Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 193)

Trigger Happy
195
Tie me up, tie me down
So should videogames totally abandon their current
model of prescripted story line interrupting interactive
play? Not necessarily. While it certainly does not
amount to “interactive storytelling,” it can still work
remarkably well on its own account, under the same
circumstances as any good story: when it is well
written.
A good videogame story provides a powerful
external motivation (external to the actual gameplay
mechanics) for continuing to try to beat the system. A
well-scripted game, such as Metal Gear Solid, keeps
you playing because fundamentally, as E. M. Forster
remarked of the primary appeal of the novel, you just
want to know what happens next. It helps that Metal
Gear Solid’s cut-scenes of vocal dialogue are generally
well acted, and the multiple twists and turns of the
thriller plot are highly enjoyable, dropping little hints as
to the true nature of your mission and the organization
you work for, keeping you guessing as to how it will all
turn out.
But Metal Gear Solid’s true brilliance lies in its
touches of humorous self-consciousness. It knows
it’s a game. One of your opponents, a pink-