[onemic]

I finally beat MGS4 today and I've gotta say, what the hell was Kojima smoking/snorting when he made this game? Although certainly not a bad game in any respects,(And if forced to give it a rating I'd probably give it an 8.5) Kojima really dropped the ball on this one as it's easily the worst and most disappointing MGS game in the main series by a long shot. The game has terribly underdeveloped characters(With the exception of Snake and Otacon) who I felt absolutely no connection to even when they died. Being an avid MGS player who was completely engrossed in the story of the past games, the death of major characters in the past games like Eva and Naomi felt like nothing. If anything these characters simply felt like they were cameos to simply give a nostalgic nod to the great MGS of past.

Not to mention the ridiculousness of the story this time is so much that even I can't take it. Since when did Meryl have the agility and speed of solid snake? So much so that she can take on about what looks like probably 50 or more soldiers by herself with the douchenozzle from MGS1, while both take bullets all over their bodies like its nothing. I mean MGS games were never realistic in any sense, but MGS4 just pushed it over the edge into complete absurdity. It honestly makes the action scenes in MGS: Twin Snakes look timid in comparison. Enemies simply stand there as snake is having conversations with other characters,(ie during the final chapter with Snake and Raiden) Raiden gets crushed by a ship, has both his arms cut off, not to mention numerous stab wound and yet is able to fight like his normal self in no time. Big Boss somehow comes back to life(The reasons they gave for him somehow resurrecting were even more absurd) and snake goes through a huge microwave, while still being able to kick the living shit out of liquid. The complete throwaway love story that Kojima farted up in his mind between Meryl and Johnny makes absolutely no sense and just makes a character that was originally in the game for shits and giggles into a douche that somehow gets with Meryl by randomly giving her CPR?

I could go on and on about the how shit the story is, but I think I would probably exceed the character limit on this post. Story aside I'll keep my criticisms of the gameplay short. In comparison to the previous MGS games, MGS4 is ridiculously easy. I know Kojima has been aiming to try and get the action/fps crowd into this game, but it's been taken to far too much of an extreme. In other MGS games you can still get through the game being a rambo totting madman, but in many cases you probably wind up dying or the challenge would at least ramp up significantly. With MGS4, past the little part where you have to use the signal interceptor, there's very little reason to go stealth, as it's so easy to simply shoot everything that moves without taking much damage. Even then rations are extremely plentiful and abundant, so the chances of you dying outside of a boss battle is pretty damn slim. And talking about boss battles, compared to the other MGS games, the ones in here seemed tired and rather timid. Lacking the sort of creative energy generally seen in MG boss battles of the past.(I'll give the final boss battle a pass though) Compared to MGS3 and MGS2, MGS4 does nothing to advance the gameplay of its predecessors, with it being the only subsequent MGS in my opinion to actually deliver a gameplay experience that's worse than the game before it.(Yes, MGS3 is the best one)

I really believe MGS4 is a telling sign that Kojima needs to work on something other than Metal Gear. I always wanted answers to the questions I had in MGS2 and although they are definitely answered in MGS4, the game is just far too bloated of worthless information and cutscenes for me to even feel anything for the answers they provided.

Well my rant is done, MGS4 attack/defense force can assemble now.

[-COOLIO-]

GREATEST VIDEOGAME OF ALL TIME

[IrishNinja]

this is the equivalent of religion threads in the OT, only they get them every 4 hours, we get this every 6 or so.

*edit: i love Coolio's duties in these threads. :lol

[Colocho]

GREATEST VIDEOGAME OF ALL TIME

YOU DAMN WELL BETTER BELIEVE IT MOTHERFUCKERS

[braves01]

Fun, but I think there's too much game play. I really just wanted to be able to set the controller down and rest my hands for a bit by the end.

[CadetMahoney]

I really believe MGS4 is a telling sign that Kojima needs to work on something other than Metal Gear.

I also didn't find it anything special. Don't know why ppl insist on treating it like Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed in one.

[Lightning]

I loved this game so much... so meh to this thread...

[cosmicblizzard]

Still my favorite ending in a video game ever. Kojima is a genius.

[rexor0717]

Every month.

[Pappasman]

I loved this game so much... so meh to this thread...

I'm in the same boat. The convoluted story and unrealistic events are stuff that I really liked. Fuck realism, I'm playing a video game.

Still my favorite ending in a video game ever. Kojima is a genius.

You should play Half Life 2 : episode 2...

[miladesn]

I'm probably one of the few that don't care about the story in MGS games :lol and play them just for stealth gameplay, I think MGS4 had great gameplay and I loved it, story had too much crap I agree.

[braves01]

Every month.

The bloody mess that is MGS4.

[DiddyBop]

I honestly believe that people who really enjoyed this game are just blind Kojima fans....I just find it really hard to believe that fans of the first 3 MGS games can even rank this amongst those other games...terrible game by MGS standards, but luckily Peace Walker seems to have arrived for the save.

[Combichristoffersen]

I loved the game, despite the completely absurd story. Having forced installs for every chapter sucked, though.

[AsylumBlue]

.

[Snuggler]

I loved it. It wasn't perfect, the story was absurd...but Metal Gear Solid is absurd.

I honestly believe that people who really enjoyed this game are just blind Kojima fans

You honestly believe that? Huh.
I always had liked the series but MGS4 was my first in like 4 or 5 years since MGS2. I enjoyed the hell out of 4 and it inspired me to play through the whole series again, I still loved it the 3rd or 4th time through after playing the other games.

[Kagari]

Still good, but not the best MGS game.

[InfiniteNine]

I honestly believe that people who really enjoyed this game are just blind Kojima fans....I just find it really hard to believe that fans of the first 3 MGS games can even rank this amongst those other games...terrible game by MGS standards, but luckily Peace Walker seems to have arrived for the save.

I played 1-4 within about 4 months, and I quite liked the whole thing. Not really a blind fan, but I enjoyed the ride.

[DMeisterJ]

GREATEST VIDEOGAME OF ALL TIME

Yes dammit!

[onemic]

I honestly believe that people who really enjoyed this game are just blind Kojima fans....I just find it really hard to believe that fans of the first 3 MGS games can even rank this amongst those other games...terrible game by MGS standards, but luckily Peace Walker seems to have arrived for the save.

If anything I am a hardcore Kojima fan, but I don't see how anyone who's played the other three MGS games can say with a straight face that this game isn't a disappointment. It's lacking in both story and gameplay.(Once again this is in comparison to its predecessors, as a single game I'd still be forced to say it's great)

I loved it. It wasn't perfect, the story was absurd...but Metal Gear Solid is absurd.

Yes, but MGS4 truly took it to an all new level of absurdity. Nothing in there makes fucking sense. This is coming from a guy who loved the story in MGS2.

[EmCeeGramr]

Kojima literally took a shit on everyone who liked his games.

Literally. It actually happened in real life. He flew into the atmosphere and shit into the trade winds, and Kojima shit particulates were carried across the globe where they landed upon people who liked his games.


He just walked in my door and did it again. I am calling the police, right now, but he's laughing at me and shouting bullshit about how the police can't arrest him if he pretends he's a ghost.


I mean, some of you like scat play, and that's none of my business, but shit is shit.

[ronito]

GREATEST VIDEOGAME OF ALL TIME

Lest we forget. Lest we forget.
[IMG]http://i43.************/6yd5ow.jpg[/IMG]

[RoboPlato]

MGS4 is tied with MGS3 for my favorite in the series. Yeah, the story was a bit crazy at times and Kojima could have been a bit more concise with some of the cutscenes and plot points but the gameplay (which I will admit there was not enough of) was absolutely fantastic. The story wasn't also as much of a mess as MGS2's. I have no idea why that one gets a pass and MGS4 doesn't.

[Rahxephon91]

Most disappointing game this gen for me. Still not that terrible.

[Kagari]

Kojima literally took a shit on everyone who liked his games. Literally. It actually happened in real life. He flew into the atmosphere and shit into the trade winds, and Kojima shit particulates were carried across the globe where they landed upon people who liked his games. He just walked in my door and did it again. I am calling the police, right now, but he's laughing at me and shouting bullshit about how the police can't arrest him if he pretends he's a ghost. I mean, some of you like scat play, and that's none of my business, but shit is shit.

:lol :lol

[Pappasman]

Also, Metal Gear Solid is a fucking cool ass title.

[EmCeeGramr]

MGS4 is tied with MGS3 for my favorite in the series. Yeah, the story was a bit crazy at times and Kojima could have been a bit more concise with some of the cutscenes and plot points but the gameplay (which I will admit there was not enough of) was absolutely fantastic. The story wasn't also as much of a mess as MGS2's. I have no idea why that one gets a pass and MGS4 doesn't.

MGS2's plot, while crazy, actually didn't have nearly as many plot holes and managed to be entertaining in the process.

MGS4, on the other hand, liked to shout "HEY REMEMBER THOSE OTHER GAMES" for half an hour while making absolutely gigantic leaps in logic and pathetic attempts to tie a plot together that actually just made things worse.

[lantus]

I honestly believe that people who really enjoyed this game are just blind Kojima fans....I just find it really hard to believe that fans of the first 3 MGS games can even rank this amongst those other games...terrible game by MGS standards, but luckily Peace Walker seems to have arrived for the save.

Really? To enjoy this game you have to be a blind Kojima fan? That's just plain fucking stupid.

[onemic]

MGS4 is tied with MGS3 for my favorite in the series. Yeah, the story was a bit crazy at times and Kojima could have been a bit more concise with some of the cutscenes and plot points but the gameplay (which I will admit there was not enough of) was absolutely fantastic. The story wasn't also as much of a mess as MGS2's. I have no idea why that one gets a pass and MGS4 doesn't.

Play MGS2 again, I can guarantee you'd have a much better time understanding that story than MGS4. Not saying that MGS2 didn't get into crazy territory, but MGS4 puts it to such shame that it's quite easy to overlook some of the craziness of its plot.

MGS2's plot, while crazy, actually didn't have nearly as many plot holes and managed to be entertaining in the process. MGS4, on the other hand, liked to shout "HEY REMEMBER THOSE OTHER GAMES" for half an hour while making absolutely gigantic leaps in logic and pathetic attempts to tie a plot together that actually just made things worse.

This pretty much.

[RoboPlato]

MGS2's plot, while crazy, actually didn't have nearly as many plot holes and managed to be entertaining in the process. MGS4, on the other hand, liked to shout "HEY REMEMBER THOSE OTHER GAMES" for half an hour while making absolutely gigantic leaps in logic and pathetic attempts to tie a plot together that actually just made things worse.

The Big Shell simulation was supposed to be a recreation of Shadow Moses and it pretty much had nothing in common with it. That one still pisses me off to no end.

[Shinjitsu]

[Gestahl]

Normally I don't care about what people like, but MGS4 was such a huge gigantic steaming turd that I really have to question the sanity of anyone who derived any non-ironic enjoyment from, at the very least, the story. The gameplay was terrible compared to other entries as well (primarily because there was so little of it and because it flittered from one dumb gimmick to another), but I'm not going to lose any sleep over people somehow liking it.

[Laughing Banana]

Kojima literally took a shit on everyone who liked his games. Literally. It actually happened in real life. He flew into the atmosphere and shit into the trade winds, and Kojima shit particulates were carried across the globe where they landed upon people who liked his games. He just walked in my door and did it again. I am calling the police, right now, but he's laughing at me and shouting bullshit about how the police can't arrest him if he pretends he's a ghost. I mean, some of you like scat play, and that's none of my business, but shit is shit.

....this is beautiful.

[DiddyBop]

ok maybe accusing people of being blind fans was going too far... the game was just a disaster and a disappointment by MGS standards. for those that loved the game...did you guys really enjoy the boss battles as much as the previous installments? how about the "gameplay" from the middle acts? game just felt uninspired.

[onemic]

The Big Shell simulation was supposed to be a recreation of Shadow Moses and it pretty much had nothing in common with it. That one still pisses me off to no end.

That's crazier than meryl randomly marrying some dude that gave her CPR? Crazier than Big Boss suddenly resurrecting out of the blue even though he was dead? Crazier than Eva coming into the story,in which she states that she's technically snakes mom and dies all within 5 minutes? Crazier than...I'm pretty sure you get the point.

[MisterHero]

The gameplay was awesome. The load/install times were not though.

I can forgive the cutscenes if Kojima meant for us to realize that we don't care for all that exposition. and the dumb hand robots :lol

[RoboPlato]

That's crazier than meryl randomly marrying some dude that gave her CPR? Crazier than Big Boss suddenly resurrecting out of the blue even though he was dead? Crazier than Eva coming into the story,in which she states that she's technically snakes mom and dies all within 5 minutes? Crazier than...I'm pretty sure you get the point.

Maybe not crazier but it was a central plot point that made no sense at all. The things you mentioned, while out of the blue and probably forced in most cases, were at least explained enough so I could buy them. I'm not saying that MGS4's story didn't have problems, far from it, but it at least provided enough context for them instead of trying to be out there and crazy for the sake of being weird and different. I know I'm in the minority on this, though.

[Gestahl]

That's crazier than meryl randomly marrying some dude that gave her CPR? Crazier than Big Boss suddenly resurrecting out of the blue even though he was dead? Crazier than Eva coming into the story,in which she states that she's technically snakes mom and dies all within 5 minutes? Crazier than...I'm pretty sure you get the point.

You forgot nanomachine cancer Naomi, also 5 minutes.

[cosmicblizzard]

Johnny becoming an important character is one of the reasons I love the story. After 3 entries where he (and his grandfather) does nothing but shit himself, we finally get to see his face and he ends up marrying a main character. That scene near the end where he proposed was great too.

[RadioHeadAche]

Go play MGO. Then you'll really love the MGS4 package.

[MisterHero]

I took Johnny and Meryl as the faux soap opera that every fan wished happened to Snake and Meryl. Johnny even resembles a pretty boy version of young Snake. :lol

[sevenchaos]

I hated two and despised three. Four was good. Not great. But good.

[Rahxephon91]

I hated two and despised three. Four was good. Not great. But good.

How in the world?

[DiddyBop]

That's crazier than meryl randomly marrying some dude that gave her CPR? Crazier than Big Boss suddenly resurrecting out of the blue even though he was dead? Crazier than Eva coming into the story,in which she states that she's technically snakes mom and dies all within 5 minutes? Crazier than...I'm pretty sure you get the point.

lol i forgot about most of these things:lol cmon ppl...this game was a huuuge disappointment, after the masterpiece that was MGS3....well at least mgs4 was pretty much forgettable for me, hopefully it will be completely bullied out my mind when i dive into peace walker.

[onemic]

Maybe not crazier but it was a central plot point that made no sense at all. The things you mentioned, while out of the blue and probably forced in most cases, were at least explained enough so I could buy them. I'm not saying that MGS4's story didn't have problems, far from it, but it at least provided enough context for them instead of trying to be out there and crazy for the sake of being weird and different. I know I'm in the minority on this, though.

Isn't that exactly what MGS4 did though? None of things I mentioned were explained in any way that was buyable.(The exception being EVA, although I'm more pissed off at her being completely devoid of character) Big Boss died. His ass burned to death MG2. In MGS1 they're simply going after his remains. The explanation they use in MGs4 as to how he's still alive makes no sense as it assumes that even though snake watched his ass burn to the ground, zero(And if going by the MGS4 backstory this doesn't even make any sense as zero would've already been a vegetable as he is in the end of the game) he somehow still managed to be retrieved and saved by zero.

I don't think I even have to explain the meryl/johnny situation to prove how completely random and unbelievable that whole situation was.

[sevenchaos]

How in the world?

Two got a little too kooky for me and the controls in three were so bad I had a hard time appreciating the story. I ended up beating three on the easiest difficulty and tranking the shit out of people when I couldn't take it anymore. I'm not proud of it. Then again I'm not proud of that game or the time I wasted getting through it.

[rainking187]

Johnny becoming an important character is one of the reasons I love the story. After 3 entries where he (and his grandfather) does nothing but shit himself, we finally get to see his face and he ends up marrying a main character. That scene near the end where he proposed was great too.

He should have removed the mask earlier. I'm pretty sure he never shits himself or complains about his stomach again after he does so.

[SolarPowered]

I made my way through 4 back when I got my MGS PS3 model a month before the slim came out. I had just made my way through 2&3 and was pretty engrossed with the characters and their history.

MGS2 was confusing, but ultimately satisfying while I fell in love with the imagery of 3 and Big Boss' story. MGS4 was pretty disappointing by the standards of it's predecessors, but I don't regret playing it at all.

It's got it's own character and flair that sets it apart from interactive masterpieces like Uncharted and your standard cinematic FPS experiences. I think it's easier to like MGS4 as long as you go in with no good or bad expectations. Definitely more friendly for people like me who haven't followed the series for years.

[KTallguy]

Go play MGO. Then you'll really love the MGS4 package.

Yes, I love MGO. :D

MGS4... while it had a lot of problems, I still really enjoyed playing the game. I really wish the gameplay segments were longer and the fat was trimmed, but overall it was a real tour de force. Peace Walker is great though, it shows what happens when you trim the fat :)

[Rahxephon91]

Two got a little too kooky for me and the controls in three were so bad I had a hard time appreciating the story. I ended up beating three on the easiest difficulty and tranking the shit out of people when I couldn't take it anymore. I'm not proud of it. Then again I'm not proud of that game or the time I wasted getting through it.

Fair enough. I can see how someone would find the controls in three to be annoying. They are not the most user friendly controls out there. MGS4 really improved on that and has the best gameplay in the series really. To bad there's not enough of it.