I hate the MG series. I've tried playing them, and I've tried liking them, I really have, but I haven't been able to gut one through to the bitter end since MGS1. The series really is like a bad comic or anime, and shares many of the same crippling shortcomings. It has overwrought dialogue, some really ridiculous characters and the few fresh ideas that are carted out with each iteration are quickly crushed under the sheer weight of series continuity. Raiden's a prime example; not only was he widely reviled due to his effeminacy but he also had to fight an uphill battle from the word go thanks to all the fanboys frothing at the mouth to play as Snake. So what do the devs do? They spend nearly as much time making "Well, I guess he was pretty gay, amirite guys?!?" jokes in subsequent games as they do developing a character that frankly, had already served his purpose and wasn't really necessary for the remainder of the series-- in an ideal world, I think he would have been dropped entirely. I suppose the cheap thrill of a familiar reference suits the VH1 fans, but I couldn't help but think that in this case metahumor was taking up time better spent on something new or at least engaging.
Anyway, I honestly think Kojima is capable of doing much, much better since there's some wonderful presentation and setpieces buried in the MGS series. Maybe now that he won't have to staple his ideas onto the same lumbering 20 year old behemoth he'll be able to really shine. I'm probably being too optimistic though, considering the fact that big name franchises are clearly where the big money lies.
P.S. You know what else is fucking sad/funny? I'm pretty damn sure I spent less time writing and editing this post than it takes to get through your average MG cutscene. And that's including the time spent making a sammich, losing the post to a browser timeout and losing an edit when answering the phone.
