okay, so a couple of things right off the bat that i think will discount this criticism for a lot of people but regardless feel like they should be mentioned. first, this is the first metal gear game i've ever completed. i've played a bit of mgs1, i've played a bit of peace walker, a bit of mgs4, and a very little bit of mgs3. i never had a playstation until i got a ps3 in high school and didn't want to just jump into mgs4 on the platform, and found myself really frustrated by the stealth gameplay of mgs1, though most of these complaints are things i have since moved past and have been wanting to play these masterpieces quite a bit (though with only a mac and a ps4 it's hard to get yr hands on the main series these days). the other thing that i think will discount some of this for people is that my completion rate currently sits at 49% complete. i've done the entire story, including missions 45 and 50, done quite a few side ops, and collected a decent amount of intel and such, but the rest of the mission tasks, side-ops, wildlife, developments, etc. will have to wait as i slowly chip away at them for the next few years.
WITH ALL THAT SAID i absolutely loved my time with this one (all 77 hours of time). kojima is pretty clearly influenced by cinema in all his work, and it is on full display in this game. the way that cutscenes are interwoven into the gameplay, allowing some player control at times and at other times creating these unbelievable compositions that are fully expressive through the game engine, it's an undeniable experience. i feel this aspect of the game gets even better in the "post-game" as all of the side characters get brought to the forefront, and their endings are all displayed in the most melodramatic and gorgeous fashions. this even extends to all the little details that i saw someone on reddit derisively described as "time wasters" such as: the helicopter intros to missions, the on land or helicopter exfiltrations, the credits at the end of each mission, etc. all of this stuff creates a richly constructed world and immerses the player within all of the processes that are required to make the gameplay possible (whether that be giving an intro to snake arriving at his destination or showing the player what labour goes into creating the thing that they are playing). it allows this game to play like almost nothing else, and to me (as more of a cinematic thinker) makes this game reach to the heights of expression that cinema can achieve.
the gameplay here is obviously amazing, a kind of proton-breath of the wild with how open every objective is, how anything can be accomplished in whatever way the player wishes and there's so many different options to experiment with. it makes it so even at it's most brutally annoying (for me, the mechanized unit in mission 45) it makes the player want to continually try again and again to until the moment where it all just clicks. there's so much more to say just about the gameplay here, but it's also already been thoroughly praised by almost everyone else in the eight years since this game came out.
what is easily the most hotly contested part of this game is the narrative itself. i won't be able to make any comparisons to the other games, as previously mentioned, but i've heard they're all masterpieces so if this is supposed to be the worst one it's clear that those other games must be some of the greatest experiences ever made. what we have here is more expressive than it is coherent, much like some of my favourite films (southland tales, mulholland drive, etc.). there's so much that is explained here but at the same time it feels like it can never be truly understandable. grim nihilistic militarism, organizations created with no ideology except blind devotion to themselves. paranoia and revenge are the only ways forward but even that brings more destruction than it can ever bring peace. kaz constantly looking for spies until he becomes completely consumed with delusions, ocelot drawing further and further away until it's never really clear what he wants, snake seemingly just doing what he believes he should be doing even if he never really knows why he's doing it. even skull face seems hellbent on world domination just because he wants to sow more hell than ever really getting anything from it. the one character that feels like they're able to transcend the constant downward spiral is quiet, who learns the power of forgiveness in a world where it seems to mean so little, and sacrifices herself for a friend in what is one of the most affecting scenes in the entire game.
lot of other little moments i loved here (the ashes, sahelanthropus, the rain into the rainbow, the truth, etc.) but in all honesty i just loved playing something so willingly obtuse and full of questions while also being so endlessly replayable with one of the best gameplay loops i've ever experienced. guess i should finally finish death stranding soon lmao
WITH ALL THAT SAID i absolutely loved my time with this one (all 77 hours of time). kojima is pretty clearly influenced by cinema in all his work, and it is on full display in this game. the way that cutscenes are interwoven into the gameplay, allowing some player control at times and at other times creating these unbelievable compositions that are fully expressive through the game engine, it's an undeniable experience. i feel this aspect of the game gets even better in the "post-game" as all of the side characters get brought to the forefront, and their endings are all displayed in the most melodramatic and gorgeous fashions. this even extends to all the little details that i saw someone on reddit derisively described as "time wasters" such as: the helicopter intros to missions, the on land or helicopter exfiltrations, the credits at the end of each mission, etc. all of this stuff creates a richly constructed world and immerses the player within all of the processes that are required to make the gameplay possible (whether that be giving an intro to snake arriving at his destination or showing the player what labour goes into creating the thing that they are playing). it allows this game to play like almost nothing else, and to me (as more of a cinematic thinker) makes this game reach to the heights of expression that cinema can achieve.
the gameplay here is obviously amazing, a kind of proton-breath of the wild with how open every objective is, how anything can be accomplished in whatever way the player wishes and there's so many different options to experiment with. it makes it so even at it's most brutally annoying (for me, the mechanized unit in mission 45) it makes the player want to continually try again and again to until the moment where it all just clicks. there's so much more to say just about the gameplay here, but it's also already been thoroughly praised by almost everyone else in the eight years since this game came out.
what is easily the most hotly contested part of this game is the narrative itself. i won't be able to make any comparisons to the other games, as previously mentioned, but i've heard they're all masterpieces so if this is supposed to be the worst one it's clear that those other games must be some of the greatest experiences ever made. what we have here is more expressive than it is coherent, much like some of my favourite films (southland tales, mulholland drive, etc.). there's so much that is explained here but at the same time it feels like it can never be truly understandable. grim nihilistic militarism, organizations created with no ideology except blind devotion to themselves. paranoia and revenge are the only ways forward but even that brings more destruction than it can ever bring peace. kaz constantly looking for spies until he becomes completely consumed with delusions, ocelot drawing further and further away until it's never really clear what he wants, snake seemingly just doing what he believes he should be doing even if he never really knows why he's doing it. even skull face seems hellbent on world domination just because he wants to sow more hell than ever really getting anything from it. the one character that feels like they're able to transcend the constant downward spiral is quiet, who learns the power of forgiveness in a world where it seems to mean so little, and sacrifices herself for a friend in what is one of the most affecting scenes in the entire game.
lot of other little moments i loved here (the ashes, sahelanthropus, the rain into the rainbow, the truth, etc.) but in all honesty i just loved playing something so willingly obtuse and full of questions while also being so endlessly replayable with one of the best gameplay loops i've ever experienced. guess i should finally finish death stranding soon lmao