METAL GEAR SOLID 4: Holy god, it's incredible

[Twilight]

I bought a PS3 yesterday, somewhat on a whim. Knowing that MGS4 was among the most hyped and best-reviewed titles for it, I picked it up.

I've never played an MGS game before, and knew very little about the story save for the general idea of who Snake was and what a Metal Gear is.


Anyway, it's an absolutely extraordinary game. I know there have been many threads on it here, but I just felt the need to vent.

I played the first act yesterday, then took an hour and a half crash course on the net to get up to speed on the entire Metal Gear backstory. There is a LOT. (I found the gametrailers hour-long "Metal Gear Retrospective" most helpful --- it's on YouTube --- as well as the exhaustive Metal Gear Wiki).

Now I'm up to act 4 having played WAY too late last night (this morning).


Amazing, amazing game. Best thing I've played all year (including last year).


My "best games of 2008" list now will probably have to be reordered to something like:

1. MGS4 (though I haven't beaten the last act yet)
2. Dead Space
3. GTA4
4. .....

 

[Deckard]

I haven't actually gotten round to playing this yet, despite it being the first game I got for my PS3 (free game bundle promotion). I'm still hooked on Dead Space (completed it twice and still not bored of it yet) even though I bought it much later than MGS4.

I'll make sure that MGS4 is the next game I play, then Siren, then Bioshock....and all the other PS3 games I've bought and not really played yet.

 

[Rii]

Great game. Act 1 is my favourite, but the best scene is REX vs. RAY in Act 3(?). Unfortunately the closing cutscene drags on far too long and snatches dramatic defeat from the hands of victory. It should've ended with

Spoiler: MGS4 Epilogue

Snake actually killing himself.

 

[Elemental]

Great game. Act 1 is my favourite, but the best scene is REX vs. RAY in Act 3(?). Unfortunately the closing cutscene drags on far too long and snatches dramatic defeat from the hands of victory. It should've ended with

Spoiler: MGS4 Epilogue

Snake actually killing himself.

That scene was end of act 4 with the return to Shadow Moses - one of the greatest twists in the game. MGS4 is the greatest game ever, IMO. Let me just say that having played all the previous games before, the MGS Retrospective doesn't even begin to cover the greatness that is the MGS series. MGS was the first game I finished when I got a Playstation. I remember my mom got it for me as a Christmas gift on recomendation from a friend. I started playing it figuring it as nothing more than a cheap James Bond knock off action title. It went on to have a better story than any action movie I've ever seen. It's still widely considered the greatest PS1 game. Aside from Final Fantasy titles, I don't think anything comes anywhere close to the MGS series. And MGS4 is the absolute icing on the cake. The way it brings everything together into one coherent climax is nothing short of spectacular. I was just blown away throughout that entire game. It was an experience I can best compare only to seeing The Lord of the Rings movies for the first time.

In other words, glad to hear you're enjoying it.

 

[Rincewiend]

If you can't play the 1st PS1 game you can read it:
http://www.amazon.com/Metal-Gear-So...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233565102&sr=1-1

 

[firehawk12]

I can't get past the first screen on MGS1. Something about not being able to look forward unless you use the binocs annoys me and I don't see them ever releasing the Game Cube exclusive version of the game.

As for MGS4... I honestly wish there was just more game. I loved all the game parts but god damn, the cutscenes were some of the most self important drivel I've ever heard. It's like there's a competition between Cuse, Moore and Kojima to see who can stick their head up their own asses the furthest.
What's worse is that it's not only needlessly pretentious, it's also poorly translated/localized. In any other context, people would laugh this off the stage. If this was a movie, the writing would be nominated for a Razzie.

But again, you've got so many great game moments that it's worth going through several times. Thank god you can just skip all those cutscenes with a button press.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I bought a PS3 yesterday, somewhat on a whim. Knowing that MGS4 was among the most hyped and best-reviewed titles for it, I picked it up.

I've never played an MGS game before, and knew very little about the story save for the general idea of who Snake was and what a Metal Gear is.


Anyway, it's an absolutely extraordinary game. I know there have been many threads on it here, but I just felt the need to vent.

I played the first act yesterday, then took an hour and a half crash course on the net to get up to speed on the entire Metal Gear backstory. There is a LOT. (I found the gametrailers hour-long "Metal Gear Retrospective" most helpful --- it's on YouTube --- as well as the exhaustive Metal Gear Wiki).

Now I'm up to act 4 having played WAY too late last night (this morning).


Amazing, amazing game. Best thing I've played all year (including last year).


My "best games of 2008" list now will probably have to be reordered to something like:

1. MGS4 (though I haven't beaten the last act yet)
2. Dead Space
3. GTA4
4. .....

I also had never played a MGS game before and gave this one a twirl, but i found the cut scenes too long and too boring to such a extent that they overshadowed the game play which i was enjoying.....i think i reached the Fox team or whatever their name and that cut scene introducing them was enough for me, so i traded it in...

Not to take away from the games magnificents as the actual gameplay for what i got to play of it was great, but the cut scene just were too long for me personally, not helped i might add by having no idea of what they were blabbing on about, but that can no doubt be blamed on never having played a MGS game before.

 

[clint g]

MGS4 was one of those rare games where i picked up the controller and did not put it down until it was 20 hours alter and i had beaten the game. I absolutely loved it. Its just a shame that you didn't get to play the previous ones before getting into MGS4.. Half of my enjoyment with that game came from all the subtle (and not so subtle) nods to the previous games. Things such as musical cues to jokes flat out plucked from the earlier games. I would definitely say that it was one of the best games of the year and certainly the best game on the PS3

 

[firehawk12]

The problem is, from what I've heard on podcasts anyway, is that MGS2 and MGS3 controls are essentially broken from the perspective of a western gamer.

 

[clint g]

The problem is, from what I've heard on podcasts anyway, is that MGS2 and MGS3 controls are essentially broken from the perspective of a western gamer.

MGS2 isnt really broken in that when it came out those controls were essentially the standard. Also, the level layout (inside cramped buildings where you can easily see the enemies)made it so that the controls and camrea angles were not a problem.

Then Splinter Cell came out and showed the world what stealth combat controls COULD be like, so yeah, MGS3s controls were kind of crap, especialym considering the outdoors setting. It was a shame since it had the best and most logical plot in the franchise. They did release a directors cut of MGS3 down the road though where the controls were made more Splinter Cell like and as a result the playability of the game increased ten-fold.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, I own the MGS collection... just haven't really felt the need to play the games after I got my ass handed to me by MGS1.

 

[FordSVT]

Beautiful game.

Crap controls (still!?), overwritten. Overwritten. Did I mention overwritten? Endless, repeated exposition. Made the first two games look tight and brief. Easily read plot twists. My least favorite MG game (and I've played all of them). I think Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation review is pretty accurate: if this was a novel or a traditional movie it would fail as a piece of drama. I don't have a problem with long cut scenes if there is a purpose but the only purpose here was to show off the game engine and how many different ways the writers could say the same things over and over.

Hideo Kojima wants to be a Hollywood director, not a game developer. He won't be involved in the next one, here's to hoping they rebuild the concept and the engine from scratch.

I don't think it's a bad game or anything, but if it had been called "Stealth Soldier" and didn't make any MG connections I don't think it would have scored as highly in the press as it did.

But if some people love it, I don't fault them for it. It's just a game.

 

[Dream]

I looke forward to seeing Metal Gear Solid 5 The Movie.