Hideo Kojima’s modern day espionage masterpiece literally burst onto the gaming scene in 1998. The previous games in the series had pretty much gone unnoticed by the average gamer but Solid Snakes’ first foray into 3D forced the world to take notice and pay attention to one of the most involving video games to date.

Set in 2005, Metal Gear Solid tells the story of Solid Snake as he is sent to Shadow Moses, a remote island off of the coast of Alaska which also happens to host a nuclear weapons facility. Snake is sent out of retirement and into the frying pan to deal with a group of terrorists named FOXHOUND who have caused a stir on the island itself and plan to use their bipedal nuclear robot ‘Metal Gear REX’ as a threat for money and the remains of ‘Big Boss’ - the biological father of both Liquid Snake (the leader of FOXHOUND and the ‘bad guy’) and Solid Snake. As the story progresses we are introduced to many of the stories of other people involved in the game; orphans, cloning, bio warfare, deception & espionage - Metal Gear Solid covers a lot of ground in the short time it takes to tell.

Many people would say that Metal Gear Solid is a modern day masterpiece due to its deep involving setting as well as its emotional storyline and Hollywood-like influences. It isn’t surprising to learn that during development of the game in 1995, Kojima hired a SWAT team to come and display vehicles, weapons and explosives to the developers. The level of research is clearly seen in the deeply powerful and in depth setting of Shadow Moses.

You play through the game as a spy infiltrating a terrorist base. As it says on the box this is ‘tactical espionage action’ - you can’t just jump into a fire fight and expect to survive. No, this is the unique aspect of Metal Gear Solid which is most probably why it achieved such critical success. Your aim is to infiltrate and shut down the terrorist group in control of nuclear weapons and to do so; you have to be extremely careful. At a time when shooters dominated the newly emerging generation of 3D gamer’s play lists, Metal Gear Solid helped changed that with its emphasis on planning, stealth and trying not to kill everyone you come into contact with. In fact such a strong emphasis on killing as little as possible really does help to emphasize the anti-war element of the game. The emphasis on not getting caught is terribly frightening as well, as soon as an enemy spots you, you are confronted with loud noises, alarms, shouting and the music changes from tension to upbeat a ‘get-the-crap-out-of-here’ tune. Musically the game helps to create the effect that you must not get caught and by the end of the game you don’t stand much chance of survival if you get seen.

Actually playing the game is on par with the experience of watching a spy thriller or a film noir. Your journey as Solid Snake isn’t exactly a passive one though so it effectively creates an experience whereby you are actively engaged with the game itself - all the way from finding codes to progress on the back of the game case or being directed to change your controller into the second port to defeat a mind reading bad guy. Kojima’s unique tricks and almost humorous quirks really do make this game memorable. As a media student I’ve always had an interest in how an auteur breaks the fourth wall and interacts with their audience and this is something that I believe Kojima does extremely well in Metal Gear Solid.

Not only are you directed to take action outside of the game to progress inside of it but the game also has a lot of serious messages about the effects of war on children and fighters. We meet many characters in the game who each have their own stories to tell about how warfare and fighting has affected their lives and driven them to do what it is they do - be it terrorism or fighting against it. As Snake fights against cloned soldiers and follows orders to disarm the nuclear capable terrorist group we as an audience can’t help but feel sympathy for the 32bit polygonal soldier. The games twist at the end of the narrative makes us clearly sickened at the injustice of cloning and man made warfare. The lives of protagonists Meryl. Snake and many other characters have been corrupted by the notions of selfish war. Even Snakes existence itself we discover was to be a complete fighting machine. Kojima’s message with Metal Gear Solid is possibly that war and suffering are mutual - you can’t have one with the other. The unique contrast between the thirty hour narrative and the last five minutes of the game is astounding. Ending with the song ‘The best is yet to Come’ sung by Irish singer Aoife Ní Fhearraigh, gives a peaceful yet ironic message which shows that war will always occur within the human race. Even though the ending is optimistic much like a Hollywood blockbuster, we know that with hindsight ‘ Snake’s story doesn’t end there.

Kojima has been called an ‘auteur of the digital age’ many a time. His ability to help orchestrate such an effective message on war through a video game is astounding. Although I’m sure he did not create the game on his lonesome, he certainly helped to create a digital masterpiece. Metal Gear Solid is one of few games which truly challenge the opinion that video games are worthless, numbing and mind rotting. In my opinion the game is entirely anti-war in every sense. Not once does killing another person feel like a good thing - “ your main aim is to complete your mission undetected and with as little fatalities as possible. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the game was ‘art’, I would say that on the surface, its narrative and setting are very much like a blockbuster movie but beneath, it contains all sorts of messages and values usually associated with your more art house films.

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