August 26, 2007

Link: Formal Analysis of MGS2

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2 comments:

Yu-Chung Chen said...
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Yu-Chung Chen said...

Thanks for sharing. I haven't finished it completetly yet, but would like to write down some impressions.

What I like:
The simple fact that he wrote it and in a very intellectual way. References to famous/important texts are nice too. Also the attempt to discuss with a clear terminology is commendable.

What I don't like:
My impression is that he tries a little bit too hard to draw direct comparisons and to sound sophisticated and ends up making the matter more complicated than it is.

Especially part VIII (about Vamp) stands out so far (I'm at IX the Solid Map). It reads like this: "Vamp is like half the bossfights from MGS1 combined but with this exception and that reversed, plus the scenario is similar but the exits are on different sides and used differently."

Huh? Where's the similarity than?

Preliminary conclusion:
I agree that playing with fan expectations is a very clever move,
and interweaving this into a twisting story, which even raises social, personal and moral questions, is quite an accomplishment alright.

But overall I find the analysis so far a bit bloated, though there're some interesting observations and points. Maybe I'll post again to update my opinion after finishing "ze whole sing".