Friday, March 2, 2012

Things I've Noticed: Sometimes Hyper-Realistic games can be adorable

Since I finished ICO for the PS3 I’ve moved on to one of the console’s classics, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which is designed to be a wrap up for the franchise and is, for my money’s worth (my money being 7.99 at a used DVD shop) it is an incredibly fun game of hide and seek wherein you try an manouver an older guy through battlefields where either side will start shooting at him if they see him. The game’s main character, Old Snake, is pretty cool as a grey-haired, moustached guy who has seen too much war and although is incredibly skilled, is also getting very tired with it.

Why is the game cute? Three reasons:
1) As my wife puts it – the main character may be an old man, but he sure has a young man’s butt.

2) Like with previous games Snake is able to hide using cardboard boxes or rusted out oil drums, and as he moves around in these it is, simply put, one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.

3) Akiba (Johnny), a member of the Rat Patrol team, Johnny is well meaning, more than a little disgusting (the first time you meet him he is suffering from severe diarrhoea) and desperate to be thought of as “cool.” Honestly, he may be my favourite character in the game

Seriously, the game does introduce a lot of questions about war economy, the nature of soldiers and even the use of AI in wartime technology, but for me it is the surprising levels of cuteness throughout the game that keep me going.

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