For the record, I've been with the MGS series since Metal Gear Solid came out for the Playstation. I really enjoyed all three of those games, and while the story for the 2nd and 3rd couldn't compete with the 1st, I feel MGS2 and MGS3 had greater gameplay.
MGS4 was way over-hyped to me, and I was extremely disappointed with it. I suppose the largest problem with the game was the fact that the movies dominated literally 90% of my game time. The game certainly had the potential to be very fun, but it wasn't executed. There were only a few hours of actual gameplay and I found myself most of the time watching the movies. MGS4 felt like a $60 movie.
I wasn't opposed to the movies in the past, but this time around they clearly dominated the game and were longer than ever. The story itself, at times, was very moving (with Snake continuing to fight as he approached death) while other parts were just stupid. For example, at the end Big Boss turns out to be alive, only to die again for a 3rd time. MGS seems like a comic book series, with constant resurrections of characters that should just remain dead. At first it turned out that Big Boss was alive, but in Eva's possession and as a vegetable. Then it's revealed that this was actually Solidus, as if Big Boss being alive at all wasn't enough of a ludicrous twist. And then we have the situation with Ocelot's hand controlling him, which made no sense back in MGS2 and up until the end of the game was actually believed to be Liquid. Some parts of the movies were just plain boring, such as watching Sunni repeatedly make eggs.
Twists like Big Boss being alive are basically an insult to the fans. You're told repeatedly that he's dead for several games, only to have him turn out to be alive. These types of twists are only twists because you wouldn't expect something so ludicrous. It wasn't like the twists in MGS1 where Naomi Hunter injected Foxdie into Snake which is what caused people to die around him, or that McDonald Miller was Liquid. These were solid surprises that actually were feasible in accordance to the story.
Now onto the gameplay. As I said, it had potential, with all the new weapons and new CQC and movement options for Old Snake. However, besides the limited amount of time you actually get to play as Snake, I also never got to play the game like I did in the first three games. You're basically always trying to sneak through an army. This makes it extremely difficult to ever stalk a soldier because there are so many others around in open sight. In the old games Snake would often be in building with a limited number of enemies so you could have more fun with them. In a war environment you're just better off avoiding them altogether, as combat isn't really an option. What I mean by this is that once an Alert is raised, the soldiers often would show up infinitely. This never happened (at least on very easy) with the old games, and severely reduce the fun. What's the point of killing anyone if they'll re-spawn in a matter of seconds? You have to resort to either leaving the area or just hiding until the alert goes away. You lose the option to simply wipe out the enemy and their reinforcements. I feel MGS3 was the most absolute fun with this.
I started to realize the game was going to be a big disappointment after I realized just how short Act 3 was excluding the movies. All it consisted of was stalking a resistance member (which I found to be boring after it dragged on for over 10 minutes), then a motorcycle chase (which was moderately fun), and a boss battle against Raven. That was it. The long cut scenes put a veil over the fact that the game is just too short, and I found it outrageous that IGN actually would give it a 10 for lasting appeal.
The war-zone aspect which controlled the first two parts of the game (and the ones with the most gameplay) did not feel appropriate for a Metal Gear Solid game. Trying to be stealthy through a battlefield seems unfitting, and it also doesn't make sense why alerts form only when the enemy sees you yet every other rebel firing doesn't cause any reaction. MGS4 doesn't have the atmosphere that made the first 3 games excel. Those games had the setting for stealth.
I will say I enjoyed parts of Act 4, if not mostly for nostalgia's sake. I did find avoiding little robots to be rather boring after a while. Such an environment would be the ideal place for the type of gameplay that I loved from the previous games. Areas with up to 5 troops that you have to avoid or kill are what made MGS thrive. The battlefields made this game feel a bit more like Call of Duty. Perhaps one act of it would have been fine for some change that some may have liked more than others, but the fact is that even in the last act on Outer Haven, you're forced to dodge what appear to be battalions of soldiers and machines. What used to be a few guards has become an army. You basically are restricted to solely be stealthy because if a gunshot is heard by the enemy, an alert will form where countless (and infinite troops) will shoot endlessly. What used to be 2 or 3 backup soldiers became limitless enemies.
Whether or not any game should get a perfect score is not the case here. From the reviews I was convinced I'd really enjoy MGS4, but the reviews were way off in my opinion. How could a game that gets only a few hours of gameplay (which is often not that fun) receive the ultimate score for lasting appeal (according to IGN). A 10 for lasting appeal should only be for games that will be fun for years. Super Smash Brothers is an example of such a game by my view. From my standpoint it's hardly a game. The story overshadows the gameplay. So much was put into the story that Konami seems to have neglected what made MGS so fun. Like I said, a little change is fine, but change is all there was. Gone are the buildings with a few guards, now replaced with armies of futurist machines and soldiers who can jump on walls. I was shocked at the fictional changes in technology that occurred in only 5 years from when MGS2 took place.
The game disappoints more because of all the praise it has received. I feel like I must have skipped over a major part of the game. It's good to have extras and online features, but the main game is so severely lacking when it could have been so much more. Gorgeous graphics, excellent mechanics, all hindered by the small quantities of gameplay and new settings Old Snake is in and the enemies he now faces which have severely limited options for how to proceed with the game.
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