What does Metal Gear Solid 4 tell us about ourselves?
- June 22nd, 2008
- 6 Comments
The world is spinning out of control, but the New York Times still finds time to analyze what Metal Gear Solid 4 means to the medium of video games and to humanity as a whole. Super.
An article there today goes around asking some of the guys from Kotaku and 1UP what they think of the game’s heavy story. Is the game too preachy? What does it say about America’s position in the world? How does Blacwater tie into all of this? Is the game as effective in telling its wacky story as novels? And so on.
More interesting is when the game is compared to Halo 3, which is popular because “you shoot people.”
I forget: does Halo even have a storyline? Something about two sets of aliens fighting? And U.S. Marines are involved for some reason?
Image from Flickr











LastGiantRobot (Who am I?)
3 months ago
umm am I the only one who felt like the MG story felt like a 12 year old’s fanfiction? I really do not see how having an existential crisis in every scene qualifies as a plot…
Richard (Who am I?)
3 months ago
The story in Metal Gear is very complicated, maybe why some people who don’t understand it properly.
There may ben many intense moments, but to say that there is an existential crisis in every scene is either a very disingenuous statement or one that reveals a lack of knowledge of the plot of the game.
I personally thought the story was very well told, and I am sure a *vast* majority of the people who played the game and series would feel the same way. So no, you aren’t the only one, but you are one of very few.
LastGiantRobot (Who am I?)
3 months ago
Story wise does this hold a candle to Bioshock or Mass Effect?
Reply
JohnJohn (Who am I?)
3 months ago
Story wise - yes. Its better. It rivals Star Wars or Lord of the rings.
Adam (Who am I?)
3 months ago
what’s great about the metal gear storyline is that it didn’t require an entire universe, it fits very well into the history, with WW2 and the cold war. Mass has a great story but they created everything from scratch. If u don’t understand it that’s no reason to critize something.
Randolph (Who am I?)
3 months ago
I thought that MGS4 had an outstanding story but playing the previous games is essential to getting the most out of it.