The game I want to talk about today is Metal Gear Solid.
Released in 1997 for the Playstation(1), it has since been recognized as one of the benchmarks of stealth-based games and a highpoint of that system. I myself agree whole-heatedly with the latter. It's strengths lie in some superb action sequences, compelling boss fights, great voice acting and a well-developed cast of characters, not least of which is the protagonist Solid Snake - whom the entire game's well-realized world is built around.
Props indeed must go to Solid Snake himself: Sure he plays the gruff, reluctant (and at times) Anti-hero that has been seen many times before but here it is pulled off in a way that makes him continually interesting. He was a lot of depth being put to him - and seeing as he carries the weight of the game on his shoulders, he still manages to becoming endearing to the player. Additionally, Snake has to think things out for himself, is guided by a support crew whose intentions may not be 100% but whom are ultimately helpful, kills the baddies with ease and uses a variety of weapons (I particularly enjoyed using the sniper rifle) and nifty little gadgets.
Also pleasing is the well detailed setting incorporating well realized rooms and detailed military equipment. The game shows signs of being meticulously researched by the makers and it works incredibly well for it. The action sequences are fun too, in using a variety of weapons and having to run the gauntlet with the bosses, each a different battle from the last.
Sure it has it's flaws: The plot is both complex and absurd in equal measures, the guards are so stupid it's beyond belief, it does get very preachy on it's stance of being anti-nuclear warheads and, in a way, the game is somewhat restrictive in that all the player is doing is just pushing Snake from one cut-scene to the next. But for me all of these are swept aside for one single moment: The conclusion.
At the end of the game, it is a happy conclusion of sorts: Global disaster has been averted, the baddies have been dealt with and Snake has saved the day. But for me the strength of the ending lies solely in the way it is handled and the top notch voice acting that, even to the end, never breaks stride.
Sure the game conclusion provides a sense of achievement (like all game endings should) and it could've settled with that but no: MGS goes one step further.
When I completed MGS for the first time I had hit a new low: I was feeling depressed, through unemployment, lack of progress and rejection. But watching the conclusion to Metal Gear Solid struck me. I felt something. Something different to what I have previously felt upon completing a game.
Really there are a number of magic moments in that ending: Roy giving up his role as Colonel just for the sake of keeping Snake alive; Snake and Roy putting past misgivings aside and agreeing to far more friendlier terms; Naomi reconciling with the memory of Frank and urging Snake to follow her lead in living instead of trying to find a reason to; and Snake finally deciding to live beyond his survival instincts, make every minute of his time left on Earth count and seeking a new path in life (henceforth I'm finding his subsequent reappearances in the MGS sequels rather puzzling).
And all of this is wrapped with the achingly beautiful closing The Best is Yet to Come which plays over the end credits accompanied by footage of the Alaskan wilderness.
Of course, what I've just described may sound cliched but because of the commitments to the writer who writes the lines and actors who read them, it evolves into something far more substantial. Indeed I still get a lump in my throat whenever I revisit it.
So seeing as I was at a low point in my life before I completed Metal Gear Solid, how did I feel after I completed it? Well not unlike the game's protagonist, I did feel lost and without any inkling of self-worth – but upon completing Metal Gear Solid, I came away feeling something else: It was enlightenment. It was the realization that there something else out there and that each minute upon this Earth should be used wisely & lived for one's self. The fact that a game can handle such human emotions and pull it off convincingly is indeed a feat in itself.
Indeed, the beauty of the game's conclusion is that it comes across as being a world apart from the game itself: Viewing it creates the impression I didn't spend so many hours of my life sneaking my way into a Alaskan military installation with the intention of stopping a nuclear warhead being fired. No, it was the impression that I had seen a man finding a sense of renewed purpose where once was nothing and wanting to make the rest of his time on Earth (no matter how limited) count. As such the title of the ending them rings true: The Best is Yet to Come.
I like the line that Dr. Hunter says at the end of the game:
"You mustn't allow yourself to be chained to fate, to be ruled by your genes, Humans can choose the type of life they want to live. ....whether you've been programmed or not. The important thing is that you choose life. And then....Live!"
Really, that says a lot about the game and how it made me feel at the end. I couldn't have put it better!
I think at some stage in this life each of us find a sense of self-worth (or at least find something new that provides us with a necessary reminder of it) and I found it in, of all places, a video game. It may be an odd place to find such an affirmation but the effect is still the same nonetheless.
So thank you to both Hideo Kojima and Solid Snake.
No comments:
Post a Comment