Metal Gear Solid 4 story question

I'm thinking of buying MGS4 soon and was wondering if I need to play the earlier games in the series. Thanks.

I never played them and i beat mgs4 some might say its a sin or something but i loved the game just as much. i want to play the other ones now but i guess it depends if you want to buy them all and play them all or you can download the mgs4 database off the psn it will explain everything but really its your call

Yes, you definitely need to play the previous games in the series in order to better understand the game. Going by gameplay alone you may not since MGS4 can stand on it's own merits in terms of gameplay but you will be seriously restricting yourself by playing MGS4 without knowledge of the past games. You see MGS4 is a very story driven game, made for the fans of the franchise.

Saying that why don't you just play the game anyway, it's seriously amazing!

I played the first, and read the storylines of the other two. You should definitely play the first one since it's only $6 on the PSN. It clears things up, and includes the storylines of Metal Gear & Metal Gear 2 (really old).

You could, but it would be like watching the series finale of a show you've never watched before.

you should definitively play the previous metal gear solid games, you'll become fan of the series, and even if they look old they are still amazing games with a great story, my favourite was metal gear solid 3: snake eater, but i advise to get your hands on metal gear solid 3: subsistance wich includes metal gear 1 and 2 that were only available on msx (really old!!).

And the database available on PSN store is really helpfull to fully understand the whole complex story.

If you want to have a clear understanding of the story and its characters, I highly recommend that you play the previous installments.

If you have the time and the means to play through the original games, then you really should. However, if you don't have the time to do so, you should at LEAST watch this:

GameTrailers Metal Gear Retrospective

It gives about the best summary of the Metal Gear series that I've ever seen. If you can't (or don't want to) play the games, then definitely watch this.

You dont NEED to. The game explains most of what you need to know, meaning you wont be entirely lost.

But not playing all 3 games in order prior to playing 4 would be a huge mistake, these are some of the best games ever made and you would be missing out on not playing them for the joy of the games and their stories. Play them!

MGS4 was my first MGS game and the plot is just so confusing, I reccomed you play the others first

Here is how it goes down in my opinion. There are 5 Acts.

Act 1: You can play through most of this and get it, because it relies very little on the previous games.

Act 2: A little background info from MGS1, would help clarify a few things in the middle cut scene, but that's it.

Act 3: Very heavily driven by the plot of MGS3.

Act 4: Very heavily driven by the plot of MGS1, and you probably won't get the intended emotional effect if you haven't played it.

Act 5: This is the act that helps tie everything together. You will need to know backgroud info from MG, MG2, MGS1, MGS2, MGS3, and what you have learned in MGS4 to understand the end of this act. This is the act that you will be confused on if you don't play the previous games, or at least look into the background info of them.

You might hate yourself for starting the series with part 4 after you've played through all of them. Honestly.

Do yourself a huge favor and play from start to finish, 1-4.

You can play it on it's own. But it's appreciated and better understood with the previous games. You could always read up on the entire story all over the net. But I would suggest playing "the whole story" (MGS1,2,3,4). Especially to get a feel for it to see if you'll like it or not.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is meant to close and finish the current Solid Snake storyline. So it would be "in a sense", like watching a new movie near the ending. Everything about Metal Gear Solid pretty much builds up to Metal Gear Solid 4 as the "be all end all".

MGS3 dude. You are missing out!

I'm thinking of buying MGS4 soon and was wondering if I need to play the earlier games in the series. Thanks.

shaneras

I wanted to know the same thing and how can I play 2 and 3 without a ps2 or a BC ps3?

You will want to play the previous Metal Gear Solid Games, trustme. I watched my sister play this game and it confused me. I was like who's that, or wasn't he or he isn't the original...... and she was like highly aggravated with my questions.

Its a great game in its own right - but to fully appreciate it you need to have played the others... @guys who have said you dont - come on - the final epic battle...we've played them and are like - this is amazing...if you havent your probably sat their thinking...what the hell is going on with my ps3...and its not just that battle theres a lot of references / links to rpevious games.

But obviously due to BC issues its harder to hook up with the old games

[QUOTE="shaneras"]

I'm thinking of buying MGS4 soon and was wondering if I need to play the earlier games in the series. Thanks.

SomeGuyInLA

I wanted to know the same thing and how can I play 2 and 3 without a ps2 or a BC ps3?