Galadon's Metal Gear Solid 4 Review [Spoiler Free]

[Galadon]

Reader Discretion is Advised: The following review is Galadon's own opinion, and while some comparisons and metaphors used may seem exaggerated, keep in mind the Galadon is being dead serious.


Review:

What is the meaning of the word Epic? Epic was the story of Odysseus, Epic were the pyramids, and Epic is the Great Wall. But in the digital age, Epic is Metal Gear Solid 4. This game is a testament of the power of storytelling, and the power of a storyteller.

Hideo Kojima is the Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo of our time. A great artist, thinker, philosopher, and storyteller, with no match in his field to speak off.

For the first time ever, we can say that video games have entered into the world of film and literature, as legitimate forms of art and expression, thanks to this masterpiece.

I of course will not divulge anything about the plot as that would be an act equal to a mortal sin.

But nonetheless, I did not only enjoy this game, enjoy the boss fights, enjoy the easter eggs. But even the few little things that bothered me would get forgotten within seconds because I'd be too drawn into the story, the cutscenes, or the gameplay.

The gameplay is whole new level above the gameplay [and especially camera] of previous MGS's.

Additionally it allows you to skip all cutscenes making replaying easier. And next to an excellent [although team-based] multiplayer, it has so many layers of depth to the gameplay that its replay value is huge. There are tons of hidden items, awards for finishing the game in certain ways, and many other bonuses. I will if and when I can buy a PS3 just so that I can replay this game at least two more times to completely understand everything that happened. Just like I'd watch a great movie more then once.

[Also my friend's upper floor bathroom was getting renovated and there was noise that blocked out some of the lines in cutscenes, and some other distractions.]

The only true complaint I have is that MGS4 is so good that there is no single player game on any console or on PC that can even touch it, it's raised the bar so high for pure Epicness that every other game fails in comparison.

There might be people that genuinely don't like it cuz its not their type of game, and I will not pretend to understand them or try and figure out what's wrong with them. :D Although at least they are better then those who blindly follow games that are the equivalent of ants next to titans.

No director in the world could've made what Hideo did, and we won't be seeing a game like MGS4 for a long time.

It is officially my faveourite game of all time.

[RootBeerFloat]

I am deciding whether to get a 360 or PS3 for Grand Theft Auto. MGS4 might be the thing to tip the scales in favor for the PS3.

[End Dream]

I am deciding whether to get a 360 or PS3 for Grand Theft Auto. MGS4 might be the thing to tip the scales in favor for the PS3.

dopnt be a fool GOW2 is coming!!!

[Shinzen]

Holy.... Well. That was glowingly positive. Heres another (http://www.penny-arcade.com/2008/6/13/) review. (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/6/13/)

If we are focusing the aperture exclusively on the gameplay, I can tell you in only a few words what I don't like about MGS. If I fail at sneaking, the game ceases to be Metal Gear. In the space of a second, it becomes an incredibly clumsy action game. The boss battles are comprised almost entirely of this other system, a mechanism that has now been exposed for what it is: a punishment.

Only six or so hours in to the new version, there are improvements to the recipe. They've done what they can inside their framework to make the combats that do occur feel more like part of a whole game, as opposed to some shit-greased chute into a dungeon for bad players. They've made the most basic concessions to modernity and ergonomics. I don't know if I'm supposed to laud that, or what. The rest of it is incontrovertibly "Metal Gear." You're hanging out with a monkey, and then a guy poops for ten minutes. Then someone tells you to challenge fate, but also accept your destiny, which I'm pretty sure is a contradiction. It's just horrible.

I hated the game less. Is that sufficient?

Harmonix took Konami's Guitar Freaks as a base, and was able to transform it into multiple franchises worth more than a billion dollars annually. Somewhere in Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft attempted to machine a version of the venerable Metal Gear with a Western sensibility. Part of this was to give the player a truly lethal protagonist, the sort of person for whom one or two armed opponents represented no threat. The other was to substantially minimize downtime, making it easy for the character - someone who ostensibly sneaks professionally - to clear the slate quickly, and return to the business of skulking. Splinter Cell has no "bosses" to speak of, and the "bosses" in Assassin's Creed fall to the knife like any other man. Whatever other sins these games have, and neither has the soaring ambition of a Metal Gear, these are games about going undetected.

Gametrailers offered up its review of the game, a 9.3. This is an incredible score. But it's not a ten, and both Halo and GTA received better marks for some portions of their sub-scores, and for two days now the thread has burned. We have a standing agreement with one Mr. Period to unravel issues of this nature, and he was too happy to oblige. Indeed, he is usually too happy. Unless for some reason he isn't.

Here's a tender slice from the comments:

ThePure said: "Overall I look down upon society and witness some hope spawning with games like MGS. Solid Snake is by far one of the best heroes in our generation, though it takes wise people to see this.In response to all the mice that crept out from the shadows of their overheating 360's to give a good ole' HAHA or LOL to the situation that an honest reviewer has given, I turn my cheek to you. Those who believe that one console will give you a satisfying experience are dull and boring, for everyone knows that you truly need every console to experience gaming.Oh and don't get me wrong, I have friends that believe that Halo and Gears of War are the best games/franchises ever, Yep one of them is unemployed and has knocked up his girlfriend like an idiot and is working a dead end job. The other lives with his parents and plays halo with kids that are 5 years younger than him for a career. I get it guys its kool to flame on forums, cause in essence, you have nothing else to live for, so by all means, find something to look up to, like marcus pheonix, or John 117, though remember in the end, that these characters are flawed, and have never been explored by their design teams, as they give us stories that amount to comic books i used to draw when i was in the 1st grade.With all of that out of the way, Its time for me to go experience Metal Gear 4, and keep all the lost children and men that find it necessary to wrap their heads around shoot em ups and guitar faking power trips in my prayers.Games are now art. Embrace it Or GET THE F OUT! P.S Snake forgives you guys too for having mothers that resemble his aged appearence."

Finally, an attempt at real discourse that operates from a core of cold reason and doesn't rely upon ad hominem. He does resort to ad mominem, but who can resist.

This is why I love the idea that what's actually needed is two scores. Two! Yes, when one has worked so well. Even if you could measure games with numbers, a point I do not concede, there's no universal Goddamned basis for comparison - there is no "unit" of measurement. We measure things so we can compare them to other things. The trouble is that everyone is performing a kind of mental arithmetic, cramming their own internal symbologies into this or that frame and stripping out wisdom in the process. Editorial voice is a fallacy. They're all conversions of interpretations of moments. And we lose crucial data at every step.

In the space of our play experience, we've already seen two separate installs. The game is still broken up into discrete areas, which I found odd, the assumption being that if we were taking time out to install shit it was because we were doing it to sustain a single world. You would have a hard time convincing me that multiple installs over the course of playing a videogame are worse than disc swapping. This has become some kind of theological question on forums, a kind of philosophical pinata, except no matter how many times you strike it no reward is forthcoming. Blu-Ray is only a convenience if it is actually convenient, if it doesn't require concessions either at the beginning of an experience or at several points throughout. It's amazing to me that this is considered progress.

(CW)TB out.


There. That's better.

[Killuminati]

I can't believe big boss is alive afterall.


If I fail at sneaking, the game ceases to be Metal Gear

Uh, what an epic failure of a review. No fucking duh?

[Galadon]

I can't believe big boss is alive afterall.


Dipshit I said spoiler free. Do you have to insist on being an asshole.

[Galadon]

Shinzen I did say it's my opinion, I'm not gonna suddenly change my opinion based on what somebody else, regardless of who they are said something different about the game.

As for Tycho's review...well what can you do, you either like it or you don't, it might not be for him, or he's reviewed too many games in his life and has become cynical...and that can actually happened, or his expectations were too high.

I never said the game was flawless, even though its an artistic masterpiece, it is not flawless. Nothing can be flawless.

I just felt that the positive parts of the game outweight the negative many times over. So that the negative never bothered me.

If you want me to expand upon the negatives I would...except I'd give away spoilers.

[Killuminati]

Shinzen I did say it's my opinion, I'm not gonna suddenly change my opinion based on what somebody else, regardless of who they are said something different about the game.

As for Tycho's review...well what can you do, you either like it or you don't, it might not be for him, or he's reviewed too many games in his life and has become cynical...and that can actually happened, or his expectations were too high.

I never said the game was flawless, even though its an artistic masterpiece, it is not flawless. Nothing can be flawless.

I just felt that the positive parts of the game outweight the negative many times over. So that the negative never bothered me.

If you want me to expand upon the negatives I would...except I'd give away spoilers.

What pisses me off is MGO. Since I have to pay extra money just to make another character? Pretty annoying if you ask me.

[Galadon]

What pisses me off is MGO. Since I have to pay extra money just to make another character? Pretty annoying if you ask me.

I haven't tried out MGO...say what though? You have to pay for a second char...that's

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