Metal Gear Solid 5 is often considered one of Hideo Kojima’s greatest works, although it also marked his departure from Konami. The game explores many complex themes, including revenge, child soldiers, and language. Gamers are made to think about language and its effects everywhere MGS 5‘s gameplay, and they come across a particularly clever puzzle that requires them to understand its language and its power before their entire staff is wiped out by a mysterious illness. As players learn, sometimes words can be really deadly.
Although Kojima is no longer with Konami, his gaming career has not slowed down. Next Death Stranding, gamers can look forward to a new Xbox game that Kojima Productions is developing using Microsoft’s cloud technology. Moreover, comments from Norman Reedus have pretty much confirmed that a Death Stranding sequel is on its way. Although Kojima fans are unlikely to get another one Metal Gear Solid title, the game world will still be able to enjoy the legendary author’s imagination.
In Metal Gear Solid 5, players take control of Venom Snake who leads a group of mercenaries known as the Diamond Dogs. Missions take players to different parts of the world, including Afghanistan and the Angola-Zaire border, but they can always return to Mother Base to shower, check on their staff, and take on challenges. Along the way, players discover that a strange disease is spreading through Mother Base and the consequences are catastrophic. To prevent Venom Snake from losing more skilled soldiers, players must figure out how the disease spreads and which soldiers should be quarantined.
It is difficult to figure out how the disease spreads and it requires careful analysis of all employees, including those who are sick and those who are healthy. Soldiers who are infected should be quarantined immediately, as they can spread the disease to others. Sharp-eyed players will eventually find that all soldiers have the same thing in common: they speak Kikongo, a language spoken by the indigenous people of Congo.
The disease is spread by a vocal cord parasite and infects hosts depending on the language they speak. By quarantining all employees who speak the language, the spread of the disease is stopped and Mother Base is saved. The puzzle is ingenious, as it requires a bit of abstract thinking and attention to detail. To solve it, players have to slow down and pay careful attention to patterns that are easy to miss, and things get more stressful with each passing day leading to more employees getting infected. It is very possible that players spend days trying to figure out how the parasite spreads without finding much clues to help them. Most importantly, the puzzle goes well with the main themes of: MGS 5including the role of language and the potential for tyranny.
While it’s hard to figure out the vocal cord parasite puzzle, the game doesn’t leave players completely in the dark, and those who pay close attention will recognize that they’re being pointed to a particular answer. During MGS5In regular gameplay, language is a recurring theme and players must constantly think about the languages spoken by their enemies and how to overcome complex language barriers.
When Snake infiltrates enemy camps, the soldiers speak their native language. Be it Pashto, Afrikaans or Russian, players may not understand much of it at first (unless they happen to speak the languages). However, after extracting an interpreter, players can eavesdrop on the soldiers as they speak, which is incredibly useful as players can intercept their plans. Therefore, players are trained to constantly think about language, even when they put soldiers in toilets or hide in cardboard boxes.
The vocal cord parasite puzzle is an extension of this theme, and if players have noticed these details, it makes the vocal cord parasite puzzle a little easier. MGS 5 has much to say about language and its role in both war and society at large. However, not everything is positive and raises concerns about the power of language to dominate.
The Tyranny of the English Language
Although the vocal cord parasites are used for nefarious reasons, the villains are motivated by experiences where their identities are torn to shreds by the domination of English over minority languages. Code Talker’s interest in the parasite stems from his traumatic childhood, which saw him separated from his Navajo tribe and thrown into an Indian boarding school. There he is forced to speak English and is taught that his native language is bad.
Skull Face’s resentment for the language is also rooted in his childhood. He grew up in northern Transylvania during World War II. He is forced to learn new languages because Hungary is dominated by several other countries, and this makes him hate any language that tries to dominate others. With the vocal cord parasite, he wants to eliminate English and its dominance over minority languages.
Kojima’s post-Konami career kept the artist tackling complex themes in his video games. Death Stranding tries to explore loneliness, and how it can be eliminated through the connections people make with each other. although Metal Gear Solid 5 is a controversial title in Kojima’s catalog, there’s plenty to be commended for, including intricate gameplay that allows you to sink into the game for dozens of hours and still discover new things. Through the interrogation of language and the dominance of English, the game is elevated from mere entertainment to a work of art that criticizes society.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is available on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
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