Game Development Giant

Hideo Kojima is very different from ordinary Japanese producers, very different.

Although his control over his own games, like other Japanese producers, is very "arbitrary", this is not a derogatory term, in fact, it is a complimentary term in the context of the game opening.

Although I can't say absolutely, most of the games that really influenced the industry were completed by such arbitrary producers.

The games made by Hideo Kojima are very American.

In Jester's memory, the later famous Kojima Group also set its headquarters in Los Angeles instead of Japan. From this, we can also see some of the style of Hideo Kojima's games. In fact, Hideo Kojima The game is indeed just like him, very un-Japanese.

In fact, it is easy to see the imprint of American movies in the "Metal Gear" series.

The lone heroic stealth operation, each character's sad past, and even the dramatic performance effects are all filled with Hideo Kojima's unique personal aesthetic. The game tells a sad story in a unique way. Such a story may not be very good in a movie script, but when presented in the form of a game, it is amazingly brilliant.

This is the charm of video games themselves. When a person is invested in playing the game, the unparalleled sense of participation exceeds the interest in watching.

In this way, "Metal Gear" has conquered most picky players with its sweeping attitude. Even those who criticize the game have to admit that this is a sublimation of the fun and art form of video games. , at least as to where this road should go, "Metal Gear" provides a reference material.

"Metal Gear", which is a pure Hideo Kojima style, was born on PS.

The theme of the game is anti-war. In the melodious singing at the end, the beautiful scenery of nature is presented one by one, telling players that the world is still threatened by nuclear crisis. This is a very traditional game experience in terms of content, whether it is a tough man's tenderness or a strong sense of mission. All of them give people a sense of identity that "heroes are not lonely" arise spontaneously in their hearts.

In fact, Jester knew that even though it received rave reviews and aroused the industry's amazement, the orthodox first "Metal Gear" was just an attempt by Hideo Kojima, and it was far from the limit of his talent.

This is the case on the original PS.

Maybe the same thing is happening now when he is about to log in to his Dreambox 3. Hideo Kojima has endless ideas. In the conversation with him, Jester can clearly feel that, and. Jester is often shocked by some of Hideo Kojima's exquisite ideas. You know, Jester has game memories for the next twenty years in his mind.

In terms of understanding of game development and evolution, no one in this world can match him.

Jester believes that Hideo Kojima is also accumulating experience for the game he wants to make. The first game is for him. It must be mainly to accumulate experience in the development of this type of game.

When it comes to the second or even third game, Jester believes that he will break out like he did in the original history.

For example. The original historical "Metal Gear Solid 2".

To be honest, after "Metal Gear Solid" conquered a large number of players, Sony launched PS2, and "Metal Gear Solid 2" also reached its second generation. This time, although the style of painting has changed drastically. The initial promotional video was just like the "ff7" remake news, deeply shocking everyone who saw it.

It was an e3 exhibition at the beginning of the 21st century.

Those who have not personally experienced that press conference may never be able to imagine the madness that "Metal Gear Solid 2" brought to the players at that time.

That's really a belief.

What kind of picture demonstration is that? In the actual screen. Snake jumped on the bridge on a rainy night, and then had a gunfight with someone in the narrow tanker galley. Bullets broke fruit and wine bottles, breaking everything on the shelves. Seeing such a scene in that era, everyone wanted to move forward a year or two and play this game as soon as possible.

Of course, when the game was released, everyone discovered that they had been deceived: snake was not the protagonist. The protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 is Raiden, a pretty boy I've never heard of before.

Where is the snake? Please give him back to me! ——Many people, many loyal fans, have questions and even objections to this series.

From today's perspective, "Metal Gear Solid 2" has problems of one kind or another.

First of all, its dialogue is too long, and the amount of information is so large that people have to press the button again and again to read.

The game characters themselves also look pale and feeble, although the appearance of the character Raiden can be said to be one of the biggest suspense in the history of entertainment, just like which side the governor was on at the beginning of "Terminator 2". Moreover, the game itself is very compulsory, and many tasks are too boring. It makes people feel that although the plot is compact, it presents an inconsistent work.

However, if we explore it in depth, many people will find that in "Metal Gear Solid 2", Hideo Kojima added elements of the game's cinematic narrative without weakening any of its characteristics as a video game. In other words, in this highly anticipated and biggest work of the year, Hideo Kojima still persists in practicing his experiments and explorations, trying to get rid of the influence of those classic movies on himself.

Therefore, "Metal Gear Solid 2" is probably the most difficult to copy and full of unique work in the entire series. It expresses what kind of height video games can reach in terms of interactive experience.

That must be an unheard of height, or a height that others dare not try.

When modern players play a game, you do whatever the NPC tells you to do without hesitation. After completing a task, no matter whether the result is good or bad, there is always a reward. Either it will be a plot boost, or it will be a prop in the game, or it will give some other clues or even a title. Everyone is slowly beginning to accept this concept - "playing games = running around doing tasks." Especially in those modern military-themed games, you basically hit wherever you go.

But "Metal Gear Solid 2" doesn't do that. It tells you "how information deceives you" throughout the story.

From the beginning of the promotion, everyone was excited to think that Snake's adventure would continue. However, all the content, including the trial version, was just to deceive players, making you not know that the protagonist is actually a pretty boy named Raiden.

Raiden was trained and even sent to perform tasks. He ran around and worked stupidly, but in the end he discovered that the person he was talking to was not a real commander, but an artificial intelligence. The game process is nothing more than simulating the Shadow Moses Island incident to collect data, and all dialogues and tasks are nothing but a scam.

Even the terrorist attack hosted by the final boss, Solidas, was nothing more than a scam perpetrated by the Patriots.

Everyone's knowledge and feeling are limited, and the information transmitted through others is modified and retained, so this information will form a certain signal, and that person's emotions and thoughts will be affected. This is the so-called information control. It is also the spiritual core of "MGS2: Sons of Liberty" and the expression of freedom.

Games provide room for discussion regarding modern media, the information world, or individual will and collective blind obedience.

This is no longer just a game-level issue, but Hideo Kojima wants to raise it in the game, just like he raised the anti-nuclear theme in the previous game.

Many players will naturally be angry after playing such a game, but calm down and think about it. The concept of controlling other people's thoughts through information transmission has far exceeded the original theme concept of Hideo Kojima who just wanted to talk about anti-war movies.

This is a kind of transcendence for Hideo Kojima himself, and it is also a kind of transcendence for the existence of video games.

Of course, more importantly, the quality of the game itself far exceeds people's imagination, with outstanding performance in both big scenes and details. Although the boss battle against the background of the Twin Towers was deleted due to the 9/11 terrorist activities, the shock at the end of the game is still impressive.

At the end of the game, the player is like a confused protagonist, not knowing where to go. This feeling of intertwining reality and virtual worlds may be exactly the feeling that video games should bring to people.

It can be said that "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty" tells people what video games as an artistic carrier can do in a way that only video games can express - it is interesting and fun, profound and beautiful, wonderful and serious , fast food is also meaningful.

Such complexity is the new art form that players love, and it is what people can remember deeply.

It was also after this game that Hideo Kojima truly established his own unique style, which no one can imitate. Hideo Kojima's games can only be made by Hideo Kojima. This will almost never happen in the future. It has become a consensus in the gaming industry - Hideo Kojima is unique, and the "Metal Gear" series is also unique.

It’s not like no one else has done the Metal Gear Solid series.

It's a pity that except for Hideo Kojima, no one can make a "Metal Gear" work that satisfies players, because the personal style of this work is too unique.

Therefore, this is why after Hideo Kojima completed the fifth and final work of "Metal Gear", it was revealed that he was leaving Konami, which made so many players feel sad and regretful. Because they know that they will never play the real "Metal Gear" by Hideo Kojima from now on.

And without Hideo Kojima's "Metal Gear", what value would it have? (To be continued...)