Sneakybastards point out<\/a> that one of the defining characteristics of stealth games are their \u2018low threshold for failure\u2019, meaning that it\u2019s very easy for the player to get discovered, something which usually results in a rupture of normal play and the commencement of a pursuit scenario in which the player must escape. In Pac-Man<\/i>, this state of \u2018failure\u2019 constitutes normal play, whilst power pellets buy the player essential time to manoeuvre freely before the pursuit begins anew. Pac-Man<\/i>, then, is essentially a distillation of this rupture or turning point \u2013 keeping us constantly on the cusp of this exhilarating pursuit, with only brief glimpses of breathing room before we\u2019re plunged back into the fray. And by examining how Pac-Man<\/i> succeeds in providing this experience, we can also understand how other stealth games succeed or fail.<\/p>\nWhat the designers of both Pac-Man<\/i> and Metal Gear Solid<\/i> understood was that truly engaging game experiences occur when the player is in complete awareness of the game entities around them, and the mechanics by which they operate.<\/p>\n
An important aspect of Pac-Man<\/i>\u2019s design which contributes to this sense of awareness is one it shares with many other retro games: a preference of abstracted, simple aesthetics over any attempt to imitate reality. All Pac-Man<\/i>\u2019s game elements are broken down into simple shapes and colours to give them distinction. The maze boundaries, edible dots and empowering power-pellets are all starkly contrasted against the black background, while the enemy ghosts and player-controlled Pac-Man<\/i> are equally distinct from one another, looking like stylised puddings and a partially consumed cheese wheel respectively. The result of this aesthetic choice is twofold.<\/p>\n
The first occurs in any game with visually represented elements, but Pac-Man<\/i>\u2019s simple design facilitates the process: each game entity becomes an easily recognisable symbol within the playable game space. The cheese wheel comes to represent the player\u2019s vulnerable, digital self within the game, as well as their sole way of exercising their agency (i.e. the ability to eat things), while the puddings become emotionally-charged oppressors, pursuing with the intent to destroy. We are, after all, pattern-seeking animals \u2013 our brains love to apply structure and rulesets to anything we come across \u2013 and so it only takes a few seconds of playing Pac-Man<\/i> before a new player\u2019s brain has filled in the gaps, and these abstract shapes have become value-charged game entities.<\/p>\n
Secondly, because all relevant visual information is displayed on the screen at once and is designed to be individually distinct, the player is in complete awareness of the playable space and can always comprehend the ludic significance of any moment of gameplay – in the above screenshot, for instance, the player is being hounded by a number of ghosts, and is in something of a tight spot. But thanks to the game\u2019s clarity of design, their strategic options are obvious; they can flee the enemies in pursuit of more dots, or they can take a chance and make a dash for the power orb, a dangerous but potentially profitable move.<\/p>\n
This fight-or-flight scenario is just as complex as the strategic opportunities we have in modern games. Sure, in Assassin\u2019s Creed<\/i> we may have a plethora of lethal devices with which to hinder or incapacitate our enemies, but more often than not the true drama \u2013 the true strategy \u2013 of the game comes down to that moment where you have to make a snap decision. The Byzantine guards have spotted me, and are highly suspicious. Do I retreat, hide, maintain anonymity? Or engage, and hope I can dispatch them all before arousing further attention? These are the moments that make games exciting, and Pac-Man <\/i>conveys them with ease, with just a few symbolic game elements and four directional buttons. Compared to contemporary games it\u2019s like a design brief, or even a synopsis \u2013 it\u2019s the core elements of a game, laid out bare, easily digestible and entirely comprehensible.<\/p>\n
Metal Gear Solid<\/i> is so endearing because, like Pac-Man<\/i>, it makes its core gameplay mechanics entirely comprehensible to the player from the start \u2013 no small feat for a 3D game which is also attempting to convey a realistic aesthetic. This is, in fact, a problem which still persists with contemporary titles. It\u2019s easy to communicate the ludic function of a game entity through abstract symbols, as we\u2019ve seen with Pac-Man<\/i>, and this is because game mechanics themselves are abstract and digital. But to veil the game-world in a realistic guise is inherently detrimental to the goal of communicating game mechanics, because entities with digital, limited functions (an enemy which can move in eight directions on flat ground, for example) are disguised as having analogue, potentially infinite functions (a human being who can traverse a wide range of terrain types), and our knowledge of the latter impedes our ability to learn about the former. Put simply, with realistic-looking games the player has to learn what entities CANNOT do, whereas with abstract games each entity is a blank canvas, and the player can learn a truer sense of such entities\u2019 ludic abilities through trial and observation, unclouded by preconceptions based on a pseudo-realistic aesthetic.<\/p>\n
(This is why, if one of your parents has ever walked in and watched you play a video game, they have probably asked some inane question along the lines of \u201cwhy can he jump so high?\u201d or \u201chow can he survive being shot so much?\u201d. A person with little inexperience of game rulesets will naturally apply real life rulesets to what they see on screen, and most gamers have (without realising) un-learned their real world expectations by immersing themselves in game worlds. My parents, of course, asked different questions: “why are you such a goddamned queer?” and “how in fuck’s name haven’t you beaten that boss yet?”)<\/p>\n
While many contemporary games would prefer to exacerbate the illusion of realism for the sake of \u2018immersion\u2019 or somesuch, MGS<\/i> highlights the dichotomy between the pseudo-real and the underlying digital game mechanics throughout. It gleefully tears the two apart, and revels in inviting the player to peer through the seams and recognise the game\u2019s artificiality (just think of those Psycho Mantis cutscenes, for example). Indeed, MGS<\/i> chooses to first convey the gameplay mechanics to the player in an environment almost entirely devoid of pseudo-realism , in the optional VR training missions. These missions are not dissimilar from Pac-Man<\/i>\u2019s level-maze, what with their small wireframe environments containing a few distinct gameplay elements. In this context, soldiers and security cameras stand out as clearly as the ghosts in Pac-Man<\/i>, almost reverting them back to the status of symbols. Furthermore, these missions are often designed to convey how overtly predictable the guards\u2019 behaviours are. They have short, repeating patrol routines, and the levels force you to exploit their blind spots and obvious deficiencies. Stand shoulder to shoulder with one, and as long as you are outside of the guard\u2019s cone of vision, the player is invisible. Knock on a wall, and the nearest guard in earshot will investigate without fail. The game wants the player to understand that these are AI systems with limited agency and predictable behaviours which can easily be exploited.<\/p>\n
![\"3-RadarScreen2\"](\"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/3-RadarScreen2-300x206.jpg\")
\nEven in the game proper, MGS<\/i> constantly undermines its own realistic aesthetic. The radar in the corner of the screen also functions to remind players of the game\u2019s artificiality. It breaks the level down into a traversable maze, and reduces guards to their cones of vision only. It is essentially a window into the realm of the digital and the symbolic, reminding us that we inhabit a space of limited game elements. Even in the level as a whole \u2013 in the space of the pseudo-real \u2013 there is an economy to the game\u2019s realism, where seemingly decorative elements are drawn back into the game\u2019s functional ludic core. Footsteps in the snow and puddles of liquid, for instance, are both methods of attracting a guard\u2019s attention rather than being simply decorative, while every door and ventilation shaft can be entered (with the right keycard, at least) where in other games they would be illusory \u2013 \u2018locked\u2019 and leading nowhere. The symbolic even pervades the pseudo-real at times, with exclamation marks appearing over enemies\u2019 heads to signify the detection of the player, and items floating above the ground like a pick-up in an arcade shooter. These elements are all the more noticeable for their distance from the realistic world they inhabit; a ration, slowly spinning in the corner of a room, is just as obvious as a flashing power pellet against Pac-Man<\/i>\u2019s black background.<\/p>\n
The camera helps too, hanging disembodied above the player-character and allowing for a wide survey of the player\u2019s immediate surroundings at any one time. Its default alignment is always the same, with the top of the screen leading north, which helps to orientate the player within an objective space and makes it easier to memorise the layout of the level (it is interesting to note that while Shadow Moses may seem like a sprawling complex, the entire game is actually one long road north, much like a Mario level is a constant journey to the right of the screen. In MGS<\/i>, the top of the screen is always the direction of Metal Gear Rex – the ultimate objective of the game).<\/p>\n
Metal Gear Solid<\/i>, then, attempts to educate the player of the game world from the bottom-up, making its gameplay mechanics obvious from the start and intending for the player to have a complete awareness of their situation at all times. It does this by giving the player an awareness of space, visually identifying elements of ludic importance, and by making these elements deterministic and predictable. As a result, the gameplay on both sides of the aforementioned \u2018low threshold for failure\u2019 found in stealth games is improved. When the player is sneaking, they have control over their immediate environment; they are empowered not in strength or ability, but through their understanding of the world around them and the strategies available to them; they have the means to exploit a game system which they recognise as deterministic. And when the failure threshold is breached and the regular rhythms of play are interrupted, and the deterministic game world breaks down into unpredictability, the same comprehension of game mechanics which empowered the player before now enhances the emotion and exhilaration found in their escape. The player, aware of their surroundings, has numerous strategies for evading their pursuers; but is also constantly aware of who is chasing them, and the danger this poses. It is at this point that Metal Gear Solid<\/i> most closely resembles Pac-Man<\/i>, as the player knows full well their vulnerability in the face of a relentless oppressor, and is forced to quickly navigate a level-maze in search of a hiding place \u2013 a power pellet which will turn the tables.<\/p>\n
Essentially, the design decisions we have assessed in both Metal Gear Solid<\/i> and Pac-Man<\/i> enhance the experience of playing a game with a low threshold for failure. It\u2019s easy to see where similar games have failed. Assassin\u2019s Creed<\/i>, for instance, lets its pursuit of pseudo-reality get in the way of actual gameplay (ironically, considering the whole thing is set in a computer simulation). When the player is spotted, chases are dull affairs as the player must focus on running and climbing, and usually cannot see their pursuers behind (imagine a chase scene in a film if you could only see the person running). Furthermore, the openness of the game world prevents the tense strategy of manoeuvring in a cramped environment \u2013 a factor which is essential to the gameplay of MGS<\/i> and Pac-Man<\/i>. On the other side of the failure threshold, I\u2019ve always found the stealth gameplay of Far Cry<\/i> to be incomprehensible, for the simple reason that I have no idea the limits of the guards\u2019 perceptions. While you understand the guards\u2019 behaviours in MGS<\/i> from the very beginning, I played through the whole of Far Cry<\/i> setting off every alarm in every encampment, usually spotted by a guard I thought was too far away to see me (my brother John has an incredible ability to play the first Far Cry<\/i> stealthily. I know not what dark intellect resides in the depths of his brain which allows him to do this, or what secret pact was made with entities unknown, but one thing is for sure: Far Cry<\/i>\u2019s stealth system is shit and John is a bizarre wanker).<\/p>\n
I\u2019d even go as far to argue that the gameplay of subsequent MGS<\/i> titles has been impeded by attempts to modernise the series. MGS4<\/i>, for instance, attempts to draw the player closer to Snake\u2019s perspective with its more intimate third-person camera and the lack of a contextual radar. And while this is all in keeping with our contemporary desire to immerse ourselves into the \u2018experience\u2019 and merge with the character we are playing, it comes at a price; at best the game is simply more fiddly, and at worst it becomes disorientating and frustrating. In fact, I enjoyed the AC!D<\/i> PSP spin-off titles far more than MGS4<\/i>, as despite being turn-based card games, they better understood what made the original MGS<\/i>\u2019 gameplay so satisfying and endearing.<\/p>\n
In fact, I think life itself would benefit from being more like the original Metal Gear Solid<\/i>. I grow tired of the complex unpredictability of human emotions \u2013 wouldn\u2019t things be easier if we simplified things a bit? Imagine a world in which, rather than having to worry about money and relationships and your own insignificance in a vast universe of unknowns, the most pressing concern in anyone\u2019s life was where those footprints came from, or what that noise was. You\u2019d always know if someone was pissed off with you, thanks to the giant exclamation mark hanging above their head, and the situation could easily be diffused by hiding in a cardboard box. And sure, most of your friends would have weird psychic powers or would be quadruple-crossing you for an organisation run by a mouldy carrot in the basement of Scotland Yard, but at least you could skip all the cutscenes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1998. That\u2019s fourteen years ago now – more if you\u2019re a citizen of the future. I remember fondly the time I spent as a youngster; enjoying 90s action films when I was too young to realise they were genuinely crap, watching children\u2019s cartoons when I was too young to realise they were genuinely brilliant and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-criticism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92,"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Pac-Snake\"](\"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1-PacMGS-300x197.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"2-PacScreen\"](\"http:\/\/lovelyhellplace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2-PacScreen-248x300.jpg\")
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