EG Analysis: Metal Gear Solid 4 (Part II)
Kojima’s vision always seemed too bloated and overzealous in my eyes. I would sigh in discontentment anytime a Kojima cut scene would commence since I knew I would be sitting there in noninteractive mode for a good spell. Sometimes I felt that Kojima was being too preachy and overly obtuse in his use of philosophy in his games, namely Metal Gear.
Having played Metal Gear Solid 4 (MGS4) for a second time, I can safely say that Hideo Kojima was ahead of his time and a philosophical artist without equal in today’s gaming industry. Having played it a second time, does my opinion of MGS4 change? Greatly so.
Originally, I felt that MGS4 was a very good game with some glaring flaws. The irony is that, now, those “glaring flaws” are supportive to the main strength of MGS4. These so called flaws were the overly drawn out, dialogue heavy, and intrusively dogmatic cut scenes that encompassed a large chunk of MGS4’s content. The problem, at the time, was that cut scenes are not interactive content and, as a result, do not contribute to the gameplay. The problem is accentuated when they reach massive lengths (e.g., 90 minutes in one instance) and break the flow of interactivity.
Now, having witnessed a great shift in today’s gaming climate, I truly believe MGS4 to have benefited greatly from the lengthy cut scenes. Games have been slowly but surely encroaching on the visual narrative strength of films. As the years progressed, technology and greater storage capacity have allowed developers to create additional, move-like content in their games. Cut scenes, over the years, have become more and more prolific the interactive gaming space for better or worse.
Gaming purists would turn their nose up at putting movies in games. That being the case, MGS4 wouldn’t even be considered to be a video game at all for them. I was such a purist. However, I am not adverse to change. In fact, I’m an open-minded gamer and am willing to try something new for the sake of progress and innovation. Part of being a happy gamer is accepting that “interaction” comes in many forms and “interactivity” can be conveyed in many ways.
Fact: MGS4’s content is mostly in movie form. I would guess that 60% or more of the content on the disc is actually in-game engine cut scenes. To the purist, this would mean that less than half of MGS4 is actually interactive and, as a result, less than half is a game. I would argue that this is a myopic view of interactive gaming.
As I was playing through a second time, I found myself oddly engrossed in the cut scenes in MGS4 unlike I was the first time through. I think my purist mind prohibited me from giving Kojima’s story a shot back then. Having experiencing gaming in a whole new way thanks to titles such as Heavy Rain, I was more open minded and more ready to give MGS4 another chance to truly win me over.
As I stated before, “interactivity” can be conveyed in more than one way. In MGS4, my philosophical mind was being engaged and, at times, challenged. Kojima taps into ubiquitous social issues such as war, religion, and control. To put it simply, Kojima made me ponder deeply the problems of modern day technology and man’s need for freedom and control.
Koijma takes time to analyze the inherent weaknesses and strengths of the human psyche and the complicated nature of man’s imperfections. Such depth and discussion wouldn’t be possible in strictly traditional gaming form; film, in this sense, is a necessary vehicle to fully convey the creator’s intent and vision.
One could argue that, if the cut scenes played such a pivotal role, the gameplay is not necessary and could be taken out and still have the same effect. I would make the counter-argument that the cut scenes, although very bloated at times, serve as catalysts for the actual gameplay parts of MGS4. If I didn’t understand the gravity of what was at stake in MGS4’s world, I wouldn’t have been so immersed in the gameplay. Understanding the philosophy behind the influential decisions of each major player made my involvement in the game’s world much more engrossing. As Snake, I wasn’t just stopping a man bent on world domination. I was fighting to preserve man’s right to freedom and choice.
The entire MGS series is highly philosophical and, unfortunately, the full breadth of its philosophy couldn’t be conveyed in lesser technologies of older ages. After two decades of patient waiting, MGS4 becomes the culmination of one man’s deep and complicated view of the world. War, peace, hatred, love, fear, anger, depression, control, freedom, religion, politics, etc. are all conveyed in MGS4. However, despite the complexities of the topics Kojima presents us, I feel his view of the world and the entire thesis statement of the MGS series can be summed up by Benjamin Franklin when he said, “Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither.”
-jj
