The new face of Metal Gear

 A weapon- to surpass Metal Gear!

So it's pretty much a done deal at this point. Konami have decided to recreate the Metal Gear franchise from scratch in order to carry on the legacy of one of their most beloved franchises and ride that momentum into becoming a somewhat respected developer in the industry once again. To what end? I haven't the foggiest. They already make a scandalous amount of money producing exclusively mobile games and Pachinko machines- unless... maybe they're looking to ingratiate themselves with people so the world won't vomit their guts out when it's revealed that the new Metal Gear games they intend to produce come with live service elements attached. I imagine that's their endgoal, because they couldn't figure out a way to make a Silent Hill battle royale. Yeah, I don't trust Konami as much as I can throw them. But until they show off their worst side, I wonder what Metal Gear will look like in the new age?

First off, Metal Gear isn't much of a series without it's visionary director at the helm guiding the narrative, directing the cutscenes, collating gameplay concepts and overall being the sort of overbearing perfectionist that drove the numbers-obsessed suits over at Konami consistently nuts. Hideo Kojima is very much the heart of the Metal Gear Solid series, ever since his first directorial debut, his unique approach to game design and narrative ambition have left their mark on the art of game design and summoned swarms of content hungry fans in his wake. And after a split with Konami so vicious that Konami expunged his name off the many games he produced, one would wonder if his name would ever be mentioned by them again, let alone called on to remake his game alongside them.

Well, in the way that they do, some games journalists decided to stir that particular stewing pot of faeces and to the surprise of all actually got themselves a response! Rather than ignore the question altogether or send the reporter a recently gutted grass snake as a way of 'subtly giving them the message', Konami came out to say it straight: Hideo Kojima has no involvement with the development of Metal Gear Delta. Nuts. Also, Yoji Shinkawa, the incredible artist who's iconic pencil-scratch sketch-pad illustrations have lent the franchise a unique cinematic poster design since it's inception? Yeah, he's not being called up either. However, Konami have gone out of their way to bring aboard various inhouse developers that have allegedly worked on Metal Gear before as well as a Singaporean developer called 'Virtuos' who have helped on titles like Dark Souls Remastered, Arkham Remastered console ports and The Outer Worlds' port. Yes... the port which looked and performed bad... What, were 'Bluepoint' busy?

And as I suspected, Metal Gear Solid 3 was chosen to be the vector of this remake not just because of it's beloved place in the hearts of desperate fans who had been begging for a remake for years now, but because it is the beginning of the franchise narrative wise, telling the origin of the man known as 'Big Boss'. Which very much makes it sound like they intend to ride this out and remake the entire Metal Gear franchise, without Kojima's name on the boxes, however when asked the contact seemed to get very cagey about the future. According to them, the ongoing future is dependent on the reception of this release, which is pretty much just saying that they absolutely are going to make another remake because this title is already going to break well past even- they could announce pre-orders tomorrow and meet their sales targets, the fervour for this remake has been beyond what I could have imagined. It warms my heart to see a world as ravenous for my favourite franchise as I've always been.

However, I do have some lingering queries about whether or not Konami are as clear on their direction and path as they make out. For example, Metal Gear Solid 'Delta' apparently sports the geek numerical because of 'Delta's association with change and renewal', despite the fact that from everything we've seen the developers are scared stiff to do absolutely anything different with this remake. Not that I think Metal Gear Solid 3 is in desperate need of a change-up, mind you- that's my single favourite game of all time- but I'm starting to really question the point of a remake that only updates the visuals and the basic control scheme. We know they're going to provide more than the fixed angles of the original, I'd imagine they'll have to remake the enemy AI and all that good stuff, but as for the world, story and presentation... they seem to be untouched.

We've seen the comparison screenshots and as far as anyone can tell these have all been one-to-one recreations. Not new areas designed to create the same feeling as the original, which is what the Resident Evil Remake franchise typically shoots for, but down-the-middle, totally unerring, paint with the lines, recreations. What's more, the original vocal talent have not been asked to return to this name game, not because they're going to be replaced or anything as ghastly as that, but because the original voice lines from the original game are going to be used. Which pretty much just plays out the fact that there will be no new dialogue, no new takes of dialogue, I can only imagine that cutscenes are going to be shot-for-shot identical to the original- these guys are doing everything they can to make a game exactly like Hideo Kojima would have, only without putting his name on the box. At that point- why even bother get developers who have worked on Metal Gear before? Just get anyone who's competent at copy work.

I sound petulant, I recognise that. But the fact of the matter is that I'm not so blinded by my undying love for Metal Gear Solid 3 that I can't recognise a product desperately struggling to justify it's own existence. Metal Gear Solid 3 is a masterpiece, no doubt; but the entire point of this remake movement is to see our favourite games realised in a different light, with modern design sensibilities and storytelling techniques. Unless we're talking about Last of Us, in which case the remake is just an excuse to recreate the game on a new engine and dull the visual palette down to the sequel's more washed out and grim aesthetic, potentially creating a tonal disparity but I guess when you're told to "just do the remake, remake maker!" higher design principals never really enter the equation, do they?

But at least the original Metal Gear titles are making their way to modern consoles, that I cannot critique. Volume one of the Metal Gear Collection is going to come with Metal Gear Solid 1 to 3, which I'm increadibly excited about because the original Metal Gear Solid is one of my earliest gaming memories and I haven't been able to pick up that classic and play since those halcyon days. And that collection is going to be only the first of the collection, leaving us to merely imagine what the next volume could contain. It could just be Metal Gear  Solid Phantom Pain and Ground Zero, but both those games already run fine on the modern generation so that would be a waste of a release. Fingers crossed we're getting a Metal Gear Solid 4 remaster and port for the first time ever! Maybe that kind of fan pandering will make up for the questionable future plans for Metal Gear undoubtedly cooking up in the Konami lair...