Existential Gamer Analysis #4: Metal Gear Solid 4

In celebration of Kojima’s latest mind-fucking masterpiece, I thought I would do an EGA on Metal Gear Solid.

On the surface level, the Metal Gear series seem to go against natural gamer instinct: confront and destroy.  Think about it – almost every game has a confrontation mentality and is very aggressive.  From sports games to Space Invaders to Pac Man to Mario, games have nurtured a seek and destroy type of mentality.  Now this not the case every time.  Games like Tetris is as tame as they come.  And would you really destroy your cute little puppy in Nintendogs?  I think not.

Metal Gear bucks tradition with a “sneak and not destroy” type of mentality.  The game encourages you to avoid confrontation and punishes you for indiscreet, conspicuous tactics.  The game wants you to toss away your aggressive, “run and gun” mentality for more steady, cunning, intelligent, covert infiltration.  And that can drive some people batty.

But for others, it’s the perfect vehicle to exercise the inner spy in all of us.  There’s a thrill involved in sneaking without being noticed.  Your heart pounds as you stealthily infiltrate an enemy base in the shadows.  You sweat every time your cover is in danger of being blown or exposed.  There’s a thrill in sneaking to not be caught, but there’s also a thrill in getting caught itself.

The Metal Gear series introduced a type of gameplay that wasn’t experienced before.  Most games, as stated earlier, forces a “shoot then think later” strategy while the Metal Gear series wants you to “think first then maybe shoot later.”

Existentially, I feel Metal Gear appeals to the inner voyeur in all of us.  We want to see what’s happening, be involved, but not actually seen or involved.  It’s like the fly on the wall type of mentality.  You get to see all that is happening without the burden of being seen yourself.  Spying, in general, is not socially accepted.  That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t do it if the opportunity presented itself.  It’s the dark side of us that dare not expose itself to genteel society.

But Metal Gear is more than just a place where we can exercise our dark spying needs.  I feel the series encourages intelligence and cunning.  It takes patience and brain work to infiltrate a base without being noticed.  Careful planning is needed to spy; James Bond was certainly no slouch in the brain department.  I think, however, Kojima might be taking it too far.

For anyone who has played the Solid series of Metal Gear, you know how much mind fucking it does with you.  To say that Kojima had crafted a complex story would be an understatement.  In fact, I don’t know of anyone who understands it perfectly.  You would think the more Metal Gear you play the more it will make sense.  Kojima laughs at your optimism.  “La le lu le lo”?  ’nuff said.

The Metal Gear series accomplishes many things, but making sense wouldn’t be one of them.  You can even say that it’s too smart for its own good.  Aside from that, you can appreciate what the series has to offer:  a chance to exercise cunning and stealth and an experience into the voyeur.  Peeping toms should be so happy.

-E.G.

~ by jj on June 11, 2008.