| KylieDog said: I was greatly dissapointed with MGS4.
Playing all the games since even the very first Metal Gear, I think is safe to say I am a big fan of the series.
That said, after MGS3 I think the series has gone downhill.
For one thing the story starts making direct contradictions, MGS3 for example tells us clearly in black and white at the end that the Patriots are in fact the American part of the philosophers, but then PO (Portable Ops) and MGS4 contradict this and set the story up to be Ocelot and the rest. Apparently the entire Zero/big Boss feud took less than two years to happen since Zero did the cloning project only two years after the Patriots formed, and it took Big Boss 25 years or so to do something about it? Big Boss was also in a coma when he was cloned, why didn't Zero keep him that way then instead of when he did. Also, if Big Boss was cloned to keep that 'permant image' Zero wanted, why give the clones short life spans? Defeats the point... The timeline is flawed in terms of when Zero was meant to have passed control over to the AIs, making actions of previous games too late or too soon based on knowledge certain characters were meant to have had, and the story makes no sense in terms of alliances and end enemies, people working against eachother when they all wanted the same end result. Para-medic turning from a caring "don't hurt the poor little creatures" character into someone who tortures people in horrific experiments is also complete bullshit, same with Sigint working to stop two metal gears just to go and make one? Poor switches of character.
As to the gameplay, too much action, not enough stealth, I've not played through on 'The Boss' extreme yet but I have done on 'Big Boss', and the punishment for getting spotted is a joke, you can act like rambo most of the game and do fine, especially with the FPS-esque mode making headshots hilariously easy to perform in mass.
The first two acts are ok, presenting enough moments where you can challenge yourself to not get spotted (even if it doesn't matter if you are) but acts 3, 4 and 5 are terrible, act 3 especially. I get the fan service, it is nice Whatever happened to the codec system also, Rose has about 3 different things to say throughout the entire game, and otacon not much more, no one to chat and save with either, lots of hidden plot details and bits of comedy inserted itself into the series through codec, MGS4 lacks this. Sadly there aren't even other options to speak to, would it have hurt to chat to Campbell or Drebin, or even Sunny, or Mei Ling? The Drebin system ws terrible, may as well just turn infinite ammo/silencers on as something in the options menu. The lack of things like Boss survival modes was dissapointing also. The B&B unit was also shallow and faceless, no character to any of them or the unit as a whole, cannot even compare to Foxhound, Dead Cell or the Cobra Unit. The Nanomachines don't explain how Vamp can walk on water and as good as fly in MGS2 either. Not to mention how he survived a cross through his chest/heart (I forget which) for 3 days as a child, he didn't have machines in him then.
Overall I would say the worst MGS game, except for portable ops. Still an ok game, but not a AAA title. |
SPOILERS, btw... Ocelot was working for the Americans. They don't contradict. The end of MGS3 is Ocelot securing the first half of the legacy. PO is him securing the 2nd half. MGS2 tells you the Philosophers are dead. MGS3 tells you that The Boss is the last living descendant and that Volgin got the legacy. The Boss and The Sorrow are the parents of Ocelot. Ocelot is American. I don't know where the contradiction is. Clones aren't automatically given short life spans, it is an effect of cloning. I'm pretty sure EVA explains why Big Boss waited, but I'll have more to say on that when I replay it again. Care to give some specifics about what characters should have known or didn't know? It doesn't matter who is in control as long as it's the Patriots. Both Zero and the AI can be considered Patriot control. I disagree about Para-medic and Signit. They had their own motivations and development. I don't think it was meant as torture but rather experimentation, also. The fact that Frank sought revenge is part of his many flaws. Other than that...oh, the codecs were shorted due to complaints from fans. I could go either way. I believe there are hidden codec messages in the game, though...but other than that, I'm sorry you didn't like it. I thought it was a great way to tie everything up.
