The following contains no spoilers
I just got around to finishing the game this morning and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oddly enough I don’t ever remember encountering any 90 minute cut scenes. At least none really felt that long. However that didn’t stop Keen from complaining or claiming that every time he looked over it was a cut scene, but he complains about everything so don’t mind him.
The storyline was pretty great and offered a whole lot of surprises and tie-ins. I’m not sure how well you can appreciate it if you haven’t played the previous games. I’d imagine you’d just be awfully confused, but still enjoy the game. I followed the plot as best I could, but the game still left me with a lot of questions that I need answered. I’d probably understand things better if I go back and play through again, which I plan to. There’s a whole lot of cool stuff you can unlock in the game so that should provide me a good deal of replay value. That and MGS Online which I plan to delve into next and write about soon after.
Anyways, back to the single player experience. The game is set up in various acts, five I believe, but I did find I enjoyed some more over others. The various boss battles were also pretty interesting and varied a lot in style to provide some unique experiences each time. There’s not much more I can really say without spoiling anything, but the game is definitely solid (Pun intended) and worth the purchase price.
Now I’m sure this all sounds good, but like my brother I can find stuff to complain about if I have to. I’ll admit there isn’t much to pick at, but I did find a few things that slightly bothered me. There are a whole lot of weapons to choose from and apparently they have varying stats, but to be honest they didn’t really feel any different. There’s several SMGs and assault rifles, but they all handle so similarly that I just ended picking the ones that had the most ammo in the clip. Again, this isn’t really something to complain about as the major goal of the game is to avoid people and conflict. The only other thing that I would have liked is if there was a little more action in the game. A little more gameplay. Even though the cut scenes are interesting I’d still like to be able to actually play my games.
So that’s pretty much my MGS4 experience. There’s not a whole lot to say. It was great fun and probably my favorite of the series. The story was good, the gameplay was engaging, and the cut scenes were plentiful but interesting. So does this mean you should buy a PS3 just for MGS4? No, I don’t think so. I don’t believe anyone should buy a console just because of one game. It is, however, a pretty big positive factor when considering purchase.
So that pretty much wraps things up. Now I’m off to experience the online play. If you’re around then look for someone named GRAEV. I’ll be hiding in boxes and knifing people.
Be sure to let us know how the multiplayer plays. To be honest I didn’t follow MGS4. I haven’t’ played the series since number 2 (which I loved). I’m not even sure of the modes of online play (very out of it).
The gameplay looked interesting when he was actually doing something. But the sheer number of cutscenes that I saw is enough to scare me away from MGS4 completely.
Quite a few things looked really cool like the little robot guy that follows you around; he shocks people and stuff, and the camo that changes depending on what surface you on; that was awesome, and the graphics looked amazing (especially on one of the boss fights which I won’t spoil).
There is only 1 cut scene I would say was rubbish and that one would be the 20 minutes it takes Drebin to tell you to bring in weapons for him. Other then that the cut scenes were awesome, but you would have to be used to MGS and its cutscene over use.
I believe the online modes are:
Deathmatch – Standard FFA
Team Deathmatch – Standard team vs mode
Sneaking Mission – Mode that pits two teams against each other while one player plays as Snake and another as the Metal Gear Mk. II. In order for Snake to win he has to incapacitate a number of people and collect their dog tags. usually it’s 3. The Mk. II can help by stealthing around and electrifying enemies. The other teams can win by killing Snake a set number of times.
Capture Mission – Pretty much like CTF. Each team has an object that they have to defend while capturing the other and holding it in their zone for a given time.
Rescue Mission – Similar to CTF except one team defends their object while the other team has to capture it.
Base Mission – There are several zones around the map that you have to capture and hold. A team wins by either capturing them all or having more when the time runs out.
Out of them all I really like Team Deathmatch and Sneaking Mission most. It’s pretty fun to play as Snake. He gets to use his OctoCamo and become relatively invisible.