The latest issue of UK-based gaming rag Edge features an interview with famed game designer and Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima. In it, Kojima-san shares his thoughts on the development of Metal Gear Solid 4. While he notes that the gameplay of the title stays true to his original vision, the remarkable visuals do not. Hit the jump for a snip from the Edge article.

Game-wise, it’s pretty close to the original vision: you sneak into the battlefield and can choose whether to do a stealth game or interfere with the battle more directly. But the graphic, side things like motion-blending and the size of the map, totally was not accomplished to my original vision – to my satisfaction.

When we first showed the game engine at TGS, the staff were really proud and happy. PS3 was a dream machine, y’know, and we were going to work on this and that – and we had so many ideas. But when we actually started developing the game, we realized there were a lot of restrictions and so it turned out how you see it today. The original vision was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn’t to say we didn’t progress.

I remember saying three years ago that we wanted to create something revolutionary, but in reality we couldn’t really do that because of the CPU. We’re using the Cell engine to its limit., actually. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the PS3 machine, it’s just that we weren’t really aware of what the full-spec PS3 offered – we were creating something we couldn’t entirely see.

Interesting that MGS 4 is pushing the CELL to its limits. Anyway, at least Kojima is honest. While MGS 4 may look fantastic to us, artistic visionaries are never ever truly satisfied with their work.

Kojima Disappointed With Metal Gear Solid 4 [Kotaku]

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