No Phantom Pain, Just Intro Pain

Unlike what MGSV does, I'd like to hit the ground running with this blog, so let's jump right in.

I'm approximately 20% through “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” and thoroughly enjoying my time with it.  The game has been out for months now but I did not buy the game right away.  My experience with the Metal Gear franchise consists of playing the first level of Metal Gear Solid a few times.  I dabbled in "Snake Eater" and actually put a few hours into that game.  It never got its hooks in me as much as I liked the idea of it.  "Tactical espionage action."  What's not to like?  Honestly, I don't know, but somehow it didn't grab me.  The reaction to this game got me really interested though, so I decided to give it a shot.

“The Phantom Pain” has its hooks in me.  The open world, free-form approach to completing missions, the companions, the base building and upgrade system... So far, I'm enjoying it all.  I have some criticisms such as the fact that the mission grading system cannot be hidden or disabled (don't judge me, game) and that the Skulls rely on being bullet sponges for the majority of their difficulty, but my complaints about the game are overwhelmed by my enjoyment of what it brings to the table.

I almost didn't get the chance to love it.

Snake sees his reflection for the first time after waking up.

The game opens with several marginally interactive cut scenes punctuated by several cliche fade-to-black scene transitions.  It's in first person and you can sometimes move your head a bit.  It's intended to give you the feeling of Snake waking up in a hospital after a 9 year coma.  It's a good idea that overstays its welcome.  These interactive cut scenes become gradually more interactive as the game slowly sets up the backstory and tone until things hit the fan and you have to escape the hospital as it's overrun by gunmen.

When you're able to get out of bed and move around, finally, the next 20 minutes or so involve you doing little more than pushing forward on your thumbstick as your character first crawls at an arduously slow pace, then progresses to limping, walking and finally running.  All the while you're hiding under beds and running down halls from people looking to kill you.  Throughout this prologue, the game seeks to introduce you to the world and set up the story.  It was one of the most painful gaming experiences in my recent memory.  I hated it and only stuck through it because of all of the positive things I've heard about the game.

Essentially, my first 40 minutes of playing the game amounted to poorly paced cut scenes and pressing forward on the thumbstick.  I think it was at about the 40 minute mark before I got to do anything approaching playing.  It's a pretty common complaint about the MGS series that there are long cutscenes or codec conversations.  I would venture to guess that the game's purposes would have been better served by simply replacing the first 40 minutes of the "game" with lengthy cutscene.  At least a 10-20 minute cut scene wouldn't try to patronize me by convincing me that my pushing the thumbstick forward was anything approaching "playing" the game.

Some of this feels like the George Lucas problem.  Kojima is so revered that it’s difficult to edit him.  He needs an Irvin Kirshner who can tell him that his idea is stupid.  If someone was in a position to edit Kojima, the opening probably helps ramp into the game better.  Get rid of the needless interactivity.  Streamline the beginning as a cutscene up to the point where you get a gun.  Cut down (substantially) on the fade-to-black moments that needlessly prolong the prologue.  Do that and you achieve the same goals but you actually get to PLAY the game in less than half the time.

Instead, the game is weighed down to the brink of pure frustration.  I didn’t feel like I was playing a game for the first hour; I felt like I was indulging an artist with an exaggerated sense of self-importance.  That hour I spent waiting to play the game excludes the time waiting for the game to instal and update (a huge problem with this console generation so far, but a different story).

Hideo Kojima is a well respected artist and with good reason.  He’s also one of those artists who creates unnecessary barriers to his art.  I pushed through because of what I had heard about how good the game was.  Truth be told, it was worth it.  That doesn’t mean the game wouldn’t be improved by a better opening.  There are probably lots of people who would never make it past the prologue even though they would love what the game becomes.  That’s a shame because they would miss something special.