Hideo Kojima Interview - MGS2:SOL

Red type = ps2.ign.net staff
Green type = Hideo Kojima

Dan Granett: How does the look and feel of MGS2 compare and contrast with the original MGS?

Hideo Kojima: Snake has all the actions, the things he can do in the previous game. As you saw in the video, he can hang, he can crawl hand-over-hand on ledges, he can do somersaults. The buttons, the controls are very simple and direct, but there are so many other things you can do.

Dan: My following question, then, is how have the controls been changed?

Kojima: We've changed the first-person view button, but the other controls are the same. Because the buttons on the controllers are analog, if you press up quickly you can crawl quickly, you can point a gun quickly, you can change the speed of your action.

I wanted to comment that the movie that we've seen is astounding compared to any other console game today. Would you care to discuss the new, advanced visual effects being implemented in the game?

Kojima: We're not exactly going for "visuals," a higher level of visual graphics, because there's no way we can beat movies in that aspect. What I'm going for is the creation of a realistic virtual world, where you can feel heat, moisture, the air, and to do that what we do is have rain, we have steam, we have breath, we have blurs, so we use our graphic skills there, to make the player feel all these things. Like, for example, shadows. A shadow is expressed not only as a visual enhancement, but the enemies will actually spot Solid Snake's shadow, so not only is it visual stuff, it plays a great role in the game itself.

Dan: You mentioned atmospherics, which I'll get back to, but my following question after visual effects would be what your plans are in terms of sound effects. In the first game sound actually played a critical role in terms of where you are and how you're recognized, so I'm wondering how that evolves in MGS2.

Kojima: One thing that I couldn't do before, that I'm sort of able to do this time, is as if we have a full orchestra right next to the player, so that when the player moves Solid Snake around, and when Solid Snake faces a certain situation, the orchestra sort of leaves the percussion only. Instead of playing track A instead of track B, we're not switching tracks, but making changes to that one track, as if the full orchestra sitting next to the player is making changes.

David Smith: One of the unexpected and most interesting things about the original Metal Gear Solid was how it used the Dual Shock controller to convey effects in different situations, and I was wondering if there are any new and different ways that this new game uses that effect in the Sony controller.

Kojima: We can't tell you what exactly, but we're obviously doing something with the controller.

Dan: Can you give us some examples of new gameplay aspects or combat techniques that Snake uses? In addition to that, as the game's going on, how does the game go about expressing sensory perception, like heat or mist? Are there any examples that you could discuss?

Kojima: This time, the enemy AI is much smarter. Instead of fighting many single soldiers, this time you're facing teams, units of soldiers. There'll be four soldiers coming together, four against you, they work as a team, they cooperate, they hide somewhere and shoot together, one guy comes around from one way, the other three come around from a different way - this way the whole battle system is so much more fun and complicated.

Not only will the soldiers use these new strategies like working in teams, but you as Solid Snake can do new things, for example if you shoot pipes, there will be steam coming out. I guess this hits on the temperature aspect – this steam is actually hot, and if this steam shoots into the enemy soldiers, it can damage them. You can also shoot the soldiers' radio transmitters, if you shoot that they won't be able to get more guards coming over. There are so many things you can do. You can also have your bullets ricochet off a wall - these are all new strategies.

David S. : You mentioned yesterday that you'd studied real-life tactics of soldiers in situations like this. I was wondering if you'd talk more about that, and possibly about other types of real-life research that you've done to more accurately replicate the real world in this game?

Kojima: In addition to being lectured by Mr. Motosada Mori, our military advisor, we study every day. We read books, we check videos, we go on the Internet, we even visited an actual tanker to see what it is like, things like that. We study every day.

David S. : Speaking of the tanker, is that going to be sort of a preface to the game's main component set in New York City? Will the bulk of the game be set in an urban environment?

Kojima: The tanker is not everything, but that's all we can say.

Dan: Going back in time, sort of, to the original game - I was wondering if MGS2 features any kind of gameplay effects, particularly actual scenarios, that you had planned for the original game but were unable to use due to time or hardware constraints?

Kojima: Well, nothing from the scenario, because these are different scenarios, this is a sequel to the previous story. But, for example, you yourself hiding in a locker, or hiding bodies in a locker, this is something we wanted to do in the previous one which we but couldn't that we're going to do in MGS2. You can even use the locker door as a shield, open and close it and use it as a shield. That's something we can do in this one.

Dan: I noticed that the enemies now have more diversified ways of attacking, the team-battle aspect, and they also have a kind of riot shield that deflects bullets, I was wondering, what are some more examples of the advanced weaponry that they and Snake use?

Kojima: There'll be a lot of different weapons, as you saw, like the tranquilizer. That's the only one that we've been talking about, but there'll be a lot of different weapons. There'll be weapons that exist in the real world, and imaginary weapons based on high-tech stuff out in the real world, imaginary weapons but with a basis in reality.

Dan: Speaking about the futuristic, high-tech weapons, I was wondering what you could tell us about Metal Gear Ray?

Kojima: Metal Gear Ray, the name comes from manta ray, like a stingray. Previously, Metal Gear Rex was named after a Tyrannosaurus Rex, so I suppose you can figure something out from that.

Dan: I noticed some voices in the video were from the first game, and I was wondering if the voice-acting was already done and recorded, and more to the point: if that's Liquid Snake's voice that says, "It's been a long time."

Kojima: Yes, that was Liquid's voice, yes. Obviously we haven't finished the game so we haven't done all the voice recording, but we have done enough voice recording for this video, and yes that was Liquid Snake's voice.

Dan: Before, you mentioned that the focus of the game wasn't supposed to be spectacular visuals to blow away everything, but compared to other games of its ilk it's clearly the best console game I've ever seen. I was wondering as far as the technical aspect, what sort of new effects have you been pursuing on the new hardware that are unique to this game? Also, I've been asked if you are using anti-aliasing in this game.

Kojima: As far as anti-aliasing, we are not using it. You and other people probably think MGS2 is better, we would say that it's different from other games. Other games probably focus on graphics on a screen that doesn't really move, you have a very beautiful pre-rendered backdrop and high-polygon characters, but they're pretty much fixed there. They'll move around but the camera doesn't swing, it's fixed on one screen. There's probably no air or the other things we talked about, moisture, temperature, things like that you probably won't see in those games.

In Metal Gear, what we did is the background done in medium polygons, and the characters as well. We're not using high polygons, but we're using the extra strength that is left to create the air, the moisture, all that, and the motion, and at the end we add a lot of effects. That's why our stuff looks different from others. Other companies' stuff is great graphics-wise, but they may lack the air, and that other feel.

Solid Snake, when he walks around in the hallway you can see his reflection on the floor. Doing that, you have Solid Snake and the reflection there, so that's twice the work. Other games, you don't usually have the reflection there, instead they use those polygons on the actual model, so that's why it looks different. We're doing different things.

Dave Zdyrko: A lot of developers seem to be having problems developing for PlayStation2, it's very complicated and there have been a lot of complaints. Are you having any problems at all doing MGS2 – has it been easy, or has there been anything that you think you can't do because of the hardware?

Kojima: Yes, it is difficult to develop on PlayStation2. But when we run into a problem, say maybe we cannot do this on PlayStation2, our team always tries to come up with a different way to do it. In that sense our team is a masochistic group. They don't give up, they always try to come up with a way to do it, and they enjoy the pain.

David S. : I wanted to ask about maybe an artistic issue as opposed a technical issue. Metal Gear has been marked by its cinematic presentation, the way you've used camera direction to create a more involving experience. Can you talk about influences on that cinematic style, what's driven you to bring a more cinematic or movie-like style to games?

Kojima: I personally love movies, and I've been raised seeing a lot of movies, and that influence just comes out naturally. When I film my child, my son, on a home video camera, I probably film it like a film cameraman. It just comes out naturally – it's not something I intend to do, but every time I use a camera or create a game, it happens to have those cinematic effects.

Dan: I was wondering about Mr. Shinkawa's artwork, he's probably hard at work on his normal technical designs that he does in the real world, and the new characters, but is he branching out perhaps into more futuristic subjects?

Kojima: I don't think Mr. Shinkawa is really going for any futuristic stuff. But he's working on the Metal Gear design at the same time as the Z.O.E. design, so maybe both of those are rubbing off on each other – maybe you'll see some of the Z.O.E. mechs in this, and vice versa.

Dave Z. : Is there any chance we could get a tape of the MGS2 trailer?

Konami representative: Absolutely not.

David S.: Sorry. We had to ask.

Dan: Thank you very much, Mr. Kojima.

We'd like to thank Mr. Kojima and Konami for this rare opportunity to speak with him, and we're eagerly looking forward to learning about and playing his new projects.

* This article is believed by myself to be of public domain. Any infringements I should know about contact me by email: madjackyl16@yahoo.com. I would like to thank and give ALL credit to Dan Granett, David Smith, Dave Zdyrko and the rest of the ps2.ign.net staff for conducting this interview with Mr. Kojima.*