Ok, well by now, us Playstation 3 owners played a great game. That game is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. This review is not going to be biased. If you disagree with this review, then leave a comment. But this is all my opinion, so let the fun begin. This review will be broken down into three parts: presentation, graphics, lasting appeal. This is my first review, so it may not be long or professional.
Presentation
Wow. That is all you can really say on something like a game like this, as huge as this. Once I popped in my MGS4 disc, I was expecting to see a green progess bar with a percentage. Instead, I was embraced with the logo and Snake smoking a cigarette. Now this may sound boring, but in reality, that eight minutes installing was very entertaining. It had to be the most fun thing I seen when I was installing a game, or anything for that matter. While the game installs, it gives you tips on playing the game. They may include: "Take a 15 minute break every hour," or "It's pass 2:00am, don't you think you should give the game a rest?" With text like that, the installation process a breeze, not a boring process. After that was completed. I was introduced to the menu screen. Selected New Game, and my diffuclty. Since this was my first time playing a MGS game, I chose the Normal settings. I did not want it too easy, but I didn't want it too hard so that I will get frustrated in game.
After all that was finished, I was taken to a cutscene with Snake in a old rags. If you were like me, you would look at the teaser videos, so I recongized this. I went to Start/Pause menu, because like I said before, I never played a MGS game before. I went to see how the controls work. I saw the mini-tutorials and started practiced in the the field. I did find it annoying that when I am in crawling, even after holding X, I cant quickly stand up. Or I could not climb over objects that was taller than the height to my knees. I wish I could have switched the controls to make the trigger buttons reversed, but I could not find that. Throughout the game, I used the Codec a lot, espeically when I get stucked somewhere. I noticed when talking to the doctor, everything was different. Each message was unique, like it was real-time. The battlefield was also pretty nice. I liked the fact that blood could get on the screen. But one thing I did not like was the reloading. Especially in a boss fight, Snake will take his time reloading each weapon, but can switch weapons on the fly.
These little things frustrated me, but it did not make me quit. I would have to say the major thing that got to me, was the cutscenes. Don't get me wrong, this story deserves a hundred out of five. That is how good it is. But I paid $62.99 to play a game not watch it. I probably get 10 minutes into doing something, and either I get a call, or a cutscene pops in. Like I said earlier, it is a really good story, and some parts were emotional, but I want to play the game not watch it. Which is why this game gets a 9.7 for presentation
Graphics
Like I said earlier: Wow. By far, this game proves what the PS3 can do. It says "King of Graphics." Every aspect, every particle, every pixel, even the head band when Snake moves is just perfect. Going in Full HD 1080p, this game is a mere CGI movie. I am not just talking cutscenes, at least not yet, I am talking about gameplay. When you move, you get an exact picture of your footprint. The weapons are realistic to the point I would think those are photos, not programmed. Like any other game there are glitches, There are a few, and I say few, texture pop-ups and slow redenering. But this was rare, and it only happened maybe once or twice through out my entire gameplay.
Now lets get into the cutscenes. As you may know, the cutscenes are real time, meaning if I kill a PMC, that PMC will still be there. And guess what, he is! After every act, you are introduced back home, on your big-ass plane. The first thing you see is Sunny cooking. I am sure I am not the only person to question this, but is that gaming or photo-listic eggs? Anywho, nothing really negative can be said about this game on the graphics. I played this on a LG 1080p plasma. Then I went to a SDTV, Zenith if you wanted to know. The only thing I would recommend is to not play without composite or HDMI
cables, because you will not get the full experience. Without a doubt, this game gets a 10 out of 10 for graphics. I wish I could go higher.
Lasting Appeal
Well after beating the game twice, both on Normal and Big Boss modes, I have to say its a game to go deep and long-lasting in the books. Thus, it is not a game I would to be considered the be the best game in all
games. I know after you read the sentence, you will probably stop reading this review. But like I said this is all my opinion. The reason I will say it is not the best game because it is more cutscenes than gameplay. I would love to make decisions with Snake. Instead I have to watch the cutscenes, and let them make the decisions. Think about it, Kojima put restrictions on reviews, why? I will not asnwer this, just let you answer it for me.
As a PS3 owner (only PS3), this is the best exclusive, and possibly the best for this generation yet. (Uncharted comes close.) Most definitely, this is a contender for Game of the Year. I will not say winner yet, because its only half way through the year, we may be surprised at something. Before I end this, I must say that this is more of an interactive blu-ray disc, not a game. So to end it all, this game gets a 9.6 out of 10 from me. I know people will hate me, but I am just being honest. Just don't let this discourage you to get the game, it is a must have for any PS3 owner.
The PlayStation 3 may not have been the strongest generation for Sony, but there were still some diamonds in the rough that deserve a revisit as PS5 remasters.
Even if they could just remaster and put on PSVR2, some would still look great as VR titles and could do a whole lot to bolster the headset w these exclusives! I'd imagine the investment of reworking these titles into VR would be way less than building new games from the ground up, and they could be amazing experiences, and VR often makes flat games feel fresh again. The Resistance and Killzone games are particularly what I want to see!!
I played killzone 3 in 3d and it really changed the game per being immersive.
In vr, that would be even more awesome.
Funny you mention that... my son wanted to play some PS3 games in 3d on my PS tv and he was blown away by how good KZ3 was. It really was a great addition to the game. Im surprised there have not been more 3d games from that era being ported to the PSVR/VR2.
resistance 1-3, killzone 1-3, uncharted 1-3, uncharted golden abyss, folklore, socom 4 , motorstorm, twisted metal, MAG, heavenly sword
Killzone 2+3
Sly Thieves in Time
Crack in Time
God of War Ascension
Motorstorm
Modnation racer
Infamous 1+2
Killzone trilogy in VR would be amazing bonus points if they offer shadow fall.
There was a psvr1 Killzone project that supermassive was working on at one stage which wasn't up to scratch and Sony brand it back in house I was hoping we would see that on psvr2 eventually.
Personally I'd love to see some more love or acknowledgement of psvr2 from Sony in general it was a expensive headset and Sony barely acknowledge it's existence
The amount of work needed to remaster these games wouldn't be beneficial on a financial and business sense.. MGS4 would probably be the best bet as it would need the least amount of work!
The time is perfect for a resistance fall of man game campaign coop multiplayer
The resistance series is str8 trash to me. Socom 3 I would welcome. Or killzone MP.
Resistance was ok but Warhawk and Starhawk was better and kept me coming back for almost a decade of fun and petty revenge on the loud mouth unskilled players 🤣
Edit I loved capture the flag dropping the pot on the flag carrier was extremely satisfying as well as transforming your plane in bot form and stumping them to death 😱
An article looking at the symbolic meaning behind the cigarettes in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Game creator Hideo Kojima is and probably will always be best-known for his creation and stewardship of the Metal Gear series at Konami, which since his departure has been more-or-less on permanent hiatus (don't mention Survive). In his almost three decades these games evolved to the point where they predicted certain problems of the information age (MGS 2), took aim at contemporary topics like Guantanamo Bay (MGS: Ground Zeroes), and ended on a profound sense of sadness about our species' inability to break the cycles of global conflict (MGS V).
It's not clear what sparked this reflection, but Kojima's been thinking about Metal Gear Solid 4, an entry that was (and unfortunately still remains) a PlayStation 3 exclusive. In that entry the player controls an aged Solid Snake in the year 2014, caught up in a civil war being fought between Private Military Companies (PMCs).
To this day, it's one of those games where I refuse to skip the cutscenes, no matter how many playthroughs I've done.
But if you ask me...MGS2 was bloody prophetic and has aged like fine wine. That game was blasted as the weakest entry, and yet it's so enduring. I replayed it some time last year and it was remarkable.
Heed not the lamentations of people that say that MGS2 is bad because of the Snake/Raiden bait and switch. Every MGS game has its own merits, and while most people consider 3 to be the best, they all shine equally in my opinion.
@sad
I would generally agree but with the exception of MGSV. It had truly excellent gameplay/combat, but dull and largely empty open world(s), and a narrative that is literally only half finished.
I really wish Kojima hadn't tried to go open world with MGS. It just wasn't right for the series. But I get it. He didn't want to make MG anymore but he wasn't allowed to make anything else. So he had to experiment within that franchise. Still, it was the wrong direction.
I have been thinking about this a lot, MGS2 being the weakest and getting blasted.
My conclusion, for some years now, it's my favorite game of the series.
Going from MGS1 to MGS2 was such a big leap, in graphics, mechanics, etc.
And now it's even more relevant for being 'bloody prophetic' as you stated.
Maybe dust of my vita and play it again...
It's a shame we never got a remaster of MGS4. The original game only rendered at 1024x768, and it ran anywhere from like 20fps to 60fps depending on the area. A remaster could have very easily cleaned up the visuals and performance. It's such a great game. I just want to play it again but in its best possible state.
I agree, but they did all sorts of tricks to make use of the ps3’s cell processor….they’d probably have to rebuild the game in order to make it run on another machine. And, if that involves remaking those cutscenes somehow, then itll never happen, unfortunately.
Nah. There have been plenty of remasters of PS3 games and they've turned out fine. It can be done.
War... war never changes. Or does it? The war has changed ...did it? The answer is no! Unless it is yes! No, of course it is! Is war! Yes! No! Yes?
He was always ahead with this series. MSG1 taught me about the importance of passing on our genes into future generations but in a responsible way, for they are bound to what we experienced in our lifetime. Sons of liberty taught me about global control and simulation runs to test society in a grand scale, the importance and dangers of control of information. MGS3 taught me about patriotism and how that can blind you into doing things you never would have otherwise, all for the sake of politicians who only see you as another pawn in their grand scheme of things. MSG4 taught me war is inevitable and always orchestrated because it's great for the economy. Soon simulation systems will start dictating who goes to war and why, all run through proxies. Privatization of military company are already here. We already started to see how a small group of elites dictates everything that happens. Nothing is done, nothing happens without strings being pulled.
All that was literally the themes and core story of each game, so not surprising he learned that from MGS. Metal Gear Solid 2 in particular is so relevant today, it was more than a decade ahead of its time and a work of genius. Kojima saw what the digital future was going to become when it was in its infancy. Even MGS 5 despite being unfinished and less of a traditional Metal Gear Solid game with regards to story, had a fair bit to say about language and control over it that is relevant today.
It's a highly acclaimed series for a reason, and one of my favourite.
I've watched my brother play the MGS games, but I only beat MGS1 myself on the PSP in 2014, and MGSV in 2016. I took the themes and plots as lore, tbh.. trying to piece together the story of MGS rather than relating them to our current times.
It's definitely social commentary, Eidolon. You should read the "themes and analysis" section of the Wikipedia page for MGS2: Sons of Liberty for a start! Game was heavy on this.
I'll take a look, thanks. Actually might pick up MGS2 again (PS Vita), It's been years since I last played. Might start a new game tbh.
MGS2 literally predicted digital manipulation of information that we see today all the way back in 2001. MGS2 became Zucc's playbook.
Yes back in 1998 when I was 13. Throughout the years more information has been shown on this subject matters, but go back to early 2000s and information wasn't as prominent. Kojima was ahead of the game
If it wasn't for the retconning of how FOXDIE works, including clunky scenes with Naomi and Liquid, MGS4 would be a perfect game. There are so many gameplay options. It felt like us PS3 owners got something truly unique and special.
This reveiw gives you a good idea of what the game is actually about
fantastic review
i see this as an opinion more then a review! i know u r not professional but trust me M$ will not hire u so relax, and of course u know what they say about opinion!!( like ars everyone....etc)
please keep it for ur self next time.