First of all, I felt EVA’s use of sex as a weapon is more justified in the sense that, unlike Big Boss or the Boss, she doesn’t have friends and allies the way they do. She’s got nobody to support her. And hell, half of the stuff Big Boss even has to use (both guns he starts with, scientist disguise, all those keys and information about Granin) she gave to him. Also, based off of her attitude towards people, I’d say that Big Boss was the first person she met who actually cared for her at all for reasons other than her… assets, and in fact wasn’t interested in them. (The R1 sections mostly just being jokes for the pervy fanboys.)

Also, EVA’s one of the few people in these games who can actually keep up with Snake (either of them) from an action stand-point. She’s as much of a sharp-shooter, decent at hand-to-hand (seen when she faces Ocelot) and has the drive and determination that some of his other partners in crime don’t.

And from a stand-point of her individual character. Much like the Boss and Olga, EVA’s got her own relationships with most of the characters in the story. She and Ocelot have a mutual disdain for one another (that becomes a friendship over years of working together) independent of Big Boss, she and Volgin hate eachother more than Volgin and Big Boss do. She’s even sort of friends with the boss, and not because of anything involving Big Boss.

Also I find it kind of a double standard that EVA is judged harshly for stealing the Philosopher’s Legacy from Big Boss, but Big Boss is sympathized for killing the Boss. A major theme of MGS3 is Naked Snake having to learn what Snake already knows in MGS1: that the mission comes before personal feelings. That’s also something EVA already knows. In fact, she takes it so far that the only reason she doesn’t shoot Big Boss in the head while he’s sleeping is because she promised the Boss she wouldn’t, having nothing to do with her own personal feelings.

So yeah, while I don’t think EVA is a great role model for teenage girls that play these games, I think she’s a compelling character that is a stab forward for the actual writing of female characters in video games. She’s complex.

I love the Boss beyond all reason; I’m not sure how far one should go in identifying her & Jack with Mary & Christ, because, well, Crystal Dragon Jesus, and besides, she’s explicitly not virginal. She has a partner. And she shot him because love was not as important as doing her job. I do think it’s worth worrying about how many of the female characters in this series are portrayed through a lens of motherhood in one way or another, though – see also Olga, Fortune, Rose, Eva, and I think Naomi and Clark are both being portrayed as mothers-of-monsters…

Your section on The Boss really made me appreciate her much more than I had previously. I think what happened for me when I played Snake Eater is that EVA just ended up overshadowing everyone else and was largely responsible for forming my negative impression of the game (in terms of the portrayal of women). I do think that she is one of, if not the most damaging depictions of women in the entire series, more so than anyone from MGS1, and the whole love interest/femme fatale thing really soured Snake Eater for me. And yeah, the “boob cam”…like with the inclusion of “girly” pin-ups/magazines and the increased power of the PS2, some of the gameplay/graphic developments really drag the series down with each installment.

Re-considering Para-Medic and The Boss, I am definitely persuaded by your argument that it is better than MGS1 (though I still think MGS1 does better than MGS2 overall), but the baggage of EVA was what held me back initially. It is really unfortunate that Kojima took leaps forward with some of the women, and leaps backward with others. Like you said with reference to MGS2, it’s like how did the same person who made someone so awesome simultaneous mess up so bad with others?

Ultimately, I really do think that MGS1 has the strongest supporting cast of the series, but no one can really compare to The Boss. The other thing is that I think MGS1 overall has the best plot and was the strongest of the series in terms of quality storytelling, so that also makes me more favorable to the the first game in general.

There may be some room to argue the extent to which the Boss’s psychological and physical scars from her dangerous childbirth affect players’ perception of her.
Yeah, this is a line of thought that I really want to explore in a second playthrough, especially by way of comparison to some of the villains (who are made “freakishly” unique in a gendered way) and to Olga (in terms of the portrayal of motherhood).

Anyway, I am done with your MGS series for now, but I will definitely be coming back to finish and re-read it with a fresh eye later this year after I’ve had the chance to play MGS4/Portable Ops and (hopefully) re-play 1-3.

The Boss, paying only off-hand attention, is able to keep track of which of the quickly moving revolvers has a bullet and which chamber in that gun is on top, and interrupt Ocelet at just the right time to stop him from firing the bullet.