Metal Gear Solid 4: After the hype

When Metal Gear Solid 4 first came out, the hype surrounding the game was even larger than the game itself. Long awaited by most that had the misfortune/blessing (take your pick whether or not you believe $599 was a waste or a just price) of owning the PS3, all looked to Kojima to see what game he was going to put out. Would he make the game that would save the Playstation 3 that was slumping in sales? Would the game be filled with cutscene after cutscene, hiding a poor lackluster game under whatever narrative cinematic mockery Hideo Kojima decided to attach to the game? Or would it be further proof that the Playstation 3 is Sony’s grand failed experiment, whose high definition graphics gambit was the entire reason for the Playstation 3, not to mention the Blueray disc player. When I first played Metal Gear Solid 4, I tried not to think of the hype. I tried not to think of the consumption of this game as a simple way to sell a console. I tried not to think of Hideo’s storyline. I tried to force out the trivialities of the gaming business, because ultimately the industry servers to make money, not make games. What matters ultimately is the game itself, whether the game creates an enjoyable experience, as the experience is quite honestly the only thing video games have to separate itself as a medium of its own. What I took away is an experience that I did not expect, and for all the criticisms levied against Metal Gear Solid 4, Kojima’s stylistic decisions (save for the choice of a more “cinematic” experience) are not only justified, but the sheer reason Metal Gear Solid 4 is much more than just a sequel.

Firstly, I cannot sing the praises I saw in Metal Gear Solid 4 until I criticize the shameless use of cinematic techniques in what is first and foremost a game. We as the player of a game are almost masochistic in how we play our games. We are willing to break through shocking difficulty curves that most would walk away from. We are willing to suspend disbelief, even if it works against our favor. We are willing to wait for bounds of exposition, simply so we can again dictate the actions of our hero. However, there are some sections which are ridiculous, and cannot even be justified in the sense of a reward for completing sections of the game. I am talking about cinematic sequences lasting longer than 20 or 30 minutes in a game. Even if one is riveted to the seat by the narrative, as I was at these parts, they are completely superfluous to games, except possibly in the concept as a reward for proper completion. While Visual Novels and Point and Click games have very similar constructions in terms of narrative, Point and Click games are very complex in the problems they present, and Visual Novels, while mostly dictated in narrative at least have the complexity of foresight in various decisions. Metal Gear Solid 4, while the main game is a completely finely tuned experience, the cutscenes are a vestige from cinema that can be discarded in video games. There are better ways to tell stories in games. 30 minute cutscenes are, least to say, not one of them.

This does not make Metal Gear Solid 4 a bad game. In fact, even this is not enough to deter how GREAT some of the more well thought out sequences that had nothing to do with cutscenes are. Kojima tapped into something I had never expected a video game to tap into: My own experience and memory. Throughout the game there are various instances where Snake has flashbacks that are hailed by hitting the X button in various parts of cutscenes and in the game world. These are such subtle touch that impacts the game in such profound ways. For instance, the entire fourth stage of the game takes place in Shadow Moses, which brought back memories of Metal Gear Solid 1, my own experiences flooded my mind as I walked through the now decrepit halls of Shadow Moses. There were no enemies to avoid, mainly because there didn’t need to be any. The only enemies that needed to be there were my own actions in Metal Gear Solid 1, what I did and how I (And Solid Snake) came from those unknowing beginnings to this new world. The fact that the game had managed to actually come out and grab my own experiences took me by surprise, something I never expected.

Metal Gear Solid 4, while its cinematic excess must be criticized, must also be praised for playing with experiences and memories created by Kojima in the previous games. It is because the game creates experiences that this is possible in Metal Gear Solid 4, and not possible in any other medium available. If anything, Metal Gear Solid 4 is the pinnacle of things that can be done horribly wrong, and things that can be done disturbingly well, in a video game narrative.

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