to the right hand side of the door when this happens so that you are outside the grenades' blast radius. Then continue shooting the guards. When the radar returns to normal, leave the cells. Cue another cut scene. Re-enter the room where you took out the guards and pick up the SOCOM bullets in the office and toilet. Go back to the left and make your way down to the second floor basement in search of the ArmsTech President.
Go down the corridor ahead until you come about two thirds down where the wall is blue. Blow this open with C4. You are now in another corridor. You can blow up the end of this corridor for use later if you want (there are gun cameras on the other side and a box of C4. There are also two doors which are higher security than you currently hold). But also in the corridor that you are in is another blue area (facing north) that you can blow open. Do so. If you go into first person, you should be able to see Kenneth Baker - go in and help him. Cue cut scene...
Once you've fought Revolver Ocelot, you'll have the level 2 PAN card. Now you can open three rooms on this floor and Meryl'll open another. First of all, head from the elevator to the room numbered 1 on the east of the ground floor of the Tank Hangar. There's a sleeping guard in here so don't wake him (NB: If you've been spotted before, the guard will be awake and it'll be easier to get past him if you just strangle him). Pick up the Socom surpressor and equip it with your gun to attach it. This'll quieten your shots next time you use it and so won't raise the alarm. Exit the room and head upstairs. The guard that was below will now be patrolling the east side of the gantry so be careful that he doesn't hear your footsteps (try crawling). Go into the room near the staircase and collect the cardboard box then run (or crawl) round to the other side and go into the room numbered 2 and pick up the mine detector. Be careful that the guard isn't outside the door when you come to leave or he'll spot you! The room where the thermal googles were is now locked so I hope you picked them up earlier! Give Meryl a ring and return to the ground floor. Wait a bit if necessary and then she'll open the large door numbered 5 adjacent to the elevator. There are infrared beams in here so use your thermal goggles or cigarettes to see them and go under each one one at a time. When you get to the door at the other end open it and proceed into the Canyon!
You'll find yourself in a largish room that slopes downwards. On the left hand side of the room is a ledge with a ration at the end. Go pick it up. Then go to the north of the room, down the slope. The door won't open fully but it's open a crack at the bottom. Crawl under it when the coast is clear on the other side. You can't equip most weapons in this room in case the warheads leak dangerous chemicals so you'll just have to stick to unarmed combat if you need to fight. When you stand up on the other side of the door you just crawled under, press flat against the crate to your left and wait for the coast to be clear before you continue towards the west of the room (there's a guard around here who patrols around the warheads) Then run up the stairs when the guard on the gantry is walking the other way. Throw/strangle him if necessary. Quickly press the control panel next to the elevator and select B1.
As you step off the elevator, you'll find yourself in a small room. If you flatten against the east wall you can see Dr Emmerich inside the lab where you need to be. Open the level 3 door in the room you're in and go though into the long corridor ahead. The floor here is electrified so you'd be thick to try and walk along it... Also the place is filled with toxic gas so if you see your O2 guage has almost run out, go back to the other room. You'll get a call from Deepthroat again. Use your remote contolled missile launcher the Nikita, to fire a missile and go into first person to guade it over the electrified floor. When it reaches the T-junction, turn right. Then go through this room and up to the other end watching out for the gun cameras. Go through the doorway at the end and then guide it right and then through another doorway. To the missile's left now will be the generator. Aim straight at it. BOOM. Goodbye electric floor! Now you can walk down here and open all the doors. Inside one of them is a gas mask. This is very useful. Throw chaff to disable the gun cameras at any time. When you reach the end of the corridor, turn to Snake's left (the screen's right) and disable this gun camera then open the door that has "Hal's Lab" scrawled across it in graffiti. The gas is gone. Go through the two little rooms here then into the long corridor ahead. There are loads of Genome soldier corspes lying around and blood everywhere. All you have to do is stop whoever killed all them from killing Dr Emmerich! Run up the corridor, picking up bullets along the way and you'll see a cut scene. Go into the room at the end of the corridor and into the Lab...
Ahead of you and Meryl lies the long Underground Passage, but going along it isn't going to be as easy as it looks. Meryl will warn you about Claymore mines. Put on your thermal goggles, drop to a crawl and retrieve them all. Then stand up and watch the following cut-scene. Meryl will be shot by FOX-HOUND member Sniper Wolf and you'll need a PSG1 sniper rifle of your own to fight her, but the only one you can lay hands on is all the way back in the Armoury! Leave the Underground Passage and Meryl on the floor...
You need to go back to the Armoury to get the PSG1 sniper rifle (but in The Twin Snakes you only need to go back to the Warhead Building B1 to get a PSG1-T). Equip your urine stained cardboard box so that the wolves are too busy admiring their own smell to attack you. You'll have to deselect the box while you crawl through the gaps though. Head back through the Commander's room and take the elevator back to the first floor and try to sneak back to the Canyon without being spotted. If you are seen, hide in the back of the cargo truck and equip your gasmask until the alert is called off. Crawl under the door again and make your way back across the Canyon. Be warned that there are nowa lot more claymore mines in place and four gun cameras too. Crawl and use chaff grenades to get across safely. Go back into the Tank Hangar (the infrared beams have gone now) and take the lift down to the Armoury in the second floor basement. Carefully go to the room numbered 5 (the northwest chamber of the six in the main Armoury) and make your way in without the guard patrolling outside seeing you. It's best to shoot or strangle him silently. When you're in, there are barrels and infrared beams so you need your thermal goggles or cigarettes. Be extremely careful here as there are beams vertically as well and if you touch any, all the guards will come in. Take your time! Pick up the rifle and bullets then carefully come back out of the room and go back to the elevator so you can return to the Underground Passage to fight Sniper Wolf!
The journey back from the Armoury to the Underground Passage is relatively straight forward and much the same as the journey you've just made, but in reverse. The only difference is you can now use your shiny new rifle to your advantage in the Warhead Storage Building. As you know, you can't use your weapons on the first floor, but this only applies after you've crawled under the door. Lie down before you crawl under it and equip the PSG1 and shoot all the guards in the room for a clear path back to the elevator. Take it down to B1, stock up on ammo if you want, and then head back through the Commander's Room and back through the Cave (don't forget your cardboard box!) and then out into the Underground Passage to take on Sniper Wolf!
As with returning to the Underground Passage after collecting the PSG1, the trip is much the same, but you can now go back to the Armoury South and collect ammo and the camera from the store rooms there (if you blast through the walls). When you get to the Cave, you can use one of Otacon's presents. He's given you Sniper Wolf's handkerchief. This isn't to blow your nose on when you catch a cold, but can get you past Wolf's wolves in one piece. Equip the handkerchief once you enter the Cave and the wolves'll love your smell, not attacking at all. Go back into the Underground Passage and as you walk up to Meryl's pool of blood, Snake will flashback to the moment she was shot and you'll have a conversation on the Codec involving most of your allies. Continue up the Underground Passage and watch out for the gun camera on the right. Pick up all the ammo and items at the top of the screen and open the door numbered 6 where you were captured before. (You'll need to insert Disc 2 here if you're playing The Twin Snakes). You are now in the Communications Tower A.
Snake will look up at the gigantic satelite dish which is on the walkway to the second tower. Run up the steps leading to the dish and watch the follwing cut-scene. Liquid will arrive in his Hind D blocking your route by destroying the dish and walkway. When you're back in control, run up to the railings with your rope equipped and start rappelling down. To rappel, press X to jump away from the wall and use the directional buttons to move left or right. Press O to walk along the wall if necessary but try not to do this as you're likely to be shot. Avoid the hot steam leaking from the tower as you go down and keep rappelling until you reach the walkway halfway down the tower.
Pick up all the ammo around here and don't worry about blowing open the door with C-4 like your allies suggest; you'll never need to go back into Communications Tower A. Equip your Nikita or PSG1 and take out the three guards that are at the far end of the walkway ready to shoot you when you come their way. Once all is clear, run along the walkway until Liquid makes another appearance. Keep running and pick up the ration. Open the door to Communications Tower B out of harm's way!
Pick up the Stinger missile launcher and missiles. Go into the main part of the tower and go towards the screen and try the elevator. It doesn't work. Run down the stairs to the bottom of the tower until you reach a dead end where the steps are broken. Go all the way back to the elevator! Otacon is now here who has just used the elevator. Snake will have a chat with him and while he goes off to see what's wrong with the elevator, continue up the staircase watching out every fourth landing for some gun cameras. Throw a chaff grenade to get past and then progress up the tower. At the top climb the ladder and open the door.
Go back down the tower to the elevator watching out for the gun cameras again. Use the elevator which has suddenly started working again. Go down to the ground floor and as you travel down you'll find there are four stealth-cloaked Genome Soldiers in the elevator with you. Take them all out one by one using your FA-MAS or SOCOM and your thermals to help you spot them if necessary. When they're all dead and the elevator has stopped, leave the elevator and pick up all the ammo around the floor. Go through the door to the bottom of the screen/map and watch out for the camera in this room. Go through this room and then down the corridor watching out for three more cameras. Enter the Snowfield north of the towers!
Go down the staircase and open the door. Take out the guard on the gantry with you using a Nikita missile. Pick up all the ammo about and then head down the long gantry that goes to the wall. Press up flat against the wall and edge north along the small ledge where there's a crane going back and forth. Make sure the crane doesn't hit you or you'll drop down into the molten metal below! Crouch when the crane comes and let it go past then stand up again and carry on until you reach the other gantry. Run along this gantry and down the steps taking out the guard here if necessary with a C4 on his back or maybe just shooting him. Pick up the things around the floor but don't get too near the molten metal in case you fall in. Opposite the main door (in the north-east corner of the Blast Furnace) there's a steam room. You don't really have to go down here but if you want the body armour go in and watch out for the hot jets of steam. When you get to the south-west of the little steam room, crawl under the pipes and pick up the body armour and ammo (minding the gun cameras) and then head back. Go through the main door opposite the steam room to the Cargo Elevators.
When you go up or down the cargo elevators there isn't usually much to do. However the first time you go down the first one after leaving the Blast Furnace, three guards spring out on you and you have to fight them on the way down! When you get to the change-over point, watch out for the gun camera and claymores. Pick up ammo if necessary and then head down the next elevator. Later on when you're going to and from the Blast Furnace with your PAL key you'll get a few calls concerning Naomi Hunter...
You'll have to come through here five times and so watch out for the 41 (yes 41, but fewer in the Twin Snakes) gun cameras! But the great thing is they can all be confused with just one chaff grenade! (What were the terrorists thinking when they had that many put up - what a waste of time and money!) Up the steps on the right hand side of the Warehouse North are some boxes of Stinger missiles. They'll come in handy later. Watch out for two floor traps near the ration along the corridor that leads to the Warehouse and remember to throw another chaff just before the one currently active wears out!
For the first time ever you get to see Metal Gear Rex in person! You have to fight that gigantic robot later! Watch out for the gun camera on the west of the base at all times and try and avoid going in the radioactive water for too long. When you first arrive go to the right of Rex and climb the ladder to the the next level. Cross to the next ladder, picking up ammo if necessary along the way and go up to the top gantry. Pick up all the ammo to the right of Rex and then climb the ladder onto Rex's back and then down the next ladder to the left of Rex. Run to the far top corner and get out your PSG1. Shoot the only guard that patrolls near the south of the Underground Base 3 (you may have to wait for him to come into your view). Once he's dead, go and pick up the ammo where he was patrolling. Then go up the steps towards the Control Room and eavesdrop on Liquid and Ocelot. Ocelot will shoot the PAL key from your hand. Go down to the ground floor to retrieve it. When you reach the bottom, destroy the gun camera and go looking for the key. It's likely to be somewhere in the radioactive sewage and it'll pick up on your radar with the mine detector equipped, but so will a time bomb. If you get that by mistake, throw it away immediately by holding open the item menu at it and pressing O. If you've been spotted throughout the whole game fewer than 10 times, a rat will have eaten the key - yes that's right eaten it! Find this rat and do a cruel thing and kill it to retrieve the key. Return to the Control Room with the key.
When back up at the top, throw a chaff grenade and go into the Control Room where Liquid and Ocelot had been chatting previously. Go to the nearest terminal with your PAL key equipped. Snake will enter it. Leave the Control Room. Note: if you ever get spotted you'll be trapped in and gassed - call Otacon and he'll open the door for you. You now have to change the key's temperature twice before the launch can be stopped!
After entering the room temperature key in the Control Room, you need to freeze it so that you can enter it again in its new shape. To do this you will have to go back to the Warehouse where you fought Vulcan Raven. After a few minutes the key will have turned blue (you can see when by holding open the key in the menu). Another place to freeze the key, if you feel like a longer journey, is the Snowfield, but you must hurry because the key will return to room temperature after a while! Once your key is frozen, return to the Control Room and enter it into the second terminal. Now you have to heat the key, and that means traipsing back to the Blast Furnace! Wait around for the key to warm up and turn red then return to the Control Room and enter the final key. For people playing The Twin Snakes, you don't even have to leave the Underground Base to freeze and heat the key. On a balcony in the main area which you can get to by hanging, dropping and grabbing, you can find a couple of pipes labelled Liquid Nitrogen and Steam which, if shot at, will freeze and heat the key respectively. Upon entering the third and final key, things will not turn out as you hope and you'll get an unexpected call from one of your supposed allies! The room will be filled with a poisonous gas afterwards and you'll need to call Otacon to get him to hack into security for you to open the door. As you leave the room, you'll see Liquid run off towards Rex. Follow him and enjoy the cut-scene which follows!
