Media Diary - Week 4

How the Metal Gear Solid and BioShock series changed my views of what a game should be

             
                 


Video games to many people serve the purpose of entertainment for the player, yet in the last 10-15 years they've become vessels of more than just entertainment; now capable of informing their audience and even engaging with them on an intellectual level. It's near impossible to mention the birth of the 'postmodern' video game without mentioning the on-going Metal Gear Solid series. The first in the series, Metal Gear Solid, was released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and quickly became a classic. Centering on a spy, codenamed Solid Snake, the game involved the hostile takeover of a government facility on a fictitious island in Alaska named 'Shadow Moses Island'. Snake is sent in on a 'sneaking mission' to recover the hostages and prevent the detonation on a nuclear missile from the terrorrists' walking nuclear weapon known as 'Metal Gear REX'. 

While sounding fairly obvious and by the numbers, the story of Metal Gear Solid included such heavy themes as governmental conspiracy, the duty of soldiers, the meaning behind war and identity. The character of Solid Snake in a late twist in the game is revealed to have been the brother of the main antagonist 'Liquid', forming the theme of genetics and the surpassing of expectations contrary to the DNA in your system. It also boasted some very interesting ways of progressing through the game, one instance having to remove your controller from the system in order to block the telepathy of an enemy; who could also read your data from other games. This breaking of the 'fourth-wall' and directly communicating with the player, acknowledging their existence, became a staple of the series and helped engage the audience on a level not before reached. It reflected the current government's activities and the world's politics at large and its approach to different controversial topics earned Metal Gear Solid a place on many of the best-ever lists.

Now, the BioShock series began in 2006 with the first game aptly named 'BioShock'. It's the story of a man who uncovers a secret underwater city in the Atlantic Ocean, after escaping from the wreckage of a plane crash in 1960. He quickly discovers that he isn't welcome in their 'paradise' and must defend himself and return to the surface before he meets his end. 'Rapture', the underwater city, reflects the dreams of the character Andrew Ryan - the video game equivalent of Howard Hughes or Ayn Rand. Ryan's obsession with the creation of a utopia becomes a dystopia soon after allowing the use of chemical enhancements called 'Plasmids'; super-human powers such as fire and levitation.

Suddenly, video games were becoming filmic and post-modern in ways never thought of before through the implementation story embedded within the environment. Rapture and Metal Gear Solid's Shadow Moses were characters of their own and told their own side stories to the main narrative - neglecting the straight forward ways of old. Video games could tell their own stories, on whatever the developers wanted to talk about. BioShock instigated discussion on communism, socialism, the freedom of man in the 20th century, the place of God in a modern society and the threat of dystopia - all ideas which before could never have been implemented convincingly. Like never before, players from all walks of life were able to engage themselves and understand more complex concepts in the guise of a first-person shooter. The producers could talk about Rand, they could talk about Marxism and they could talk about the way in which these affect YOU - the player. 

In the same way that literature has for centuries, video games could now be conveyors of concepts and ideas. They could be cautionary tales as well as games about 'the hero's journey'. The developers could now speak through the game and offer their own opinions in ways that books, films and music had for years before. BioShock made me understand the perils of delusions of grandeur and Metal Gear Solid made me aware of the strings being pulled within society. That as an individual, we are defined by our actions.

And the best part? There are games within these narratives. Shooters, side scrollers, RPGS are now part game-part narrative. There is fun to be had in video games, yet now more than ever - there is as equally satisfying stimulating narrative.