10 Problems With The Metal Gear Series Nobody Wants To Admit

2. The Tonal Shifts Don't Really Work

Besides the clunky dialogue and labyrinthine conspiracy-based plots that don't make a lick of sense as soon as you pause for a moment to think about them, where Metal Gear's stories really suffer are in the hard tonal shifts which have characterised every entry in the series thus far. All of the instances of quirky humour are as integral to their popularity as the po-faced stuff €“ but it doesn't work. Kojima is trying to have his Serious Discussion About The Nature Of Conflict cake and eat it too. Which means that, alongside some thoroughly-researched monologues about what the actual IRL battlefield of tomorrow might look like, there's also Otacon admonishing you for taking photos of sexy posters, the ubiquitous cardboard boxes, and attaching balloons to goats. That's not to mention the much-feted real-time-pooping mechanic that has also been programmed in for the various livestock in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It's all these weirdly broad comedic touches that give the series its personality, but they're incredibly jarring put up against the moments you're supposed to take super seriously. In the end it means every part of a Metal Gear game is laughable.