Signature of Style: Despite his deep involvement with many titles, Hideo Kojima's unique style as a game designer has and continues to be defined by the Metal Gear series. When the original Metal Gear emerged on the NES, its hide-and-seek gameplay was a far cry from the charge-in-with-guns-blazing action seen in most other titles. Instead Metal Gear forced you to sneak silently around patrolling guards, dodging searchlights as you infiltrated enemy bases.
Examples of auteurism include recurring themes and devices, and the Metal Gear series has plenty. As the series progressed, Kojima's writing continued to become more ambitious, exploring themes ranging from government conspiracy and the ethics of war to free will and determinism. Kojima's decision to include lengthy and sometimes philosophical dialogues in his cutscenes – starting with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - has been criticized by some for being too esoteric. But at the time of its release, Kojima's writing elevated the importance of storytelling by introducing a level of complexity usually reserved for novels and films.
Above: The Metal Gear series has been known to force players to think inside the box on occasion for clever ways to elude foes
But there's a subtle playfulness in the Metal Gear series' gameplay that permeates through its serious surface, the most striking example being how the game forced players to think inside the box to elude detection. Camouflaging yourself with a cardboard box and watching guards - with question marks looming over their heads - pass by, smacked of a cartoony silliness that seemed to directly contradict the series' serious setting. But the device worked well, and will return in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on the PS3 in the form of a barrel.
Other unique devices include the various uses of tobacco in the series. Indulging in a hard-earned smoke after defeating a boss extends Snake's life meter in Metal Gear Solid 2, and blowing smoke revealed infrared lasers - helping you avoid detection. But glorifying tobacco is a taboo in products marketed towards youngsters and the series warns players that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health. Smoking Snake's favorite brand, Lucky Strikers (a reference to the Lucky Strikes brand popular with US soldiers during WWII) will slowly reduce Snake's health meter over time.
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