Metal Gear Solid: Games or Commentary?

[Terry Olaes]

With the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 last week, pundits are once again trying to discern the hidden meanings behind creator Hideo Kojima’s script. Gaming website editors are divided; 1Up’s Shawn Elliot criticizes the game for its preachiness while Kotaku’s Leigh Alexander considers the narrative, symbolism, and metaphors as parts that tie the game together. Do you see the game pushing an agenda or is the story just that: a story?

Is the Sisyphean mission of Solid Snake — to rid the world of a robotic nuclear tank called Metal Gear — a parable about the futility of war or about its necessity? A critique of America’s domination of the global stage? A metaphor for the struggle between determinism and free will? If the creator of the Metal Gear Solid series, Hideo Kojima, has answers to these questions, he isn’t telling.

 

[risqu3]

IMO it's the commentary nature of the game that makes it such a good game. It makes you feel as if you are "inside" the game.

 

[UnlimitedMP]

I think everyone just got trolled by Hideo Kojima.

 

[russnuck]

Most great fiction has some basis in reality. If you give the reader / viewer something they can relate to the story becomes stronger to them.

 

[Master Blaster]

Anybody would be crazy not to look deeper into the MG theme. The games are commentaries on all aspects of life including religion and politics. I feel the game is a great example of futurism as well. Only time will tell, but there is a plethora of themes in the series that could and most likely will come to fruition. This, I feel, is another reason why Kojima believes that this game is for the more hardcore gamer…

 

[JakCrow]

Lets be honest here. The Metal Gear Solid series is not known for being "great fiction". Sometimes its writing has been barely at the level of "decent anime".

 

[ianken]

I hate MGS just becuase it has a silly name. I've never played it. I am totally ignorant of it other than there is a guy, and there are giant robots with nukes. And somehow giant robots (AKA TARGETS) cannot be stopped by anything other than a guy.

 

[Dallows]

I hate MGS just becuase it has a silly name. I've never played it. I am totally ignorant of it other than there is a guy, and there are giant robots with nukes. And somehow giant robots (AKA TARGETS) cannot be stopped by anything other than a guy.

Where's that text picture of the guy lowering his head and sighing when you need it?

 

[KrylonArt]

For some reason everytime I hear someone mention MGS now all I can think of is the "Snake Eyes" video for Battlefield: Bad Company.

 

[SPARTAN VI]

I hate MGS just becuase it has a silly name. I've never played it. I am totally ignorant of it other than there is a guy, and there are giant robots with nukes. And somehow giant robots (AKA TARGETS) cannot be stopped by anything other than a guy.

Oddly enough, when you put it that way it sounds more original than it really is.

Please, please.. summarize Halo next! *sits on the floor indian style*

 

[Serpico]

Games. The MGS games have great cinematics but the concepts Kojima is pushing are obvious middlebrow crap that is just beaten over and over into the player in the most overly dramatic way possible. Cheesy, but fun!

 

[alg7_munif]

Commentary or game, does it really matter? MGS4 is one of the best if not the best game I've played so far. It is not Crysis in term of graphics but the details in the game is beyond what you could imagine. There will always be times when you will say "wow, I didn't know that I could do that" or "did the AI really do what I saw just now?".

The cutscenes may sometimes be too long but you could always skip them. Unless you have tried the game yourself, you won't know how much fun you are really missing.

 

[Dallows]

Commentary or game, does it really matter? MGS4 is one of the best if not the best game I've played so far. It is not Crysis in term of graphics but the details in the game is beyond what you could imagine. There will always be times when you will say "wow, I didn't know that I could do that" or "did the AI really do what I saw just now?".

The cutscenes may sometimes be too long but you could always skip them. Unless you have tried the game yourself, you won't know how much fun you are really missing.

I don't see why anyone would skip the cutscenes. This game is all about story and the cutscenes drive them home. You'd be a fool to skip them.

 

[alg7_munif]

I don't see why anyone would skip the cutscenes. This game is all about story and the cutscenes drive them home. You'd be a fool to skip them.

I'm not suggesting that you should skip them but since they could be skipped, there is no reason to say that the game sucks because the cutscenes are too fuckin' long.

If it is too fuckin' long for you then use the fuckin' start button and skip them

 

[Dallows]

I'm not suggesting that you should skip them but since they could be skipped, there is no reason to say that the game sucks because the cutscenes are too fuckin' long.

If it is too fuckin' long for you then use the fuckin' start button and skip them

Complaining about cutscenes in a MGS game is like going to Disney World and saying the lines are too long.

 

[morfinx]

I'm going to quote a friend as my thoughts echo his:

But there's a problem with rating this experience in just "game" terms. It's not just a game. It's far and away the most comprehensive entertainment experience to date. As an art it tops many great novels and movies by containing not just the thought-provoking writing of great literature and the cinema tricks which help show differing perspectives, but by allowing the "user" to take a semi-active part in the narrative.

It was during Act III that I stopped referring to this experience as a "game", even in my own mind. I look at the controller, I control the combat, but more than half of the depth to this drama/tragedy is in the other players (NPCs). I stopped feeling like I had control over events and started feeling as if I were nothing more than a vehicle to provide Snake a path to his own destiny/end. The story was so strong and compelling that I simply could not stop and when it felt like I wouldn't be able to get Snake through the final crucible, I got angry that I might fail in my part of this tale.

So yeah, as a game, it's a 9.8/9.9... Still fantastic, but not perfect.

But it simply isn't a game. It's something that transcends media classifications. It is a story epic, movie, game, virtual reality experience that has exactly as much depth and purpose as you choose to give it.

EPIC, absolutely EPIC.

 

[DemonDiablo]

I'm not suggesting that you should skip them but since they could be skipped, there is no reason to say that the game sucks because the cutscenes are too fuckin' long.

If it is too fuckin' long for you then use the fuckin' start button and skip them

That has to be the most dumbest comment I have read to date. You cant possibly be serious. Thats like saying to someone who bought a book, "Yea I know chapter 10 is unbelievably long to read, but hey if you think its to long just skip ahead to chapter 11, its much much more shorter."