Anyone who argues that videogames can be neither culture nor art is either an idiot, a snob, or Ebert. Many games have story, production values, and overall cultural content to rival any book or movie, and one of the big ones in this department is the Konami series by Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid.

Even back in the dark ages of 2D gaming, the original MSX titles that launched both the series and the Tactical Espionage Action genre had remarkable story (though this or that version may not have had graceful enough dialogue, or even enough dialogue, to do them justice). Metal Gear and its sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, were the first of an altogether new species of game. After legions of mindless beat-em-up or blow-em-up games, a game series had finally been born which emphasized stealth and nonviolence as much as or more than it did action and violence. The stories themselves were chock full of intrigue and interesting characters. The games were popular enough that when Solid Snake's lengthy retirement to Alaska ended some two generations of videogame consoles later (the retro Metal Gear games were made in 1987 and 1990, though MG2 was not legitimately available in the U.S. until it was re-released as a special edition bonus feature in recent years with Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence) with the PlayStation 1 debut of Metal Gear Solid in 1998. The game was a smash hit and a cinematic success (not something to sneeze at considering the visual shortcomings of the first three-dimensional generation of consoles). Indeed, the story was just a big part of the game that you spent almost as much time watching the cutscenes and listening in on Codec (special spy radio) conversations as actually playing the game. The character depth and plot complexity of Metal Gear Solid puts most games, many movies, and quite a few books to shame. The only legitimate complaint regarding the story is that there is arguably too much of it to gracefully use in a videogame.

2001 saw the release of another sequel for the PlayStation 2--Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. This game pulled a shocking trick on the player--though Solid Snake was the only advertised playable character, you only actually played as series mainstay Snake for the first two and a half hours or so of the game. Thereafter you took the reins of a newbie whose character and appearance were almost as far from Snake as you could get without not being an MGS character. Code-named "Raiden," this usurper to the spotlight provokes controversy among the Metal Gear fanbase to this day. Aside from this surprising sleight of hand (which personally I quite like, though maybe that's because MGS2 was my first Metal Gear game...), the game is every bit as good as its predecessor and in many ways better. And the story is so full of depth, plot twists, and surprises that some players lost interest simply because they couldn't wrap their brains around it all.

The third game, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, was not a sequel but a prequel: it told the story of the agent known as Naked Snake, who would eventually become Big Boss, the villain of the original two Metal Gear games and the man from whom Solid Snake himself, as well as MGS1 and MGS2 villains Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake, were cloned. This story shed light on several other aspects of the plot as well, such as the origins of the quadruple-crossing triple-agent Revolver Ocelot and the origins of the organization calling itself the Patriots--not to mention where the series' trademark bipedal nuclear-equipped walking tank, Metal Gear, first originated. This third entry focused on jungle infiltration and survival rather than the radar-based indoor stealth of previous games, with such new gameplay mechanics as self-applied first aid, hunting for food, and camouflage adding new depth to the gameplay. Sadly, the series' trademark overhead camera view just wasn't workable with the new radar-free gameplay and the special edition release, "Subsistence," was forced to include a new freely controllable camera to compensate. About flipping time, Mr. Hideo "I-have-motion-sickness-issues" Kojima!

The third game's story was every bit as lengthy and complex as its predecessors, of course--arguably the best and most touching in the series (though in this reporter's humble opinion, the opening cutscene, briefing, and radio conversations are obscenely long). If any game deserves to be called "culture," it's this one.

Passing over non-mainstream additions to the series, such as the PlayStation Portable continuation of Big Boss's prequel story (Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops), we come to the upcoming game, the game to be released on June 12 of this year: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The first PlayStation 3 entry in the Metal Gear saga will also be the last--whatever the outcome, this will be Solid Snake's final mission.

I'm bursting with excitement for this title. With the realism possible on the new generation of consoles, the trademark depth and complexity of Hideo Kojima's series, and the apparent depth of gameplay displayed so far in the trailers and reported in the hands-on previews, this game looks like a definite masterpiece. I rarely jump to such conclusions, but MGS4 is just that promising. I can hardly wait to see the plot wrapped up and the questions answered--the resolution of Solid Snake's life (now with advanced aging on top of a devious bioweapon virus looming like constant twin shadows of the death over his every thought and action); the completion of his battle against his twin clone, Liquid Snake; the resolution of Raiden's story (who's undergone a startling transformation since MGS2 left him years before the onset of this game); the fate of a now war-driven future Earth; the secret of the Patriots and the final outcome of their machinations. All I can say is that when this console-selling game comes out, gamers around the world are going to be calling out "sick" from work... and I'm gonna be one of 'em.

Does anyone else on this forum know or play anything of Metal Gear? If you don't... go out and buy the three-game box set, now. You have no idea what you've been missing.