I haven't beaten the game yet. I'm only about 6 hours in. I've played, loved, and beaten MGS 1, 2, and 3. But playing Metal Gear Solid 4, I'm wondering how this game got a 10. The gameplay hasn't evolved since MGS2 and the game itself even seems to have less mechanics than Metal Gear Solid 3. And this game is filled with dozens of stupid little tidbits that make me cringe. For example, when Otacon shows up in that "cutesy" 1-ft tall Mk2 robot in the beginning, he pulls out a bunch of weapons and gear out of thin air. Couldn't they have at least tried? The graphics are pretty weak too. The framerate is very shaky and the textures on the environment are disgustingly low resolution. How did this game win best graphics of the year?
Does the game get much better towards the end? I'm having fun but it's nothing special so far.
EDIT:
I beat Metal Gear Solid 4 just now and now I can give more of a review rather than a first impression. Act 1 was pretty boring for me and I almost quit because it nearly became unbearable. But as soon as I hit Act 2, the game turned around immensely. The world itself opened up and the environment was no longer drab. I beat the game in about 2 sittings. The mission briefings were enjoyable and well done.
The gameplay was pretty good, but as I said earlier in the thread, it didn't evolve, it just changed. You can instantly spot the poser fanboys in this thread because if they played any of the earlier MGS games, they'd acknowledge the fact the game has less moves, less interaction with the environment, and overall less gameplay than MGS3/MGS2. You can no longer kill wild life and eat it. You can no longer disable enemy limbs and radio equipment. No more medical management. It's now just straight up shooting (aim for the head), and crawling.
Hideo's story telling also lost its touch. I lost count of how many times he over emphasizes dramatic moments (some of which aren't even all that dramatic once you realize that these characters can all lose limbs, grow them back and take infinite amounts of bullets) with the same overbearing music. It's still good, but it's slightly below MGS2 / MGS3, probably due to the pretentiousness of the whole story. Along with it are any cringe-worthy moments (particularly with Sunny, Drebin, and the ending of Act 5). Some cutscenes restate information too often (war economy, nanomachines, etc.). The lectures were unnecessary too - 90% of the people won't care. Even I (a big fan of the series) found myself bored to tears by the lengthy one-sided "dialogue". It's almost as if Snake had the least dialogue in the game. Whenever he did speak, it often was just "War economy?", "What do you mean?", "Nanomachines?", "Hmmmm", "Ughhhh", "Ehhh", and other questioning/moaning.
Graphically, the game is solid. The beautiful cutscenes balance out the not-so-beautiful gameplay. It's rare I see games basque in their low framerate. After awhile, you just get used to the constant dips. Lots of ugly textures too. Some of the environment (particularly in the Middle East) sticks out like a sore thumb, with the muddy low resolution textures. The use of physics in the game was bad ass. Nearly all objects that seem like they should be destroyable were destroyable. The physics that accompanied your body when you got hit by explosions was a VERY nice touch. It's very satisfying to see your body fly against a wall and hear a large "SMACK". The music wasn't really up to mark either. "Old Snake" was decent, but whenever I had the opportunity to listen to the old music through the game's Ipod, it was a "Hell yes" moment. The re-use of old music was great. Especially the Snake Eater theme. Back when I first played Snake Eater, I really cringed at the music, but I have to admit, it's amazing, and certainly was a step up above MGS4's music. I was also sad how they never worked in the MGS2 theme, which is the series best piece of music. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that the music was plagiarized by an old Russian composer or something like that.
What really made this game for me were the boss battles. They're everything I could want from a Metal Gear Solid game. The most enjoyable battle for me was the fight with Crying Wolf. The Laughing Octopus was quite wicked as well. The CQC with Liquid at the end was very awesome too. I never thought I'd enjoy a one-button fighter.
There are a few things though I have to address. The stalking section at the beginning of Act 3 was *ridiculous*. It lasted much too long. The freakin Resistance member would stare at a poster of an Asian woman for 2 minutes, continue walking ahead 50 yards, would return to look at the Asian woman for 2 more minutes, then continue walking, and would return one last time. Then there were other parts where he'd get caught by the guards and I'd have to bail him out, just for him to return to the start of his path and get caught one more. The difficulty of the game was too easy. Big Boss Hard should have been the game's Medium setting. I breezed through just about everything they threw at me. Drebin's naked monkey was a nice touch. Really loved him.
I'd give the game a 9.5/10. Excellent in almost every regard, but there are too many very minor flaws for me to look past.
Log in to comment