Top 5 Friday: My Five Favorite Hideo Kojima Games

Chi-Coder: Over-Sexualization In Games.

I like sex just fine.  I’m married, and my wife and I have a completely healthy, normal relationship in the bedroom. Before we were together I watched more than my fair share of porn.  I’m not a prude, and I’m not scared of talking about sex, or sexual things.  I’ve masturbated.  I’m also not in the Anita Sarkeesian, uber-feminism camp.  I don’t agree with most of what Ms. Sarkeesian has to say, nor do I think that it’s all that meaningful to the overall discussion of women’s rights and equality.  All that being said, the hyper-sexualization of women in some video games really bugs me.

I recently played through Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots (you can read all about it here).  If you’ve played that game, the sexualization of female characters in it should be familiar to you.  If you haven’t, here are a an example.

Upon finishing MGS4 I picked up Bayonetta.  In case you’re unfamiliar with it, here is an example.

My problem with these games is the way sexuality is portrayed has nothing to do with the story.  During one scene early in MGS4, Naomi Hunter, is wearing a lab coat and a button down shirt…with almost all of the buttons undone.  She’s also clearly not wearing a bra.  The thing is, she’s in her lab, not out on the town, or trying to seduce her would-be boyfriend.  She’s just working on some genetics stuff, boobies all hanging out.  Who works like that?  This has absolutely nothing to do with her role in the storyline.  She’s a completely self-serious character, delivering important dialogue while looking like the doctor themed stripper you ordered for your best friend’s bachelor party.  The sexuality adds nothing to the story, nor is it ever addressed.  There is no indication that she’s attempting to seduce Snake, nor is there ever any mention of her sexuality during the rest of the story.  She just likes having her boobs out apparently.

By contrast, the Grand Theft Auto series constantly get slammed for it’s portrayal of women, but to me, at least the sexuality of women in those games is kind of realistic.  There are strippers, but they’re typically in strip clubs, not researching the cure for cancer.  Also, the entire GTA series is one big tongue-in-cheek joke.  There is a certain understanding within GTA games, because of the tone set by them, that this is all just very dark humor.  I’m not necessarily saying that what GTA does in regards to women is ok, and I’m certainly not advocating the violence against women that those games allow, I’m simply saying that what GTA does, it does for a purpose.  There was nudity in The Sopranos for exactly the same reason.  MGS4 seems to have no purpose in portraying it’s female characters like sluts other than to show you some sluts.

Bayonetta is another example of this.  The story of Bayonetta, as far as I’ve gotten at least, seems to have nothing to do with her sexuality.  Bayonetta’s creators choose to dress her that way.  I haven’t gotten to the end of the game yet, so I can’t make a full judgment but thus far, just like in MGS4, there seems to be no indication of why this is; no logical (or even comical) reason explaining why Bayonetta dresses the way she does.  What’s even creepier in Bayonetta is the cinematography during the cut-scenes.  For instance, Bayonetta might kick a guy and then backflip off of his chest and the camera will sweep in between her legs as she flips, Bayonetta’s crotch perfectly framed and in your face.

What I find especially troublesome in a game like Bayonetta is that the sexuality is not only illogical, but it’s also restrictive to an audience that might otherwise appreciate the game.  Let me explain:  I have a nephew who’s a freshman in high school.  He loves video games and he’s very interested in pursuing that career.  Bayonetta is an awesome game, with a lot that’s worth experiencing.  He would be well served by playing it, as there is a lot to be learned about combat design from it.  If I bought him that game though, his mom and dad would be none-to-pleased with Uncle Steve.  Bayonetta doesn’t have to be that way though.  Conceptually it makes sense for Grand Theft Auto to be restrictive, but for a game like Bayonetta, it makes much less sense.  To me it seems like making a rated R Transformers movie.

I’ll say it again, I like sex.  I’m not a prude.  But I don’t watch porn for the story, and I don’t play games for the porn.  I’m simply not interested in this type of sexualization, and what bothers me is that the games in which this stuff is prevalent are games that I really like.  These aren’t fringe games either, these are mainstream titles.  These are triple-a titles that win awards, the Oscar contenders of games.

Not all games are like this, obviously.  I think there are a ton of games that offer more realistic portrayals of women while still maintaining their sexuality.  Ironically, the Tomb Raider reboot is a good example of this.  In that game Lara Croft is a very attractive young woman, but she’s still a real person.  Her figure is proportional to a normal person’s and the game doesn’t go out of it’s way to over-exaggerate her sexuality.  The fact that she’s a woman isn’t even relevant.  To me, that’s a character that makes sense in a way that Bayonetta and Naomi Hunter don’t.

Homework: Metal Gear Solid 4 (part 5).

Note:  As always major spoilers ahead so act appropriately.

I’m disappointed to tell you right off the bat that I wasn’t able to finish MGS4 this week.  I took another big chunk out of it, and I’m pretty positive that I’ll beat it next week, but I suppose that for now, the weekly series continues.  I have to admit that doing a dedicated WoW piece every week, plus playing games from my backlog AND working a day job has severely cut into my tactical espionage action time.  Regardless, I managed to get in another 4+ hours and made it to (what feels like) about halfway through act 4 so I’m pretty sure that there can’t be that much of this game left.  So without further ado, here are my latest adventures in the weird world of MGS4.

Yet another change in feeling.

Perhaps no game in recent memory has provided as much of a rollercoaster as MGS4.  The first week I was lukewarm, then loved the game, then hated the game, and now I’m back to really enjoying it.  I cannot decide if I like this game in part because I don’t think Metal Gear Solid 4 can decide what it wants to be.  Act 3 bugged me so much because it was so incredibly story heavy, after the game’s action had just gotten good.  I was frustrated because I wanted to play more MGS4, not watch more MGS4.

Act 4 presents the player with so much to like though, and almost all of it flies directly in the face of what act 3 did.  For example, a large portion of act 4’s story (up to this point at least) is told as you play.  Snippets from Otacon buzz in your ear, filling in bits and pieces of the story.  In addition, the visuals of the act help to paint a great picture.  Seeing Shadow Moses island laid out exactly as it was in MGS1 but all run down and dilapidated is really cool, and it goes a long way to tell the story in a subtle, elegant way.  Act 3 feels heavy handed and blunt, like a movie with bits of game crammed in because marketing said the product needed it.  Act 4, on the other hand, uses the interactivity of games in the ways that I feel story should be told in games; as part of the interaction.

The glory of Act 4.

So much nostalgia.

My overall feelings on Metal Gear Solid 4 aside, the opening of act 4 might be the single best moment in gaming history.  As the story progresses, Snake and Otacon find themselves at Shadow Moses island once again, the site where it all started.  Without any context or prompt, act 4 loads straight into the helipad section of MGS1.  When I say it loads into MGS1, I don’t mean some reimagining of MGS1 in the MGS4 engine.  I mean that you’re playing MGS1 for the original Playstation, with the original graphics, sound, and everything.  The game is even in standard definition, so there are black bars on the left and right side of the screen.  It’s glorious.  Unfortunately it’s just the helipad section, and as soon as you get through that, Snake snaps out of a dream and act 4 proper starts, but it’s still pretty amazing.

So. Freaking. Cool.

 

As I began act 4 proper, I made my way through a snowy section and came upon the same helipad sequence I had just played in MGS1, only now it was reimagined.  Geometrically, the place was identical.  Everything was in the same spot it originally was, complete with hidden ducts and rooms that I explored way back in the day.  As someone who was so influenced by the original Metal Gear Solid, I found this section to be nothing short of spectacular.

It’s fan service of the highest order, and it works really, really well.  As you move through the helipad, the song from the end of MGS1 plays (I had forgotten how cool that song was) and the memories of my original experience flooded back.  For some reason I found the experience to be surprisingly emotional, almost tearing up at one point as the story seems to be obviously pointing to Snake’s ultimate demise.  For a franchise that I’ve had my ups and downs with, this type of curtain call for Solid Snake really hit home for me.

A few other tidbits.

There is this moment in act 4 that was so stupid and weird, and yet so gloriously fun that I simply have to point it out.  At one point you move from one section to another (when the game loads), and as I went to leave Otacon stopped me and instructed Snake to put in disc 2.  He then stopped himself and remember that ”this is Playstation 3.  Blu-ray, dual layer even.  We don’t need to change the disc.”  Snake then responds to Otacon with a confused, “Get a grip!”  That kind of fourth wall breakage should win a Deadpool award or something.

You could make the argument that act 4 leans too hard on the fan service, that it’s too easy a way out for the game.  I’d argue (and we’ll see what ultimately happens at the end of the story) that act 4 really works to pull MGS4 back together, tying up some of the plot strings that have been lingering since the beginning of the game.  I’m not sure how the finale of MGS4 is going to play out, and the game hasn’t completely won me back over, but so far act 4 goes a long way to do that.

Top 5 Friday: Games of the Year for 2024

That’s right, I’ve been 10 years into the future. And here are the five best games I played.

Homework: Metal Gear Solid 4 (Part 2)

Last week I began my journey into Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, or as my wife has come to call it Full Metal Gear Solid Jacket.  My first few hours in the game went about as well as I expected, and now, with most of the getting-to-know-you portion of the game out of the way, it was time for a deeper dive.  As was the case last week, my account of the game contains heavy spoilers so be weary.

I left off last week right after meeting Drebin, the guy who sells you laundered guns.  As it turns out, that was about halfway through act 1.  I continued my journey and it wasn’t long until I met up with the UN operatives that would be acting as my informants.  I was greeted with my first surprise as the informant was none other than Meryl Silverburgh, all grown up and kicking butt.  She and Snake had a few interesting moments but most of it felt overshadowed by another member of Meryl’s team; a young operative named Akiba.  Throughout the entire sequence where Snake and Meryl meet up, poor Akiba seems to be having some major gastric troubles.  His stomach rumbles, he farts, and he complains that he has diarrhea.  It’s an incredibly odd addition to a sequence that otherwise seems pretty straightforward and story driven.

As an aside, Akiba is the only member of Meryl’s team who wears a mask.  Under his mask though, you can clearly see bits of blonde hair poking through.  I haven’t gotten far enough yet, but something tells me that Akiba isn’t just a jittery rookie with poop problems.  I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s actually Raiden, but I’m not entirely sure.  When asked about his combat experience, Akiba claims to be a ten year veteran which doesn’t quite line up with the MGS chronology but it’s pretty close (I looked it up!).

After the sequence with Meryl and her team, I’m greeted with my first real action sequence and what feels like the first crack in my enjoyment of this game.  To put it plainly, I’m just not a fan of the shooting in this game, at least not so far.  Part of that may be that I’m used to the keyboard and mouse setup as opposed to the twin-stick controller setup, but regardless, the way aiming handles feels really slow and sluggish.  It didn’t help that in this action sequence the enemies seemed like robotic super soldiers who all required a full clip to kill.  This isn’t a fun-killer for me because I have never felt like the series was one that was meant to be all about shooting.  That said, there seems to be a lot of emphasis on getting different guns and gun parts and I’m a bit nervous that I’m going to be forced to do a lot more shooting.  I will say that after several deaths and retries I got a lot better with the shooting mechanics, so maybe I just needed a bit of practice to shake loose the console shooter cobwebs.

By the end of the action sequence Akiba has officially crapped his pants, a nice big poop stain on his bottom.  I quickly took my leave of the stink squad and went about my mission to find and kill Liquid Snake (more on that later).  I made my way through the war torn battlefield of the middle east, choking and tranq-darting guards along the way.  It wasn’t long until I came upon my first truly awe-inspiring moment.

The scene goes like this…  I’m walking up a road, following a plow that seems to be shoving cars and whatnot out of the way.  The plow reaches something it cannot push.  The camera swings around to reveal that it’s a metal gear of some type, but it’s not like the ones that I’m used to.  This one is a quadruped, with a tail.  Soon an octopus like figure emerges from the shadows, seemingly using the same camo technology I have.  It begins to grab rebels with it’s tentacles and tear them to pieces.  As other rebels try to flee they’re stopped in their tracks, grabbing their heads in pain.  A flying metal gear swoops by and one rebels body seems to contort in unnatural ways until he finally breaks.

Things begin to become clear(ish) at this point.  I believe I’m seeing some type of evolution of Decoy Octopus, Psycho Mantis, and Sniper Wolf.  I have to admit, it’s pretty freaking cool.

I stay hidden as they slaughter the rebels and I quickly move on.  Not long after I come upon an encampment of Liquid Snake’s men.  I sneak inside and I manage to get eyes on him.  Because I’m still a bit fuzzy on the MGS story (even after revisiting the events of the first two games) I was thinking that somehow Liquid Snake had been re-cloned or hadn’t actually died, or something to that effect.  In reality the character I’m confronted by is Liquid Ocelot, the evolution of the chimeric villain from MGS2.  I’m not sure yet whether he’s equal parts Revolver Ocelot and Liquid Snake or if one has become more dominant than the other but it’s clear that he’s up to no good.

Once I reach Liquid another cutscene triggers.  Liquid triggers something and all of a sudden all of his own soldiers begin to writhe in pain, holding their heads.  Some attack one another, some throw up, some die.  It’s clear that whatever Liquid is doing, it’s affecting anyone with nanomachines in them.  During this time Meryl and her team show up and they begin to react as well.  Interestingly enough though, Akiba seems to be unaffected.  Hmmmm.  Snake begins to convulse as well, and he eventually collapses.  He’s greeted by a hooded woman who you quickly find out is Naomi, his doctor from MGS1.  She tells him to pursue his destiny and leaves.

The scene cuts to a large jet.  Snake is there, recovering from whatever it was that Liquid did to him and  Otacon is helping nurse him back to health.  It’s here that we’re first introduced to Sunny, a young girl who seems to be Otacon’s niece.  What struck me here is that Sunny seems to have gray hair, obviously an odd trait for a girl of 8 or 9.  In addition, it becomes clear through dialogue between Otacon and Snake that Sunny is some kind of computer genius.  Raiden’s girlfriend was pregnant at the end of MGS2, could this be his daughter?

Once I got through the long cutscene between acts, I began act 2 and things started to pick up.  I have lots more to tell, but we’ll save that for part 3!

Homework: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Part 1)

Chris’s Assignment:

This week Chris finally dropped the bomb on me.  He’s been dying to have me play Metal Gear Solid IV for probably over a year now, and our new homework feature has given him the opportunity to demand that I dive into it.  So with as open a mind as I could, this week I began my odyssey into the world of MGS4.

Steve’s Report:

This will be the first in a series of reports that I’ll be completing until I finish Metal Gear Solid IV: Sons of the Guns of the Patriots for Liberty…or whatever it’s called.  I’ll warn you at the beginning of each of these reports, these will contain heavy spoilers.  So let us begin our journey together into the weird and wonderful world of MGS.

I placed the disc into my Playstation 3 and booted up the system.  As soon as Metal Gear Solid IV loaded up, I began to chuckle to myself.  “Installing”, it said.  Oh Chris, those days of console games “just playing” are truly fading my friend.  Gone are the days of simply loading up a disc and playing the game instantly.  It was really not much of an ordeal though; I watched Solid Snake smoke some cigarettes while some funny and sarcastic messages about smoking, littering, and general health danced across my screen.  The whole process took about eight minutes and was pretty painless, all sarcastic anti-console jabs aside.

I got to the menu and started a new game.  What happened next is hard to describe in words (which is unfortunate given the nature of this post), but I’ll try.  I was instantly met with both absolute bewilderment and a complete lack of surprise.  I know that I’ve shared this clip on the Chi-Scroller before but it truly captures the nature of my feelings toward the intro to MGS4 perfectly.

If you haven’t played MGS4, the opening is a live-action scene of a woman on a game show of some sort.  She’s asked about her husband who is shown in the crowd.  After a quick exchange between the woman, her husband, and the game show host, she’s asked to choose a question from a number of categories.  Being a topic that seems near and dear to the hearts of most soccer mom types she chooses the category “The Business of War”.  She inevitably gets the question wrong, and the show appears to end.  This leads into what seems to be either a commercial, or some type of Bond film opening featuring women shooting harpoon guns at a pink octopus.  Here is the clip of this opening because I’m really not doing justice to it’s weirdness with my description.

Ok Kojima, that’s how you want to play it?  Fine.  We’re going full crackhead from scene one?  Great, I’m in.  Let’s do this!  Unlike MGS2, who’s weirdness ambushed me 90% the game, at least MSG4 has the common decency to let me know from jump that it’s bat-crap crazy.  Like I said, I’m fine with that.  I’m ready for some crazy, over the top, Hideo Kojima style insanity!

Assuming can get through the live-action opening sequence with your brain cells still intact, it seems as though the game then begins in earnest.  There is a dramatic change in tone, shifting from the incredibly odd to the realistically serious.  We see Snake in the back of a beat up truck full of rebels in some type of Middle Eastern war zone.  The truck arrives in a city and Snake hops out amidst a flurry of gunfire.  You walk about five feet and a cutscene triggers.

This happens a lot in the first hour or so of Metal Gear Solid IV.  You play for less than five minutes and you’re greeted with another cutscene, over and over again.  The cutscenes aren’t bad at all; I enjoyed the story that was being told.  I do wish that instead of breaking it into all of these tiny vignettes between meaningless play sessions that they’d just be one extremely long opening sequence allowing me to really dive into the game once it’s over.  Regardless, I feel that perhaps the “I don’t know what I expected” clip is relevant here too because this is simply how MGS games seem to play.  It’s been a while since I’ve played one so forgive me.

One of the things that has made it difficult for me to fully appreciate the MGS world is it’s absolute absurdity, but as I pointed out in my previous homework assignment, I feel that a lot of that is my fault.  When taken at face value, the world of Metal Gear Solid is kind of awesome; attempt to pigeon hole it into the trappings of a Call of Duty style story and it falls apart.  So it’s with this new set of eyes that I view MGS4, and with them I can say that, hands down, my favorite part of the game so far is the Dinogears.  That’s a term I’ve coined myself speaking about the dinosaur like Metal Gears that seem to roam around the ruins of this Middle Eastern city.  These things look so much like Tyrannosaurus Rex’s that it’s uncanny.  And yes, I’m aware that one of the previous Metal Gear’s is known as Rex.  The thing that really struck me though was the fact that they roared.  That’s right, the metal robot roared like a dinosaur.  I’m sold.  This game is incredible.

ROAR!

So once I let the first hour of MGS4 wash over me and the sea of wonder and amazement had finally ebbed I was able to get into the meat of the game.  I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed a good stealth game, and the MGS series has always done stealth incredibly well.  The circle around Snake which acts as a radar of sorts was helpful and relatively easy to get the hang of.  Otacon gives you some nifty gadgets pretty early on too, like the Solid Eye radar system and the Metal Gear MkII (an adorable robo pal capable of doing recon and other tasks for you).

The enemies in MGS4 still seem to be pretty stupid, a staple of the series.  They’ll spot you and come after you but the give up quite easily and just go back to their set patrols.  Stupid as they might be though, at least you have a chance to flee without dying every time you’re seen.  I haven’t done a ton of shooting yet, but so far I’m not a huge fan of the gun controls.  What I am a huge fan of is the stun knife though; I’d like to buy one of those in real life.  And I can’t talk about the gameplay mechanics without getting to my favorite part; the camouflage.  If you stand still Snake’s camo changes colors to match the background, and there is even a meter that shows you how concealed you are.  So.  Freaking.  Cool.

So I didn’t get terribly far into the story, I know I’ve got a long way to go but I got most of the basics down and I’m ready to really go to town next week.  Stay tuned next Tuesday for part 2 of my adventures in MGS4.

Homework: Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2.

Intro.

This is the first installment of a new series we’re doing called Homework, wherein one of us gives the other some sort of game-related assignment to do. Some assignments may be short-term and need to be completed by the following week, and some may be more ambitious and take place over a longer period, with the “student” simply reporting on their progress each week. We’ll be playing with the format a bit as we get rolling with it and see what works best, and what you fine people are interesting in seeing it turn into.

Chris:  The Assignment.

It’s no secret to anyone who has read our blog for any length of time that Steve feels he missed out on some pretty big chunks of important gaming history – which I of course agree with. So most of my assignments for him are going to reflect that, and I’m going to have him play key games that I feel he should play in order to better round out his overall gaming experience. One game I am eventually going to have him play is Metal Gear Solid 4, not a super old title but one that I am anxious to have him play. Well, I happen to know that he already played and finished both MGS and MGS2, the two games that directly lead into MGS4, but in both cases it was ages ago. To best appreciate MGS4, you need to be relatively familiar with the events and characters of the previous two games as a big part of what makes MGS4 so great is the way it ties up all the story threads and gives all of the characters, big and small, really satisfying closure. But I didn’t want to make him replay those games; instead, my assignment to him was to simply brush up on the first two games. I left it up to him how to do that, be it watching YouTube videos, reading blog posts about them, reading plot descriptions on Wikis, however he chose to do it so long as he felt like he had adequately re-familiarized himself with the plot and events of those two games.

So, let’s see what he did with that.

Steve:  The Report.

Chris was kind enough to throw me a softball over the holiday break.  Knowing that I was going to have to travel a lot and might not have access to much in terms of game consoles, he allowed me to simply brush up on MGS story instead of actually playing like 20+ hours of games (not that I have ever disliked the gameplay of the Metal Gear Solid series).  So here is my report; it includes some story recap (and thus some spoilers, so beware), and my personal thoughts on the series.

Metal Gear Solid

I’ve mentioned it before but MGS is one of those defining moments in my gaming career.  It made me realize that there could be more to gaming than just cartoon silliness.  And for it’s time, MGS did a great job of portraying the type of serious content that growing gamers were looking for.  Looking back the game’s story is not without it’s problems though.

The first thing I did was go back and watch all of the MGS cutscenes on YouTube.  The thing that struck me was how awful the dialogue was.  The story itself is pretty decent, but the vast majority of the dialogue is really awful.  For the time it felt amazing, but looking back at it after nearly 20 years…it’s kind of a mess.

It’s also hard to revisit the original MGS now, after having witnessed some of Hideo Kojima’s more insane stuff (and from what I understand I haven’t even gotten to the really nutty stuff) and not see the seeds of some of his weirdness coming through.  The game does do a great job of dealing with some interesting issues though, including espionage, genetic modification, and the all-important daddy issues.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

When I originally played this game it was very polarizing for me.  I hated the ending…a lot.  Chris will be more than happy to recall the epic rant I went on after finishing that game.  I feel like this was the moment where I imagined Hideo Kojima’s head disappearing up his own butt.  If my memory serves me correctly Chris was a bit more forgiving of this installment in the series, but where he kept some of his loyalty, mine seemed to disappear.  MGS2 was the last game in the series that I played, and it was largely because I was so disappointed with the ending, and to a smaller degree, the story as a whole.  So after all these years, how do I feel about the game now?

Exactly the same.  I’m sorry to say but Metal Gear Solid 2’s story is an ugly, disjointed mess, with the ending being the fart flavored icing on a steaming turd of a cake.  Now, gameplay-wise, I have no doubt that the game stands the test of time marvelously.  There is no question that in terms of gameplay, the MGS series is always top-notch.  This story though, my god.  So.  Much.  Exposition.

First off, the story ends more times than Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.  In fact, about 72 minutes into the ending (so about one-third of the way though) I thought that Frodo and Sam were going to pop out and have a pillow fight.  Second, why does Raiden have to sound like a 16 year old?  He’s supposed to be a member of the newly reformed FOXHOUND unit.  By definition that makes him one of the most deadly and skilled military operatives in the world.  And yet he sounds (and acts) like a boy in the throes of puberty.

Several things really bugged me while re-watching the ending that I feel I must mention.  Why is there live action footage interspersed with in-game animation?  What is that supposed to convey?  Also, there is a part of the ending where Raiden explains how we pass down our experiences through what we do, and then in the very next scene Snake says almost the EXACT SAME THING!  Now, I realize that this game is still on the older side of the MGS franchise, so Mr. Kojima’s storytelling skills may still have been developing here, but wow, talk about a ham fisted approach to conveying a point.  When you look at what really good directors do with film, presenting motifs and themes through color, lighting, camera placement, dialogue (or lack thereof) and all sorts of other ways, it’s hard to excuse this type of storytelling.

Oh, and one last note before I move on from my rant…  Revolver Ocelot being possessed by Liquid Snake by virtue of having Liquid’s hand attached to his body is one of the most absurd, ridiculous things I have ever heard of.  Ok…whew.  I feel better now, let’s move on.

Findings and thoughts.

1. Gameplay is still king.

I said it before and I’ll reiterate it here.  The Metal Gear Solid series has some of the best gameplay ever, so no matter how I may feel about the story, the game parts I will always remember with great fondness.

2. I think I approach the series incorrectly.

It struck me as I was writing this article that I feel that I’m approaching Metal Gear Solid series in the wrong way.  Let me explain:  The series doesn’t necessarily look like an anime, but it definitely acts like one.  If it had been presented in a cel shaded style that looked like Gundam I most likely would have been far more forgiving of some of the more illogical plot leaps.  To clarify, I have always found anime to have a more exaggerated sense of reality (when it’s even realistic at all).  Because of the aesthetic of anime it becomes easy to identify what it is.  So when you watch an anime and something crazy happens you’re not all that surprised.  Essentially that’s how Metal Gear Solid stories are told.  The only problem is that because the aesthetic is so much more realistic your initial expectation is also different.

3. Perhaps I DO have a nostalgia gland.

As much disdain as I have for the ending of Metal Gear Solid 2, I still kind of want to go play it now.  The same feeling holds true for Metal Gear Solid, only stronger.  At some point Chris will have me play MGS4 (and hopefully MGS3 as well) and I’m still really excited to play both of those games.  I think that having taken a step back I can begin to appreciate MGS for its weirdness instead of in spite of it.

 

Top 5 Friday: The Best Games in Various Franchises and Genres, As Chosen By YOU

For this week’s top 5, we decided to give the results of the survey we put up last week that asked you to rank the games within a few specific franchises and genres – with comments by me of varying degrees of opinionation on each one. And yes, of course opinionation is a word – would it have been in the Blossom theme song if it wasn’t?
_______________

Grand Theft Auto

5. Grand Theft Auto IV
4. Grand Theft Auto III
3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
2. Grand Theft Auto V
1. GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS

Not a terribly surprising result. The IV backlash happened pretty quickly and never really recovered. In addition, I know Vice City is a lot of people’s personal favorite, but I think #3 is an accurate spot for it.
_______________

Assassin’s Creed

5. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
4. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
3. Assassin’s Creed
2. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
1. ASSASSIN’S CREED II

People clearly just have a soft spot for Altair and Ezio. And also pirates.
_______________

Call of Duty

5. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops
3. Call of Duty: World at War
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
1. CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE

It look like Advanced Warfare won some fans back after seeming to be unimpressed with the previous three consecutive games. And check out how high WaW ranked, Activision. Bring back WWII!

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Super Mario – 3D Games

5. Super Mario 3D World
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
3. Super Mario Sunshine
2. Super Mario Galaxy
1. SUPER MARIO 64

The voters clearly went for pure nostalgia here – all due respect to Mario 64, but it’s kind of the worst of the 3D Mario games at this point…
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Metal Gear Solid

5. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
3. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
1. METAL GEAR SOLID

While I think people are too hard on 2, saying it is better than 4 is just silly. Also, I personally prefer 4 to 3, but I respect how much people love that game.
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Castlevania (“Metroidvania era”)

5. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
4. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
3. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
2. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
1. CASTLEVANIA: SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT

Come on, people: what is Circle doing at #2? I thought we all agreed that we only thought we loved it because we were just so happy to have another 2D Castlevania but realized we didn’t have to settle for it once they kept on making more. Both of the DS games that didn’t make the list are much better.
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JRPG franchises

5. Persona
4. Phantasy Star
3. Lunar
2. Dragon Quest
1. FINAL FANTASY

It makes me happy that Square’s recent (many) missteps with the FF franchise haven’t completely destroyed fans’ overall love for it. And it also makes me happy to see Sega representing strong at #4!
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2D Fighting game franchises

5. Darkstalkers
4. Super Smash Bros.
3. Vs. series
2. Street Fighter
1. MORTAL KOMBAT

We promise we didn’t skew the results in the hometown heroes’ favor – MK finishing at #1 was a genuine result (though it was extremely close, the closest of any race). And clearly the SNK fans didn’t show up for this survey at all.
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3D Fighting game franchises

5. Dead or Alive
4. Virtua Fighter
3. Mortal Kombat
2. Tekken
1. SOULCALIBUR (also includes Soul Blade/Edge)

Soulcalibur was at its peak while 3D fighters were experiencing their last big renaissance, so it seems fitting that it finished at #1. And at least my beloved Virtua Fighter bested the big bouncy busts.
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[Note: I left out the results of two of the franchises: Resident Evil and Halo. Both were basically ranked exactly how they were listed in the survey, which means most people didn’t do them and they were just counted as they were listed. I seriously doubt people genuinely ranked RE 1-3 ahead of RE4, or Halo 3: ODST above 4 and Reach. If they did, I apologize, but I made a judgement call on those.]

My Gaming Confession: I Think I’m Missing My Nostalgia Gland.

This piece was originally going to be a sister article to my first gaming confession ever, a piece about how I have never completed a Zelda game.  I was going to talk about how, try as I might, I’ve never had an affinity for Mario.  But while that statement is true, it’s only part of a larger feeling that I have (or rather, don’t have); I have very little nostalgia for any old games or franchises.  My gaming choices tend to be pretty rooted in the present.

Let me take a little time and clarify both my position and why I feel slightly ashamed of it.  First off let’s start with the original subject of this article, Mario.  I don’t hate Mario, and I don’t hate Nintendo, but I have absolutely no added respect for the Mario franchise over and above any other that I’ve enjoyed over the years.  Mario receives no special reverence from me, despite being one of the most important gaming franchises of all time.

To me, Super Mario Bros. 3 was the pinnacle of the series.  I owned that game, and I loved it.  I remember it with great fondness.  But every Mario since (and before, really) is just kind of the same thing to me.  I realize that there are innovations and that the controls and gameplay are among the best of all time, but it still just feels like the same rehashed concept over and over.  He’s a cute cartoon plumber, he jumps on some stuff, he collects some stuff, and he saves a princess who never seems to be there.  That was riveting…when I was 8.  I know that fans of classic gaming will gasp at a statement like that, which is why it’s kind of embarrassing to confess it.

The feeling goes well beyond Mario though.  As I’ve mentioned before, I have no nostalgia for Zelda, and even less for Metroid.  None for Castlevania, Contra, Donkey Kong, Crash Bandicoot, or even Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy VII.  The last two games I mentioned there being two of the most influential gaming experiences of my gaming career.

Metal Gear Solid is probably the best example.  This was a game that absolutely blew my mind when I played it.  Words simply cannot express how cool I thought that game was.  Then Metal Gear Solid 2 came out, and I hated the ending of the story and subsequently tuned out of the whole series.  Chris, by contrast, has maintained this sort of reverence for a game series that had the same effect on him when he first encountered it.  Where he developed a sense of franchise loyalty, I seemed to develop none.

The same goes for the Final Fantasy series.  I loved VII, VIII, and IX, didn’t care much for X, and then tuned out.  I subsequently feel no loyalty to that franchise either.  If a Final Fantasy game comes out, and I think that it might be good, then I’ll play that one.  If I like it, I might tune in for the sequel.  If I don’t, who knows.

If you count up the hours I’ve spent playing different individual games, one stands high among the rest.  World of Warcraft.  Even that game elicits little loyalty from me.  When I’m enjoying the game, I feel good about playing it.  When I get bored of it, I put it down and simply stop caring about it.

I feel like, as a child of the 90’s, that I should have some deep affinity for products beyond the here and now.  I should be telling you that Super Mario World or Super Metroid is the greatest game ever made.  I should be extolling the virtues of Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64.  The truth is that I don’t care about any of those game though.  And even though I only listed Nintendo products there, it’s not confined to just that.  There are zero games from before the age of 12 that I recall with any sort of reverence.  I know I’m entitled to my opinion, and if I don’t like stuff I don’t have to be ashamed.  But I can’t help but feel just a little ashamed that I’m not more nostalgic about an era of gaming that was so influential to the medium as a whole.

Survey: Ranking Games Within Franchises and Genres

Here’s another fun little group participation exercise to get you over that midweek hump.