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Behind the scenes: Metal Gear Solid 2

Posted by chrisd on from the seems-like-an-exhaustingly-fun-job dept.

Kevin Lomax writes "GameSpot has posted another one of its Final Hours stories, this time detailing the development story behind Metal Gear Solid 2 for the PlayStation 2. They did one on Black & White earlier this year and this one looks just as good with lots of interesting quotes from the developers in Japan about how they built the game."

6 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. MGS:2 is a work of art... by EvlPenguin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...too bad that doesn't make a fun game. I swear I spent more time with my hands off the controller, watching a cutscene of some sort, than actually _playing_ the damn game. It's all beautifully done, but there's just too much inactivity for what is supposed to be an action game.

    The action that it does have is superb, and the storyline is definitly the best in the series. But overall, it just wasn't as satisfying and FUN as the original MGS (for PS1). I don't really have any incentive or urge to play it over again.

    Maybe I was just expecting too much, but I must say that I'm dissapointed. If I had to give it a rating, it would be 8.5/10. Oh well. Back to Grand Theft Auto III.

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    #nohup cat /dev/dsp > /dev/hda & killall -9 getty
    1. Re:MGS:2 is a work of art... by The_Messenger · · Score: 3, Interesting
      It's funny -- I didn't play the original MGS very much, but after finishing MGS2, I started a new MGS game. Wow, it sure gives you a good perspective on how much the industry has advanced. Not that MGS isn't a good game... but the gaming systems are practically identical, so playing the two back-to-back really lets you compare the PSX's and PS2's respective capabilities. The sense of "depth" afforded by the PS2's lighting engine is probably the biggest factor, after the sharpness of the polygons, of course.

      You guys may have seen this before, but I'll link to an old interview with head MGS2 weenie himself, Koji-boy. His comments are fun to read after immersing myself in the game for the past week.

      And as long as we're tossing out links, here are a few relevant Penny Arcades. :-)

      And All Through The Hizouse
      Again, For The First Time
      (And don't forget to pay for those belly laughs, now!)
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      I like to watch.

  2. It's being done by Animats · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's some toy on the market this Xmas that requires an ongoing supply of "powerup cards". I don't expect it to be a success, but if it had been Pokemon-based last year...

  3. Brute force pogramming by cvanaver · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I find this quote from the article interesting:

    "One way to solve a production problem is to bring on more people," matter-of-factly states Matsuhana. A core team of 35 to 40 employees had been working on the game since 1999, but during the final months of development the team would balloon to 70 members, most of whom were brought over from other development teams at Konami."

    They actually hit a deadline by adding more developers onto a project? I don't know much about game programming, but in business systems development that would be a miracle to say the least. I wonder what is different between game programming and system development?

    1. Re:Brute force pogramming by Anthy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It might be more to do with culture. Japanese work culture vs American work culture. There tends to be much less "egos" and "I want to do it THIS way" involved. So if you just add more people they'll just do extra work instead of going, "I think we need to change this important part of the game."

  4. Re:Video Game Plots by BadmanX · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In no particular order:

    Chrono Cross: The bad guy has a very good plan, makes it work for himself flawlessly, and almost gets away with it. I was stunned at how well the villain's actions were thought out.

    Ultima VII: The Guardian comes to Britannia and starts talking to people in their minds. He finds it very easy to convince some of them to do his bidding and construct a gate through which he can physically enter Britannia.

    Myth and Myth II: Despite the fact that the plot only advances during the between-mission briefings, these games managed to convince me that there was a stupendously large war between the forces of Light and Dark going on, and I was in charge.

    Grim Fandango: Yes, it's a horribly linear adventure game with some illogical puzzles. But the storyline was a superb blend of 40's gangster movies with the Mexican culture's concept of the Land of the Dead. I particularly liked how the gangsters killed people...after all, how do you kill a dead person?

    If I think of any more I'll add them.