The virtual junkie's guide to gaming's drug spots

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | Konami | PS2 | 2001

Even the virtual junkie needs to take their foot off the party pedal every now and again, and what better way to relax than with a soothing dose of downers. Pop some Pentazemin pills and feel all your anxieties melt away. Of course, the purpose of these sedatives is to steady the aim of Snake or Raiden and improve their sniping abilities.

But who wants to shoot people in the head when you're cruising in life's slow lane? Indeed, we'd suggest finding a nice quiet spot underneath a cardboard box and settling down for a few hours of downtime with nothing but a fresh pack of Lucky Strikers cigarettes and a good 'book'. Of course, by 'book' we really mean the porno mag that comes in so handy when distracting guards.

Gothic | Egmont/Xicat | PC | 2001

"They lived from the culture of swampweed, which smell was coveted, for a smoke of weed gave the men pleasant dreams..." This little extract from the game's manual certainly hints at herbal delights and cyber stoners will be, like, totally woah to discover that the green is an abundant resource that can be harvested, sold and smoked.

Hook up with the chilled-out tokers down at Swamp Camp and you can bag yourself a fairly generous daily drug allowance. You can then smoke away the hours getting wasted on the water pipe or puffing swampweed spliffs. Very mellow, although you might want to lay off the fantasy cannabis before attempting to fight any orcs. They may be naturally slow moving beasts, but when you're so wasted you can't lift your legs, battling them can be as formidable a task as trying to kill a fire-breathing dragon with an icicle.

Above: When called on a mission to save the World, Metal Gear's Dave Snake never leaves home without his Pentazemin

Above: When called on a mission to save the World, Metal Gear's Dave Snake never leaves home without his Pentazemin