LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A hit video game series is back.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO GAME, "METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER")
DAVID HAYTER: (As Snake) This is Snake. Kept you waiting, huh?
FADEL: The "Metal Gear" games are spy thrillers with a dash of science fiction. And for decades, the franchise has been popular because of its innovative game design and the deep questions it asks gamers. Here's NPR's Lindsay Totty.
LINDSAY TOTTY, BYLINE: The "Metal Gear" series began in 1987 and has led the way in making games feel more cinematic. One of its most acclaimed entries is 2004's "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater," which takes clear inspiration from James Bond.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SNAKE EATER")
CYNTHIA HARRELL: (Singing) What a thrill, with darkness and silence through the night.
TOTTY: Set in the 1960s, the game begins with a mission to find a Russian rocket scientist. He's been forced by the Soviets to work on a tank that fires nuclear missiles. He wants to defect to the U.S. The CIA sends one of its best agents, Snake, into Soviet territory to extract him with just a small team providing radio support.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO GAME, "METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER")
JIM PIDDOCK: (As Major Zero) Snake, if you fail this mission, it will mean an all-out nuclear war. Keep that in mind and proceed with extreme caution.
HAYTER: (As Snake) Understood. Commencing Operation Snake Eater.
TOTTY: The Japanese game company Konami decided now was the time to remake that game from 2004 with updated graphics, modern gameplay, and a new title - "Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater." It's out this week.
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TOTTY: Even though the series overall has sold over 63 million copies, Konami says this remake provides an opportunity to introduce the series to new fans. Madison Browne is already a fan. She explains that the games are captivating for so many people because they challenge players to be stealthy.
MADISON BROWNE: Rather than just running in and shooting as many targets as possible, the "Metal Gear Solid" series is focused around sneaking.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Did we lose him? He's got to be around here. Find him.
BROWNE: Oftentimes, you're crouching. You're hiding. You have to consider where your position is and where enemies are.
TOTTY: Browne teaches English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She says the "Metal Gear" games also explore complex themes.
BROWNE: There's really a lot of care given to the characters and to the storyline that often deals with politics, philosophical themes, warfare. So it's been able to give gamers a lot to think about and a lot to talk about for a long time.
TOTTY: In "MGS Delta," a big part of the drama is Snake's relationship with his mentor, The Boss.
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LORI ALAN: (As The Boss) A soldier is a political tool, nothing more. That's doubly true if he's a career soldier. Right and wrong have no place in his mission. He has no enemies and no friends. Only the mission.
TOTTY: The series also depicts deception and betrayal from a variety of angles. "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty," released in 2001, brings all those ideas into the digital age and introduces another hero.
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PAUL EIDING: (As Roy Campbell) You are now designated Raiden. All right, Raiden. You've already covered infiltration in VR training.
QUINTON FLYNN: (As Raiden) I've completed 300 missions in VR.
TOTTY: "Metal Gear Solid 2" tells the story of Raiden, an agent who's trained using virtual reality, then sent on a mission to take out a bunch of terrorists and rescue hostages - including the president of the United States.
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TOTTY: But in "Metal Gear," things are never what they seem. Near the end of the game, Raiden learns that his entire mission was orchestrated by a secret cabal of oligarchs known as The Patriots, the true leaders of the United States. Not only that - The Patriots leave major government decisions to an artificial intelligence network. It turns out this whole time, Raiden's commanding officer was an AI imitation.
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FLYNN: (As Raiden) Who are you?
EIDING: (As Roy Campbell) To begin with, we're not what you'd call human.
TOTTY: Madison Browne says one of the core themes of "MGS 2" is the thin line between what's real and what's not - themes that are still very relevant today.
BROWNE: It just makes me think entirely of deepfakes.
TOTTY: Deceiving Raiden is just one step in The Patriots' plans. In what has been called one of the most poignant scenes in video game history, the AI explains to Raiden that its goal is to control the flow of information online and decide the direction that American society moves. Madison Browne talks us through it.
BROWNE: The AI itself talks about how people - we're consuming all this junk data and useless information on the internet.
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EIDING: (As Roy Campbell) Trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness.
BROWNE: Because we're just, you know, enjoying all this sort of slop, we're not going to be able to properly evolve.
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EIDING: (As Roy Campbell) Just as in genetics, unnecessary information and memory must be filtered out to stimulate the evolution of the species.
FLYNN: (As Raiden) And you think you're qualified to decide what's necessary and not?
EIDING: (As Roy Campbell) Absolutely. Who else could wade through the sea of garbage you people produce?
BROWNE: So the Patriot AI claims that people - they need someone to guide them.
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EIDING: (As Roy Campbell) You lack the qualifications to exercise free will.
TOTTY: Ari Lightman is a professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University. He says the issues raised in "Metal Gear Solid 2" all the way back in 2001 are not a far cry from the issues our society faces now, in an age where what we're shown online is decided by algorithms.
ARI LIGHTMAN: People can use these mechanisms to create their own sort of reality that might not be based on factual information, or might be based on factual information but skewed in a way to represent their opinion. And that, unfortunately, with AI mechanisms, might become much more commonplace and much more problematic.
TOTTY: Lightman says there are real-world applications where government uses AI.
LIGHTMAN: Unmanned aerial vehicles, drones - that's basically machine learning and AI. And they're using it for surveillance.
TOTTY: But it's not quite at the scale of Patriot-like widespread control. Still, Madison Browne takes an empowering lesson from "Metal Gear."
BROWNE: I do think the game has a hopeful message.
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FLYNN: (As Raiden) I'll pick my own name and my own life. I'll find something worth passing on.
BROWNE: We do have to fight an uphill battle. We have to be extremely critical of the things that we see. I still think that there is a way that we can still make decisions to take back the smallest amount of control.
TOTTY: For now, gamers can soon take control of Snake for another action-packed adventure.
Lindsay Totty, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SNAKE EATER")
HARRELL: (Singing) I give my life not for... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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