20 Incredibly Important Video Games That Shaped The Industry

19. Metal Gear Solid

Why It Is Important: Metal Gear Solid brought the stealth genre into the modern era and pushed the boundaries of cinematic storytelling. Metal Gear Solid is a game that was ahead of its time in many aspects. It re-invented the stealth genre when it released in 1998 and had a cinematic sheen we had not seen in a game before. David Hayter's iconic performance as Snake combined with the all-round excellent production values made players feel like they were in their own action movie. Most games on the first PlayStation used Full-Motion Videos to tell their story, but Metal Gear Solid impressively rendered its cut-scenes in-game. There was no awkward transition from blocky PS1 graphics to a slick FMV that looked nothing like the game you were just playing. Instead, players were completely immersed in the world Hideo Kojima had crafted from the get go. The cinematic feel remained in-tact for gameplay, too. The camera would shift from a top-down perspective to come down to Snake's level when he hid behind a wall, enabling the player to see if an enemy was patrolling around the corner. The slick camera was completely automatic but rarely became a nuisance. It made you feel like you were watching the game through the eyes of a film director. Every single character was professionally voiced and the dialogue was translated with the utmost attention to detail. It was quite a feat when you consider that the lengthy cut-scenes and codec conversations were very ambitious for their time. Metal Gear Solid raised the bar in production values, writing and storytelling in games and continued to do so with later entries in the series.