Idea Info Name: Big Boss Man Index: Primary Category: Action Submitted: 7/8/2003 6:14:17 PM Written By: BebopDaBebop Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition Book Highly Recommended !

Before the Game: At the game’s start, you are given several options in how you want your main character to look, feel, and act.  In any normal action game, such as Metal Gear Solid, this character is the end boss to the video game.  Instead, you are the end boss.  You commandeer all the baddies to do whatever your main objective is.  And depending on how you change your character there will be different objectives to choose from.  It can be anything ranging from revenge, to money, or even destruction of the entire world.  The choice is yours and depending on which you chose the end of the game will drastically change.

How the Game is played: In most games, you’re the hero/heroine and you have to save the world from the evil guy’s tyranny.  In this case you are the evil guy so the game is played a bit differently!  In the beginning of the game you start off in an evil underworld.  You have to battle your way through the bad guys to gain supremacy over them.  Then you will gain some followers from the underworld and that will be your ‘starting capitol’ so to speak.  After you have a significant place in the underworld you may begin fighting for your main objective, whichever one you chose.  When you do this, the ‘hero/heroine’ of the game will then begin fighting you.  Instead of like normal games where you rush through the enemies’ forces, get to the end boss of that level, and kill them, you instead set up the base.  You place all of your evil troopers and where your main villain for that level.  Then, you get to watch as the hero/heroine makes his/her way through your level until he/she gets to your main villain.  Then you two have a battle.  But since the hero/heroine cannot die until he/she reaches the end boss (you) you cannot actually win the battle.  Instead you must simply delay the hero/heroine long enough until your current objective is reached (like maybe while you keep the hero busy your troops are behind the doors stealing nuclear weapons or something). 

Being Evil is Costly:  It costs a lot of money to upkeep your mercenaries and villains.  There are some that might want to join you simply for the cause, but most are in it just for the money.  You actually get to hire your own bunch of mercenaries and sub bosses.  The better ones, obviously, cost more than the weaker ones.  So you want to get the more expensive ones but if that is not possible then you have to resort to the weaker anti-heroes instead.  And don’t forget that all that armor and weaponry costs a pretty penny as well!

Raising Capitol: In-between missions of hijacking nuclear weapons and holding the world ransom for one million dollars (sorry I couldn’t help myself), you have to do some minimissions to raise the amount of money you have.  It can be anywhere from robbing the local bank, to stealing priceless works of art from the museum or stealing weaponry from a military base and selling it all on the black market.  Just do whatever it takes to keep your villains pleased.

The Story:  Since this game is a lot about freedom of choice, it will be very difficult to base a storyline out of it.  The main focus of the game is not the storyline, though, it is simply being in the big boss’s shoes and beating the sh—out of the goodie-two-shoes heroes.