Happy holidays! In spirit of the season, let me tell you about Merry Gear Solid, a parody of Metal Gear Solid made for a game jam in 2006. This parody game captures the essence of Kojima's genius impressively well: 9/11 is mentioned right in the first codec call! Jokes aside, this game is a decently executed parody with some moments that accurately capture the spirit of MGS.

As Solid Santa, you must reach the chimney at the top of a building. Movement in this game is grid-based, as was the jam requirement. Despite that, the stealth works surprisingly well. The windows for opportunities are generous, and the guards elves move in easily discernible patterns. As you ascend the multi-story building, you come across various items—one on each floor—be it a Nerf gun or a flashing camera. One item allows you to turn on TVs to distract elves by clicking on them with your mouse. It mirrors the MGS-Series' quirky handling of hardware capabilities, as the mouse is otherwise unused. Overall though, the game is a bit boring with its introduction of each item. A floor has an obstacle you can't get past, you collect the item, get a tutorial from Major, and then clear the obstacle and move on to the next floor. But in typical game design fashion, the last floor combines all challenges into one for a satisfying conclusion. In the following climax of the game, it's unclear how to progress until you check your inventory and read an item description. This reminds me of those bombs you could accidentally collect while playing MGS1—a classic!

The rest of the parodying takes place in the codec calls. The voice acting is particularly charming, as it is simply the same guy trying to make distinctive impressions of David Hayter (Snake) and Jim Piddock (Major). Initially, the riffing on MGS's pseudo-philosophical babble appears a bit meanspirited because the conversations are plainly childish and stupid. Once Solid Snake shows up, however, I think Merry Gear Solid captures MGS's voice quite well.

Overall, this is a short and fun parody game. At times rough, but understandable, considering how quickly it was made. With around 15 minutes to complete, you can't go wrong with this one. Merry Gear Solid is available for free on the dev's website.