Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

playing through this for the first time. it is pretty good. it is funny as much as MGS2 denies to be a power fantasy this game is the ultimate indulgence of that. cutscene heavy and every bit the overblown western action film inspired military sci fi fantasy the series has always been.

the cyborg ninja Raiden is totally redeemed and we see him delivering the most emo edge lines of all time in that plane lol. i love it.

the game itself feels very safe, like chicken noodle soup. i have not died once and am 4/5 of the way through. it has Huey and the Col. helping you, just like MGS, it has Naomi, it has the return of MGS1 levels, etc.

i am enjoying the return to Shadow Moses even though as a level it's really the most aimless one yet, it proves that you can't really remake those old games cos the entire game would be one level! then again the start of MGS4 is full of walk across a room, see a cutscene, walk across another room, see another cutscene, save, see another cutscene.

there were times when i was in Europe (that stalking through the foggy city streets level ruled) when it was playing cutscenes and pausing to save, multiple times, during the cutscenes. lol.

on some level i can't help but love this for the audiaciousness. this game is in the Guiness Book of World Records for this stuff.

PS. MGSV is still my favorite.

oh yeah wtf is with the game installing in between chapters? the first time that happened i thought my PS3 was losing its mind

suddenly the difficulty has skyrocketed. i made it through most of act 4 with no problem, took out the Sniper Wolf robot, was enjoying the constant nostalgia and Otacon saying awestruck things about the first MGS, literally saying "You are the shit", etc.

now i am in the split screen duel. on the right half Raiden is in a fight with Vamp and on the left i am stuck in a little spot of ground in front of the Metal Gear and charged with killing endless waves of gekkos. now this is bullshit and not fun. i have heat seeking rocket launchers and a rail gun, i can call up Drebben in the middle of a fight and buy ammo as much as i want, but no matter what i keep dying. inevitably there is a gekko that jumps next to me, count down to self destruction, and explodes, killing me in the process. even if i have rations equipped, i still die. any tips for this part?

ok some quick googling told me to charge the rail gun. will try that...

https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/02/28/the-story-behind-metal-gear-solid-4-39-s-bizarre-intro.aspx

this is pretty awesome read talking about the making of the intro live action segments.

also i watched the Superbunnyhop review last night. i LOL'd at him pointing out that this game has the main villains

a) shutting down all guns, resulting in the first total global ceasefire
b) curing cancer with nanomachines

it is hilarious that halfway through the game the main bad guy has inadvertently caused world peace.

Man, do I ever not remember any of this nonsense, which almost makes me question if I ever even played 4 (which I did, because old Snake, and Johnny Diarrhea).

i finished this game today. the end of the game is like 3 hours of cutscenes w some gameplay just tossed in. really once you get through Shadow Moses the game goes entirely linear, to the point where you are just holding forward for a good while.

it's a shame cos the gameplay during the start is a nice evolution of MGS3-style but by halfway through there is nothing stealthy about it. the last few hours you shoot like a million bullets. often there will be a room but of badguys and you just fight them over and over until the game just steps in and takes the control away from you.

still, it's pretty enjoyable. definitely worth a watch a least once. it really feels like the sequel to MGS everyone wanted from MGS2. the ending is super melodramatic. i like how during the very last bonus audio Snake calls himself a "blue rose", Kojima w the FWWM reference.

shoot i didn't have this thread bookmarked, v happy to read all of your posts on here adam! so many things i love abt this game, thought i talked abt it around here somewhere, maybe on one of the other mgs threads. the gear vs gear 5-minute combat remains one of my most favourite video game things ever because it's just such an absurd waste of development money for something that is completely unused at any ohter point. not even in a dumb dlc rush mode or something.

i loved that bit. all the MGS games have a OTT action setpiece, usually near the end of the game, where it just goes crazy. MGS2 had that bit at the end of the postmodern part where you just fight 2 dozen enemies in room after room that is also completely at odds with the rest of the game, where you stealth your way past a dozen enemies spread out over the entire game map. it is part and parcel with the cutscenes, the interactive cinematic stylisms that are the bread and butter of the series.

was kind of surprised that half the game was just a recreation of MGS, tho i guess that IS what the fans wanted, the expectation subverted by MGS2. the happy endings were all pretty nice, Big Boss as always pulling a fast one on everybody, Raiden waking up to have his life also revealed as a life and bestowing a suburban fairy tale ending on the ultimate tortured edgelord emo robot ninja of all time.

i liked how at one point they are all stuck and Johnny is the only one that can help them, and it turns out that him having diarrhea and being a general weirdo meant that he refused the nanomachines treatment, so he is free to save the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWqlz0wsQQ4

Raiden's speech starting around 3:00 in is so classic. "I'm a shadow, one that no light will shine on". you could open a Hot Topic just selling t-shirts with every line that he says here.

"It was never going to work out for me. It even rained the day I was born."

"I have nothing. I have always been alone. Always."

i think it would rank near the bottom for me though, i like playing 2/3/V way more, i like the stories in those games more as well. still a lot of fun and worth seeing at least once.