Anyone that has played Metal Gear Solid 4 knows that it is packed with cutscenes. Coming from the role-playing side of gaming, where we're used to scrolling through text boxes all day long, I didn't mind the cutsenes one bit. But I could totally see how the action-loving gamer would have an issue or two.
In a recent interview, Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima touched on his cinematic game making style, saying that he is looking for a new approach for future games.
"Halo, BioShock -- I see their approach, and I think they are brilliant in some ways, but I still feel they lack a kind of deeper storyline or the expression of the feelings of the characters," he explained. "In MGS4, yes, I put everything in the cut sequences, which I kind of regret to some extent, because maybe there is a new approach which I should think about. I'm always thinking about it -- making it interactive but at the same time telling the story part and the drama even more emotionally."
A Metal Gear game without cutscenes? That's like a Jim Sterling without a monocle. Or a Nick Chester without a Rock Band. It's just so hard to imagine.
And, speaking of a new Metal Gear game, 1UP says that Kojima is leaving the door open to one day create another. While he looks to pass the series to another director, he does say that "when we look ten years into the future, maybe yes, I may well end up spending more time [on the series]."
Did you play MGS4? Did the cutscenes put you out?
Contest:
8:03 AM on 08.26.2008
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Thing is about the MGS cutscenes is that they are usually very spot on and well made. They draw you in and Kojima's right, you feel attached to characters and the storyline can be enthralling.
I do wish there was a new way to tell cutscenes. I think we have moved on over the years from having cutscenes that looked great but really poor gameplay graphics to great grpahics in gameplay and cutscenes. It's probably time you got to control how narratives go - but not in all games, because that may fuck things up.
I haven't played MGS4.... waiting to get my Sony Bravia (this fucking weeeeeek!)...
It's like Samit without sports games...?
However the gameplay in MGS4 was pretty good. I wanted more than I got by the time it ended. I might do another run through and skip the cut scenes. It probably won't take much more than 10 hours...
Besides that, it was an amazing game to finish the series.
The way he allowed you to roam the briefings as the robot and find stuff was so cool - I ddnt even realize you could find things until my second play through because I was too sucked into the scene. Opening the game with a slice of television from the world the game takes place in, and letting you change the channel (yet another thing I figured out on accident my second or third time through) was freaking awesome as well. I loved the way he told the story.
Also, Kojima needs to learn the difference between a convoluted storyline and a deep storyline. And the difference between good writing and hackneyed garbage.