| Onimusha12 said: So is this still GOY matterial? |
That would be pretentious of me to say and it really depends on what comes during the second half of 2008.
For me, personally MGS4 is by far the best game of 2008 from where we are standing now. But my statement caries certain bias with it because I've been a huge MGS fan for many years. The storyline is awesome in both plot and scope eventhough it's too ambitious for it's own good (at times). In fact I'll go out on a limb here and say that MGS4 is perhaps one of the best if not the best game released during the second half of the decade.
As far as an "objective" guess on whether it will win GOTY with most publications I'd say no. The storyline is extremely bloated with as many characters, side and sub plots and references as all previous 3 games had combined. That can be a good thing but for many it will come off as simply convoluted, and quite frankly it is. The cutscenes are well and away longer than any in any of the previous games and the balance is a step back from MGS3. A lot of reviewers, especially the western mainstream will be put off by this. And Kojima doesn't hold back when it comes to his trademark "preaching" (though I am very happy for this) but the amount of indulgence weighs quite heavily. Though like I said a few posts above that while the plot really isn't in anyway similar to MGS2's, a lot of reviewers will compare the two and knock off on MGS4 for it's indulgence and convoluted plot.
My opinion though is that even people who disliked MGS2 may well turn out to be fans of MGS4 because the differences outweigh the similarities at large.
As far as gameplay goes, it has excellent gameplay (I mean it blows away everything previously in the franchise). But when pitched against GTA4 that appeals to such a broader audiance and is so much more accessable I think GTA4 will have the edge. (My personal opinion is that it shits all over GTA4 though, the difference in sheer talent, creativity and love leave GTA4 as nothing more than toilet paper for Kojima to whipe his ass with)
The fact that no MGS game has previously won GoTY weighs in on my opinion as well.
Sorry for the long-winded posts, I must have caught the Kojima syndrome today 
