9 Video Game Controversies We Were ALL Wrong About

6. Kiefer Sutherland As Big Boss

Now, I want to preface this entry by saying that the way Hideo Kojima went about replacing longtime voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss, David Hayter, was not cool, and the end result doesn't justify him being binned so unceremoniously.

That said, the switch to Kiefer Sutherland (which may or may not have been stunt casting), actually works in the context of Metal Gear Solid V. For one, it functions as the first indicator that you're not actually playing as the real Big Boss, but simply someone wearing his face, which does help differentiate this version of the character from that of previous releases.

It also works, however, because the final entry in the stealth saga is a deeply weird game. Pretty much everything from the mechanics, to the structure of missions, to the story itself, is built around the idea of the 'phantom pain', the lingering paranoia that something is just slightly... off. That your perception of reality is somehow a bit wonky.

Consequently, the lack of David Hayter (just like the absence of Quiet in the game's final hours), acts as another of these phantom pains, and in a weird way fits in with the theme of the story.

Of course, all of this is redundant if you're playing in Japan where the original voice actor for Big Boss was kept so... let's just chalk this down to a happy accident.