Well, having just bought a PS3, I wanted to rent a game for the weekend to break it in. Unfortunately my videostore didn't have Ratchet and Clank (the game I really wanted to try) but they did have one copy of MGS4 left, so I decided to go with that. I like the MGS series, but I'm not crazy about it. The first one I thought was brilliant, the second I thought was convoluted with average gameplay and dumb bosses, and the third I never finished but enjoyed the first three or four hours of, but wasn't blown away. I like the series, but I'm not gaga over it. Even though MGS4 wasn't at the top of my list of PS3 games to try, I figured I might as well.
So what do I think about MGS4? In a word, awesome. I played for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours last night beating the first chapter, and I have to say it was a blast. Leading snake through a middle east warzone was freaking awesome. It's not all sunshine and roses though, I still think the combat feels akward, though not as bad as some of the past games. And even though at times I'm blown away by the graphics, there are times I'm also very underwelmed by poor textures that seem out of place in an otherwise gorgeous game.
The mood it sets is very well done and always manages to hit it's mark. From the instant I saw snake smoking a cigarette in the truck I felt sorry for him. He was old, grizzled, and had spent far too much time fighting in wars. You could feel the desperation when snake found liquid and he was just trying to get a shot in the chaos. The symbolism can be subtle, but effective such as when snake finds out his mission, and it cuts to the scene of an at the time unknown little girl cracking eggs, and she cracks to eggs in the pan while singing. One comes out perfect, solid, and the other yolk cracks and smears becoming liquid. It was simple, but effective and seemed somehow sinister, ominous. Kojima can certainly direct a game when he wants to. The cut scenes haven't been as intrusive as they have been in past games either, which I like.
Each little section feels like a self contained level and challenge that can be approached in different ways, with an obvious end goal in mind. Which I also enjoy, it keeps itself focused. Your job is to get from point A to point B (the mark on your radar) by any means necessary. I personally found stealth preferable, but it's mostly because I find the combat akward. At the risk of coming off as a fanboy, dual analogue feels incredibly dated now. I really really really wish I could just point at the screen in order to aim, because trying to aim with the second stick feels incredibly slow and clunkly now. Especially when I was (small spoilers, tiny really) fighting those "frogs" in the building after meeting up with my contact. When I got to the ground floor and there is that last big shoot out, I tried to use some petrol bombs. But popping my head up over the counter and then trying to aim and adjust the trajectory with the dual sticks while they just shot me felt really antiquated, and would have felt much smoother with an IR pointer.
Over all however I'm really enjoying it. I'm taking my wife shopping this morning, but this afternoon and evening it's just me and old snake and I can't wait to see what the next mission brings. I'm not a huge fan of the MGS series, but I am so far a huge fan of MGS4.
You can find me on facebook as Markus Van Rijn, if you friend me just mention you're from VGchartz and who you are here.
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