Cinematics every fucking 4 feet. No lie. Play it. I swear to god it went "15min cinematic" > "10 seconds gameplay > "5minuite cinematic" > 10 seconds gameplay > "Another cinematic". Takes the piss.
That said, the cinematics are VERY well done. Shame this fucker wont go into TV or cinema, he would probably do great things.
Game play is... Well its Metal Gear, it hasn't changed much. Nearly met up with the Rat Pack or whatever they were called, and we had a power cut. W00tles... One thing I can say is there is fuck all stealth so far, and the Octocamo is fucking balls. Sometimes they see you, sometimes they couldnt give a fuck. Plus if this was real they would easily see you because most of the time the camo looks nowhere near correct, even when its at 85%+ camo.
For a few hours of gameplay, I would honestly give this a 6/10 "so far". Its just not as good as past Metal Gears were. The graphics are there, the presentation is there, but fuck, it just feels wrong... I hope it gets much much better later on in the game and doesnt pull a MGS2 on us like usual...
Oh and if I see one more fucking real life product in this game or one more SONY cock sucking moment where they have to talk about the fucking system for a second, I'll scream. Honestly its worse than I-Robot. I'm walking around with a fucking iPod for gods sake, in a battlefield... While drinking offical drinks... While Otocon is sucking on Sonys balls about my PS3 pad and my PSP and my PS3... Jesus...
That's the one thing that always killed me about the MGS titles. The long winded cinematics. It seems like the narrative dribbles on and on trying to evoke some emotion all while trying to explain the cluster fuck of a story that has so many twists and loose ends you need cliff notes to remotely keep up. I felt like my head was going to pop towards the end of MGS2.
I've always loved the gameplay, design and production values present in the MGS series. Unfortunately I borrowed MGS3 from a friend and never really got hooked. I hear it was an amazing game though and I'd eventually like to pick it up and really give it another chance. As for MGS4 making me buy a PS3, maybe down the road, but not right now.
I really hope Kojima moves on to some new IP, I'd love to see what he does next. On that same note, It really saddens me to think how much we actually miss in terms of exciting new IP's because of sequels. That is for another thread.
The graphics are there, the presentation is there, but fuck, it just feels wrong... I hope it gets much much better later on in the game and doesnt pull a MGS2 on us like usual...
How can it be "like usual" if there's only one MGS2? And only one game in between MGS2 and MGS4?
Personally, I play games to sit back, relax, and have a good time. I don't get why one would get all worked up over it.
I can see the cinematics getting old, but if its how the game is, then i'll play the game how it is . I remember when Morrowind first came out, and every 3rd step you had to wait 30 seconds for it to load the environment. I still played it though.
There really isn't much to say about the game until I'm done with it.
i've seen this game today and what stroke me as odd was the contrast between the "next gen" graphics and the really rigid oldschool animations, floating feet, clipping issues and how enemies still move on rails and everything.
don't get me started on the cutscene:gameplay ratio.
Cinematics every fucking 4 feet. No lie. Play it. I swear to god it went "15min cinematic" > "10 seconds gameplay > "5minuite cinematic" > 10 seconds gameplay > "Another cinematic". Takes the piss.
Thank god, I was worried I'd have to endure the famous MGS gameplay :P
Actually I thought the environments looked really good. The graphics in general are really sharp, polished and pretty consistent.
It's true that the animation was sometimes a bit suspect (poor Snake and his broken wrists) but overall it wasn't bad.
While it's true that the initial sets of gameplay anyway are 10 minute cutscenes followed by (literally) 10 seconds of actual controllable gameplay, which IMHO is quite ridiculous for a game, the cinematics are really, really nice.
The camera movement and cuts are cool, the effects and postprocessing work extremely well, and the overall consistency of the world and uniqueness of many "cinematic" moments is really nice.
Voice acting sounded a bit flat and lifeless to me, but I dunno. Heh, and I still think Old Snake looks like Des Lynam.
Never really liked the gameplay of MGS series myself, but I enjoy watching other people play it, and this new one is worth it for the visuals and intriguing story.
Echoing some of the above comments. The presentation has always been to me the most impressive aspect of the MGS series, and Numbah 4 doesnt dissapoint. From the loading screen on, its a very sharp, smart and sexy presentation. Gameplay is certainly limited, but the refined controls for shooting and camera control make for a more streamlined experience. As has been said before, prepare for LOTS of cinematics. I would be more annoyed (and I am to a degree) but they are handsomely presented, so I do have to give the devs points for that. Overall, I'd say I'm enjoying it more then the previous installments. Despite the excess of storytelling, it does more or less get to the action faster than the previous games.
Old Snake is interesting. I dont quite like the way he looks from dead on, but from profile, he looks really really good. I might be alone on that :P
While it's true that the initial sets of gameplay anyway are 10 minute cutscenes followed by (literally) 10 seconds of actual controllable gameplay, which IMHO is quite ridiculous for a game, the cinematics are really, really nice.
i actually really liked this, it just let you do the tutorials during in intro scene and credits, unlike grand theft auto where you just sat there and did nothign for 10 mins. for me it was a nice intro to the controls and it wasn't very long at all.
this is the most amazing game i don't really like playing ever made. personally don't think its too fun, but i cant stop playing cause its just amazing.
i never lose interest because the story is really good even if the voice acting is not, and the cutscenes are amazing, also its all the little cool things that are just extras that keep me happy playing and not having much fun, but loving every minute.
wow i can't believe im hearing someone talking down on mgs4 :P,, im actually not a gamer and usually just play party games at parties but the mgs series really hooked me, and now today when i got to try mgs4 i just thought it was the most perfect game in the world.
i think that the cutscenes and the story of this game is what really makes me like it, i get really happy everytime there is a new cutscene, I'm really more of a movie kind of person than a gamer though i love making game models :P.
i guess a game like this could be better for another kind of player then the usual hardcore gamer, for me the halo series is something i wouldn't play for 5 minutes without getting tired of it while all mgs games has made me play it over and over again, and with the new cool weapon system this game has it could last even longer.
It looks great... but I still cant enjoy the game play. "Easy to learn but difficult to master" should be prerequisites for every game.. but it really isn't easy to get into. Is this the final hand shandy for all the MGS fanboys I wonder?
I'm having fun so far. Almost to the end of Act 2 (it feels like it anyway). No real complaints so far. Still don't have a real good grip on the cqc techniquing.
Much better off than where I was last time I played MGS3. I had just started, got my gear, tried punching an aligator, then drowned in the swamp. -.-
Don't mind the product placement and long cut-scenes (L1 views, X button flashbacks & MkII roaming keep them from being just boring snore fests).
Act 1 seemed pretty short and uneventful compared to what's been going on in #2. The tutorials & hand holding probably didn't seem so tedious with the breakup between cut scenes.
If you put such a low importance on the storytelling part of the game... press START. You CAN skip them.
I'm watching a coworker play through this right now. We both agree that the in-game iPod is pretty damn cool. Is it blatant product placement? Of course. Does it bother us? Not really. It doesn't bother me for the same reason I like the ads and name brands on the tracks in GRID; it makes it feel credible.
I feel it adds authenticity to the game world. Does it make sense to listen to Japanese pop music as I'm sneaking around killing dudes? Probably not, but the fact that I can is just great. The only way they could make it better would be to let you browse your local music folders on the PS3 to play your own music in the game.
I picked mine up last night at the midnight launch. I unlike other people probably did not rush home and start in on it. I was worn out already from the day. I did though start in on it this morning and played for almost 9 hours straight. All I can say so far is that I absolutely love the game.
I disagree with the statements above about the environment quality. I have no idea what you're looking at but it is far from average and lies more around top tier as far as games out there. May be the display you're playing on and or the way you have it set up. I'm playing on a 32" LCD with a very high contrast ratio, color calibrated and via HDMI connection and the audio being dumped out in it's native Dolby format. It really excels as a visual experience as does the audio. That and the environments are very diverse. I thought you'd be in the middle east the entire game as that seems to be popular at the moment for location of war based games. There is a lot of attention paid to propping with props being placed in a manner that doesn't look planned but still works effectively in combat for cover. It feels natural unlike a lot of games that just look too forced in design. There are also like a ton of ways to approach the environments with multitudes of pathway choices and lots of elevation changes thru out so you can choose effective ways to engage or not engage enemies while achieving the goals needed to advance the story. This is especially good seeing as not everyone will play this game the same and it doesn't force you to be stealthy if you don't like that kind of game play and want to just go Rambo on them and run and gun. There are advantages to both in different situations, just like real life. Fortunately they allow you to choose and don't penalize you for your preference of combat.
Character side of things...amazingly good. The characters are all voiced well and I thought animated above average...not perfect but better than 90% of games out there, especially for the enormous amounts of actions you as the player and the AI go thru depending on what's going on. I think so far my favorite character(s) are the Frogs...obviously . I really like their design in both form and appearance of functionality. They are really well done and just fucking cool, especially when in CQB combat when fighting in buildings. They move so fluid and just appear to really be thinking as a combat group. I loved it. Hopefully you can play as one in multi player. I've not tried the online portion yet. One thing that is insane character wise is the real time model of the first boss without her costume/armor on. I've never seen a real time female character look so beautiful. Whoever did that model and I'm sure the other 3 beasts deserves a ton of admiration on a job well done. The model was just right in every way and the quality was amazing. I've seen few pre rendered CG female characters that even looked close to that good. It is definitely something to check out and see for yourself. It was very inspirational.
Weapons in this game are so much fun as well. They all behave great and seem to be properly adjusted balance wise and for what they represent from the real world. The rating system for the weapons is easy to understand and enabling you to choose the best one for the job before you. It's a lot of fun too, to be able to customize your weapons even further from the base weapon to modify it to your tastes for combat. It is also a remarkable amount of fun when going thru environments finding hidden weapons and accessories to collect for your private arsenal. I found a bunch of great stuff even early on that was there, you just had to take a moment to open your eyes and explore the world and get some great goodies. I picked up a great sniper rifle off a Frog just because instead of shooting her from 2 floors down in a courtyard, I went and flanked her on the floor she was on by taking an alternate path up a back stairwell and then choked her out from behind. It's also great that instead of hunting down the arms dealer like in resident evil where he was in few locations that were always the same spot but sometimes a trip to get to, you can just access your arms dealer via pausing to buy new guns, ammo, accessories at any point in time and then customize your weapons and adjust your current load out on the go. Sometimes you get into a situation where you are like, "Damn! Wish I brought that RPG and had my sniper rifle.", and the way it's set up you can immediately have what you want when you need it. Still have the complexity of all the weapon choices and customization without the over complicating the game by forcing unnecessary complexity of game play with some arbitrary hunt for a weapons dealer or ammo placement in the world. There's definitely a more than fair amount of ammo placement but it's nice being able to buy it if you need it at any time, provided you have the funds to do so.
As for the octocamo...it's more than effective and seems to work as intended. Honestly it isn't that hard to use and keeps you from being seen if you use it right. Just pressing up against a wall and changing to the material there won't cut it. It does a bit but not all. There's a meter up in the right corner that shows you the percentage of effective camouflage in use. Being flat to the floor of course makes better use than standing or even crouching in front of a wall or in the open. Even when flat to the floor you can change Snake's stance to where he is either in prone, prone on his back, or literally flat to the floor, face to the side, hands flat and weapons under his torso. On top of that the analog stick can control the speed that you move while flat to the ground from a super slow snake like crawl, to a prone crawl at slow speed, to a prone crawl at normal speed and even different speeds of crawling while in prone on your back. It isn't just push a button and BAM! instant hiding ninja magic and nobody can see you. It is a whole bunch of game play that you need to take the time to learn and play and once you figure it out (which takes all of maybe 15 minutes of playing around), you can then effectively hide even when somebody is almost standing on top of your spine looking right at you. Not to mention the ol' favorite cardboard box and the new rusty steel drum to hide in. This game definitely has a ton of nuances in game play that you can choose to use and it makes the game a lot more of a challenge and fun or you can just jump in and press buttons and have fun but not use all the goodies and options available to you as the player. Oh and once you get the octocamo face mask it increases your stealth options even more so.
Give it a shot and you will have fun and see it was really well designed and thought out.
I'm definitely having a lot of fun with it and it is a game that deserves high ratings and admiration. The people responsible did an amazing job with it.
I'll post up some more comments as I get more of the game completed over this weekend.
From the looks, seems like theres so much good stuff in this game.. I just picked up my limited edition copy of the game today, but all the bundles were sold out! So now I dont have a PS3 to play on... Im still bent on getting the 80GB PS3. I might have to just buy it on ebay. Arggg!Cant wait to play it!
I picked up the 80GB PS3 MGS4 bundle at WalMart this morning. Through Saturday they are giving out $100 gift cards with the purchase of any PS3 model. Now is a good time if you don't have a PS3 already. Of course, I have a day job now, so my brand new PS3 sat quietly under my desk all day. And I decided not to rush things when I finally got home either. I took my time unboxing my new PS3, and savoring its new-console aura. Very shiny, I always like it when they're shiny.
I actually still haven't played the copy of MGS4 that came with it. Probably won't until the weekend, actually. No real hurry, its in hand, after all. I did take some time to set up and explore the PS3. And so far I've been surprisingly pleased. Set up was a breeze. Being able to hook up a keyboard definitely helped. (typing with a controller sucks) Connecting to my wireless network was child's play. And lo and behold, in almost no time at all I was streaming media from my computer. My new PS3 recognized my networked PC instantly. Now I've got every MP3 on my PC's hard drive accessible to my surround-sound system. Divx and XVid movies stored on my PC can be streamed and played back as well.
I'm thinking next I'll work on cooking up my own custom theme. MGS4 is just going to have to wait for now.
Oh, also, I did test out the backward's compatibility of the new 80GB MGS4 bundle. Works like a charm. Soul Calibur III and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night worked perfectly. So both PS2 and PS1 games work fine on the 80GB model. Also, it does come with the memory card slots on the front.
I haven't picked it up yet. I'm a little worried about the cut scenes, quite a few people have raised the concern that they are long, drawn out and constantly impeding game play. Is that just the first part of the game or is it pretty much how its going to be for the whole thing?
Honestly I hope they blend them well that I don't mind watching. I have a a tendency to check out mentally when I'm forced to stop playing and listen to character prattle on for far too long about stuff I already knew.
I remember it being a staple in some of the MSG games previously, walk 3ft, comm. Walk 2ft, comm again. Die, start over. If its going to be like that I'll pass.
Also anyone find actual estimates on game play time? I'd like to play but if its an 80hr commitment I'll have to pass.
I loved the shit out of the first two MGS [yes, TWO] and have really been looking forward to this one. Since my third xbox just bit it, i'm thinking about picking up the ps3 bundle.
Playing it, loving it. It is a beautiful game! Don't worry about the cutscenes. They're absolutely gorgeous, and are worth watching. With all this hoop-la about them being long... i dont understand it, not sure who *didnt* expect a MGS game to have long cutscenes by this point in the franchise's history You see them pretty frequently, but its ok... i may just be used to it though.
and I am absolutlely HATING some of it.... like the fundamental "MGS things" they've changed. I havent dug through the options *too* throughly yet, but will tonight. I knew from the very first menu button press they'd changed the controls.... when you pressed X to accept menu items instead of circle.
- No First Person view while running around? The MiniMap Solid Eye is already pretty different to read, and that circular "disturbance" ring is sometimes impossible to see. Fucking HATE to no first person view mode... or am i just retarded and they changed the buttons?
- Why did they change the way cover and sneaking against walls works? I dont mind the button press to enter cover... IF the animations *look* like the person is getting into cover. I can't tell half the time if i'm in or out.
- shooting while in cover doesnt feel that good. When you aim under a low cover you cannot pop out to shoot stuff without toggling standing up. Even shooting around corners in the old "pop out shoot once pop back in" methods of MGS1, 2, and 3 barely works.
- shooting the guns in 3rd person is very unresponsive, especially from cover. Also, the tried and true "tap L1 autotarget, fire gun" to aquire targets in a mess seems to be gone
- Boo to the change to the controls, especially the choke. L1? sadpanda. WTB circle.
- i may have just not played with it, but are the buttons don't feel like they read pressure. May be the controller im using.
- you cant reload your gun by pressing R2 twice... grr. Guess it was pretty cheap, but still... gah!
- really feels like they've cop'ed out on the codec. The visuals are cool... but doesnt feel as cool (MGS3 had a full 3d mesh in the background, this one takes a screenshot of the viewport at the time).
Despite my complaints, I still am loving it and will play all the wya through 2 or 3 times
oh yeah.... did anyone else get two "commercials" when they started the game? There some very bizzare... yet wickedly cool fictional commercials, that had me saying "wtf"
The first few hours are pure bullshit. Really. Boring as fuck, and it feels like Gears Of War. That wouldn't be a bad thing, but I bought Metal Gear for, well, Metal Gear Game Play... After you meet up with Myrell things start looking up. Byt the time you start act 2, its just awesome.
And I have to say one thing...
This game will be in my memory for a long time for one reason...
And thats tits.
And the fact I think I got a boner when I saw Cambell's wife... Fuck shes hot, even for a computer game... "Toss" up (off?) between her and Naomi...
I don't have a PS3, and I've still yet to play MGS3 even though I have it sitting at home, but I'd almost be tempted to dive in for this game... dunno.
Fun! Gameplay is great, just like the older titles but with more action. The Controls are a bit weird, sometimes hard to remember what i need to press, i have no idea what im doing when im in close combat.
I really like the cutscenes, sometimes it just seems i have to played the past metal gear titles again, before playing mgs4, to understand everything.
I don't have a PS3, and I've still yet to play MGS3 even though I have it sitting at home, but I'd almost be tempted to dive in for this game... dunno.
Indeed, that article is seems accurate. I went to a local store one day and counted the games on 360. TWENTY FIVE GAMES out of FOURTY were FPSs. All for $59.99 each. UGH I say.
I would LOVE to play MGS4... but seeing as it is the only game on the PS3 that I want, I am not shelling out $400 + for one title. (I'll wait for the inevitable XBox version.)
Doubt the cutscenes would bother me. I've always loved the voice acting and drama in the MGS titles. I could sit and listen to just the cutscene audio for hours.
Indeed, that article is seems accurate. I went to a local store one day and counted the games on 360. TWENTY FIVE GAMES out of FOURTY were FPSs. All for $59.99 each. UGH I say.
I would LOVE to play MGS4... but seeing as it is the only game on the PS3 that I want, I am not shelling out $400 + for one title. (I'll wait for the inevitable XBox version.)
Doubt the cutscenes would bother me. I've always loved the voice acting and drama in the MGS titles. I could sit and listen to just the cutscene audio for hours.
That article is stupid. MGS gameplay has hardly changed since it was first released. All he's done that's great besides MGS is Zone of the Enders.
Who cares if we have a lot of FPS games? I like FPS and so do most people I know. It's not like the amount of other genre games has gone down. The FPS genre is just booming right now.
zone of the enders was kinda fun, although it was super short
I can't wait to get more into MGS4 this weekend.
@ the controls, i realized something was not the same, after i could not take down or kill soldiers that see me as im hugging a wall in the dark corner. I start mashing buttons... but realize they changed attack to R1
Moose: Dunno if you've already figured this out, but you can tap Triangle with your gun drawn to switch to first person. Incidentally, this is the only way to access the sniper scope.
Played a shit ton more last night. Yeah, despite the sheer number of movies (this is MGS afterall) its pretty damn entertaining.
Act 1 - Okay, not awesome, not much of a payoff at the end other then pretty cool cinematitc
Act 2 - Fucking rad. The Stunt Spectacular finale is a hoot
Act 3 - Da Dang. Some really cool twists, revelations, cameos, and set pieces.
The characters are easily some of the best, if not THE, best I've ever seen. Whomever worked on the female models clearly had a blast and successfully made them, dare I say, sexy ? Which is hard to say for a videogame character :P
yea, dont mean that first person Cheez Was meaning a first person "look" mode w/o guns.
In the others, you could hold R1 to go into a first person mode to scout the area, see where enemies are, which way they're facing, and or walking, etc. Was very useful if you crouch in a hidden spot, go look as first person @ the area and then move forward.
Only frustrates me because sometimes im sadistic and try to go through the MGS games w/o being seen, killing, or using rations
The change of removing gun fire from Square and Melee from Circle may have pooched this
Are the control edits specific to the US version? I hear that circle as 'valid' and X as 'back' is pretty much standard for japanese games. So maybe it's worth picking an extra copy, in ntscjap... just for the kick of the original feel.
On a side note, I'll buy the game next week. Even if I don't have a PS3. And no TV either.
not sure. Though, the difficulty tool tip for normal and hard did say "Normal Difficulty for North America and Europe."
Are PS3's region free for the games? I may have to import one hehe. OooooroooooROROORRRRRRRR dig in the options and try to find the setting to go back to the orginal controls.
whatever the case, i cant wait to geek out all weekend.
the characters are unbelievable too, i agree. Those FROG soldiers are just... wow, awesome. Meryl's model is great too, the game reeks quality and awesome, despite my own fanboyish pissy moments.
Well, if the camera controls are the same for both versions, I could imagine drawing your weapon with the trigger and shooting with Circle, being a bitch for trying to move, aim and shoot at the same time.
Man, playing Act 2 makes me want to play SnakeEater again :P
not really, but the binoculars do work. just a pain to swap to it, press triangle, and swap back instead of a one-button press Plus, the dang thing is on a battery hehe. stupid electronic eyeballs.
and my memory faded and was a little wrong, and for personal sanity that i'm not going crazy that there was a first person view at all:
Fucking Amazing. Maybe only 20% gameplay so far but who the fuck cares it's so god damn awesome. some of the best acting, voice acting, and character models I've ever seen in a game.
as a whole the game looks great, but there's some parts that don't look nearly as good as you would imagine.
then there's some parts that are photorealistic and you are like 'holy shit, that looks REAL'
A++ so far though, the amount of effort put into this game is breathtaking. and yes, very hot chicks.
One of the guys at work beat it a couple days ago(Crazy bastage beat the whole thing in one sitting). Apparently the last cutscene isn't 90 min, more like 60. Still one hell of a long cutscene.
Kind of makes me sad that I've never been a fan of the series and don't know the other games in it too well. This game sounds great, but it also sounds like it's so much based on story and cutscenes that it's not worth me playing.
Replies
Great graphics on people.
Shite graphics on world.
Cinematics every fucking 4 feet. No lie. Play it. I swear to god it went "15min cinematic" > "10 seconds gameplay > "5minuite cinematic" > 10 seconds gameplay > "Another cinematic". Takes the piss.
That said, the cinematics are VERY well done. Shame this fucker wont go into TV or cinema, he would probably do great things.
Game play is... Well its Metal Gear, it hasn't changed much. Nearly met up with the Rat Pack or whatever they were called, and we had a power cut. W00tles... One thing I can say is there is fuck all stealth so far, and the Octocamo is fucking balls. Sometimes they see you, sometimes they couldnt give a fuck. Plus if this was real they would easily see you because most of the time the camo looks nowhere near correct, even when its at 85%+ camo.
For a few hours of gameplay, I would honestly give this a 6/10 "so far". Its just not as good as past Metal Gears were. The graphics are there, the presentation is there, but fuck, it just feels wrong... I hope it gets much much better later on in the game and doesnt pull a MGS2 on us like usual...
Oh and if I see one more fucking real life product in this game or one more SONY cock sucking moment where they have to talk about the fucking system for a second, I'll scream. Honestly its worse than I-Robot. I'm walking around with a fucking iPod for gods sake, in a battlefield... While drinking offical drinks... While Otocon is sucking on Sonys balls about my PS3 pad and my PSP and my PS3... Jesus...
I've always loved the gameplay, design and production values present in the MGS series. Unfortunately I borrowed MGS3 from a friend and never really got hooked. I hear it was an amazing game though and I'd eventually like to pick it up and really give it another chance. As for MGS4 making me buy a PS3, maybe down the road, but not right now.
I really hope Kojima moves on to some new IP, I'd love to see what he does next. On that same note, It really saddens me to think how much we actually miss in terms of exciting new IP's because of sequels. That is for another thread.
How can it be "like usual" if there's only one MGS2? And only one game in between MGS2 and MGS4?
Personally, I play games to sit back, relax, and have a good time. I don't get why one would get all worked up over it.
I can see the cinematics getting old, but if its how the game is, then i'll play the game how it is
There really isn't much to say about the game until I'm done with it.
don't get me started on the cutscene:gameplay ratio.
I didn't like the previous versions either.
Actually I thought the environments looked really good. The graphics in general are really sharp, polished and pretty consistent.
It's true that the animation was sometimes a bit suspect (poor Snake and his broken wrists) but overall it wasn't bad.
While it's true that the initial sets of gameplay anyway are 10 minute cutscenes followed by (literally) 10 seconds of actual controllable gameplay, which IMHO is quite ridiculous for a game, the cinematics are really, really nice.
The camera movement and cuts are cool, the effects and postprocessing work extremely well, and the overall consistency of the world and uniqueness of many "cinematic" moments is really nice.
Voice acting sounded a bit flat and lifeless to me, but I dunno. Heh, and I still think Old Snake looks like Des Lynam.
Never really liked the gameplay of MGS series myself, but I enjoy watching other people play it, and this new one is worth it for the visuals and intriguing story.
Old Snake is interesting. I dont quite like the way he looks from dead on, but from profile, he looks really really good. I might be alone on that :P
i actually really liked this, it just let you do the tutorials during in intro scene and credits, unlike grand theft auto where you just sat there and did nothign for 10 mins. for me it was a nice intro to the controls and it wasn't very long at all.
this is the most amazing game i don't really like playing ever made. personally don't think its too fun, but i cant stop playing cause its just amazing.
i never lose interest because the story is really good even if the voice acting is not, and the cutscenes are amazing, also its all the little cool things that are just extras that keep me happy playing and not having much fun, but loving every minute.
i think that the cutscenes and the story of this game is what really makes me like it, i get really happy everytime there is a new cutscene, I'm really more of a movie kind of person than a gamer though i love making game models :P.
i guess a game like this could be better for another kind of player then the usual hardcore gamer, for me the halo series is something i wouldn't play for 5 minutes without getting tired of it while all mgs games has made me play it over and over again, and with the new cool weapon system this game has it could last even longer.
Much better off than where I was last time I played MGS3. I had just started, got my gear, tried punching an aligator, then drowned in the swamp. -.-
Don't mind the product placement and long cut-scenes (L1 views, X button flashbacks & MkII roaming keep them from being just boring snore fests).
Act 1 seemed pretty short and uneventful compared to what's been going on in #2. The tutorials & hand holding probably didn't seem so tedious with the breakup between cut scenes.
If you put such a low importance on the storytelling part of the game... press START. You CAN skip them.
I feel it adds authenticity to the game world. Does it make sense to listen to Japanese pop music as I'm sneaking around killing dudes? Probably not, but the fact that I can is just great. The only way they could make it better would be to let you browse your local music folders on the PS3 to play your own music in the game.
I disagree with the statements above about the environment quality. I have no idea what you're looking at but it is far from average and lies more around top tier as far as games out there. May be the display you're playing on and or the way you have it set up. I'm playing on a 32" LCD with a very high contrast ratio, color calibrated and via HDMI connection and the audio being dumped out in it's native Dolby format. It really excels as a visual experience as does the audio. That and the environments are very diverse. I thought you'd be in the middle east the entire game as that seems to be popular at the moment for location of war based games. There is a lot of attention paid to propping with props being placed in a manner that doesn't look planned but still works effectively in combat for cover. It feels natural unlike a lot of games that just look too forced in design. There are also like a ton of ways to approach the environments with multitudes of pathway choices and lots of elevation changes thru out so you can choose effective ways to engage or not engage enemies while achieving the goals needed to advance the story. This is especially good seeing as not everyone will play this game the same and it doesn't force you to be stealthy if you don't like that kind of game play and want to just go Rambo on them and run and gun. There are advantages to both in different situations, just like real life. Fortunately they allow you to choose and don't penalize you for your preference of combat.
Character side of things...amazingly good. The characters are all voiced well and I thought animated above average...not perfect but better than 90% of games out there, especially for the enormous amounts of actions you as the player and the AI go thru depending on what's going on. I think so far my favorite character(s) are the Frogs...obviously
Weapons in this game are so much fun as well. They all behave great and seem to be properly adjusted balance wise and for what they represent from the real world. The rating system for the weapons is easy to understand and enabling you to choose the best one for the job before you. It's a lot of fun too, to be able to customize your weapons even further from the base weapon to modify it to your tastes for combat. It is also a remarkable amount of fun when going thru environments finding hidden weapons and accessories to collect for your private arsenal. I found a bunch of great stuff even early on that was there, you just had to take a moment to open your eyes and explore the world and get some great goodies. I picked up a great sniper rifle off a Frog just because instead of shooting her from 2 floors down in a courtyard, I went and flanked her on the floor she was on by taking an alternate path up a back stairwell and then choked her out from behind. It's also great that instead of hunting down the arms dealer like in resident evil where he was in few locations that were always the same spot but sometimes a trip to get to, you can just access your arms dealer via pausing to buy new guns, ammo, accessories at any point in time and then customize your weapons and adjust your current load out on the go. Sometimes you get into a situation where you are like, "Damn! Wish I brought that RPG and had my sniper rifle.", and the way it's set up you can immediately have what you want when you need it. Still have the complexity of all the weapon choices and customization without the over complicating the game by forcing unnecessary complexity of game play with some arbitrary hunt for a weapons dealer or ammo placement in the world. There's definitely a more than fair amount of ammo placement but it's nice being able to buy it if you need it at any time, provided you have the funds to do so.
As for the octocamo...it's more than effective and seems to work as intended. Honestly it isn't that hard to use and keeps you from being seen if you use it right. Just pressing up against a wall and changing to the material there won't cut it. It does a bit but not all. There's a meter up in the right corner that shows you the percentage of effective camouflage in use. Being flat to the floor of course makes better use than standing or even crouching in front of a wall or in the open. Even when flat to the floor you can change Snake's stance to where he is either in prone, prone on his back, or literally flat to the floor, face to the side, hands flat and weapons under his torso. On top of that the analog stick can control the speed that you move while flat to the ground from a super slow snake like crawl, to a prone crawl at slow speed, to a prone crawl at normal speed and even different speeds of crawling while in prone on your back. It isn't just push a button and BAM! instant hiding ninja magic and nobody can see you. It is a whole bunch of game play that you need to take the time to learn and play and once you figure it out (which takes all of maybe 15 minutes of playing around), you can then effectively hide even when somebody is almost standing on top of your spine looking right at you. Not to mention the ol' favorite cardboard box and the new rusty steel drum to hide in. This game definitely has a ton of nuances in game play that you can choose to use and it makes the game a lot more of a challenge and fun or you can just jump in and press buttons and have fun but not use all the goodies and options available to you as the player. Oh and once you get the octocamo face mask it increases your stealth options even more so.
Give it a shot and you will have fun and see it was really well designed and thought out.
I'm definitely having a lot of fun with it and it is a game that deserves high ratings and admiration. The people responsible did an amazing job with it.
I'll post up some more comments as I get more of the game completed over this weekend.
I actually still haven't played the copy of MGS4 that came with it. Probably won't until the weekend, actually. No real hurry, its in hand, after all. I did take some time to set up and explore the PS3. And so far I've been surprisingly pleased. Set up was a breeze. Being able to hook up a keyboard definitely helped. (typing with a controller sucks) Connecting to my wireless network was child's play. And lo and behold, in almost no time at all I was streaming media from my computer. My new PS3 recognized my networked PC instantly. Now I've got every MP3 on my PC's hard drive accessible to my surround-sound system. Divx and XVid movies stored on my PC can be streamed and played back as well.
I'm thinking next I'll work on cooking up my own custom theme. MGS4 is just going to have to wait for now.
Oh, also, I did test out the backward's compatibility of the new 80GB MGS4 bundle. Works like a charm. Soul Calibur III and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night worked perfectly. So both PS2 and PS1 games work fine on the 80GB model. Also, it does come with the memory card slots on the front.
Honestly I hope they blend them well that I don't mind watching. I have a a tendency to check out mentally when I'm forced to stop playing and listen to character prattle on for far too long about stuff I already knew.
I remember it being a staple in some of the MSG games previously, walk 3ft, comm. Walk 2ft, comm again. Die, start over. If its going to be like that I'll pass.
Also anyone find actual estimates on game play time? I'd like to play but if its an 80hr commitment I'll have to pass.
and I am absolutlely HATING some of it.... like the fundamental "MGS things" they've changed. I havent dug through the options *too* throughly yet, but will tonight. I knew from the very first menu button press they'd changed the controls.... when you pressed X to accept menu items instead of circle.
- Why did they change the way cover and sneaking against walls works? I dont mind the button press to enter cover... IF the animations *look* like the person is getting into cover. I can't tell half the time if i'm in or out.
- shooting while in cover doesnt feel that good. When you aim under a low cover you cannot pop out to shoot stuff without toggling standing up. Even shooting around corners in the old "pop out shoot once pop back in" methods of MGS1, 2, and 3 barely works.
- shooting the guns in 3rd person is very unresponsive, especially from cover. Also, the tried and true "tap L1 autotarget, fire gun" to aquire targets in a mess seems to be gone
- Boo to the change to the controls, especially the choke. L1?
- i may have just not played with it, but are the buttons don't feel like they read pressure. May be the controller im using.
- you cant reload your gun by pressing R2 twice... grr. Guess it was pretty cheap, but still... gah!
- really feels like they've cop'ed out on the codec. The visuals are cool... but doesnt feel as cool (MGS3 had a full 3d mesh in the background, this one takes a screenshot of the viewport at the time).
Despite my complaints, I still am loving it and will play all the wya through 2 or 3 times
oh yeah.... did anyone else get two "commercials" when they started the game? There some very bizzare... yet wickedly cool fictional commercials, that had me saying "wtf"
the commercials are great
http://kotaku.com/5012146/egm-refuse-to-review-mgs4-because-konami-imposed-limitations
The first few hours are pure bullshit. Really. Boring as fuck, and it feels like Gears Of War. That wouldn't be a bad thing, but I bought Metal Gear for, well, Metal Gear Game Play... After you meet up with Myrell things start looking up. Byt the time you start act 2, its just awesome.
And I have to say one thing...
This game will be in my memory for a long time for one reason...
And thats tits.
And the fact I think I got a boner when I saw Cambell's wife... Fuck shes hot, even for a computer game... "Toss" up (off?) between her and Naomi...
Tits... mmm....
http://kotaku.com/5016255/no-place-for-hideo-mgs-4s-hidden-themes
I don't have a PS3, and I've still yet to play MGS3 even though I have it sitting at home, but I'd almost be tempted to dive in for this game... dunno.
I really like the cutscenes, sometimes it just seems i have to played the past metal gear titles again, before playing mgs4, to understand everything.
Maybe I'm just too in love with Gears...
Indeed, that article is seems accurate. I went to a local store one day and counted the games on 360. TWENTY FIVE GAMES out of FOURTY were FPSs. All for $59.99 each. UGH I say.
I would LOVE to play MGS4... but seeing as it is the only game on the PS3 that I want, I am not shelling out $400 + for one title. (I'll wait for the inevitable XBox version.)
Doubt the cutscenes would bother me. I've always loved the voice acting and drama in the MGS titles. I could sit and listen to just the cutscene audio for hours.
That article is stupid. MGS gameplay has hardly changed since it was first released. All he's done that's great besides MGS is Zone of the Enders.
Who cares if we have a lot of FPS games? I like FPS and so do most people I know. It's not like the amount of other genre games has gone down. The FPS genre is just booming right now.
I can't wait to get more into MGS4 this weekend.
@ the controls, i realized something was not the same, after i could not take down or kill soldiers that see me as im hugging a wall in the dark corner. I start mashing buttons... but realize they changed attack to R1
Played a shit ton more last night. Yeah, despite the sheer number of movies (this is MGS afterall) its pretty damn entertaining.
Act 1 - Okay, not awesome, not much of a payoff at the end other then pretty cool cinematitc
Act 2 - Fucking rad. The Stunt Spectacular finale is a hoot
Act 3 - Da Dang. Some really cool twists, revelations, cameos, and set pieces.
The characters are easily some of the best, if not THE, best I've ever seen. Whomever worked on the female models clearly had a blast and successfully made them, dare I say, sexy ? Which is hard to say for a videogame character :P
In the others, you could hold R1 to go into a first person mode to scout the area, see where enemies are, which way they're facing, and or walking, etc. Was very useful if you crouch in a hidden spot, go look as first person @ the area and then move forward.
Only frustrates me because sometimes im sadistic and try to go through the MGS games w/o being seen, killing, or using rations
The change of removing gun fire from Square and Melee from Circle may have pooched this
On a side note, I'll buy the game next week. Even if I don't have a PS3. And no TV either.
Drebin's character model is unbelievably well done. Wow.
Are PS3's region free for the games? I may have to import one hehe. OooooroooooROROORRRRRRRR dig in the options and try to find the setting to go back to the orginal controls.
whatever the case, i cant wait to geek out all weekend.
the characters are unbelievable too, i agree. Those FROG soldiers are just... wow, awesome. Meryl's model is great too, the game reeks quality and awesome, despite my own fanboyish pissy moments.
Man, playing Act 2 makes me want to play SnakeEater again :P
and my memory faded and was a little wrong, and for personal sanity that i'm not going crazy that there was a first person view at all:
MGS1: Triangle first person view
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:14082~T2
MGS2: R1
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:25291~T2
MGS3: R1
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:43498~T2
I need to play longer and stfu
The game is all in Japanese for me, so waiting for the import.
Fucking Amazing. Maybe only 20% gameplay so far but who the fuck cares it's so god damn awesome. some of the best acting, voice acting, and character models I've ever seen in a game.
as a whole the game looks great, but there's some parts that don't look nearly as good as you would imagine.
then there's some parts that are photorealistic and you are like 'holy shit, that looks REAL'
A++ so far though, the amount of effort put into this game is breathtaking. and yes, very hot chicks.
its a rumor, confirmed by kojima-productions, the reviews you read were written by people that never played the game
http://kotaku.com/5013432/kojima-productions-responds-to-mgs4-nda-complaints
gamepro also says 90 min cutscenes is bullshit
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=187049
"Will MSG4 have lengthy cutscenes? Yes, says GamePro's own Sid Shuman, but nowhere near 90 minutes."
i will take kojima's word and gamepro's word over internet rumors.
Kind of makes me sad that I've never been a fan of the series and don't know the other games in it too well. This game sounds great, but it also sounds like it's so much based on story and cutscenes that it's not worth me playing.