Konami recently fired its first shot in the looming next-gen console war by announcing Metal Gear Solid 4 as a PlayStation 3 exclusive. Although the game is likely two years away, series mastermind Hideo Kojima has crafted a slick teaser trailer (head to 1UP.com and search for “Metal Gear Solid 4” to scope it) that reveals a few bits of prime intel: The game takes place after the events of MGS2, you play as Solid Snake, and the theme of the game is “no place to hide.” In a series traditionally all about hiding, that could cause some difficulties. EGM sat down with Mr. Kojima for a brief chat about his next opus....

EGM: Good job on the MGS4 trailer—it’s really quite funny....

Hideo Kojima: That makes me happy to hear, because the Japanese guys didn’t get it at all, including the members of my own staff. We had a preview event for Konami in Roppongi where we work, and no one said anything to me after it was shown.

EGM: The whole “no place to hide” concept: Does that mean that the stealth aspect of the previous games won’t be in the next game?

HK: It does not mean that you don’t need to hide. It will be a stealth game, like the ones we’ve produced in the past. You do need to hide. That is the purpose of the game. The concept behind “no place to hide” is as you saw in the trailer: There was a building and then it was bombed, and suddenly there was no cover. That’s the concept...there is no safety zone. According to the environment, things will always be changing, and there might be conditions where there literally is nowhere to hide.

EGM: You had mentioned that there are several hidden hints in the trailer. We noticed a butterfly and a bird....

HK: Yes, there are other side meanings there.... I’m just satisfied that I could give everyone a laugh. One of the goals in creating this trailer was to go against the buzz about new hardware and how great next-gen graphics would be. I predicted that there would be a lot of new shooters with very realistic graphics, so I decided to lighten the mood and make everyone laugh with a trailer for a combat game.

EGM: For MGS2 you went to NYC, and for MGS3 you went to the jungle. Was there a physical location where you traveled to research MGS4?

HK: Not yet, actually. That’s a tricky question, because if I answer it, it’d give too much away. It’s very difficult to go there; that’s the only hint I can give you. And also, I’d like to say that for MGS4, it’s a combat game: weapon against weapon, or hand to hand with punching and kicking, but I think that a more important part of combat is the psychological aspect. Meaning, there is an intense mental fear when you point a gun at someone. I want to represent that in MGS4...a more psychological battle. That’s what real combat is all about. So, myself and my staff, we need to talk to a psychologist to better understand this concept. I want to absorb all the lessons from the shrink and control my staff with fear. [Laughs]

EGM: Can you reveal the subtitle for MGS4?

HK: Actually, we have many titles to choose between and haven’t quite decided on one.

EGM: Will you be as hands-on as always with MGS4? You’ve been talking about passing control of the series along ever since MGS2....

HK: Yes and no. Well, no, actually, because there will be another producer and director on set. In the past it was just me passing info on to the staff, but now we’ll gather together and try to create something new that is a product of all three of us. It’s a totally new way of producing MGS.

EGM: What secret info can you tell us about Metal Gear Solid 4 that nobody knows…that your team won’t kill you for telling us?

HK: This is a Metal Gear Solid, yet the trilogy is now over, so we have to come up with a new story. There will be a strong story in the background, but what I can say is that we won’t create it in the same way: cinema, action sequence, cinema. I want the action to be less localized, for events to occur across large areas...I want to utilize the environment itself to tell the story line. Another new aspect is that Snake always had to sneak into an enemy fortress or field. We will change that in some way for MGS4, so you’ll get a new experience for sneaking in.

The World of MGS4

Kojima also offered vague hints about just how revolutionary the world of MGS4 could be. He compared previous game environments to movie sets, stating that he now wants to simulate a real world. If he were to craft a forest environment for MGS4, he would want everything to work together in a realistically re-created ecosystem: Every tree grows from a seed, sheds it leaves, and dies. Ambitious....

Familiar Faces

Although the story is closely guarded, Kojima has revealed the central cast of characters for MGS4. Spoilers abound for those too lazy to have played past games, so tread with caution.

Vamp

MGS2’s bizarre bisexual vampire apparently didn’t die from that bullet to the head. So he’s back from the dead, but whose side is he on? Since his beef is with the Patriots (the illuminati controlling the government), he and Snake share the same agenda....

Meryl

Snake’s sassy love interest from the first MGS returns at last (the canonical ending of that game has her surviving the sniper wound, in case you cruelly let her die when you played). Hopefully, she’ll be kickin’ ass at Snake’s side during MGS4.

Raiden

MGS2’s much-reviled postmodern prissy-boy plays a role in MGS4, but thankfully, it’s not a starring one. We’re not sure if the baby in the pic is his with the traitorous (yet still lovable) Rosemary, or Olga’s infant rescued from the clutches of the Patriots.

Revolver Ocelot

It’s tough to figure out just whose agenda this dynamic triple-agent is truly pursuing, but he’ll definitely lead our heroes to the location of the Patriots. Also, don’t forget that he has Liquid Snake’s hand grafted onto his arm. And that it tells him to do things.

Solid Snake

The gravelly voiced badass returns to action with a redesigned sneaking suit, a full beard, and a killer agenda. We assume that the basic mission of MGS4 will be for Snake’s rogue operative group, code-named Philanthropy, to take down the Patriots.

Otacon

Snake’s pal will once again offer invaluable technical support on the mission. Once he finds out that Vamp, the murderer of his beloved stepsister Emma (and by beloved, we mean creepy incestuous “beloved”), is still alive, we might see some geek rage....

Big Boss (says us)

We’re not 100 percent sure that this creepy old naked dude is in fact Big Boss, but he certainly looks the part. And if it is him, what role will he play in the story line? We all certainly came to respect him after his starring role in MGS3....

Naomi (we think)

We’re guessing that this is Naomi Hunter from MGS (it could also be Fortune from MGS2—the jury’s still out). Naomi’s a bit player in the overall series story line, but it’s possible that the FoxDie virus she engineered in MGS is relevant again.

Publisher: Konami Developer: Kojima Productions Release Date: 2007

Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Electronic Gaming Monthly.