Hideo Kojima

Metal Gear (1987)

Snatcher (1988) 

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)

Policenauts (1994)

Metal Gear Solid (1998) 8/10

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty / Substance (2001) 7.5/10

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (MGS1 remake, 2004) 6/10 +

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Subsistence (2004) 7.5/10

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008) 6.5/10 +

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010) 5/10

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013) 5/10

Silent Hills PT (demo, 2014) 7/10

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes  (demo, 2015) 5.5/10

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015) 7/10 +

Death Stranding (2019) 

    Kojima would leap the series to 3D for Metal Gear Solid in 1998. Among the return of codec calls and basic stealth mechanics, the campaign's main novelty was its cinematic cutscenes that showcased both competent choreography and stellar voice acting. It would also present amusing stints of post-modernism which would obligate the player to examine the back cover of the game's physical packaging, or change controller ports to defeat a certain boss. 

    Kojima's influences from mecha anime, Escape From New York, the James Bond franchise and Rambo films are relevant, but ultimately become second to the unique impressions that the game sets in its own cocktail of aesthetics. The snowy and industrial levels of Shadow Moses serve an ideal tech-noir (science fiction/cyberpunk and mystery/noir) atmosphere which complements the gameplay's suspenseful stealth and high-stakes action. The shonen assembly of villains, sexual gratuity, comedy relief, philosophical dialogue, and soapy melodrama all contribute to the story's bizarre contrast of severity and goofiness that would define every Kojima game going forward. 

    The boss fights present different strategies and challenges in defeating their respective characters, a variety that would lessen in later games as refined aiming mechanics would usurp the isometric camera. After each boss, upgrades to your max health and inventory capacity are rewarded, which is also discarded in later entries. 

    Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty would be equally subversive and evolutionary. Its plot would follow many beats of its predecessor for thematic purposes explained in the ending, but really I think Kojima just didn't want to ruin a writing formula that worked with his creative interests. Redundancy aside, its campaign is a completely distinct experience that is just as compelling as the first game, and its philosophical musings, especially in the last quarter, are much more prophetic on the growth of the internet and its societal impact. 

    The marketing and hype built around its release showcased only a fifth of the game in the beginning where you play as Solid Snake, but it then demotes him to a supporting character for the rest of the game in favor of a (deliberately) lame prettyboy codenamed Raiden, who would spend much of the game arguing with his girlfriend Rose, who becomes involved with the mission just to keep a close eye on him. 

    Although its refined shooting mechanics ease the pressures of combat, the advanced AI for enemy NPCs, as well as unavailable radar until certain computers are accessed, harden the stealth sections accordingly. 

    A deluxe edition subtitled Substance would include a silly skateboarding minigame that roughly emulates the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise — another point of wonder to determine how serious or irreverent Kojima is about his own intellectual properties. 

    Taking the engine developed for Sons of Liberty, a remake for Metal Gear Solid subtitled The Twin Snakes would release in 2004 exclusively for the GameCube. Its content would be much more ambitious than a standard engine port, as all voice lines and cutscenes were recreated to make use of the updated technology. Much of the action-based scenes are specifically superior, and the capacity for more details like facial expressions make the scene where Meryl is getting shot much more realistic and captivating. (I cried.) 

    Its most logical setback is the structure of levels designed explicitly for the original's isometric camera, rendered helpless by the new aiming and shooting mechanics. And, since the voice actor for Mei Ling was white, they dulled her performance into a sterile and colorless character rather than the endearing one from before. 

    After backlash for discarding Snake in Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater would follow the original Snake voice and profile, only this time as his genetic original. "Big Boss" before he was the boss of anything, an origin story covering a mission in the 1960s where he lost his eye, cultivated his notoriety, his anti-government views, and got his bandana. His codename "Naked Snake," while playfully suggestive, further emphasizes that this is Snake at his most primitive state despite being a highly-trained agent. 

    The influence of James Bond is most apparent, as the 1960s setting is relevant to the earliest Bond films, and it even has a music video for the title-card sequence as that is a signature ceremony for the Bond franchise. The double-agent Eva (who often gratuitously gets her tits out) is an archetypical "Bond girl" but in the resourceful manner, where she is a companion-spy equally predisposed to excellent stealth and combat tactics, and she even saves Snake in several instances. 

    However, the most respected and powerful character of perhaps the whole Metal Gear franchise is the Boss, Naked Snake's mentor. She is formal, calm, alluring, lethal, and calculating, but notably unsexualized. The exchanges between her and Snake are electric with tension that suggest both a maternal and romantic relationship, which altogether makes the conflicts of the plot more emotionally charged than a standard antagonist would have been. On top of that, the young and cocky Revolver Ocelot and his growing respect of Big Boss as a mentor and soldier is equally rife with subtext, implying a sort of man-crush between he and Snake, or at least a sense of possession with Big Boss as an enemy he can learn from. 

    A deluxe release called Subsistence would include another goofy mini-game based on a different franchise (this time Ape Escape) but would also completely remove the isometric camera in all areas in favor of a modern standard third-person camera that follows your character. This would be the camerawork in all of the game's HD rereleases. 

    Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008) further evolved the engine to favor action as well as stealth. 

    The story's end sequence of cutscenes would be over an hour. 

   Kojima's team would develop the "Fox Engine" for the apex design of gameplay and interfacing the series would ever see in the demo release Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and later The Phantom Pain, both released in 2015. 

    After Konami would fire Kojima for going over-budget and delaying release for the (still successful) Phantom Pain, Konami would release a disastrous zombie spin-off called Metal Gear Survive (2018), whose failure would not only kill the franchise, but highlight the significance of Kojima in the series as its driving force. 

    The Metal Gear series in retrospect may be the best video game franchise of them all. Each release of its main canon would contain their own distinct identities in aesthetic, programming, and storytelling; and furthermore, evolve with the improved technologies developed after each entry, in both intellectual design and hardware. 

    Though its cinematic focus would be contentious among seasoned gamers, the series would nevertheless not only "push boundaries" but spark discussion among players and designers alike for immaterial standards typically reserved for high art — debates on what is an assertive artistic vision, and what is unmitigated self-indulgence; a tension that had been present for literature, cinema, and music criticism for years, but rare to find in the otherwise strictly commercial and materialist culture of video gaming. Kojima played the strongest hand in defining creative ambition for games following the series' popularity, and some may say "for better or for worse" but I would say it's easily for the better. 

    In 2019, Kojima Productions would return with the new intellectual property Death Stranding, distributed through Sony. Despite mixed critical reception, a sequel was announced in May 2022.