Metal Gear: Where Do We Go From Here?
The Metal Gear franchise is without doubt one of the most iconic and individual in the history of gaming. From it’s very first iteration on the MSX2, Metal Gear has contained a kind of atmosphere and tone that simply cannot be found anywhere else. Outlandish characters and incredibly intricate and ludicrous story lines are staples of a series that has done incredibly well, with it selling over 25 million copies worldwide. This makes it one of the most successful of all time, but the duration of development and its costs have increased dramatically, with MGS4 costing an estimated 70 million dollars and taking about 4 years to complete. Granted, MGS4 sold over 4 million copies, but it left the series at a crossroad.
MGS4 ties up pretty much all the story threads that were created throughout the Metal Gear Solid series. The very fact that it is most probably Solid Snakes’ last adventure, it garners the title a lot of attention. Kojima is now faced with a difficult task of replacing one of gaming’s most iconic figures and creating a story that is as off the wall and can command the same amount attention as MGS. While there are no real casualties at the end of MGS4, Solid Snake is obviously on the way out. Yes, Kojima could conjure up some horribly contrived reason to keep Snake around or even go back to an unseen adventure featuring Big Boss, but for the good of the series I think all of remaining cast at the end of MGS4 need to be left as they are and a new one to be ushered in. The only acceptable reason to have a game featuring Snake is probably in a remake of the two original MSX2 Metal Gear games. Not many people will have played either game, so there is potential to reinvigorate the stories of both games to keep them consistent with the Metal Gear cannon. It will give players a chance to experience the earliest incarnation of Solid Snake. It would only be suitable to bridge the gap between whatever the next innovation for the series will be.
