10 Video Games That Influenced EVERYTHING You Play
3. Metal Gear Solid
Half-Life may have been molded how narrative was told in FPS', but it was Metal Gear Solid two years prior that did something bigger.
Most PlayStation games are remembered for their FMV scenes, that would break up exposition for some razzle dazzle visuals. Not Metal Gear Solid, though.
Instead, Kojima decided to go with the notion that full motion was a detraction from events, and in turn made all cutscenes and story/exposition rendered in the in-game engine. That meant that events played out in real time.
It created a more cinematic feel to the game, that you were fully immersed in Solid Snake's adventures from beginning to end.
This wasn't new, as many a game had in-game cutscenes in play for years. The first Tomb Raider, for example.
But that Metal Gear relied so heavily on them (that it would later become a running joke) to tell its story granted another level of immersion. It paved the way for games to actually utilise them for storytelling, rather than just book-ending chapters.
It made playing Metal Gear Solid feel like you're playing out an action movie, not just an action game.