There are legends that have changed the world of video games. Final Fantasy would be included in the list, GTA, The Legend of Zelda … but in this (short) short list we cannot miss a saga of infiltration and action that redefines interactive entertainment and with its sociological commentary on the world, in which it finds itself goes beyond the medium We Live: Metal Gear Solid. Now the saga returns with a compilation of its three most influential installments, and it’s fair to gloss over them. But first we need to think a little about the video game as a creative ecosystem.
To build a cultural ecosystem, video game companies should take a step that they are often unwilling to take and that the story of the creator of Metal Gear – Hideo Kojima (Tokyo, 60 years old) – perfectly illustrates. There’s no need to go into many details, but the fact is that Kojima simply became more famous than the company that created Metal Gear: Japan’s Konami. Often the public doesn’t know the name of the game masters, but Kojima became a star. This happened 80 years ago for film directors, 60 years ago for comic book writers: at a certain point, the creative industries reach the status of art industries and the creators evolve, become aware of their importance and suddenly have a power that keeps them in check. to the companies themselves who do not want to give them the credit they deserve, for the simple reason that they can move on to another company if it turns out that the ones who really matter are the creators.
This is common in other media (authors can change publishers, musicians can change production companies) and is not welcome in video games. Partly because of Kojima himself, whose disputes with Konami ended with his departure from the company in 2015 (he is believed to have been fired). Kojima is now a very personal creator who has embarked on an unstoppable path of revolution in the medium (Death Stranding) with his own developer. And that’s what video game companies like Garlic Vampires fear will allow developers to fly free. The fact is that the following is as bombastic as it is true: There are few creators on earth today who are as free as Hideo Kojima.
That being said, we can talk about the games themselves. The Metal Gear saga was born in 1987 and had several merely functional parts for consoles such as MSX2 or Nintendo, but its final consolidation came with the jump to the PlayStation. This new Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 (there will probably also be a Volume 2) compiles the first three games of this new phase, which marked a radical change in the entire industry. Those that represented a turning point, something unprecedented.
From left: Gameplay footage from “Metal Gear Solid” 1, 2 and 3.
The former soldier turned caribou herder Solid Snake, his ancestor Big Boss, his twin and archenemy Liquid Snake, his ward Raiden. The geopolitical conspiracies in which they play the leading role. The deep reflections on war, conflict, nuclear weapons or war technology. All these elements make up one of the undoubtedly best series in the world of video games, because when you talk about the Metal Gear Solid saga you talk about a paradigm shift. In addition to a mechanical leap (first-person targeting, infiltration phases), Metal Gear Solid (1998) also represented a leap in terms of equating video games with cinema. The game’s narrative framework with its story, characters, music and setting was unprecedented for the time. The second part, Sons of Liberty, was a prophetic marvel. It focused on technology and criticized misinformation, fake news, social networks, echo chambers or “controlling history”. Elements and ideas that no one knew how to read then or now confirm Kojima as a true visionary (the 2001 game even ended with a massive attack in central New York).
The third part, Snake Eater (2004), forgot the present and took us to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It wasn’t more interesting, it wasn’t as deep, it didn’t have the two-decade-long conversation power of its predecessor, but it was still a better game. Because? In this case, the narrative won the battle: the game’s great weapon was its story, with its political conflict in the background, its unforgettable characters and, above all, the conflict between our protagonist and his mentor: an inevitable battle For despite the feelings that united them , their battle crystallized the struggle of two geopolitical tectonic plates – the Soviet and the Western – doomed to confront each other and only one of the two survive.
If we had to define Metal Gear in one sensation, it would be that the world order hangs on a pendulum, the tip of which is our character. And only a few games master tension management, only a few games mix action, story and narrative framework as powerfully as this saga. This revolutionary magic is now gathered in the compilation. This collection, now on the market, is nothing more (and nothing less) than an anthology: it makes no additions, it does not provide additional content, it does not remaster the games; it simply compiles them. For anyone who signs this, it is more than enough. Because great works must be preserved and passed on to new generations. It happened with all the arts. And it’s a good thing that it’s happening with the newest of them all.
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