Has Kojima Ruined Metal Gear Solid?
There has always been a healthy dose of macabre humor present in the Metal Gear Solid games. But there comes a moment when something stops simply being funny and actually becomes the joke itself. We may have reached that point with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. This week, the game's erstwhile creator Hideo Kojima announced that the latest PSP entry in the series would contain tons of product placement advertisements, a worrying trend for the series. It's hardly as if Kojima and his production studio need the money, so either the corporate higher-ups at Konami have authorized this or Kojima is starting to get a bit squirrely in his old age, mistaking bizarre non sequiturs for the usual humor the series is known for.
We can almost forgive Kojima for dropping in the reference to Assassin's Creed, allowing players to mimic the movements of Altair from that game by diving into a bale of hay. After all, there has been a history of deep respect and cross pollination between the two development studios.
Putting in the cats from the Monster Hunter games (along with the food and some of the creatures) is going just a little bit far. Snake and pals will be able to visit a special Monster Island to do battle with some of the iconic creatures from that series, as well as grill up their food hunter style. We're starting to feel like we're in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull territory here.
But where things go horribly, horribly wrong is in the real-world product placements. Snake will be able to eat Doritos, wear Axe bodyspray and even wear a t-shirt advertising his fondness for refreshing Mountain Dew.
Look, if this were a free online Flash game, then maybe fans could put up with this nonsense (but only just). But this is supposed to be a serious entry in the Metal Gear franchise, and even Kojima has said that himself. Fans will be paying $40 for this game. We don't want the trashiest of American companies smearing their worthless brand images all over our beloved game. And even more worrying is the thought that the game's creator thinks this is all a great idea. It's like when George Lucas got old and fat and decided it would be a good idea to buy a warehouse full of Silicon Graphics workstations and ruin the original Star Wars movies. Perhaps the only thing worse than Jar Jar Binks would be if he had suddenly cracked open a bag of Doritos just before the Clone Wars kicked off.
The same artistic freedom that allows auteurs like George Lucas to create memorable franchises is also what can ruin these great works in the end. Because when an auteur gets old and loses their creative edge, they alone can ruin what they started.
Sneaking up on the delicious flavor of Doritos in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
http://www.ps3informer.com/playstation-3/news/has-kojima-ruined-metal-gear-solid-012337.php
