Link: Formal Analysis of MGS2

I found this link with a formal analysis of Metal Gear Solid 2. I have not yet read it completely but please take a look and tell me if you like it:

Driving Off the Map (located at Delta Head Translation Group)

Daniel Renkel

Daniel 'sirleto' Renkel is a true indie game developer (at heart ;) and a part time simulation engineer (space- & aircrafts). He's studied computer science at the university of Darmstadt, Germany and has a background of 8 years as game developer (assistant projectmanager, game designer, associate producer and technical artist). He worked on a whole number of PC and console games including the Aquanox series. Visit ludocrazy.com for more information about this current android mobile phone games.

One response to “Link: Formal Analysis of MGS2”

  1. Yu-Chung Chen

    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”.

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The Game Design Scrapbook is a second blog of group of three game designers from Germany. On our first blog, Game Design Reviews we describe some games we played and point out various interesting details. Unfortunately, we found out that we also need some place to collect quick and dirty ideas that pop into our minds. Hence, welcome to Game Design Scrapbook. You will encounter wild, random rantings. Many of then incoherent. Some of them maybe even in German. If you don't like it, you might enjoy Game Design Reviews more.

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