"What little time I have left will be spent living as a beast, a shadow of the inside."
I'm not exactly sure how to rate this game definitively, but I do know that I enjoyed it quite a bit. The overall feel and tone of the game was something to behold, very mellow, depressing and hopeless... with the series being at the highest stakes and I felt as if Solid Snake as a character was at his peak here writing wise.
However, that's not to say this game is without it's flaws... and they can understandably be very glaring for some. I absolutely loved the game throughout Act 1. Everything felt so engaging both narratively and through the gameplay, which carried on through Act 2 but the cracks started to show. I don't think any other Act reached the same enjoyment heights as the first for me, but I still enjoyed it through and through... my main problem though was the countless retcons and exposition dumps which sometimes left my brain hurting. Nothing too daunting, but things I have been told were explained earlier in cut scenes there really should have been there imo. I think this game's biggest flaw for me is the retcons, though. The fan service can get a bit ridiculous, I agree, but I liked it... specifically Shadow Moses. I guess the end fight with Liquid may have gone too far for some, but it was still a nice callback.
I wasn't feeling any of the romance though, but that kinda does come with the territory of a Kojima game (MGS3 excluded.)
Overall, fantastic gameplay... I didn't experience many frame rate drops thankfully, and the story itself was still pretty interesting but also could have used some working just a bit longer for it to be as masterful as something like 2 or 3.
I'm not exactly sure how to rate this game definitively, but I do know that I enjoyed it quite a bit. The overall feel and tone of the game was something to behold, very mellow, depressing and hopeless... with the series being at the highest stakes and I felt as if Solid Snake as a character was at his peak here writing wise.
However, that's not to say this game is without it's flaws... and they can understandably be very glaring for some. I absolutely loved the game throughout Act 1. Everything felt so engaging both narratively and through the gameplay, which carried on through Act 2 but the cracks started to show. I don't think any other Act reached the same enjoyment heights as the first for me, but I still enjoyed it through and through... my main problem though was the countless retcons and exposition dumps which sometimes left my brain hurting. Nothing too daunting, but things I have been told were explained earlier in cut scenes there really should have been there imo. I think this game's biggest flaw for me is the retcons, though. The fan service can get a bit ridiculous, I agree, but I liked it... specifically Shadow Moses. I guess the end fight with Liquid may have gone too far for some, but it was still a nice callback.
I wasn't feeling any of the romance though, but that kinda does come with the territory of a Kojima game (MGS3 excluded.)
Overall, fantastic gameplay... I didn't experience many frame rate drops thankfully, and the story itself was still pretty interesting but also could have used some working just a bit longer for it to be as masterful as something like 2 or 3.