Hideo Kojima Unhappy with Metal Gear Solid 4

Following my disappointment with the way the Metal Gear Online beta was implemented, I find out that Hideo Kojima — the creator and director of the Metal Gear games — is disappointed with how MGS4, his final game he’ll be involved with in the series, turned out.  The latest issue of Edge magazine contains an interview with the high-rolling game developer where his chagrin with the game due for release on June 12th this year, and one of the most anticipated PS3 exclusives ever.  But, what’s his problem with it?  Is the gameplay not up to scratch?  No, it appears he’s disappointed with the graphical capabilities of the PS3.

“Game-wise, it’s pretty close to the original vision: you sneak into the battlefield and can choose whether to do a stealth game or interfere with the battle more directly. But the graphic, side things like motion-blending and the size of the map, totally was not accomplished to my original vision – to my satisfaction.”

I beg to differ from what I’ve seen so far.  The graphics look nothing short of astounding (and I’m sure I’ll get a better idea about them from the online beta… when it’s released).  Now, Kojima is a well-known perfectionist, but that doesn’t really mean he can go around badmouthing the game just months from release.  The only press he seems to be giving the final part of the Metal Gear franchise is bad press.  What does he blame his disappointment on?

“When we first showed the game engine at TGS, the staff were really proud and happy. PS3 was a dream machine, y’know, and we were going to work on this and that – and we had so many ideas. But when we actually started developing the game, we realized there were a lot of restrictions and so it turned out how you see it today. The original vision was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn’t to say we didn’t progress.”

Looks like they overestimated the power of the PS3, as did many consumers.  The pre-release videos (eg the E3 Killzone 2 trailer) were extremely misleading about what the PS3 could actually do.  It seems progress was made, just not enough for his liking.

“I remember saying three years ago that we wanted to create something revolutionary, but in reality we couldn’t really do that because of the CPU. We’re using the Cell engine to its limit., actually. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the PS3 machine, it’s just that we weren’t really aware of what the full-spec PS3 offered – we were creating something we couldn’t entirely see.”

So, it’s not revolutionary.  Great.  Being modest is one thing but this is just simply talking down your own game for really no reason that I can see, and all its done is made me slightly less excited about MGS4.  Don’t think I won’t be there on release day, though!