Oh boy. How to unpack how I feel about Kojima as a video game developer? I am so conflicted about this guy.

I have to preface this by saying Metal Gear Solid remains my favorite video game franchise to this day, even though I was slightly disappointed with MGS5 overall.

I know some people really get bothered by Kojima's vague marketing - that's fair. Others welcome it as refreshing to not be given every detail ahead of time. Me, I am not really bothered one way or another, and I don't prefer one approach over the other.

What does bother me is Kojima. Watching him, reading his interviews over the last 15 years, he seems like a nice guy. Certainly, he is a good story teller in a lot of ways - he tackles deep subjects few others do, even if the execution isn't always stellar. This is the main reason Metal Gear Solid is my favorite series.

That said, Kojima irks me just a bit. He plays a little too close to the edge of being outright pretentious, and his story-telling usually isn't polished or focused enough to justify the tough topics he tries to tackle. MGS's story became ridiculously convoluted as the series progressed - we have people being possessed by transplanted arms, nanomachines, whatever "psychosuggestion" actually is - all next to complex themes and topics like the military industrial complex and nuclear deterrence. And these weird additions weren't an attempt to be zany or fun, no, these games take themselves VERY seriously. The story just became so nonsensical, they needed these outlandish things mainly to retcon certain plot points. In my opinion, this is because Kojima bites off more than he can chew. His eyes are bigger than his stomach, as he endlessly tries to tackle politics, the human condition, genetics, etc.

Also, I started to seriously question Kojima's judgement after playing MGS5. And yeah, I know Konami meddled, but most of the problems I had with that game were creative decisions made unilaterally by Kojima and had nothing to do with Konami. For example, the decision to have Keifer Sutherland play the role of Big Boss instead of David Hayter remains a head scratcher to this day. Some speculate that Kojima has kind of a fanboyish relationship to American cinema and TV, and he casted Sutherland based purely on a desire to work with him. At the expense of the actual quality of the game. I know it's a little out there but I'm kind of inclined to agree with this theory. Also, not including the poor ending caused by Konami, the actual plot beats throughout the game from start to finish were disjointed and lacked direction.

Basically, after being a lifelong fan of MGS, I'm starting to see through Kojima's BS. He wants you to think his stories and characters are as deep as the ocean. But when you jump in, you realize they have the depth of a kiddie pool. I still admire him in a way, for trying - most games don't even do that. I just don't think he is as good as he thinks he is. Like maybe he is a guy that has bought into his own cult of personality.