We think everyone can agree to the fact that Kojima is nothing but a perfectionist. So it comes as no surprise that he is a bit disappointed with Metal Gear Solid 4 and the way it turned out. To some, this may sound like a heartbreaking comment; however, we all know that the man desires nothing shy of perfection and we all know that no console can deliver that yet. In the latest issue of EDGE magazine from the UK, Hideo Kojima displays his displeasure with not the overall gameplay itself, but with the graphics that Metal Gear Solid 4 will contain.
"Game-wise, it’s pretty close to the original vision: you sneak into the battlefield and can choose whether to do a stealth game or interfere with the battle more directly. But the graphic, side things like motion-blending and the size of the map, totally was not accomplished to my original vision – to my satisfaction.
"When we first showed the game engine at TGS, the staff were really proud and happy. PS3 was a dream machine, y’know, and we were going to work on this and that – and we had so many ideas. But when we actually started developing the game, we realized there were a lot of restrictions and so it turned out how you see it today. The original vision was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn’t to say we didn’t progress."
From what we can gather, Kojima over estimated the capabilities of the PlayStation 3 and couldn’t truly achieve what he was trying to reach graphically.
"I remember saying three years ago that we wanted to create something revolutionary, but in reality we couldn’t really do that because of the CPU. We’re using the Cell engine to its limit., actually. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the PS3 machine, it’s just that we weren’t really aware of what the full-spec PS3 offered – we were creating something we couldn’t entirely see."
Obviously Kojima isn’t criticizing the PS3 as he states himself, unfortunately, it wasn’t capable of offerring him the power he was looking for. After all of the videos and previews we’ve seen regarding MGS4, it is almost too hard to believe that Kojima isn’t happy with the look of the game. From where we’re sitting, the game looks phenomenal as we’re sure you’d agree.
With Metal Gear Solid 4 scheduled for release on June 12 and the online beta starting officially on the 21 of April, we’ll keep you up to date with any new information that comes out.