E3 2010: Taking a Scalpel to Metal Gear Solid Rising
The producer and director discuss creating "a new standard for Kojima Productions."
Metal Gear Solid Rising, revealed in all its slice-and-dice glory at this year's E3, is not your typical MGS. For one, Hideo Kojima isn't directing it. He was the guy at Microsoft's press event, yes, but he's actually the executive producer on Rising -- the real trench work is being handled by creative producer Shigenobu Matsuyama and project manager/director Mineshi Kimura.
"Rising was meant from the start to be a game created by a new generation of designers, and Kojima told us not to worry too much about previous MGS titles," Matsuyama told Famitsu magazine this week. "Outside of the basic framework, we've got total freedom," Kimura added. "For a game creator, being someplace where you can make whatever you want is the best thing you could hope for, even with all the responsibility it creates."
That design approach isn't the only thing new with this MGS -- something made obvious when you see all the ass-kicking that takes place in the official E3 trailer. "Our aim here was to produce an MGS different in style from what's come before," Matsuyama commented. "Even in stealth sections, we wanted a sense of speed, the sort of speed that Raiden is capable of. Our main emphasis during development is less on stealth and more on the swordfighting action." (Not that stealth maniacs should be alarmed that Rising is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. "You can choose, to some extent, how you want to play this game," Kimura noted. "You can proceed along stealthily like other games in the series, or if you think you're up for it, you're free to plunge right into crowds of enemies.")
Kojima Productions, as you'd expect, isn't talking much about the plot quite yet. When asked if you use the sword the whole game or switch characters midway MGS2-style, Kimura demurred: "Unfortunately I can't talk story details at the moment, but in terms of the gameplay system, we're retaining the stealth aspect while pushing the swordfighting as well. Take what you will from that."
"There's really a lot you can do with your sword here," Matsuyama added. "There are little games you can play, such as seeing how many times you can slice something you're juggling in the air, sort of like keepie uppie with a soccer ball." Except with people, right? "People aren't excluded from that," he admitted, "but there's a difference between attacking cyborgs or robots and attacking human beings. This is true in other MGS games, but we don't encourage gamers to kill everything in sight. At our core is the idea that there's a certain virtue to simply disabling your enemies instead of killing them. We're trying a lot of new things in this game, but that's one aspect we wanted to keep."
There's a method to all this swordfighting madness -- where you strike is just as important as who. "Being able to cut off anything you want is one of the core concepts of this game," Matsuyama explained. "It's not like you score a 'hit' no matter how you hit your opponent -- you can change the angle of your attack to aim for and slice off certain parts of his body." Kimura went into some more detail: "There's a strategic element behind this system because depending on which sections you slice off of cyborgs or robots, you'll earn different rewards. In the media we're showing off now, you can see Raiden cutting off the motion system of a cyborg soldier, removing the battery and absorbing its energy -- that's how Raiden can heal himself and earn other powers." (Meaning that the Raiden we're seeing here is the one from MGS4, when he went all ninja-cyborg? "That's correct," Matsuyama said. "Timewise, this game takes place between MGS2 and MGS4, although this certainly isn't the Raiden you saw in MGS4. He looks a little more...I don't know, villainous here? You'll be learning how he made the transformation into the character you saw in MGS4 in this game's story.")
The sword mayhem here is both deep and complex, but it's not like you can cut through absolutely everything. "You can slice through some parts of the environment, such as columns and walls," Kimura explained. "We could've made it possible to cut anything in the game, but that would've made it too 'sandbox' and hard to play. That's why we put that limit in. You aren't able to slice up every part of an enemy's body at will, either -- some enemies might be wearing heavy armor, and it'll be your task to weave your sword between the cracks, so to speak, as you strike. It's a new form of gameplay we were aiming for, and the ability to so freely control your sword makes it possible."
There's no doubt that Matsuyama and Kimura are aiming high with Rising -- "I'm hoping we can create a new standard for Kojima Productions," as Matsuyama put it -- and it'll be interesting to see how the project grows and matures from this initial showing.
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