The actual execution was a mess, but Skullface’s inspiration for his parasite weapon being the experience of linguistic imperialism as a child was a really novel premise. The idea that he would get his revenge by creating a weapon that killed anyone who spoke English is some cool super-villain shit I don’t think I’ve ever encountered before. “Race-selective” weapons, genetic-targetting weapons, religious indoctrination viruses, I’ve seen all those, but I think MGSV is the only time I’ve encountered a weapon that targets a language community.
i love the other games but I think MGSV and Peace Walker are the only two that have a well-formed political outlook. The other games are more personal, or more about scifi themes like abuse of technology, or how disinformation spreads. Peace Walker and V hit different and are very concerned with themes like racism and imperialism. Maybe by that point Kojima had a more well-baked ideological basis to work with, but who knows.
V is unfinished though. A third of the game just doesn’t exist and it’s why you spend the last section of the game replaying earlier missions and the story doesn’t go anywhere. I’ve always like how clear it is that you’re part of the bad guys in V. Only a few of the missions involve anything heroic, most of them have you involving yourself in both sides of a conflict while also fighting the shadowy illuminati guys. I usually have more interesting thoughts about this game but I’m tired from work and my brain is fried. Phantom Pain is still one of the most interesting games ever made to me though. It’s so silly and exaggerated and yet it’s got a really compelling breakdown of what revenge entails, how conflict starts and how groups form to secure resources. It’s neat. Kojima is neat.
Are you including ground zeroes as part of V? If not it possibly deserves to be the third to MGSV and PW.
I remember being kind of in awe that Kojima released a “lets go to gitmo, kill marines, and rescue tortured child soldiers” game.
I’m genuinely shocked he didn’t face backlash if some kind. The game does a really good job of showing the horror of American policy just letting that speak for itself. The moment you use binoculars and see the chase for the first time is powerful
Ground Zeroes and the trailers for V made me think Kojima had gotten his shit back together after 4. I was sorely sorely mistaken. Having big boss be the protagonist in anything but 3 was a mistake and Aldo the series should have ended with 3. Story wise anything after does nothing but ruin it.