Metal Gear Solid 4 — Cliches of the Patriots
June 10, 2008 –
The Metal Gear series is one of gaming’s great narrative misfires. While the gameplay and cinematic directing are always top notch, the dialogue is a virtual wiki of tired cliches and mediocre voice acting. Check out the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer for yourself.
Witness these moments of cliche greatness: “The system is mine!” says the villain with clenched fist raised to the heavens. “Die, Snake, hahahaha!” is another gem. Maniacal laughter? Really? Didn’t Dr. Evil make fun of this exact cliche three movies in a row? It’s just shocking to see these amateur mistakes in a game of this quality.
One would have hoped the success of the Jason Bourne series had taken us to a new level of realistic villainy. True government antagonists are, after all, pretty savvy folk who don’t go around laughing and twirling their mustaches. Same goes for the recent James Bond villains, who know every minute spent chortling to oneself is a minute that could be spent crushing the hero’s manhood.
Alas, Metal Gear 4 reminds us why dedicated writers in games are desperately needed, even if it’s just to take a red pen to every cliche in sight. Same goes for professional voice acting and directing. Hand Brian Cox or Gary Oldman a bag of money and have them improv these scenes. I have no doubt their freestyles wouldn’t be half as bad.
That said, check out the first 10 minutes of gameplay footage — awesome, right? Dialogue always sounds better when you don’t know what’s being said.
