Edit: on review, likely the best game of the century. A portrait of endless, profit-driven war heightened by a hyper-capitalist plot that ties up loose ends and makes call backs to a fault. Kojima’s unintentional masterpiece
Edit 2: lmao dont even remember writing first edit game of the century a overstatement but i got a soft spot for this.
I have very mixed feelings about this game. A world of endless proxy wars fueled by the war economy is a very logical progression for the series considering the themes of the previous games. The middle east section especially hammers home this feeling.
The gameplay is mixed. It starts off pretty good with snake having to adapt his stealth to an active battlefield, which is an interesting design direction for the series. The south america section features a similar style of gameplay, making it the most enjoyable section of the game. However, the game doesn't seem to recognize that stealth is its strength. For example, the frog shootout with meryl/rat patrol turned the game into a corridor shooter, and the eastern europe section of the game turns the game into an extended asssassin's creed tracking mission, both of which were particularly egregious gameplay decisions and last pretty long. The shadow moses section is a really enjoyable callback, but it is a good example of where the gameplay deviates from previous entries. The small geckos are terribly clumped around the map, making stealth nearly impossible in a lot of sections. The final map teases you with MGS2 esque stealth on a tanker, but this only lasts for one tiny section.
The B and B Corps are the least interesting villains in the series. The fights aren't too bad, though, with crying wolf's sniper fight being the highlight. However, their backstories felt incredibly contrived, and the choice to make Drebin tell their backstories is a pretty baffling decision.
Some of the writing here is Kojima at his worst arguably. A lot of the dialogue is incredibly bloated. The relationships pushed in this game were particularly bad instances of writing. Naomi leading Otacon on while knowing she has terminal cancer makes little to no sense, as does Otacon's reaction to Naomi's death, a girl whom he had known for ostensibly one night considering they had no interaction at shadow moses in the first game. Also johnny and meryl are not a couple I care about at all. I also agree with the consensus that nanomachines were a pretty uninteresting, inconsistent way of explaining certain things in the mgs universe. The game also does feel like it ties up loose ends just for the sake of it. The identities of the patriots as the cast of snake eater being the worst example. I'm still glad this game exists, but part of me does feel like the series would have been better if it ended with 3.
The long cutscenes are as big of an issue as everyone makes it out to be. Every single cutscene in this game was much longer than it should have been.
Despite its many flaws, the game was hard not to enjoy as a fan of the series. There was so much fan service and heart here that I liked it quite a lot still. I thought the ending was touching (not the wedding scene though), but I do think that Kojima's original ending would have been a more fitting end to the series (also would have worked better with "here's to you" (why they decided to use that inferior orchestral cover instead of the original is beyond me)). Snake getting to live out the rest of his life peacefully does give a very pleasing sense of closure, though, and I think it is in total a positive end to one of the greatest series of all time.
Edit 2: lmao dont even remember writing first edit game of the century a overstatement but i got a soft spot for this.
I have very mixed feelings about this game. A world of endless proxy wars fueled by the war economy is a very logical progression for the series considering the themes of the previous games. The middle east section especially hammers home this feeling.
The gameplay is mixed. It starts off pretty good with snake having to adapt his stealth to an active battlefield, which is an interesting design direction for the series. The south america section features a similar style of gameplay, making it the most enjoyable section of the game. However, the game doesn't seem to recognize that stealth is its strength. For example, the frog shootout with meryl/rat patrol turned the game into a corridor shooter, and the eastern europe section of the game turns the game into an extended asssassin's creed tracking mission, both of which were particularly egregious gameplay decisions and last pretty long. The shadow moses section is a really enjoyable callback, but it is a good example of where the gameplay deviates from previous entries. The small geckos are terribly clumped around the map, making stealth nearly impossible in a lot of sections. The final map teases you with MGS2 esque stealth on a tanker, but this only lasts for one tiny section.
The B and B Corps are the least interesting villains in the series. The fights aren't too bad, though, with crying wolf's sniper fight being the highlight. However, their backstories felt incredibly contrived, and the choice to make Drebin tell their backstories is a pretty baffling decision.
Some of the writing here is Kojima at his worst arguably. A lot of the dialogue is incredibly bloated. The relationships pushed in this game were particularly bad instances of writing. Naomi leading Otacon on while knowing she has terminal cancer makes little to no sense, as does Otacon's reaction to Naomi's death, a girl whom he had known for ostensibly one night considering they had no interaction at shadow moses in the first game. Also johnny and meryl are not a couple I care about at all. I also agree with the consensus that nanomachines were a pretty uninteresting, inconsistent way of explaining certain things in the mgs universe. The game also does feel like it ties up loose ends just for the sake of it. The identities of the patriots as the cast of snake eater being the worst example. I'm still glad this game exists, but part of me does feel like the series would have been better if it ended with 3.
The long cutscenes are as big of an issue as everyone makes it out to be. Every single cutscene in this game was much longer than it should have been.
Despite its many flaws, the game was hard not to enjoy as a fan of the series. There was so much fan service and heart here that I liked it quite a lot still. I thought the ending was touching (not the wedding scene though), but I do think that Kojima's original ending would have been a more fitting end to the series (also would have worked better with "here's to you" (why they decided to use that inferior orchestral cover instead of the original is beyond me)). Snake getting to live out the rest of his life peacefully does give a very pleasing sense of closure, though, and I think it is in total a positive end to one of the greatest series of all time.