A Tale of Two Snakes: Adjusting to a New Voice from an Old Face

To complain about Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes' length would be to beat a dead horse, so I won't even bother to pick up a club. It's a tight game, one that's pushed the series further from top-down sneak 'em up gameplay to tactical shooter mechanics that rivals most military shooters on console. The story is compelling, and they waste no opportunities in terms of getting you up to speed. Didn't play side-story game Peace Walker? That's alright. The loading screens are rife with context. Not that it will do you much good. This is a Metal Gear Solid game, after all.

That being said, what little story you do get is good. It's intense. It's much darker than its predecessors, even more so than Metal Gear Solid 4's theme of an aging soldier who may or may not be knocking on death's door. You get some unexpected social commentary with Guantanamo Bay stand-in Camp Omega. All in all, it's clear that Metal Gear Solid is doing some growing up. 

To amp up the maturity levels, Hideo Kojima sought out some Hollywood talent for his cast of battle-hardened characters. Enter Jack Bauer himself: Kiefer Sutherland. The growly son of Donald now voices Snake as opposed to fan favorite David Hayter who, for many people, is the voice of Snake, whether Solid Snake or papa Naked Snake. A lot of folks weren't happy, especially Mr. Hayter himself, and understandably so: Hayter's gravelly intonation was Solid Snake. It only got more gruff when Solid Snake aging sped up in MGS 4, and it felt right. Hayter is Snake.

It's jarring to see the face of a character who is recognizable, regardless of polygon count or texture detail, but instead hear the voice of another, a voice that doesn't quite fit. For over fifteen years, gamers have consistently had the same voice for Solid Snake since his delivery unto a 3D canvas. Why change it now?

It's already evident that MGS V is a game of change. The game is a transition for the main character from protagonist to antagonist. Already, there's a tonal shift between MGS V and its predecessors. In spite of its depressing content, MGS 4 keeps the razors from the wrists with moments of the comedic and bizarre. A gun dealer who looks oddly like Dennis Rodman in Simon Sez with a pet monkey in silver hot pants? MGS 4 is abound with Koijma-san's signature quirk. In the brief window of MGS V, we don't get that with the exception of his Frankenstein-esque, anachronistic iDroiD, but even that is easy to overlook. No guardsmen with diarrhea, no roller skating grenadiers. For a Hideo Kojima production, it's all very straight-forward. 

This is a prequel, of course. Post-origin story, pre-epitaph. This is us seeing Anakin tossed into the lava pit. This is us seeing the hero become the villain. We need to see why Naked Snake becomes Big Boss and why Big Boss becomes hellbent on renouncing his allegiances with private army and a giant robot. Heavy moments are bound to happen. Kojima needs an actor who can handle some emotional weight, and disappointingly maybe Hayter's not cut out for it. 

It's still weird, though. It's like seeing a friend you knew as a kid but didn't see again until after puberty struck: voice is deeper and attitude is different. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's for damn sure a weird thing. Kiefer Snake is definitely different from Hayter's Naked Snake. Kiefer Snake's seems more haunted, more weighed down by crises. I need more time with Kiefer Snake, but Ground Zeroes is, by all means, a glorified demo.