IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
With the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, director Hideo Kojima enters his fourth decade in game development as a director. While the celebrated "auteur" has spent the majority of his career so far working on the Metal Gear Solid series, Death Stranding 2 sees him expanding upon his newest universe, where he both introduces new concepts and revisits some of his most enduring ideas.
With a truly staggering list of credits in his impressive resume, there's no better time to revisit every genre-defying adventure Kojima has taken us on. Here is every Kojima game that he directed or designed, ranked from worst to best by IGN's staff.
- Kojima's early graphic adventure games, like Policenauts and Snatcher, are noted for their cinematic, film-inspired stories but lack the gameplay innovations he would later become famous for.
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is ranked as the "least favorite Metal Gear game." While it provides a spectacular conclusion to Solid Snake's story, it's heavily criticized for its self-indulgent, record-breakingly long cutscenes that sideline gameplay.
- Death Stranding, Kojima's first post-Konami project, is praised for its prophetic story about human disconnection, which became highly relevant after its release. Its gameplay is a unique departure, focusing on traversal and connecting a fractured world.
- The PSP title Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is highlighted as a full-fledged canonical entry that introduced core mechanics like base-building and soldier recruitment, which became foundational for MGSV.
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is considered the best-playing game in the series due to its open-world design and deep, flexible stealth-action mechanics. However, its narrative is considered fragmented and incomplete, famously missing its final story mission.
- The playable teaser, P.T., for the canceled Silent Hills is hailed as a masterclass in horror design and one of the most terrifying gaming experiences ever made, despite being just a short, delisted demo.
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is celebrated as a massive technical leap with prescient themes of misinformation and conspiracy, even though its protagonist switch from Solid Snake to Raiden was initially controversial.
- Considered one of the greatest games of all time, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is praised for its brilliant fusion of stealth gameplay with survival elements in a jungle setting, all wrapped in an emotional, James Bond-inspired story.
- The original Metal Gear Solid is ranked as Kojima's masterpiece. It revolutionized cinematic storytelling in video games and is remembered for its iconic characters and innovative, fourth-wall-breaking gameplay, such as the Psycho Mantis boss fight.
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