So, Yahtzee did MGS4 this week...
...and gave me this gem.
In actuality, I was kind of looking for a jumping-off point to post my feelings about Kojima's magnum opus, and this is as good a place as any.
Quoth the Yahtzee: "Metal Gear Solid is - and has always been - very badly written, in the same way that the world's largest pie couldn't honestly be called a good pie because it's uneconomical and probably wouldn't fit in an oven. So much of the dialouge is redundant that it is in dire need of an editor - preferably one armed with waders and pruning shears."
To be honest, I couldn't agree more. lol
Metal Gear Solid 4 is, art wise, the most beautiful game that I have ever played (this is probably helped by the fact that the game takes full advantage of the PS3's might, and that upon my third playthrough Kevin decided we should buy a 1080p TV). I still feel connected to the characters, I still care about what happens a couple of them, and I still remain a fan of the timeline of the series. Parts of the story are shining examples of how to make me cry, not in a bad way, but in a "wow, I was really moved by this video game" way. Only parts, though.
It's a good game to be sure - I had a ton of fun playing it and was so hooked that I basically marathoned it. I think Kojima brought his vision to life in a masterful way. Be that as it may, many reviewers, including Famitsu, gave it a perfect score (Famitsu's only given like, 4 perfect scores or something? I don't know). There's a flaw in saying that it's "perfect", though.
For all its hype, I don't expect people who have not been with the series from the beginning to love MGS4. Kojima relies on some cra-za-zy exposition in his signature lengthy cutscenes to explain the story, and it was just compelling enough to hook me from the very first installment (it could also be that I've always had a crush on Solid Snake... NO I'M NOT SORRY ABOUT IT). A perfect score to me would be a game that any gamer - I mean any gamer - can pick it up and just go bonkers over it. That logic may be flawed too, because not everyone might like the genre of game that got said perfect score. Kojima put a lot of work into MGS4, that much is evident from the get-go, but it still seems like the whole of the game could have had a little more of an emphasis on the actual gameplay than on the story. I was glued to the cutscenes because I was looking for answers to all the questions that MGS2 and 3 ended leaving wide open and more than once, I was shocked by some of the plot twists, but if I was new to the series, I would be so so so confused and wondering why some of the things I was seeing in the cutscenes couldn't be covered while I was stealthing about.
It's not as if the gameplay is non-existent - I clocked nearly 30 hours on my first playthrough, and from the "Making Of" disc I learned that there are about 8 hours worth of cinemas. 22 hours of gameplay isn't so terribly bad, give or take some for people who might be speedier than I was on my first run. Even still, the game is on a dual-layer Blu-Ray disc, which is what, 50 gigs worth of information that can be handled on it? If the custscene dialogue could have been pared down a bit and the player given more freedom to explore the vast areas that the game covers, it would have been that much better.
Otherwise, the control is tighter than it has been in the whole series after your figure out the revamped way to shoot your gun (wildly different than it was in the rest of the series). The sneaking around is still super fun, part of the challenge lies in trying not to get spotted or cause even one death in the whole of the game (for which you are rewarded handsomely). The cameras were maddening at their default settings but a quick tweak here and there cleared that up right away.
Anyway, this is what I've told a few people who have asked me if MGS4 is "good": If you're a fan of the series, play it, even if you have to steal the software and/or PS3 to do it. If not, then don't risk the arrest.
In actuality, I was kind of looking for a jumping-off point to post my feelings about Kojima's magnum opus, and this is as good a place as any.
Quoth the Yahtzee: "Metal Gear Solid is - and has always been - very badly written, in the same way that the world's largest pie couldn't honestly be called a good pie because it's uneconomical and probably wouldn't fit in an oven. So much of the dialouge is redundant that it is in dire need of an editor - preferably one armed with waders and pruning shears."
To be honest, I couldn't agree more. lol
Metal Gear Solid 4 is, art wise, the most beautiful game that I have ever played (this is probably helped by the fact that the game takes full advantage of the PS3's might, and that upon my third playthrough Kevin decided we should buy a 1080p TV). I still feel connected to the characters, I still care about what happens a couple of them, and I still remain a fan of the timeline of the series. Parts of the story are shining examples of how to make me cry, not in a bad way, but in a "wow, I was really moved by this video game" way. Only parts, though.
It's a good game to be sure - I had a ton of fun playing it and was so hooked that I basically marathoned it. I think Kojima brought his vision to life in a masterful way. Be that as it may, many reviewers, including Famitsu, gave it a perfect score (Famitsu's only given like, 4 perfect scores or something? I don't know). There's a flaw in saying that it's "perfect", though.
For all its hype, I don't expect people who have not been with the series from the beginning to love MGS4. Kojima relies on some cra-za-zy exposition in his signature lengthy cutscenes to explain the story, and it was just compelling enough to hook me from the very first installment (it could also be that I've always had a crush on Solid Snake... NO I'M NOT SORRY ABOUT IT). A perfect score to me would be a game that any gamer - I mean any gamer - can pick it up and just go bonkers over it. That logic may be flawed too, because not everyone might like the genre of game that got said perfect score. Kojima put a lot of work into MGS4, that much is evident from the get-go, but it still seems like the whole of the game could have had a little more of an emphasis on the actual gameplay than on the story. I was glued to the cutscenes because I was looking for answers to all the questions that MGS2 and 3 ended leaving wide open and more than once, I was shocked by some of the plot twists, but if I was new to the series, I would be so so so confused and wondering why some of the things I was seeing in the cutscenes couldn't be covered while I was stealthing about.
It's not as if the gameplay is non-existent - I clocked nearly 30 hours on my first playthrough, and from the "Making Of" disc I learned that there are about 8 hours worth of cinemas. 22 hours of gameplay isn't so terribly bad, give or take some for people who might be speedier than I was on my first run. Even still, the game is on a dual-layer Blu-Ray disc, which is what, 50 gigs worth of information that can be handled on it? If the custscene dialogue could have been pared down a bit and the player given more freedom to explore the vast areas that the game covers, it would have been that much better.
Otherwise, the control is tighter than it has been in the whole series after your figure out the revamped way to shoot your gun (wildly different than it was in the rest of the series). The sneaking around is still super fun, part of the challenge lies in trying not to get spotted or cause even one death in the whole of the game (for which you are rewarded handsomely). The cameras were maddening at their default settings but a quick tweak here and there cleared that up right away.
Anyway, this is what I've told a few people who have asked me if MGS4 is "good": If you're a fan of the series, play it, even if you have to steal the software and/or PS3 to do it. If not, then don't risk the arrest.