ABSTRACT
Few video games polarize fans like Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear.The series is famous for its stealth action, odd humor, convoluted storylines, and its technically marvelous cut-scenes. Kojima is an auteur capable of creating ambitious games that, as opposed to most triple AAA video game titles, tend to conform less to market research and focus groups.The result is a deep divide between the Kojima loyalists, for whom the designer can do no wrong, and his detractors, who fill message boards and review sites with strident critiques of Metal Gear’s obtuse control schemes and pretentious cinematic interludes.With the release of Metal Gear Solid 2:Sons of Liberty (MGS2) (2001), the gulf between these camps narrowed. Following the popular and critical reception of Metal Gear Solid (MGS) (1998), MGS2 was expected to continue the adventures of the popular main character Solid Snake.While the game does begin with the player controlling Snake, the bulk of the gameplay focuses on Raiden-a younger, less masculine, and more vulnerable hero. Many fans were aggravated with this change and castigated Kojima’s hubris and disingenuousness (many of the promotional materials emphasized Snake). But what those critics misunderstood, then and now, is that the feelings of frustration are not the consequence of a design misstep or miscalculation, but are instead an integral part of MGS2’s gaming experience. As a consequence of this seemingly “bait and switch” trick, players are initiated into MGS2’s subversive logics of control and affect.
