I've always been planning to write this post, but i have been waiting for the proper inspiration. If you gave a look to the "currently playing" window on the right you probably noticed that I've been replaying Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. That has been my inspiration. Back in the day, amongs the general enthusiastic comments, some journalists wrote some absolutely appalling criticism.
They went on talking about "philosophically burdensome story" or the plot being "incomprehensible and overly heavy for an action game".
I can't do anything else than define such remarks as absolutely idiotic, with all due respect. Metal Gear Solid 2 has one of the most beautiful and deep stories of the whole videogaming history, a story that peaks in an incredibly beautiful way with the scene depicted in the picture on the left (which I won't describe, for the sake of the ones that still didn't play the game, and NEED to play it before playing Metal Gear Solid 4). A masteropiece that will be very hard to replicate.
Who said that action games shouldn't have a complex and deep story? Who said that ANY game shouldn't?
Gameplay is for sure important in a game. I'd go to the lenght of saying that it's the most important factor (even if I'm definately willing to forgive a certain degree of gameplay shortcomings in favor of a really great story), but a game devoid of a good story, or one that has a story that's nothing more than a placeholder for absolute nothingness, in my opinion becomes boring very fast, as the gameplay gradualluy falls into repeatitiveness.
On the contrary, a beautiful story and characters gifted with charisma (of wich Solid Snake is a perfect example, even if for sure not the only one), create the perfect backbone to sustain good gameplay and to make up for any issue of repeatitive action.
Good stories have the undeniable characteristic of being able to generate feelings in the player, feelings that aren't necessarily just "fun", but contribute to the "fun" itself to create a broader and more complete experience: romance, suspance, sadness, fear... They all contribute to making a good game great.
That's why I will always support software houses that make an effort to put great and deep stories into their game, and that's why i will always look with a bit of contempt towards the ones that can't even afford hiring a decent scriptwriter to give their players a better experience.
Even if the scenario doesn't look as great lately (with a lot of games openly based on mindless gameplay), the situation isn't THAT bad. Some titles with potential great stories are incoming (Metal gear solid IV, White Knigt Story, The Last Remnant, Sky Crawlers, Valkyria Chronicles, Yakuza 2 and 3 and more). We can only eagerly wait and see. Thankful towards the shoftware houses that don't forgive our need for games that will awake in us more feelings than just "fun".
As a side note, If you still didn't play Metal Gear Solid 2, grab a copy and do it. It's an absolutely incredible experience that shouldn't be missing in the experience of any serious gamer. It's perfectly compatible with all PS3 models that include backwards compatibility (and actually looks great upscaled).
Now it's time for me to go and replay Metal Gear solid 3, in my quest for preparatioon for old Snake to land on my PS3 in June.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
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