Old v. New
Metal Gear Solid 4 presents a potential vision of the future of the videogame medium; a future that demonstrates how truly cinematic videogames can be. At the same time, however, MGS4 is tied to trite gaming conventions that make the overall experience feel uneven and dated.
Young Snake
Modern gaming is at a crossroads. There are some game designers such as Metal Gear Solid’s Hideo Kojima who favor truly cinematic experiences with strong stories that often come at the expense of gameplay. Still, there are others who point out that the best aspect of videogames are their interactivity and simply making games more like movies erodes this unique quality. Throughout my time with MGS4, I was presented with one non-interactive cut scene after another, some lasting well over 20 minutes. Each of these scenes were incredibly entertaining, however, and at no point was I ever bored (okay maybe that last one was a little long…) or wished there were fewer cut scenes to watch. Despite my enjoyment, these were still non-interactive sequences aside from a few scenes where you would press the X button to get a glimpse of certain characters from previous games. Granted, MGS has always had these non-interactive scenes and anyone who’s played and enjoyed previous games in the series will feel right at home, but I don’t see this type of “gameplay” winning over any new converts. What MGS does better than its predecessors, however, is how well it transitions from these sequences back into true gameplay. There’s no loading or fade to black between the cut scenes and gameplay, the camera simply moves behind snake, the HUD shows up, and the gameplay resumes. This type of transition makes the cut scenes and gameplay more intertwined, creating an incredibly cinematic experience. Coupled together with some truly amazing action set pieces such as the battle between Metal Gear Rex and Metal Gear Ray and the final fight with Liquid Ocelot and one has a unique cinematic experience that other games can’t match.
Old Snake
In the face of this forward looking cinematic gaming experience, however, are a few gaming conventions of the past that mire the experience. The biggest offender is the constant breaching of the 4 wall in the game. It seems at every chance it gets, MGS is repeatedly reminding the gamer that they are in fact playing a videogame. Whether that involves the characters blatantly saying things such as “press the action button,” or talking about how great the PS3 is, MGS4 loves talking directly to the player, ruining all feelings of immersion in the process. To be fair, other MGS titles are guilty of the same offense, but perhaps I was more willing to forgive those offenses as a 15 year-old than I am at 25. It is just seems out of place that the game can tackle serious themes of war and corruption one minute, and remind the player of how great their new PS3 hardware is the next. The other offender is the games controls. Like other Japanese games (looking at you Resident Evil), controlling Snake in combat is incredibly cumbersome, requiring the player to first “ready” the weapon before firing. To make matters worse, the aiming speed is ridiculously slow, even at its highest level, and the “trigger” button doesn’t even fire the weapon! I heard Japanese gamers don’t like traditional shooter controls because it often gives them motion sickness, but this type of slow unresponsive control scheme is just unnecessary at this point.
MGS4 is a thrilling experience any fan of previous MGS titles will appreciate. Dated gameplay conventions and a huge emphasis of story over gameplay won’t bring new players to the franchise, however.
