Metal Gear Solid 4 impressions thread

[Ntruder]

*Disclaimer* I will not tell anyone not to buy this game. It is a great game, and is the best Metal Gear game by leaps and bounds. But a game that is getting 10/10 ratings shouldn't raise so many red flags when I play it. I'm here to vent about why I think this game is far from a 10/10.

I'm trying to love this game. IGN, whom has been my most trusted review site, gave this game a perfect 10. They even said if they scored 11's, this game would get an 11. I'm trying to love this game. But there are so many things that are jumping out at me as obvious weaknesses. I feel like I am "missing out" on the gaming experience of a lifetime by not loving this game for everything that it is. My goal here is not to slam Metal Gear, or the PS3, or anything like that. I suppose if there is one objective that I have, it would be to slam IGN and other reviewers who I feel have let us down with their scoring lately. That is the purpose of this thread, and with that said, if you don't want to hear anything negative about MGS4, click the back button on your browser. I'm assuming many of you will have different takes on what I say, so feel free to leave your input. Just know that if you deliver your point in a way that I feel is rude or uncalled for, I will probably attack you back tenfold.

#1: Stealth, Action, or Stealth-Action?

I'm going to borrow a line from PennyArcade that pretty much sums up my opinion of the stealth/action line that is drawn in the sand in this game: "If I fail at sneaking, the game ceases to be Metal Gear. In the space of a second, it becomes an incredibly clumsy action game." I am now on Act III, and my stats are roughly as follows: Kills - 300, Headshots - 150, CQC kills - 2. Why is this the case? Is this my fault? Am I playing the game wrong? Or is the game not presenting the most fun options to me?

The majority of this game so far (excluding cut scenes) has been comprised of a medium sized elongated corridor with rebel forces fighting PMC forces. In every case, Snake has been allied with Rebel forces. (by allied with, I mean they won't shoot you on sight). The purpose of this warring between the two as far as you are concerned is to provide you with cover to get from one side of the elongated map to the other. Otocon constantly reminds you that you need not engage either side; you simply need to get to your objective. So get a mental image here: you are in the middle of small arms fire with a distinct ally and a distinct enemy, and you are somewhat encouraged to just sneak by everyone and get to the blinking red circle on your map. Thats like playing Pac-Man without eating any of the ghosts. Furthermore, the ghosts give you points, just like the PMC soldiers give you weapons, ammo, and other items when you kill them. Weapons picked up act as cash with the arms dealer, so the more you collect, the more you can purchase from him. So there is a heavy incentive to go on massive killing sprees just so you can collect all the weapons after the battle!

This is where things become problematic: When you cease to engage in stealth tactics, the principles of Metal Gear begin to break down. Now suddenly, in the blink of an eye, you are playing a mediocre over the shoulder 3rd person shooter game that really wasn't designed with frontal assault combat in mind. There is not really a cover based shooting system per say. You can fire from the sides of cover, but the cover "system" really was not designed with shooting from cover in mind. Furthermore, you have what amounts to an unlimited supply of ammunition thanks to huge bullet stocks and an on-the-fly arms dealer who can restock your ammo while you are in a crossfire. Combine that with an endless supply of rations and heal items, clumsy slow to respond PMC's, and the distraction of Rebel forces, and you are unstoppable. There is no penalty for ignoring the stealth system, except of course, lack of fun. Like I said before, this game was not designed to be a 3rd person shooter, so one shouldn't be surprised when its not as fun playing it as a shooter as say... Gears of War. The fact that the 3rd person shooting is not the most fun in the world should not subtract from the overall score of a stealth game, but MGS4 fails to give you incentive to use the stealth system over pure in your face action.

Lets imagine you have to get inside a building guarded by 4 PMC's. There are no rebel soldiers around, so its just you and them. You can either: A) watch their paths, and sneak around them all and get nothing. B) Spend all day trying to isolate them one at a time so that you can take advantage of CQC and hold ups, and etc. C) Shoot them all in the head with a silenced M4 and probably get by without raising an alarm. Option A is boring. Option B would probably take the BEST advantage of MGS4's strong points, but it is impractical because Option C gets the killing out of your system, guarantees your success, and provides you with all their weapons for credit with your arms dealer and any rations that they might have been carrying on their person. So why would anybody take the more difficult path just to get to use some CQC moves when shooting them is easier, guarantees success, and gets you all the benefits of weapon pick ups? There is not much incentive to do anything besides shoot everyone. And sadly, playing the game this way isn't all that great.

If this game is supposed to be a stealth based game, there would be more punishment for shooting your way through the game, but there is none. Contrast this to Splinter cell, a game that emphasizes stealth, horribly punishes you for being seen. Enemies are quick, fierce, and shoot deadly projectiles. You are rewarded for staying stealthy, and you are punished for failing. You want to play that game stealthy, because thats what its designed for. I feel like MGS4 was designed also to be stealthy, but its easier and more rewarding (but less fun) not to be.

#2: A Weak Stealth System

This might sound a little nit picky, but considering that people are aflame over a 9.3 rating, I think this deserves vetting. The stealth system in this game is both great and crappy at the same time. It is great because it utilizes environmental camouflage coupled with your suit, and does not rely strictly on line of site. It is great because if you manage to sneak up on someone, you don't just grab them and cut their throat. There is a whole slew of CQC moves that can be pulled off rather easily. And even more fun is holding people up. You can pull your gun on someone and literally frisk them. This is the good part of the stealth system.

The bad part of the stealth system is that it again revolves around prehistoric principles. Number one is the alarm based hide and seek system. If you are spotted or you manage to raise an alert level, every enemy in the area plus additional respawing enemies are suddenly all alerted to your presence. They then begin an alert countdown timer. A countdown timer? Still? Ok fine. During the countdown timer, you can hide and hope they don't find you as they actively pursue you and wait for the timer to reach zero and start the "caution" timer which apparently puts the guards into more random search patterns, but less aggressive as in the full alert mode. In order to avoid confrontation, you must literally wait it out, sometimes for several minutes. This gets boring awful quick, and all the while, your guns are shouting your name. So generally I get sick of waiting for things to cool off, and I resort to the clumsy action game that MGS4 was not intended to be. More fun or not, you can shoot your way out of most alert situations, and be rewarded with rations, guns and ammo, and it doesn't take a ton of time sitting and waiting. Once again, too little emphasis and too little reward is given out for utilizing the stealth system, and too little punishment is given for fighting your way out of every situation.

Number two: MGS4 brilliantly employs a rebel army to fight those whom you are trying to evade. Sounds good right? The problem is that your choices are ONCE AGAIN sneak past everyone, or shoot your way through the whole level. Why? Quite simply, because the alert system is prehistoric. Over and over again, you are on the rebel side needing to advance past the PMC's position, and someone stands in your way. If you shoot him with a non-silenced weapon, the ENTIRE PMC FORCE is now fully 100% concentrated on you. An announcement shouts "New enemy detected, re-group and engage." Nevermind the 15 Rebels that are shooting at you, everybody go after THAT GUY!!!! First of all, how the hell does shooting ONE GUY in the middle of a PMC/Rebel crossfire suddenly alert the entire PMC force of your presence? How do they know that SOLID SNAKE shot someone, and not just another hidden rebel? Its absolutely ridiculous. So you either have to sneak the whole way through and kill nobody, or shoot everyone. You can avoid this by using a silenced weapon, but that rules out 3/4's of your arsenal.

#3: Bad Storytelling

First and foremost, compared to other games, MGS4 has a good story; its just not told well. I clocked the "Mission briefing" before Act III at over 30 minutes. Plus the install, and other cut scenes, I was out of action for about 45 minutes. When I finished Act II, I was pumped and ready for more fun. By the time Act III started, I was bored and tired, and I wanted to play COD4.

Let me set the record straight; I have no problem with telling a long story if you tell it well. MGS4 does not tell it well. The cut scenes in this game are filled with awkward pauses, long, pointless conversations, and other things that just flat out waste time and kill my interest. The initial meeting with your arms dealer Drebin was long and cumbersome. The verbal exchange between Snake and Drebin was slow moving and way longer than the way that screen based storytelling should be told. The long cut scenes in MGS4 are like reading a book; not like watching a movie. The movie versions of books usually cut out the awkwardly long boring conversations, because they are not interesting to watch. Hideo Kojima doesn't seem to understand that watching two people talk for 30 minutes is not entertaining, especially when the conversations are filled with pauses. The same holds true for the Codec conversations; they are long and boring, and its because watching people talk forever isn't fun.

The story itself is designed to be understood only by those who are well versed in the franchise. Had I not spent my Wednesday reading the Wiki page about the MGS storyline, I would be 100% lost. Had I not turned on Subtitles, I would be 100% lost. Acronyms are used and not explained if you don't have subtitles on. Old themes like FOXDIE and Big Boss are paramount to MGS4's story, and they are not explained one bit. You must have paid full attention and remembered the storyline of all the past games to get whats going on in MGS4. And if you don't follow the story of MGS4, then you are playing half of a game.

I personally think the "rapid aging" thing for Snake is just retarded. I was under the impression that this game was set in the future, and snake was REALLY an old man, not just a diseased 35 year old. But I won't hold that against them; its their story and they can write it however they want.

#4: The "Action" is anything but, and boss battles are a joke. Still

Its kind of a let down when you finish watching 5 minutes of Ninja Raiden slashing up Geckos and fighting Vamp in what is the pinnacle of choreographed video game action, and then you get control of Snake, who runs at the speed of a Rascal, and you are tasked with making a daring escape from pursuing Metal Gear Geckos. What is built up to be cool is just a horrible letdown. You jog around past Geckos that don't even try to hurt you because of how unfairly easily they would kill you. Snake runs at a snails pace, and his only locomotion option is a dive-roll. He's not Ryu Hyabusa; he can't do anything cool except run slowly and dive. A word of advice for Hideo Kojima: if you want something to look cool, just make a cut scene, don't give control to the player.

Secondly, boss battles defy all logic and reason, once again. As you chug through the mission, you kill people in ultra realistic fashion. Bullets to a kevlar vest don't kill your target in one shot, but bullets to the head are an instant kill. Then why do 5,000,000 light machine gun rounds to the face of a 18 year old girl wearing a nylon-spandex outfit not even draw blood? Again, I must borrow examples from the great writers at PA. Take Assassins Creed; the bosses in AC are merely well trained, good fighters. They die by the knife just as any other enemy. But they are more difficult to kill by virtue of their fighting skill. Splinter Cell has no bosses per say, but the physics of the believable world that Splinter Cell creates does not break down when the boss battle arrives.

But MGS4 is a different story. Laughing Octopus stands still in a hidden position in a smallish cabin waiting for you to find her. Upon finding her, you then pump hundreds of rounds into her chest until the disappears, and then you repeat the process 6-8 times until her health bar is gone. Then, after over a thousand rounds, a cut scene starts and she sheds her metal tentacles, exposing a unscathed 18 year old girl. Where did all those bullets go, I wonder? To finish the boss battle, you have to keep shooting hundreds of rounds into her while she walks slowly towards you and threatens to give you a backwards hug which somehow removes your health.

I see no reason why the physics of the entire game should suddenly change because you are in the presence of a boss battle. I had the same complaint with Halo 2. The bosses had an unlimited supply of disposable henchmen, unlimited avenues of movement, and only one weakness. You were only allowed to kill Halo 2 bosses (on legendary at least) when the game wanted you too. Despite pinning the heretic leader in the corner with the energy sword, and lashing out 50 or so sword lunges, then emptying my Fuel Rod cannon at him, only to discover that the game wasn't ready to let me kill him yet. Boss battles are more fun when the physics that the game has established up until that point remain consistent. Also, how exciting is it from a storytelling standpoint to watch Snake run slowly around a building, then pump round after round into someone over and over and over? Again, Hideo: if you want something to look cool, make it in a cut scene, don't give control to the player.

#5: Which is better, 1 Blu Ray disc or 3 DVD's?

This next issue is personally insulting to PS3 owners if you ask me. Number one, you have to install the game for 8 minutes before you can play. That is ok with me; I've gotten past the ridiculousness of the "required installs." What I really have a problem with is the fact that you have to install new portions of the game before each "act." This is pure ridiculousness. Which is quicker? Removing disc 1 and inserting disc 2, or installing the game for 3 minutes? The entire Blu Ray argument of "who wants to switch discs in the middle of the game" is completely shot and shoved back in their faces by the fact that you have to sit and wait while the game re-installs another portion of the game onto your HDD. Why does this not all happen at the start? why the hell do I have to wait AGAIN and AGAIN for installs? Seriously, I would rather pop in a different disc every 3 hours of playtime and have no HDD install. It takes 10 seconds to switch a disc. 3 minutes to install a portion of the game.


I am out of time for the day. I will probably play this game a bit more today, and I'll likely have more impressions later on...

[Ntruder]

Also, before any of you shit your pants, let me further make clear that I don't dislike this game. You won't hear me say it sucks, or you shouldn't get it. My point isn't to insult PS3 fans' crown jewel. Remember, I bought a PS3 in part because I knew I'd want this game. I am posting this because I think it was subjectively reviewed, and the scores it got I think were unwarranted and unfair. These things are issues that hurt the game, and the reviewers don't seem to be mentioning them.

[EddieDZ]

holy crap, wow.. thats one hell of a way of starting a thread lol, nice work though. ...... sadly i havent had time this weekend to even touch the game, i played it day one(first night) to do the install, online update, and check out the opening scene and then play for about 5-8mins. i was hoping to get some game time tonigth but i aint goign to bother.. feeling to tired and i want to watch Bee Movie on bluray that i just purchased ..

none the less, i am certainly taking your comments into thought. .... have you ever played any of the previous mgs games??? how do you feel 4 compares to like 3 or 2 or 1?

once i get enough time on with this game i'll see how my impressions compare to yours .. you mention good things to keep an eye out for when i start to get some hours into this game.. you said your on act3 correct.. how much time do you have clocked in so far then? i dont think anyone knows how many acts there are in total, i think that was one of the things that konami wanted the reviewers to keep hush about (# of acts and how long the game is..)

[Hero_Sky]

I enjoyed reading your review, and I must say that you are quite right on your analysis. I even agree about how annoying some of the stealth attributes were given by the developers.

But you must've assumed that it was going to be this way. In fact, it was worse when comparing the game with MGS 1 and 2 (didn't enjoy 3). For example, when an enemy noticed you, in previous MGS games, I just ran out the building or ran into an elevator to escape invasion. There was no other way to escape invasion but to hide or run. This was annoying because enemies kept spawning until you died. However, in MGS4, you could either kill, hide, or run. It's of the same game, but definitely improved.

About the bosses. I agree with you about the sense of realism. But don't forget that Snake can also withhold a few dozen bullets without a bit of staggering. I don't think the developers of the game were going with 100% realism. I just don't see bosses dying after one shot to the head. Although, it would be interesting to see some sort of improvement on realism in that aspect. Possibly like a silent scope (if any of you remember boss kills in that game).

[kamspy]

Stealth System:

Konami knew that the money spent deving this game was going to require a large audience to recoup the investment. Not everyone is into stealth or die. For those who are, the game is there for you. If you want to run through like Rambo, that is also doable. Designing an engine that can actually support both admirably is no small feat IMO.

As for not being stealthy not being rewarding, well that's subjective. You get higher scores at the end of acts for killing less people. Many will want to climb the leader board, and to do that, you need to use stealth.

Storytelling:

It's Japanese bud. I watch a lot of Japanese and Cantonese movies, and the cutscenes are modeled closely after those. A more American translation would have alleviated many of these complaints, but I'm happy with how it is. It's MGS


All in all, I think your sentiment is a fair shake at the game for someone who isn't into the MGS series. I think Kojima could have pleased more people if he would have added an "American dub" to the dialog that made it more......American. As it stands in the retail product, you have to know your MGS and understand how the Japanese structure the dialog in their Cinema. I'm not saying anyone is stupid if Japanese cinema doesn't float their boat. But it is what you are getting when you play MGS.


I like it. You can play it any way you want. If you shoot'em up, you get shoot'em up rewards ie: more guns

If you sneak around and be stealthy, you get the higher score on the leaderboard. Kinda like 'honor' amongst MGS fans.

As for my play style, I go for stealth first, but when it fails I'll shoot my way out of it. Being able to shoot from your back rolled over is a great asset.

Also:

The rations and food are in scarce supply on the hardest difficulty, making the shoot'em up aspect much harder.

As for the PMCs all seeing you.....There was a cutscene explaining that nanomachines in the PMCs allowed them to share thoughts and vision, so they did explain that. This is the first MGS game that alerted the entire opposing force when you were caught. In the old games they had to go for their radio.

[Type A]

Wow, the periodic installs are very insulting indeed.

I really appreciate you taking the time for this review, it was well done. Ive looked forward to this game since before I got my PS3, but thats just because of the Sam Fisher spirit in me. At least now if I buy the game, it will be for the right reasons, not the reasons I used to look forward to not long ago.

[kamspy]

The 3 minute installs are spaced between 8-12 hours of gameplay.

I imagine taking out a disc, opening the case, putting disc 1 in, taking disc 2 out, letting disc 2 load....etc..... would take around 3 minutes.

The install times between acts is not like it sounds. They are easy to pick on if you're going out of your way to look for flaws in the game, but they never bothered me.

However, the 8 minute install when you initially load the game was the longest 8 minutes of my life!

Because I really really really really really wanted to play.

[jsslifelike]

I'll have to say, Ntruder, that I'm right about the same place that you are and I have a bit more favorable opinion of the game. That's not to say that I don't agree with some of what you said. First off, you're exactly right about the stealth system- something is just off about it. At times, I seem to be spotted waaay too easily and at others, I can simply drop to the ground and disappear. I will say, though, that the 2 parts that help to pace the stealth system out are the charge life of the Solid Eye and the Psyche Gauge. I find myself in a sort of "backtrack-exploration mode" whenever I'm in need of charging the batteries or stressed from battle. Sometimes, I just try to visually wing it. Then, there's the million or so weapons in the game. With the exception of the Laughing Octopus battle, I've rarely used anything but my ol' trusty suppression pistol(sleep darts FTW!). I'm trying not use Drebin in the first playthrough as well. As a MGS purist, I feel I have to experience the game this way at first. Next time, I may want to "run and gun". I think it's interesting that Kojima would make the decision to make the game this accessible- can't figure out as to why(aside from pure sales numbers). Secondly, as far as the storytelling goes, I'm quite satisfied. I, however, am a "story whore". I couldn't care less if I took control for 8 hours of a 30-hour game- if the story is fleshed out, has appropriate twists, then pays off in the end. And I love the aging issue for this reason: as if Snake doesn't have enough to worry about in hunting Liquid, encountering countless Gekkos, and knowing that Metal Gear Ray is still somewhere, he has to face the fact that he isn't THE Solid Snake he used to be(and face it head-on). But that's just on the surface. Snake now has to use a suit to help his aged body perform. He must also endure recurring characters who don't even recognize him at first, then have to watch them pity him. Snake was never any good at human interaction- he was simply a killing machine. Now that he's lost a bit of his edge, he's forced to rely on parts of himself that he's never fully developed. I love it because we finally get to see a glimpse of the human side of one of the most kickass icons in gaming as we know it. I think that's why a lot of the cutscenes are as you say "cumbersome"(and that's the perfect description). I do concur about the multi-installs in the game(however, it's not too big a deal). I wish one massive install would've prevented that from happening, but oh well. I play Guild Wars a lot, so I'm used to waiting 3 minutes or so to get back into the action when a new update appears. All in all, though, MGS4 is the system seller that I knew it would be for me to this point. The story is as complex as it ever was and I'm not even halfway through yet. Here's to hoping that the best is yet to come...

[kamspy]

OK, here are the 4 Cods you speak of


Now how is playing with these more fun than MGS4?

[Ntruder]

Originally Posted by EddieDZ

holy crap, wow.. thats one hell of a way of starting a thread lol, nice work though. ...... sadly i havent had time this weekend to even touch the game, i played it day one(first night) to do the install, online update, and check out the opening scene and then play for about 5-8mins. i was hoping to get some game time tonigth but i aint goign to bother.. feeling to tired and i want to watch Bee Movie on bluray that i just purchased ..

none the less, i am certainly taking your comments into thought. .... have you ever played any of the previous mgs games??? how do you feel 4 compares to like 3 or 2 or 1?

once i get enough time on with this game i'll see how my impressions compare to yours .. you mention good things to keep an eye out for when i start to get some hours into this game.. you said your on act3 correct.. how much time do you have clocked in so far then? i dont think anyone knows how many acts there are in total, i think that was one of the things that konami wanted the reviewers to keep hush about (# of acts and how long the game is..)

I wanted to emphasize that my purpose isn't to trash the game; if I'm trashing anything, its the perfect score that it received. I just hate seeing reviewers sell out. GTA was damn near perfect, but I don't think it warranted a 10/10, because there were plenty of areas that could have used a good deal of improvement.

I know that you will enjoy MGS4; most people who've played the previous games would. But a perfect game?

To answer your other questions, I loved MGS, loved MGS2, but I bought MGS3 late, and I hated it. Played it for about 10 minutes, and had already made the jump to HDTV, so the game looked terrible through the composite video connections, and I could not tolerate the fixed camera. Also keep in mind, that by the time MGS3 came along, the Splinter Cell franchise had already redefined the stealth genre, and I feel that they really raised the bar with the new stealth system and the free camera, and MGS3 just felt like a step backwards.

Originally Posted by Hero_Sky

I enjoyed reading your review, and I must say that you are quite right on your analysis. I even agree about how annoying some of the stealth attributes were given by the developers.

But you must've assumed that it was going to be this way. In fact, it was worse when comparing the game with MGS 1 and 2 (didn't enjoy 3). For example, when an enemy noticed you, in previous MGS games, I just ran out the building or ran into an elevator to escape invasion. There was no other way to escape invasion but to hide or run. This was annoying because enemies kept spawning until you died. However, in MGS4, you could either kill, hide, or run. It's of the same game, but definitely improved.

About the bosses. I agree with you about the sense of realism. But don't forget that Snake can also withhold a few dozen bullets without a bit of staggering. I don't think the developers of the game were going with 100% realism. I just don't see bosses dying after one shot to the head. Although, it would be interesting to see some sort of improvement on realism in that aspect. Possibly like a silent scope (if any of you remember boss kills in that game).

You're right, I probably should have expected it, but I feel like the timed alerts, the instant alert when you shoot an enemy, and the god like physics defiant boss battles are very last gen. I guess I was hoping that Kojima and co. would figure out a way to improve on these "old" ways of doing things, but they really didn't. The first boss battle in MGS4 sent me into a flashback of fighting Vamp in MGS2, when you had to shoot him with thousands of rounds before he would finally die. I guess I had hoped they would come up with something new; a way for boss fights to be more fun that regular enemy fights, yet realistic enough to mesh with the rest of the game.

[Ntruder]

Originally Posted by kamspy

Stealth System:

Konami knew that the money spent deving this game was going to require a large audience to recoup the investment. Not everyone is into stealth or die. For those who are, the game is there for you. If you want to run through like Rambo, that is also doable. Designing an engine that can actually support both admirably is no small feat IMO.

Are you aware that my XBL gamertag is "Rambo IIII" ?

It is a good feat, but playing without stealth leaves much to be desired, and there isn't much incentive to play with stealth. Leaderboards? Fine, but lets think about the average gamer here.

Storytelling:

It's Japanese bud. I watch a lot of Japanese and Cantonese movies, and the cutscenes are modeled closely after those. A more American translation would have alleviated many of these complaints, but I'm happy with how it is. It's MGS

I will accept that as an explanation for why it is how it is, but that doesn't make it any less annoying and boring to an American player.

As for the PMCs all seeing you.....There was a cutscene explaining that nanomachines in the PMCs allowed them to share thoughts and vision, so they did explain that. This is the first MGS game that alerted the entire opposing force when you were caught. In the old games they had to go for their radio.

That sounds like a poor way of rationalizing an over-simplistic stealth detection system. Kojima could have done better than that. Thats like saying Laughing Octopus can take 5,000 LMG rounds to the chest because she has a state of the art anti-gravity belt that emits a particle wave that surrounds her body and slows bullets down to a dead stop within .5 nanometers from her body, so the bullets don't have any force left when they hit her. Its a new name for an out-dated method of boss fights.

Oh, and major at the fish!

[Ntruder]

Originally Posted by Type A

Wow, the periodic installs are very insulting indeed.

I really appreciate you taking the time for this review, it was well done. Ive looked forward to this game since before I got my PS3, but thats just because of the Sam Fisher spirit in me. At least now if I buy the game, it will be for the right reasons, not the reasons I used to look forward to not long ago.

Its insulting because the Blu Ray disc is supposed to have this capacity advantage so you don't need multiple discs. But installing each chapter is arguably as bad as or worse than swapping discs. At a minimum, we can probably all agree that its a wash. So the 7 disc Xbox 360 version of MGS4 might not be so bad...

As I haven't finished the game, I wouldn't really call this a review. More of a bitch session of why I don't think this game is a 10/10. To be honest, I probably wouldn't care about this issues I've brought up if I hadn't read the IGN 10/10 review, and if I hadn't seen the people freaking out because Gametrailers only gave it a 9.3.

I do have a lot of positive things to say about this game, but I write better about things that I don't like than things I do like. This game does way more right than it does wrong. Way more. But still I think there are some glaring letdowns that stare me in the face when I play it, knowing in the back of my head that other people have said this game is basically perfect.

[II SAL II]

I would like to add that the online set up and registration you have to go through is completely ridicules.. I spend a good 20 min just registering a ID and Password to play online... I don’t understand the need for everything you had to do just to play a simple multiplayer game..

I think Metal Gear has past its prime and glory, Personaly for me i found the last Splinter Cell game to be a better overal stealth game in 3rd person.. and sersiouly these graphics are not next gen.. after all this wait and development time put into this game and they cant get the graphics to look better or even equal to other games out now?

I might be the minority here but this game should have got a 8.0 at best.

[F91]

I can agree with a lot of what you N, but the BR vs. multiple discs and/or install times just doesn't seem to be that much of an issue to me. 3 minutes. Take a pee.

[kamspy]

Originally Posted by Ntruder

Are you aware that my XBL gamertag is "Rambo IIII" ?

It is a good feat, but playing without stealth leaves much to be desired, and there isn't much incentive to play with stealth. Leaderboards? Fine, but lets think about the average gamer here.

I know the average gamer who isn't an MGS buff isn't interested in a leaderboard, but I'm sure the die hard fans will try to climb it.

Originally Posted by Ntruder

I will accept that as an explanation for why it is how it is, but that doesn't make it any less annoying and boring to an American player.

I know. They should have had an optional "American Cut" since this version of the game was designated (by Sony and Konami, not Kojima) to be a system seller in the U.S.

=Ntruder;627159]That sounds like a poor way of rationalizing an over-simplistic stealth detection system. Kojima could have done better than that. Thats like saying Laughing Octopus can take 5,000 LMG rounds to the chest because she has a state of the art anti-gravity belt that emits a particle wave that surrounds her body and slows bullets down to a dead stop within .5 nanometers from her body, so the bullets don't have any force left when they hit her. Its a new name for an out-dated method of boss fights.

Well, considering the old MGS games had an alert system like the one you desired in this one, I don't think it was out of reach for the team. But if they would have gone with the old alert system there would be someone saying the nanomachines bit was a big plot hole because the PMCs didn't make use of them but were still affected by them.

As for the boss fights....it's an MGS game They're supposed to be over-the-top and crazy. MGS has always walked the fine line between video game and simulator. It's just the nature of the game. I wouldn't have been happy if I killed a boss with a couple shots to the head. But the whole part where you shoot the girls outside of their suits is probably meant to have some meaning in Japanese culture of something.

Either way, you bring up valid points, I just don't think that's where Kojima was aiming the game. For what I think he was going for, he nailed it on the head.