The best and worst of the Metal Gear Series...
WHY DON'T OTACONS TITS JIGGLE LIKE ROSE'S WHEN I SHAKE THE CONTROLLER?
WHY DON'T OTACONS TITS JIGGLE LIKE ROSE'S WHEN I SHAKE THE CONTROLLER?
I'm not as big a fan of the cast for Solid's story as I am of Big Bosses, and I don't know how I feel about the end to the series story as a whole. I found this game a little more mature than most of Kojima's previous work. However there was a lot of unnecessary contradictions in the story just to create some suspense. Graphics and music are fantastic. Gameplay is solid, though I missed camo/curing from MGS3. The last fight was an interesting idea but poorly implement.
"War… has changed. When the battlefield is under total control, war becomes routine."
O ápice da identidade do Kojima em todos os aspectos, as coreografias cinematográficas exageradas, como um anime, temática profunda acerca de um conflito presente ou futuro, presença de MUITO robozão, e todas as besteiras e amarras que marcam essa franquia.
Eu fico feliz que o jogo funciona não apenas como conclusão, mas seus temas são extremamente profundos. O quanto é explorado o potencial da guerra com a tecnologia, sendo controlada por tal, das pessoas tratadas como ID, das armas como propriedade sem liberdade, a estimulação da guerra como mercado, além da desumanização dos soldados em relação as nanomachines, é uma realidade trágica e temível. O Old Snake, em seu ápice em escrita, personifica tal temática, uma arma móvel com propósitos políticos, com destino fadado ao conflito, que busca uma vida além dessa guerra. A metalinguagem nunca sai, mesmo que indiretamente em sua escrita, a prolongação do inevitável fim, dos personagens e da franquia, além de toda a crítica/representação do sistema FPS tão popularizado na época, como o sistema de câmera, loja do Drebin, e na utilização dos videogames para a guerra, tal qual VR.
Sua gameplay está no seu ápice até seu lançamento, gosto da liberdade como um shooter, onde consegue se destacar tanto no gunplay quanto no stealth, o sistema de camuflagem (mesmo que mais simplificado do que no 3), é super envolvente, acrescentando ao pacing e aprofundando a mecânica. O Kojima é o mestre quando se trata de envolver a gameplay com a narrativa, tal qual um jogo merece, a barra de psyche não só é uma mecânica boa na jogabilidade, como é usado nas cenas como psicológico/reação do Snake, além de promover a temática, afinal, ela conflita/limita o Snake quanto mais envolvido em guerra ele está.
Há quem critique o uso dos fanservices, mas considero uma execução perfeita para o publico alvo, ele traz e conclui personagens de toda a franquia, amo o envolvimento da Naomi e a exploração das falhas humanas do Raiden, além do uso direto de tal característica para a gameplay em level design e boss fights, as beasts, não apenas representações de traumas da guerra, também fazem alusão as lutas do primeiro jogo, além de serem extremamente divertidas e criativas em jogabilidade. Destaque a exploração gráfica do hardware do PS3, extraindo tanta expressividade e qualidade visual, e vejo um charme no tal filtro.
Eu não poderia pedir por uma conclusão melhor a franquia e seus personagens, a tal que me fez tão bem, fico grato. "This is good, isn't it?"
O ápice da identidade do Kojima em todos os aspectos, as coreografias cinematográficas exageradas, como um anime, temática profunda acerca de um conflito presente ou futuro, presença de MUITO robozão, e todas as besteiras e amarras que marcam essa franquia.
Eu fico feliz que o jogo funciona não apenas como conclusão, mas seus temas são extremamente profundos. O quanto é explorado o potencial da guerra com a tecnologia, sendo controlada por tal, das pessoas tratadas como ID, das armas como propriedade sem liberdade, a estimulação da guerra como mercado, além da desumanização dos soldados em relação as nanomachines, é uma realidade trágica e temível. O Old Snake, em seu ápice em escrita, personifica tal temática, uma arma móvel com propósitos políticos, com destino fadado ao conflito, que busca uma vida além dessa guerra. A metalinguagem nunca sai, mesmo que indiretamente em sua escrita, a prolongação do inevitável fim, dos personagens e da franquia, além de toda a crítica/representação do sistema FPS tão popularizado na época, como o sistema de câmera, loja do Drebin, e na utilização dos videogames para a guerra, tal qual VR.
Sua gameplay está no seu ápice até seu lançamento, gosto da liberdade como um shooter, onde consegue se destacar tanto no gunplay quanto no stealth, o sistema de camuflagem (mesmo que mais simplificado do que no 3), é super envolvente, acrescentando ao pacing e aprofundando a mecânica. O Kojima é o mestre quando se trata de envolver a gameplay com a narrativa, tal qual um jogo merece, a barra de psyche não só é uma mecânica boa na jogabilidade, como é usado nas cenas como psicológico/reação do Snake, além de promover a temática, afinal, ela conflita/limita o Snake quanto mais envolvido em guerra ele está.
Há quem critique o uso dos fanservices, mas considero uma execução perfeita para o publico alvo, ele traz e conclui personagens de toda a franquia, amo o envolvimento da Naomi e a exploração das falhas humanas do Raiden, além do uso direto de tal característica para a gameplay em level design e boss fights, as beasts, não apenas representações de traumas da guerra, também fazem alusão as lutas do primeiro jogo, além de serem extremamente divertidas e criativas em jogabilidade. Destaque a exploração gráfica do hardware do PS3, extraindo tanta expressividade e qualidade visual, e vejo um charme no tal filtro.
Eu não poderia pedir por uma conclusão melhor a franquia e seus personagens, a tal que me fez tão bem, fico grato. "This is good, isn't it?"
This game is the exact opposite of a passion project—it's a meticulously crafted hate project. Bravo Kojingus.
Kojima emotionally destroys his fans for 20 hours.
The best movie I've ever input buttons into occasionally
a great game for fans and newcomers alike
This is the most fan-servicey game ever and I'm not sure if it's better or worse for it.
This review contains spoilers
The world would be better off without snakes.
This review contains spoilers
"This is good…isn't it?"
I can’t think of any better words to definitely close the curtains on the entire Metal Gear Saga than this. It sounds sentimental, deceptively profound even, but very uncertain. It tracks when you would dig into the development of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots and discover how Kojima originally wanted no part of this finale but because of immense pressure from the fans, bringing in death threats, he reluctantly stepped back into the role as director to give them the game he felt they deserved. It’s why the end product we received feels like Kojima giving absolutely no fucks at all anymore with how overwhelmingly bitter and depressing this game feels. It’s easy to point at Solid Snake himself to understand this unbridled vision; he’s so eerily old and withered, not like the stealth action hero at his prime we’ve grown to love and adore. He’s reached the logical endpoint of his life, dealing with the harsh reality of his existence which prevents him from becoming part of this future he’s been fighting to preserve since the beginning. It’s not just him though, every beloved character from the past MGS games comes back to the fold here either being miserable, depressed, or reminds you of just how old they’ve gotten since their first appearances. This results in some very questionable creative choices when bringing closure for some of these lovely guys (some examples include: Naomi, Meryl, and maybe even Raiden), which arguably goes against their previous characterizations on what makes them click with us. If it wasn’t for the last hour where Solid Snake confronts XXXX then I’d say this is the most bitter sendoff you could give to fans on a series they’ve strongly followed behind. Instead, I was surprised by what got out from that last hour, that the last remaining moments of these characters in this series chronologically, was something bittersweet than…well, uh, just bitter?
Now, this isn’t perfect. Especially by direct comparison for the last three MGS games where the flaws bleed out so transparently that it feels weird to group this with the other three that I consider being unique masterpieces of gaming. Like I mentioned before, the characters are treated questionably and even while writing this I still don’t quite know whether I firmly believe that it succeeds in further enriching them with a sense of satisfying finality or retroactively weakens them in certain parts. The gameplay, I find, is to be the weakest out of the mainline entries. It’s basically MGS3: Snake Eater, even keeping mechanics it added like camouflage, but twisted to conform into a 7th Gen Military Cover Shooter which makes it feel creatively at odds with the tactical stealth action foundation that MGS excelled in. I guess it’s not too bad, but to address the elephant in the room, yeah, there’s very little actual gameplay in proportion to the amount of cut-scenes going on. I don’t…hate this, really. I actually enjoy most of the cut-scenes because I thought they were still very well directed, and the story proved to be at the very least engaging. The problem I have is how they’re placed between the segments of gameplay which feels stilted and gives you very little reason to engage with the stealth and combat mechanics like how you can do in the previous games because everything feels too tunnel-visioned and sparse. The bosses honestly miss much more than they hit this time around. They have the really cool premise of being monstrous versions of the older MGS1 boss but put into practice they lack what made those bosses feel creative and fun. Laughing Octopus is probably my favorite of the bunch because it made well use of a tight quarters space with enough legroom to navigate around while using your gadgets to find and attack her. Crying Wolf is only interesting just because of the significance of where you fight her. Raging Raven is just annoying, trenching dangerously into “7th Gen Bosses Were Really Whack” territory. Screaming Mantis was especially disappointing because while it cheekily invokes the meta of the original Psycho Mantis boss fight it’s just way too easy because it relies on using the exact same tactic from a previous boss fight, which also wasn’t very good btw, to defeat it. I think what dulls them for me is how they’re given these awkwardly placed exposition once you kill them to explain all this characterization for how and why they became the way they are. I won’t pretend MGS bosses are always like super deep characters with so much pathos going on, sometimes they can just be a pyrotechnic astronaut and that’s just wonderful, but when they are, the characterization they’re given feels well woven into the narrative and sometimes gameplay even. Here, it just feels low-effortly artificial and very unlike how Kojima usually tries to make the bosses truly memorable. I will give credit and say the Metal Gear boss fight, simplistic as the gameplay during it was, is a welcomed bit of fun fan service.
With how I’m laying out my criticisms, especially knowing my stance on this series from the last three games, it would seem like I don’t like this too much and even feels it almost betrays the spirit of MGS but oddly enough I think the inherent failures are what makes it so compelling too? Like, as much as it can feel like Kojima was projecting his bitterness and frustration onto this game, he also never once stopped showing how much he still deeply cares about these characters and this series he’s been instrumental in. Solid Snake is in the most unfavorable state that any of us would want him to be in but he finally broke free from the systems that had forever controlled his identity and accepted his fate in an incoming future where soldiers aren’t needed anymore. Meryl actually settling down with a guy (you can really tell Kojima gave no fucks at all once you find out who he really was) feels…odd, but satisfying because she can give up her adventurous desire to be some war hero and find comfort in living a peaceful life free from a need for soldiers. For the sake of pretending Metal Gear Rising isn’t canon here to make my point look totally legit, Raiden went on a roller coaster of a development since MGS2 but now has the chance to just hang up his cyborg ninja sword to become a father and feel complete as a person. The final boss is an all-timer. It rivals MGS3’s final boss for being Kojima’s artistic masterwork and for being my absolute favorite climax in any video game because of the sheer emotional catharsis I felt. It wasn’t just the culmination from playing the game from start to finish, but the culmination of your entire journey throughout these games to this very moment. Where everything has been building up to fighting the man who you’ve long since needed to settle the personal score with, who, like you, represents a part of this generational conflict that should’ve been put to rest long ago so that the future may prosper. This is kicked off with how the fight cycles through and plays each banger musical track from MGS1 (Encounter), to MGS2 (Tanker Incident), to MGS3 (Snake Eater), and finally here with MGS4 (Old Snake). It’s equally triumphant as it is sad to see two legendary soldiers, two twin sons, twin snakes even, far past their prime now, with too much history needing to be settled already and remain broken by it.
There’s other phenomenal moments like this here. Even amidst all the messiness, I find it hard not to still appreciate the way this still does an effective job of closing the book on this series which is unlike any other. I genuinely can't think of a more appropriate ending than this that makes me think deeply on my connection to these games and why they'll stick around with me. There’re games after that try to fill in the gaps of this story by moving away from Solid Snake, shifting the focus to other important characters and playing around with the gameplay formula MGS baked. However, I don’t think it detracts from how, although not in the most preferred circumstances, Kojima managed to end this all on his own terms, whether you like it or not.
also this is me after beating the game on RPCS3
I can’t think of any better words to definitely close the curtains on the entire Metal Gear Saga than this. It sounds sentimental, deceptively profound even, but very uncertain. It tracks when you would dig into the development of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots and discover how Kojima originally wanted no part of this finale but because of immense pressure from the fans, bringing in death threats, he reluctantly stepped back into the role as director to give them the game he felt they deserved. It’s why the end product we received feels like Kojima giving absolutely no fucks at all anymore with how overwhelmingly bitter and depressing this game feels. It’s easy to point at Solid Snake himself to understand this unbridled vision; he’s so eerily old and withered, not like the stealth action hero at his prime we’ve grown to love and adore. He’s reached the logical endpoint of his life, dealing with the harsh reality of his existence which prevents him from becoming part of this future he’s been fighting to preserve since the beginning. It’s not just him though, every beloved character from the past MGS games comes back to the fold here either being miserable, depressed, or reminds you of just how old they’ve gotten since their first appearances. This results in some very questionable creative choices when bringing closure for some of these lovely guys (some examples include: Naomi, Meryl, and maybe even Raiden), which arguably goes against their previous characterizations on what makes them click with us. If it wasn’t for the last hour where Solid Snake confronts XXXX then I’d say this is the most bitter sendoff you could give to fans on a series they’ve strongly followed behind. Instead, I was surprised by what got out from that last hour, that the last remaining moments of these characters in this series chronologically, was something bittersweet than…well, uh, just bitter?
Now, this isn’t perfect. Especially by direct comparison for the last three MGS games where the flaws bleed out so transparently that it feels weird to group this with the other three that I consider being unique masterpieces of gaming. Like I mentioned before, the characters are treated questionably and even while writing this I still don’t quite know whether I firmly believe that it succeeds in further enriching them with a sense of satisfying finality or retroactively weakens them in certain parts. The gameplay, I find, is to be the weakest out of the mainline entries. It’s basically MGS3: Snake Eater, even keeping mechanics it added like camouflage, but twisted to conform into a 7th Gen Military Cover Shooter which makes it feel creatively at odds with the tactical stealth action foundation that MGS excelled in. I guess it’s not too bad, but to address the elephant in the room, yeah, there’s very little actual gameplay in proportion to the amount of cut-scenes going on. I don’t…hate this, really. I actually enjoy most of the cut-scenes because I thought they were still very well directed, and the story proved to be at the very least engaging. The problem I have is how they’re placed between the segments of gameplay which feels stilted and gives you very little reason to engage with the stealth and combat mechanics like how you can do in the previous games because everything feels too tunnel-visioned and sparse. The bosses honestly miss much more than they hit this time around. They have the really cool premise of being monstrous versions of the older MGS1 boss but put into practice they lack what made those bosses feel creative and fun. Laughing Octopus is probably my favorite of the bunch because it made well use of a tight quarters space with enough legroom to navigate around while using your gadgets to find and attack her. Crying Wolf is only interesting just because of the significance of where you fight her. Raging Raven is just annoying, trenching dangerously into “7th Gen Bosses Were Really Whack” territory. Screaming Mantis was especially disappointing because while it cheekily invokes the meta of the original Psycho Mantis boss fight it’s just way too easy because it relies on using the exact same tactic from a previous boss fight, which also wasn’t very good btw, to defeat it. I think what dulls them for me is how they’re given these awkwardly placed exposition once you kill them to explain all this characterization for how and why they became the way they are. I won’t pretend MGS bosses are always like super deep characters with so much pathos going on, sometimes they can just be a pyrotechnic astronaut and that’s just wonderful, but when they are, the characterization they’re given feels well woven into the narrative and sometimes gameplay even. Here, it just feels low-effortly artificial and very unlike how Kojima usually tries to make the bosses truly memorable. I will give credit and say the Metal Gear boss fight, simplistic as the gameplay during it was, is a welcomed bit of fun fan service.
With how I’m laying out my criticisms, especially knowing my stance on this series from the last three games, it would seem like I don’t like this too much and even feels it almost betrays the spirit of MGS but oddly enough I think the inherent failures are what makes it so compelling too? Like, as much as it can feel like Kojima was projecting his bitterness and frustration onto this game, he also never once stopped showing how much he still deeply cares about these characters and this series he’s been instrumental in. Solid Snake is in the most unfavorable state that any of us would want him to be in but he finally broke free from the systems that had forever controlled his identity and accepted his fate in an incoming future where soldiers aren’t needed anymore. Meryl actually settling down with a guy (you can really tell Kojima gave no fucks at all once you find out who he really was) feels…odd, but satisfying because she can give up her adventurous desire to be some war hero and find comfort in living a peaceful life free from a need for soldiers. For the sake of pretending Metal Gear Rising isn’t canon here to make my point look totally legit, Raiden went on a roller coaster of a development since MGS2 but now has the chance to just hang up his cyborg ninja sword to become a father and feel complete as a person. The final boss is an all-timer. It rivals MGS3’s final boss for being Kojima’s artistic masterwork and for being my absolute favorite climax in any video game because of the sheer emotional catharsis I felt. It wasn’t just the culmination from playing the game from start to finish, but the culmination of your entire journey throughout these games to this very moment. Where everything has been building up to fighting the man who you’ve long since needed to settle the personal score with, who, like you, represents a part of this generational conflict that should’ve been put to rest long ago so that the future may prosper. This is kicked off with how the fight cycles through and plays each banger musical track from MGS1 (Encounter), to MGS2 (Tanker Incident), to MGS3 (Snake Eater), and finally here with MGS4 (Old Snake). It’s equally triumphant as it is sad to see two legendary soldiers, two twin sons, twin snakes even, far past their prime now, with too much history needing to be settled already and remain broken by it.
There’s other phenomenal moments like this here. Even amidst all the messiness, I find it hard not to still appreciate the way this still does an effective job of closing the book on this series which is unlike any other. I genuinely can't think of a more appropriate ending than this that makes me think deeply on my connection to these games and why they'll stick around with me. There’re games after that try to fill in the gaps of this story by moving away from Solid Snake, shifting the focus to other important characters and playing around with the gameplay formula MGS baked. However, I don’t think it detracts from how, although not in the most preferred circumstances, Kojima managed to end this all on his own terms, whether you like it or not.
also this is me after beating the game on RPCS3
Man...I... god damn no words, this game is the ultimate wrap up to the series I have never felt so rewarded for finishing a series its like watching the beginning and end of all your friends lives. Yeah the story is a little all over the place and the amount of plot twist can get annoying some times but it really does go to show you that "The Patriots" really did control everything and it all was just an incredibly huge domino effect obsoletely crazy I love it.
decent movie
fun when it lets me play
fun when it lets me play
Kojima uses nanomachines to fill every gap, retread every plot beat and close every thread in the franchise. It... works?
REMEMBER METAL GEAR SOLID!? DIDN'T YOU LOVE THAT GAME!? LOOK IT'S YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER, VAMP! REMEMBER JOHNNY!? YOU DON'T!? OF COURSE YOU DO! HE'S YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER, HE'S BACK!
WE ARE DEFINITELY NOT OUT OF IDEAS!
WE ARE DEFINITELY NOT OUT OF IDEAS!
MGS4 isn't really my favorite, but I enjoyed it a lot alongside The Phantom Pain. While the narrative is a mess and isn't as great as 1-3, it wasn't as bad when I revisited it during my replay. Sure, the long cutscenes are concerning even though this is a Kojima game, but they weren't as bad. I hated the gameplay originally but after getting used to it, I started to enjoy it as much as my previous playthrough from 2 years ago. Kinda wished there were more gameplay segments since there was a lot of potential, but TPP makes up for it.
I was originally going to stop playing games during the Summer but decided to stop once I finished my replay of MGS1-4. Since MGS4 is currently my 150th game of this year & 500th game completed, it seems like the perfect time to hang my time with gaming and move on.
Without a doubt, an end to an era of my journey with gaming.
I was originally going to stop playing games during the Summer but decided to stop once I finished my replay of MGS1-4. Since MGS4 is currently my 150th game of this year & 500th game completed, it seems like the perfect time to hang my time with gaming and move on.
Without a doubt, an end to an era of my journey with gaming.
My favourite movie of all time, but it's a game.
Not a good choice eh?
Well, next time just don't force a gag character into the main plot. Yes Johnny, I am talking about you.
Anyway, It still has the best final boss fight ever.
Not a good choice eh?
Well, next time just don't force a gag character into the main plot. Yes Johnny, I am talking about you.
Anyway, It still has the best final boss fight ever.
the peak of the series, rawest ideas and best direction
if you hate this game ur boring as fuck and i dont wanna talk to you
if you hate this game ur boring as fuck and i dont wanna talk to you
Shouldn't this be on Letterboxd?
inching that much closer to Death Stranding in its melding form to function...that through embracing a borderline passive, often frustratingly counterintuitive role, the player is taught patience, ingenuity, and strength of will...the game's design working its way backwards from the madness of gameified endless warfare set in the ambiguously coded middle eastern terrain to linear trench campaigning to idealized cold war stealth and back to the beginning in an interrogation of iconography and nostalgia cycles...the overarching theme is essentially a necessary repetition of what the first game did to a lesser extent: proposing a radical abandonment of prior systems of thought as the only means to truly better the world, that without dismantling to zero we are doomed to repeat the same patterns until they finally kill us...that melting iceberg replaced with an equally potent double-image of sun/yolk, that with every rebirth, every new attempt to get things right there is potential to break from set outcomes, that we have within us the will to withstand anything and everything, it's only a question of direction
everything about this gets better with every minute i sit thinking on it!! i.e. as much as this mirrors MGS1 it's much more like MGS2 in its sheer thematic complexity and MGS3 fluidity of purpose, that despite a similarly self-defeating linear drive to MGS2 (bolstered by both the game's actual incentive structures and generic gamer impulses instilled within me by years of FPS internalization) there is an immediacy to the game's aesthetic joys that feels more in line with MGS3...the combination of these modes gives me such a unique, deeply melancholic feeling throughout...the futility of action meets the joy of the present-tense, i can imagine my positive-nihilist phase self enjoying this even more, a philosophy culminating perfectly in the Old Man Fist Fight anti-climax, geniusly placed after all the in-universe tension has been resolved....it's that strength in its commitment to immediacy despite more futility than ever that places this as perhaps my favorite of the series, feels like Kojima et al have finally let themselves off the hook and it hurts so good!!
everything about this gets better with every minute i sit thinking on it!! i.e. as much as this mirrors MGS1 it's much more like MGS2 in its sheer thematic complexity and MGS3 fluidity of purpose, that despite a similarly self-defeating linear drive to MGS2 (bolstered by both the game's actual incentive structures and generic gamer impulses instilled within me by years of FPS internalization) there is an immediacy to the game's aesthetic joys that feels more in line with MGS3...the combination of these modes gives me such a unique, deeply melancholic feeling throughout...the futility of action meets the joy of the present-tense, i can imagine my positive-nihilist phase self enjoying this even more, a philosophy culminating perfectly in the Old Man Fist Fight anti-climax, geniusly placed after all the in-universe tension has been resolved....it's that strength in its commitment to immediacy despite more futility than ever that places this as perhaps my favorite of the series, feels like Kojima et al have finally let themselves off the hook and it hurts so good!!
This is one of the most frustratingly written games I've ever played
This review contains spoilers
Kojima as an auteur aims for constant formal and technical invention. His apocalypse in 4 (his sixth Metal Gear) is a world run on the routines of war, not just profiting but relying wholesale on the continual repetition of violence, conflict, and control as a business. For the first time I see Snake not just as the representation of the player or the creator but instead the deep-seated link between the two. Of all the words said in the title's (verbose) cutscenes the desires and intentions of Snake are usually assumed. He does seem to feel some sense of responsibility for ending things, but his heroism is often taken for granted as it has been the entire series. The game asks, are you (the player) tired of this yet? I can't decide if this is a passionate monument to the series or an obligation submitted by an exhausted designer. Gratitude for fans and their support mixed with spiteful stagnation. So much personality and bombast to combat a growing listlessness. Nothing exemplifies this better than the Shadow Moses chapter, where the harsh winter winds block out the sun and infiltrate a once ominous facility that now features only waves of perversely sentient machinery. Maybe the best reading of the game is an ode to originality, to individuality, to refuse total assimilation in the face of necessity. Good things end for a better tomorrow.
the most fascinating game ever made
too reliant on previous games in the series for how short it is, but still great fanservice and a hell of a lot of fun
This game is a mixed bag for me. It has some of the best moments that Metal Gear Solid has to offer but also some of the worst. The gameplay sections are hit or miss and the story stuff in the middle for me was annoying. I disliked most of the boss fights save for maybe the Mantis fight and Liquid Ocelot at the end. I wasn’t huge on acts 3 and 4 but I liked most things preceding and succeeding it.
There’s also so many cutscenes that it feels like the gameplay is there as an extremely brief respite. Some of the acts also had action set pieces which were also hit or miss for me. I actually thought I was gonna hate the game in act four because of how much I was annoyed. Act five and onwards made me appreciate the game despite all of the fan service and emotional manipulation lol
Overall I say I liked the cutscenes more than the game itself. Liquid was consistently awesome throughout the game and I liked Snake and Raiden’s arcs. I didn’t like Akiba, he’s not funny. Meryl should’ve been with me, not him. It’s not fair! Sunny was a little annoying but also endearing and some of the twists are more contrived than anything we’ve seen before. I’m usually all for Kojima bullshit but some of the stuff here was a little too much. However this “game” is basically a victory lap and I accept it for what it is but man I wish the game itself was better. I wasn’t huge on the globetrotting and the different acts being different levels. Some sections feel like they should be cool but they’re halfbaked compared to the movie length cutscenes.
What sucks is that I genuinely love the experience despite all of the negative things I had to say. Is this game garbage? No. Is it masterpiece? Not even close. However I do find it to be special and it’s something that I’ll cherish for a long time. I doubt I’ll play this game again anytime soon, I’ll just watch the cutscenes on YouTube or something lmao
The ending was beautiful as always. Metal Gear’s endings always hits. I’m glad I played this game and I’m glad that I actually bought a PS3 just to play through these games lmfao. I’ll probably play V on PC though. Anyways, MGS is probably my favorite video game series and despite MGS4’s extreme amount of flaws it is also an extremely epic conclusion to the mainline series. Bravo 🎉
There’s also so many cutscenes that it feels like the gameplay is there as an extremely brief respite. Some of the acts also had action set pieces which were also hit or miss for me. I actually thought I was gonna hate the game in act four because of how much I was annoyed. Act five and onwards made me appreciate the game despite all of the fan service and emotional manipulation lol
Overall I say I liked the cutscenes more than the game itself. Liquid was consistently awesome throughout the game and I liked Snake and Raiden’s arcs. I didn’t like Akiba, he’s not funny. Meryl should’ve been with me, not him. It’s not fair! Sunny was a little annoying but also endearing and some of the twists are more contrived than anything we’ve seen before. I’m usually all for Kojima bullshit but some of the stuff here was a little too much. However this “game” is basically a victory lap and I accept it for what it is but man I wish the game itself was better. I wasn’t huge on the globetrotting and the different acts being different levels. Some sections feel like they should be cool but they’re halfbaked compared to the movie length cutscenes.
What sucks is that I genuinely love the experience despite all of the negative things I had to say. Is this game garbage? No. Is it masterpiece? Not even close. However I do find it to be special and it’s something that I’ll cherish for a long time. I doubt I’ll play this game again anytime soon, I’ll just watch the cutscenes on YouTube or something lmao
The ending was beautiful as always. Metal Gear’s endings always hits. I’m glad I played this game and I’m glad that I actually bought a PS3 just to play through these games lmfao. I’ll probably play V on PC though. Anyways, MGS is probably my favorite video game series and despite MGS4’s extreme amount of flaws it is also an extremely epic conclusion to the mainline series. Bravo 🎉
when im in a misogyny competition and my opponent is hideo kojima😨😨
If i had a gun and was in the same room as kojima while he was working on this game I still wouldn't kill him, but I'd definitely kill myself in front of him and alter the trajectory of his entire life forever
Possibly the peak of fiction. In a series full of stunningly sexy women, kojipro drops this gorgeous mannifesto on what it means to hate them.
Starts off strong, with mercenaries in the Middle East, serious digressions on the war economy, and the genetic horror of Metal Gear Solid 2 taken to its logical end point. War machines braying like cows is wonderfully disturbing, and while the nanomachines are in some respects too-easy solutions to deus ex machina, the idea of every soldier and weapon being subjected to the whims of a cloud-based operating system (with no clear corporate owners) is obviously resonant. The balance between gameplay and cutscene shifts heavily towards the latter compared to earlier entries, but I was surprised by how little this bothered me - I treated it like a multimedia project, and the split-screens and ability to move around the cutscene space in briefings felt inspired, especially the (awesome) divided boss fight with Vamp and the Gekkos.
As is often the case with Kojima, though, a degree of sexism emerges, and the backslide from the (mostly brilliant) politics of Snake Eater is dramatic. A secondary character having her top irrationally unbuttoned the whole time soon pales compared to the Beauty and the Beast corps, some of the most ill-conceived characters I’ve ever seen in a game. It’s possible that these repetitive encounters - with a leering camera, skin-tight character designs, and stupid as shit writing - are a conscious protest against being forced to include fan-pleasing boss fights by corporate overlords. I don’t care - it doesn’t work and it’s gross.
But this grossness gets to the heart of the matter, really, which is that this is a game that seems to hate itself. Or at least the part of itself that glorifies war. While the others indulge in plenty of auteurist smuggling, offering nuanced critique of American foreign policy, nuclear warfare, genetics, etc, they are, on their surface level, entertaining - a power fantasy with guns and gadgets. There are more of those here than ever, but the fantasy is gone, Snake a hacking husk whose adventures are more grim and pointless than ever. How else to justify the awkward gunplay that barely bothers with setting up stealth situations, or the self-parodic repetition of past glories? The fact that the fan-despised Raiden is re-introduced as a supernaturally powerful ninja who ends up losing both his arms and holding his sword between his teeth is part and parcel with the camp ludicrousness of the series, and an indicator of something new - a resentment toward player expectation.
This even extends to the game’s hideous look, embracing the bloom-filled browns that now seem typical of the PS3 era. Perhaps it’s more fascinating now than it was at the time as a time capsule of a different era - a turbulent afterbirth of the War on Terror, and a franchise eating its own tale. The final, long cutscenes are true to form: excessive, silly, but also thoughtful and oddly moving. ("Snake had a hard life..." / "This is good, isn't it?") The worst Metal Gear game I’ve played, and still undeniably touched by genius.
As is often the case with Kojima, though, a degree of sexism emerges, and the backslide from the (mostly brilliant) politics of Snake Eater is dramatic. A secondary character having her top irrationally unbuttoned the whole time soon pales compared to the Beauty and the Beast corps, some of the most ill-conceived characters I’ve ever seen in a game. It’s possible that these repetitive encounters - with a leering camera, skin-tight character designs, and stupid as shit writing - are a conscious protest against being forced to include fan-pleasing boss fights by corporate overlords. I don’t care - it doesn’t work and it’s gross.
But this grossness gets to the heart of the matter, really, which is that this is a game that seems to hate itself. Or at least the part of itself that glorifies war. While the others indulge in plenty of auteurist smuggling, offering nuanced critique of American foreign policy, nuclear warfare, genetics, etc, they are, on their surface level, entertaining - a power fantasy with guns and gadgets. There are more of those here than ever, but the fantasy is gone, Snake a hacking husk whose adventures are more grim and pointless than ever. How else to justify the awkward gunplay that barely bothers with setting up stealth situations, or the self-parodic repetition of past glories? The fact that the fan-despised Raiden is re-introduced as a supernaturally powerful ninja who ends up losing both his arms and holding his sword between his teeth is part and parcel with the camp ludicrousness of the series, and an indicator of something new - a resentment toward player expectation.
This even extends to the game’s hideous look, embracing the bloom-filled browns that now seem typical of the PS3 era. Perhaps it’s more fascinating now than it was at the time as a time capsule of a different era - a turbulent afterbirth of the War on Terror, and a franchise eating its own tale. The final, long cutscenes are true to form: excessive, silly, but also thoughtful and oddly moving. ("Snake had a hard life..." / "This is good, isn't it?") The worst Metal Gear game I’ve played, and still undeniably touched by genius.
This game's moments of pure kino are far outweighed by its moments of pure garbage.