Looking back, how do you feel about Kiefer Sutherland as Snake?

[Polioliolio]

I don't have anything against him, but his performance was paper thin. Think of how much it must have cost for his paycheck, to get such a shallow hollow performance. I mean it wasn't the worst thing, but I wasn't particularly impressed. I actually feel like Snake's speaking role was reduced just to budget for Keifer's paycheck.

But the whole game felt like a weird sloppy unfinished mess. Shame how the most cinematic videogame of all time gets minimized into a poorly paced empty sandbox environment with some half baked stuff thrown in at the end.

This is what happens when you have people bitching about cutscenes for 20 years.

 

[calibos]

I always wondered why they even got him...for as little as he says in the game, I feel like it was a huge missed opportunity.

 

[NuclearCake]

Much needed change after how bad David Hayter was in every single MGS game post MGS2.

I really do feel like they could have used Sutherland more though. He did a great job...when he got a chance to talk that is. No problem with the Voice Acting but I do have a problem with how sparingly they used him. Kojima's decision to make Snake more silent in MGSV backfired. So many scenes are far more awkward than they should be because he doesn't talk when you expect him to say something.

This is what happens when you have people bitching about cutscenes for 20 years.

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They were right to bitch. After MGS4 things needed to change.

 

[Listai]

I agree, Hayter was overacting in each new game. It was just too much.

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Yeah, I remember reading an interview that he made adjustments to the way he played the role to preserve his vocal cords (which is fair enough). However, for me his best performance by far is the first game which feels far more natural. By the time PW rolled around he sounded like a bad anime character (which I suppose is kinda fitting lol)

 

[thetrin]

Spoiler: Confused

Why would they have used Hayter? It wasn't Big Boss. Did I forget ? Did big boss have his voice too?

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In the Japanese version, he was still voiced by Aki Otsuka, so it's not like they changed the JP voice actor as well to reflect a different character.

 

[Merkunt]

Not as bad as Troy Baker's Ocelot, that's for sure.

 

[mute]

In the Japanese version, he was still voiced by Aki Otsuka, so it's not like they changed the JP voice actor as well to reflect a different character.

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Kojima sticking to this idea that it is supposed to be a different voice is the only way it would have really worked and he couldn't do it. It means that Hayter shouldn't have been in MGS3, and Sutherland shouldn't have been in Ground Zeroes. But how much this is a real thing or a fan thing after the fact 🤷‍♀️

 

[Indurian]

I have a friend that was unhappy with the casting, not just because Hayter was being replaced, but because he claimed Sutherland always sounds out of breath in everything.

Unfortunately this stuck in my mind and that's all I heard when I was playing GZ and PP

 

[Dysun]

They didn't give him anything to work with, so it's hard to know if it was the right choice to replace Hayter. MGS V story was just a mess all around

 

[SlyShinobi]

As time went on, Hayter's performances really took me out of the atmosphere. So I was ready for another person to try their hand in it. I thought KS did find, really. He had a ton of codec dialogue, so I got used to him.

 

[Bishop89]

I love kiefer but he was not right for the role at all. Should have kept Hayter

 

[Roliq]

It was such a dumb choice as it was only because of Kojima celebrity obsession

 

[Zero-ELEC]

He was so boneless in the role. No energy, all slurring, and most nothing line reads for like the 10 lines he spoke in the entire game.

Even in the audio tapes where he actually talks for more than two words at a time he's just kinda... forgettable? At best? With every other actor in the game hamming it up and playing to the melodrama of the series, Sutherland's subdued Venom is just boring.

 

[Slatsunus]

The fact that Hayter was only replaced because of Kojima's blatant obsession with Hollywood makes it even worse.

No respect shown at all

 

[Dremorak]

He was totally okay. I really wish there was just a little bit more story in there overall though.
It had the bones of a really cool and weird MGS story and then just kind of sputters to a stop at the end.

Thankfully the gameplay is God-tier though and I still play it from time to time

 

[Dr PeterVenkman]

Not as bad as Troy Baker's Ocelot, that's for sure.

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It's so weird. In the early trailers and most of the cutscenes, he sounds pretty good. Like he's channelling pat Zimmerman. Then in most of the tapes and radio stuff he has this bizarre southern us accent. I point blank asked him about this at ny comicon in...2017 I think? And he had no clue what I was talking about. But it's really obvious that there was a distinct change in his voice as ocelot

As far as Sutherland goes, I loved him as snake. But I completely agree that he didn't get enough to work with.

My theory on this is that when they cut kojima off, he intended to capture more with the actors, Sutherland in particular. But he couldn't, so he spun it as this semi-silent protagonist. This is sort of obvious to me since snake talks a LOT more on the tapes than the cutscenes. I could be wrong though. As for Baker. I'm at a loss on that one and I blame it on the voice direction.

 

[RogersBase]

Perfectly serviceable but I still vastly prefer Hayter.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

I like Sutherland as an actor. But, Hayter is Snake. And bringing in a big name celebrity to replace a long running voice actor is some dumb fucking shit.

 

[headspawn]

It brought this, so I'm okay with it.

 

[Berserker976]

When it was first announced I was pissed, and totally convinced it would be boring and phoned in.

Turns out I was completely correct. He's awful in the role, it should have been Hayter, and if not him it should have been John Cygan (RIP).

It's one of MGSV's lesser sins, but it's just such a huge unforced error that it still sticks out to me.

 

[Soriku]

Spoiler: Confused

Why would they have used Hayter? It wasn't Big Boss. Did I forget ? Did big boss have his voice too?

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Yes, as stated already, including the cassette tapes with actual Big Boss talking.

 

[Mr. Keith]

I pretty much view Snake as a silent protagonist in MGSV so I would say his performance was pretty bad.

It was so painfully obvious cuts needed to be made because they couldn't get Keifer Sutherland to commit to the part and it makes some scenes absolutely laughable. The disaster Konami was making development probably didn't help either.

Say what you will about Norman Reedus and Death Stranding, that dude was a part of the game full stop. That's how you do celebrity characters.

 

[Fisty]

He was alright, and I'm pretty sure the only reason Hayter wasn't in the game is because his voice in GZ and as Ishmael would have given away the whole grift right up front. Kojima was probably going to bring him in late for the little bit he would have had to do in order to avoid leaks

 

[ShiftyCow]

I can't find it, but the cut dialog where he monologues about Big Boss was amazing (even if it wasn't in the game). He was a fine snake, he just needed more to do.

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Found it.

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This is part of the Nuclear Disarmament cutscene, so it's technically in the game. Just not legitimately achievable due to nukes from banned accounts being impossible to disarm. It's been triggered though, through hacking or bugs I'm not sure, but I've seen it twice in my game.

 

[Cheesetriangles]

It was a pretty awful choice and one of the main problems with that game.

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

• Pointless.
• Nothing special.
• Hatter could do it better, in my opinion.
• Waste of acting, actor, money development wise, in my humble opinion. But hey, it's Kojima/Konami's money. 🤷

 

[Vincent Grayson]

It always seemed like pointless stunt casting. I'd much have preferred to just keep using Hayter.

 

[KillingJoke]

Hated it.

He put zero effort. I never liked Hayter voicing multiple roles, but i loved his Big Boss in Peace Maker.

Honestly the whole MGSV VA was trash. Talented people every character felt like miscast. Besides Huey..

 

[Barrel Cannon]

he was fine. wasn't given enough material to work with to have a more in-depth opinion than that.

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This for me as well. He's a great voice to hear but he barely talks. Felt like a waste of talent and the only reason they hired him was cause they could afford him for how little lines he had to deliver

 

[StarStorm]

He wasn't given enough material in the story campaign. Snake was nearly a silent protagonist. It didn't really matter with what little he says.

 

[demondance]

He was fine, but it really stuck out how few lines he had. I wish Kojima would've used him somewhere else, but I'm sure when this project started, he still felt like doing MGS games would be his permanent fate. Now that we know it's the final MGS game... it reads a bit more awkwardly that an iconic voice actor was swapped out for a celebrity.

 

[Hello Snake]

I can't express how upset I was and am about it.

 

[ResetSoul]

I feel just about nothing about it. He was barely in the game, as insane as that sounds, voicing the main character.

 

[Rickenslacker]

After MGS4, and especially after PW, I was so checked out of anything storywise with Metal Gear that it didn't bother me. Hayter's voice acting was getting worse, the story had nowhere to go, and Kiefer left no lasting impression on me one way or the other. I don't think the game would be improved with more bloated cutscenes and overwrought acting.

 

[nihilence]

They spent the budget on his voice acting instead of completing chapter 3.

 

[TheKupoxBooper]

Kiefer didn't do too bad as Naked Snake (Big Boss) I just wish he had more to work with to justify his casting, I hated that Snake sometimes in MGSV acted as a mute in most cutscenes then talked when it seemed to matter most, this includes the radio conversations where Kiefer talked more, I thought it wasn't that bad but nothing beats David Hayter or Richard Doyle as Big Boss.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Was the voice actor changed in Japan also, or the same actor for Snake as in the previous games?

 

[Berserker976]

He was alright, and I'm pretty sure the only reason Hayter wasn't in the game is because his voice in GZ and as Ishmael would have given away the whole grift right up front. Kojima was probably going to bring him in late for the little bit he would have had to do in order to avoid leaks

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But if that were true, why would Kojima keep Snake's Japanese VA?

The truth, I think, is much less interesting and much more disappointing.

 

[TheKupoxBooper]

After MGS4, and especially after PW, I was so checked out of anything storywise with Metal Gear that it didn't bother me. Hayter's voice acting was getting worse

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It's so strange that David Hayter's Snake got worse after MGS3 and yet...he proves time and time again that he can still do the MGS1/MGS2 Snake in terms of quality whenever people ask him about it, so yeah I dunno. Guess it was just the voice direction he was given?

 

[Love Machine]

I don't hate it, but can't get used to it. Has always felt off, and unconvincing.

 

[Ponchito]

Unnecesary change but it wasn't the issue with MSGV's story and characters.

 

[John Frost]

Meh.

Hayter's the best.

 

[Punished Dan]

he was fine. wasn't given enough material to work with to have a more in-depth opinion than that.

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One and done.

 

[AwShucks]

Absolutely awful and pointless.

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This. MGS V is a great game hampered by the complete lack of a Snake.

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

Was the voice actor changed in Japan also, or the same actor for Snake as in the previous games?

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Nope & yes.

Akio Ohtsuka still faithfully reprising his role as Snake in Japanese, including both Pipo Snake & Naked Snake in Ape Escape 3 Japan.

It also helps that he has unique deep voice that recognizable in most roles, including MGS, that he doesn't need to gruff his own voice in MGS4.

 

[Cugel]

It was a bad idea.

 

[JordianKnot]

He was fine in Ground Zeroes. We barely heard him In Phantom Pain. And yes, I understand he's in a bunch of the recorded tapes. But that just doesn't do it for me. Missed having Snake talk and emote in cutscenes.

 

[Wesker]

He was fine as Snake, nothing remarkable and not bad either.
I think Miller's performance was the best in the game. Ocelot was ... not Ocelot.

Kojima should've pulled a PR stunt. Cast Hayter as BB in GZ (Kiefer as the Medic) and then stage a fallout between both of them leading to "recasting the character for TPP" and so forth. It would have been very Kojima in my opinion.
They'd had to change the beginning with Ishmael somehow because ... it would be obvious that be Hayter but you get the idea.

It brought this, so I'm okay with it.

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Wow, that's super funny! I have actually never seen that before. Thanks for posting!

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Fucking awful and a huge dark spot on Kojima's legacy.
Hayter, Cygan or Doyle could have made it nearly a different game.

Baker's Ocelot was trash as well.


Problem with Hayter is the direction they gave him, dude's normal voice is perfect as Solid/Naked.

It's so strange that David Hayter's Snake got worse after MGS3 and yet...he proves time and time again that he can still do the MGS1/MGS2 Snake in terms of quality whenever people ask him about it, so yeah I dunno. Guess it was just the voice direction he was given?

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Been said in multiple interviews they pushed for Naked to sound more distinct so he changed it,
then MGS4 they really pushed to make him fit Old Snake
the Peace Walker they wanted him to go back to Naked's but make it more exaggerated and assertive and more Big Bossish.

 

[AgentLampshade]

A complete waste of money. He was given poor material to work with.