The funny thing is Metal Geal Rising: Revengance is the only Metal Gear game that ever came close to the actual vision of Metal Gear that only exist in Kojima's and the fans' mind. It actually have coherent politics that criticizes American imperialism and how it drove war for its self interest, Senator Armstrong* is a caricature of what kind of bullshit American warhawks unironically believes, the whole plot also is about him trying to stage a false flag attack on America so he can be president (hmmm :mission-accomplished:)
like so many of Metal Gear's "politics" are largely nonsense that people extrapolates to be much deeper than it actually is because the presentation is cool. People often talks about Metal Gear failing to deliver its "war is bad" message because the cool militaria aesthetic undermines it message, but I think the answer is simpler: it was never an anti war story. Metal Gear is a fantastical espionage story (and honestly it's in the title: TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ACTION) featuring super-special agents fighting a villainous mastermind and their army of colorful goons who wanted to commit some wacky scheme with their wonder-weapon. Metal Gear have more in common with James Bond, Mission Impossible, or Venture Bros; which are not a bad thing on its own, yet some people treats it like it's the Come and See of video games.
*rewatching his cutscene again and yeah, Armstrong is straight up an objectivist/libertarian. Hell, considering the game's release date (2013) it is possible that the devs based him on the Tea Party guys who at the time were in the middle of bringing those views into the American mainstream and the world's attention.
Most of MGS politics make sense if you consider it from the perspective of an anarchist who has never read theory
MGS 1 and 3 are just spy flicks with some interesting subversions, 2 is pretty good, albeit on a meta level, not the actual story (that's just 1 again), 4 is just a big fuck you to the fans.
Peace Walker and V are honestly pretty well written to show the downfall of Big Boss from loveable MGS3 goofy spy man to villain and the fact that basically the entire internet says they don't see it is what makes it good. By V, it's not even subtle about it with the literal Big Boss is watching you poster on your rogue nuclear military junta platform made up out of brainwashed conscripts and still everybody is like "well how's he the bad guy" because he destroys a metal gear again and is likeable. I genuinely think that's the point, you see it from his or is cult follower perspective. If you were to look at the entire scenario from a distance it becomes pretty clear the guy trying to fuel a forever war for his private army ain't exactly what anybody considers good, even if he does rescue a puppy.
The funny thing is Metal Geal Rising: Revengance is the only Metal Gear game that ever came close to the actual vision of Metal Gear that only exist in Kojima's and the fans' mind. It actually have coherent politics that criticizes American imperialism and how it drove war for its self interest, Senator Armstrong* is a caricature of what kind of bullshit American warhawks unironically believes, the whole plot also is about him trying to stage a false flag attack on America so he can be president (hmmm :mission-accomplished:)
like so many of Metal Gear's "politics" are largely nonsense that people extrapolates to be much deeper than it actually is because the presentation is cool. People often talks about Metal Gear failing to deliver its "war is bad" message because the cool militaria aesthetic undermines it message, but I think the answer is simpler: it was never an anti war story. Metal Gear is a fantastical espionage story (and honestly it's in the title: TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ACTION) featuring super-special agents fighting a villainous mastermind and their army of colorful goons who wanted to commit some wacky scheme with their wonder-weapon. Metal Gear have more in common with James Bond, Mission Impossible, or Venture Bros; which are not a bad thing on its own, yet some people treats it like it's the Come and See of video games.
*rewatching his cutscene again and yeah, Armstrong is straight up an objectivist/libertarian. Hell, considering the game's release date (2013) it is possible that the devs based him on the Tea Party guys who at the time were in the middle of bringing those views into the American mainstream and the world's attention.
Most of MGS politics make sense if you consider it from the perspective of an anarchist who has never read theory
MGS 1 and 3 are just spy flicks with some interesting subversions, 2 is pretty good, albeit on a meta level, not the actual story (that's just 1 again), 4 is just a big fuck you to the fans.
Peace Walker and V are honestly pretty well written to show the downfall of Big Boss from loveable MGS3 goofy spy man to villain and the fact that basically the entire internet says they don't see it is what makes it good. By V, it's not even subtle about it with the literal Big Boss is watching you poster on your rogue nuclear military junta platform made up out of brainwashed conscripts and still everybody is like "well how's he the bad guy" because he destroys a metal gear again and is likeable. I genuinely think that's the point, you see it from his or is cult follower perspective. If you were to look at the entire scenario from a distance it becomes pretty clear the guy trying to fuel a forever war for his private army ain't exactly what anybody considers good, even if he does rescue a puppy.
Even the most popular MG Rising meme video on YT is still fairly based and leans on that rhetoric a lot.