Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the 14th title in the long-running stealth action Metal Gear series, is famous for a lot of things. Reasons include cutscenes going on two hours, lengthy diatribes on war and reasons for it, and more.
Although the Metal Gear series has seen better days, it's still a great artistic piece that takes a close examination of complicated themes. This much is made clear in Writing on Games' latest video essay expanding on the nonsense that Metal Gear Solid 4 is filled with.
Starting with, of all things, a short story from one of Vladmir Putin's inside men Peter Pomerantsev, in which a future war full of factions that blur lines between victory and defeat. This is a reflection of the current Russian administration's objective of having such complete control over the political narrative that they even have influence over the opposition, thus confusing the people and keeping even more control.
Seamus expands on this by taking note of how, with the original game, Snake was infiltrating a base, and the lines were clearly cut between good guy and bad guy. But in Guns of the Patriots, Snake rides in on a cargo truck, chock full of guys in shabby uniforms, going up against Private Military Contractors, and later the Gecko. It's not clear what anyone is fighting for, and even more confusing when the guys are injected with nanomachines.
It's a complex breakdown, check it out here.
