Jared Hiller

Analysis #3
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Director: Hideo Kojima
Composer(s): Harry Gregson-Williams/Nobuko Toda/Shuichi Kobori/Kazuma
Junnouchi/Yoshitaka Suzuki/Norihiko Hibino/Takahiro Izutani

1998 saw the release of the first video game in the Metal Gear Solid series. Even

looking back on it now, with today’s technological standards, there is a sense of

transcendence; that a product can become something more significant then its medium

would allow it. There is such boldness about Metal Gear Solid in the way it has no

problem deceiving or confusing you to prove its point; drawing you in to its world

through carefully constructed sequences that border on interactive narrative. What always

made the series so intellectually intriguing was not only the fact that it took its intentions

seriously, but the capability of it to do just the opposite; to break down the gaming

process to its very core components in order to show the audience its intricate inner

workings. The storyline is every bit sci-fi as it is Shakespeare; a carefully concocted epic

of honor and duty set against the backdrop of a near future where heavy-handed dialogue

concerning the fear of a nuclear proliferation or the dangers of genetic engineering are

joined with overtly dramatic sequences full of blood and sweat. At the center of the tale is

Solid Snake, a celebrated soldier of modern warfare, who is now, in Metal Gear Solid 4:

Guns of the Patriots, very ill and on the verge of death, but still needed for a final

mission.

Despite initially having ambitions to become a film director, Metal Gear creator

Hideo Kojima decided on entering the video game industry during his final year of

college. His intention to become a director of cinema becomes apparent in his approach
to game design and certain aesthetic choices that flavor his work. His games are marked

by the expansive use of cinematic cut scenes and large ambitions plotlines that exist over

an extended period of time and involve a numerous cast of characters. A large part of

Kojima’s influence is found in the science fiction output of the 1980’s, such as the movie

BladeRunner and the writings of William Gibson. In designing the Metal Gear series,

Kojima employs his quirky and irreverent sense of humor through dialogue and his

constant breaking of the fourth wall. In the post-modern tradition, he will fill his stories

with contemporary issues such as nuclear terrorism, nanotechnology, conspiracy theories

and the ideology of living one’s life with a disregard for all manner of constraints such as

personal, ancestral or genetic history.

Harry Gregson-Williams is first and foremost recognized as an eclectic film

composer. His works range from epic action and fantasy (The Chronicles of Narnia,

Phone Booth), to quirky family films (Flushed Away, Shrek) to introspective indies

(Domino, Gone Baby Gone). He began working with Kojima back in 2002, when his

services were requested for Metal Gear Solid 2 where he was assigned to create original

music along with prominent videogame composer Norihiko Hibino. In the case of Metal

Gear Solid 4, Hibino’s newly founded sound production company, GEM Impact, joined

Gregson-Williams for the games almost 2 hours of music. During the creation of the

game, GEM Impact never actually worked directly with Gregson-Williams and instead

was hired only after it was realized that Gregson-Williams music, which were fixed in

length, did not fit the many cues for the cut scenes. GEM Impact therefore had to not

only edit all of Gregson-Williams music to create basic structure, but were asked to
create approximately 90 minutes of cut scene music over a mere 3 week period. With

Hibino in the role of producer ensuring that all cues were clearly understood and taking

consideration for continuity, the team was able to create a cohesive musical aptitude for

the entirety of the gaming experience.

Syntax

The music of Metal Gear Solid has always had a clearly defined aesthetic that

exists as a fusion between classical compositional technique and new audio technology.

The stylistic choices are determined by their situational purposes but can be separated

into two distinct categories. The first being the action related cues, which are defined by

intense syncopation using synthetic percussion and ambient pads that create a thick bed

of sound with varying textures. Normally, strings will enter in a repetitive ostinato pattern

while the brass section maintains held tones to predict chord changes. On the opposite

spectrum, a minimalistic approach is chosen for the points where dialogue is meant to

take precedent over mood. The music is limited in both dynamic and textural quality.

Slow downbeat synth percussion punctuates the scene sporadically to create a feeling of

intrigue when characters are exploring long complicated monologues that detail essential

plot points while very quiet ambience is built with artificial landscapes.

What marks Metal Gear Solid 4 as a step away from tradition is in the use of a

now softer tone to characterize the older Snake. Due the effects of the cloning process,

the skilled legendary hero Solid Snake has become aged at an accelerated rate and is now

in his final years of life. The tragedy of seeing the once proud and seemingly invulnerable

soldier as a suffering elderly man is brought to life with Gregson-Williams “Old Snake”.
The main qualities of “Old Snake” are that of a lamenting ballad with a mournful melody

played with stark clarity by a nylon string guitar. For a gamer familiar with the series and

its players, this is a truly profound moment of emotional weight. In comparison to themes

of the past iterations, certain similarities can be garnered through a side-by-side analysis.

Metal Gear Solid 4 – “Old Snake”

B-flat minor - i IV v i

Metal Gear Solid 3 – “Main Theme”

C-sharp minor - i iv VI V7

Although both are in a minor key and of the same tempo, there is fundamental

difference in tone and mood. “Old Snake” employs a 6 bar exposition where most

melodic movement takes place in the 2nd and 5th bars allowing a ominous feeling of space

a lucidity. The chord changes function as a fluid transitory experience leading back to the

tonic that concludes the phrase. The main theme of Metal Gear Solid 3 is a picture of

daring bravery; a militaristic charge that finds its choral quality founded on distinct

phrasing and development of the C#-D#-E idea. Additionally, the theme functions as a 4

bar exposition where each bar is a play on the thematic structure based on a rhythmic

quality. In terms of comprehensible mood related differences, the use of the Major 6th in

the Metal Gear Solid 3 theme creates a significant change in tonal quality that makes it

more courageous then gloomy, particularly in leading to the Major 5-7 to lead back to the

tonic. While a theoretical analysis brings about ruminations on the disparity of the two
themes, the orchestral treatment of each theme generates the dissimilarities even to an

untrained ear. “Old Snake” is given a thin texture of synthetic pads to create harmony,

which allows the melody in the folk guitar to be clearly distinguished both tonally and

aurally. In the theme of Metal Gear Solid 3, a lush orchestral treatment creates an even

split between the synthetic and the acoustic where the horns take the melody with legato

strings portraying the harmony and rough synthetic percussion dealing out the rhythm.

Sound in Filmic (Gamic?) time

When handling music in relation to event sequences, game composers are usually

working under the category of cut scene or gameplay. The treatment of cut scene cues

depends on the very same qualities found in scoring for film where noteworthy moments

can be predicted and accentuated appropriately. Music meant for gameplay sequences

presents a trickier situation because of its reliance on mood over cues. In an interview

with 1up.com, Harry Gregson-Willaims explains the process:

“With the cut-scenes, it's very much like writing a cue for a movie. That would be

my modus operandi, anyhow. With a movie, I've got a screen running in the background

the whole time, so I'm in sync with it, experimenting with different things with different

cuts. But, clearly, with the more ambient stuff that they're going to loop in the

background, those are the ones that have really been done with these descriptive notes”

Naturally, with music that loops in a continuous process regardless of the action

taking place on screen can be quite overbearing. Gregson-Williams claims carte blanche

on such a phenomenon regardless of its repercussions. “That end of it is not my concern

and never has been” he explains, “…my job is to provide enough music so that if a gamer

does go down a certain path and takes that extreme, there’s enough there so that if

something’s going to change, the atmosphere of the music changes as the gamer makes

the decision”. This is a bit of an understatement but understandable from the film world

where Gregson-Williams is coming from. However, GEM Impact is able to create

variation because of their experience with the video game industry and the existence of

these standards in gaming. Firstly, GEM Impact took the existing music that Gregson-

Williams wrote and created compositions that are developments on the ideas held within.

In addition, particular steps were taken to better integrate musical cues when gameplay is

occurring. This becomes particular apparent during Act III, when Snake is sent to

Shadow Moses, a nuclear facility deep in the heart of the Alaskan wilderness and the

location where the whole Metal Gear saga began way back in Metal Gear Solid.

As Metal Gear Solid 4 is intended to be the closing of the arc that began with

Metal Gear Solid, specific moments are accentuated to create controlled instances of

nostalgia. At the onset of Act III, Snake is dropped slightly outside of the Shadow Moses

facility and must locate and infiltrate the heavily armed fortress. In a brilliant use of

sound design, no music is used during this segment and instead replaced by the swell of

the strong winds that batter the frail body of Solid Snake in the barely visible whiteness

of the Alaskan frontier. As you crest a large hill and first view the expanse of the Shadow

Moses courtyard the music picks up in a slow crescendo and plays “The Best is Yet To

Come”, a song composed and sung by Rika Muranaka for the original MGS. Kojima

chose to actually display the song title on screen, as a both a nod to the fans of the series
and a deconstruction of narrative in his typical method of increasing player interaction

through theatrical realism.

Another time conscience staple of the Metal Gear series is the musical cues that

rely on the “Alert clock”. As MGS4 is categorized a stealth/action game, much of the

experience is spent avoiding confrontation through hiding, sneaking and CQC (Close

Quarters Combat). If spotted by a sentry through remaining visible or making excessive

noise, the “Alert Clock” will be set off. The clock exists in 3 phases, each lasting 99

seconds. Each individual phase of the clock has a unique musical quality that

characterizes the intended actions taken by the player within that time period. The first

phase, “Alert Status” cues intense percussion and string ostinatos while you dodge

gunfire and rapidly progress to a safe area. Once that ends, the clock enters “Evasion

Status” in which the soldiers are still actively pursuing you but may not actually know of

your hiding place. Here, the tempo slows down but the texture remains similar to the

“Alert Status” with a markedly different lack of string interjection. Finally, the clock

begins the “Caution Phase”. Here the player is potentially safe from being noticed but

still must remain careful of the sentries security patterns. The tempo slows further to an

intermittent throb and no further orchestration exists. All these methods put the Metal

Gear series on a different plateau of sound design in instances of distinct variation.

Textual Analysis

Besides being renowned for its intricate story elements and inventive immersive

qualities, the Metal Gear series is also known for its approach to pacing; an important

quality in a game that can span close to 25 hours. The game achieves this continuous
substance through the correct placement of epic “Boss” confrontations. Besides always

being a battle of wits and reflexes, the encounters usually tie into an overall premise that

plays on themes meant to relate to the plot. While Metal Gear Solid 2 focused on the data

revolution and the post modern state and Metal Gear Solid 3 was a picture of Cold War

era loyalties, Metal Gear Solid 4 focuses on the impact of the modern war economy and

its effect on the psychic condition. In this vein, the present “Bosses” are the members of

the Beauty and the Beast Corp. Women of exceptional splendor and deadly technique; all

affiliates of the Corp. share the common experience of being displayed and damaged by

localized violence particular to their region of the world. GEM Impact approaches each

battle as a tableux, where the soundtrack for every individual mêlée is unique musical

interlude but contains compositional threads that tie them together. The music is meant to

represent the psychic state, associated animal and region of origin for each affiliate.

One of the most interesting new inclusions in MGS4 is the Apple iPod as a

useable item in Snake’s inventory. Kojima, as a savvy artist of the technological era,

obtained full licensing from Apple to include a sample of their products throughout the

game. As an item in your cache, the iPod can be equipped and controlled using the very

same mechanisms of the actual product with the Right Analog stick of the controller

replacing the patented “Click-Wheel”. A thorough gamer can explore the hidden nooks of

each area in the game to uncover songs that then can be played using the iPod at any

point during gameplay. The song selections cover well-known cuts form the Metal Gear

series along with other songs from Kojima’s other game industry output. By allowing the

player to choose the audio heard during play, Kojima acknowledges the profound effect
music can have over a gaming experience and the importance a user can have in the

cultivation of creating it.

Boss Area of Psychic Location of Battle Musical

Origin Evaluation Representation
Laughing Scandanavia -Bi-polar Small abandoned -Synths that squeal
Octopus -Inability to deal building in wilderness and squelch
with trauma leads to -Claustrophobic,
incessant glee Manic
-Percussion that
scatter like dice
-Menacing string
arpeggios
Raging Indonesia -Uncontrolled Atop a crumbling tower -Bold
Raven Aggression in the midst of a -Simmering,
European city continuous building
of intensity
-Vocals chant,
Staccato strings,
Low horn drones
-Compositional
Consistency
-Pad Crescendos
-Never truly breaks,
leading to nowhere
-Pan Flute elements
Crying Africa -Passive Aggressive In an open snowy field -Pulse driven
Wolf -Overwhelming filled with militant -Thick Beats
sadness that numbs soldiers -Long Arco String
emotions Interjections
-Distorted Guitar
-Underlying
softness, mellow
organ tones
-Ironically fierce
Screaming South America -Manic Depressive In a circular briefing hall -Unending walking
Mantis within a pristine facility bass pattern
-Loud dissonant
synth crescendos
-Simulated high
pitched “screams” of
varying textures

Metal Gear Solid 4 is a modern classic of immaculate artistic sincerity. The

amount of attention to nuance aids in producing a experience that really can’t be

compared to any other game or artistic endeavor in general. True appreciation comes

about through in depth analysis and not only being placidly exposed. As a videogame

should be, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a well rounded venture; a unique blend of animation,

illustration, musical composition and narrative.