The long-running Metal Gear stealth-action series is among the handful of videogame franchises that are synonymous with their director, but there are examples of Metal Gear games produced without the involvement of Hideo Kojima, which include the first two games released in the US. With Kojima’s departure from Konami, many fans believe that Metal Gear is done, as games produced without Kojima’s involvement would not provide the same experience. The poor reviews and sales of the only Metal Gear game released following Kojima’s departure, Metal Gear Survive, have been cited as support for this bleak outlook on the series’ future without Kojima. A look back at the series’ origins, as well as the specific missteps of Metal Gear Survive, show that Metal Gear without Kojima would not be the same, but also that it is still too early to write the series off.
The original Metal Gear game was designed by Hideo Kojima, but his version of the game was only released in Japan and Europe for the MSX2 platform. The NES version of the game, the one more familiar to US audiences, was created by a different team at Konami, without Kojima’s involvement. It featured different level design, and had script changes as well, but it still received positive reviews, and was one of the first successes for the stealth-espionage game genre. The sequel title Snake’s Revenge was produced with Western audiences in mind, to capitalize in the success of the original Metal Gear. Kojima was not involved with Snake’s Revenge, either, and instead directed Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which was only released in Japan, meaning the first two US-released Metal Gear games did not have Kojima’s involvement.
Metal Gear saw a hiatus for an entire console generation, until the release of Metal Gear Solid for the original PlayStation defined the hallmarks of the series as fans know it today. Though it appears dated by current standards, causing many fans to desire a remake of the game, Metal Gear Solid was a landmark for cinematic presentation at the time of its release. Hideo Kojima wrote, directed, and produced Metal Gear Solid, and his background as a cinephile became more evident, thanks to the capabilities of the PlayStation. What is now considered Kojima’s “signature style” emerged in MGS, further refined in its sequels across the next two console generations. These trademarks include a juxtaposition of real-world socio-political concerns with surrealism, fourth-wall breaking metacommentary on gaming, homages to a variety of cinematic influences, and villains with absurd names, among others.
Kojima’s Signature Style, Established With MGS, Lives On In Death Stranding
Kojima has stated that he never envisioned Metal Gear as a sprawling series on the scale of Final Fantasy, but he continued to work on it due to its commercial success. The series did become massive, largely due to the success of Metal Gear Solid, spawning four numbered sequels, spinoffs like Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, and even more experimental entries like the turn-based card battle system of Metal Gear Acid. Kojima’s involvement remained a constant through all of these works, including the action-based Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the development of which was tasked to Platinum Games rather than Kojima Productions, though Kojima was still responsible for the game’s story.
Internal conflict with Konami during the development of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain came as a precursor to Kojima’s departure from the company. The game received widespread acclaim from critics, and was a commercial success, but many felt that development pressures from Konami led to a rushed final act in MGS5, and prevented the game from realizing Kojima’s vision for his final Metal Gear title. Following Kojima Productions’ move to operating as an independent game studio, Konami released Metal Gear Survive, a zombie-oriented Metal Gear game that Kojima was not involved in. The game took place following the MGS5 “teaser” game Ground Zeroes, and reused assets and the engine of MGS5. Critical reception and sales alike were poor for Metal Gear Survive, but this had more to do with the format of the game than the concept itself.
While zombies were arguably out of step with the tone established in prior Metal Gear games, the narrative itself was not significantly more outlandish than earlier Metal Gear Solid games. The bigger misstep was shifting from a single-player experience to an always-online, multiplayer oriented game, along with the presence of microtransactions. This, combined with the timing of Kojima’s messy departure from Konami, gave fans very little reason to give Metal Gear Survive the benefit of the doubt. Kojima, meanwhile, went on to produce Death Stranding, an ambitious game that followed in the cinematic legacy of Metal Gear Solid, maintaining Kojima’s signature storytelling style, but it was far more polarizing in part due to its doubling down on the strange and surreal elements, as well as its transport-based gameplay.
Konami Can Salvage Metal Gear By Staying True To The Series’ Core Elements
Without a doubt, Hideo Kojima has established himself as a unique voice in videogames, and Metal Gear is not the same without his specific auteur guidance. That said, Metal Gear remains a popular franchise, with word of a film adaptation as well as a possible MGS3 remake both giving fans reason for excitement. Though the circumstances of his separation from Konami are regrettable, Kojima is now free to work on projects of his choosing, no longer tied to the commercial juggernaut of the Metal Gear series. Metal Gear games can also continue to provide quality experiences, albeit different ones, without Kojima, if they stay focused on what made the series work, instead of trying to make it into something it was not.
Absent the always-online element, and the microtransactions, Metal Gear Survive would still have its issues. Older Metal Gear titles made without Kojima, Snake’s Revenge and the NES port of the original Metal Gear, were good games for their time, but decades removed from the series’ current incarnation. Beyond remakes and remasters of classic Metal Gear games, Konami still has the potential to produce quality titles in the series, even without Kojima, but they would be wise to learn from the failure of Metal Gear Survive. Giving another talented director free reign to create an ambitious, imaginative story, focused on a quality single-player experience, would doubtless produce something different from a Kojima game, but such an approach could still yield a good Metal Gear game. Konami will need to take steps to win back the trust of fans, otherwise future Metal Gear games may be simply repackaging the glory days of the series, when it was helmed by Kojima.
About The Author