Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Fave game of all-time. There's a criticism that you could level where the latter half of the game focuses less on actual gameplay, but by that point I was so invested in the story I could just watch it. Now that I think about it I called the original MGS the best story but this is tied with it. Going back to Shadow Moses was a real holy shit moment, fighting in Metal Gears, the gameplay (when you play it) was an improvement on MGS3. The bosses weren't as elaborate but they felt more intimate.

an anti-MGS2, in that the entire exercise is devoted to fanservice. the problem with that is twofold: first, that MGS was, until this point, defined by its ethos of NOT catering to what people want. but two, that fanservice has extremely diminishing returns, and it's far less fun to come back to what you (think you) want than something you didn't expect. it also makes replaying the game a slog, as the gameplay is only in service of winks and callbacks. Solid (heh) overall, but a failure for MGS.

I don't have the patience to sit through anything but I'll sit there and absorb a 45 minute cutscene featuring a guy shitting inside a barrel while Raiden twirls around with a sword between his toes. The Shadow Moses chapter is fab - u - lous

This is the point when the series well and truly jumped the shark. The gameplay is brilliant, excluding the on-rails turret setpieces, for the whole 4 or 5 hours of it you get to enjoy. The story is nothing short of a complete and utter trainwreck, from the returning characters who were only brought back as fanservice (Vamp had no actual reason for being there, think about it) to the deus ex machina "lol nanomachines" answer to literally every plot thread.

It's very creative in regards to gameplay and use of storytelling within gameplay, but the plot itself comes off as brilliant in some ways but incredibly dumb in others. While the idea of the military-industrial complex is utilized well and is an interesting concept, the game is too fixated on needless, arbitrary fanservice to make the best of that theme. It also makes mindless shooting much stronger of an option, which disincentives the need for stealth that was core to the series identity.

snake had jumped the ocelot by this point

Just how do you write a mini review to do this game justice? Let's just say this is EPIC stealth action gaming. Probably the main if not sole reason I still have a PS3 today in case I want to replay it in the future.

I spent whole afternoons hiding in camouflage from faceless Middle Eastern villains. I spent whole evenings one-button pushing Solid Snake beyond the brink. Frankly, Solid should have, absolutely, killed himself at the end, and invalidated all my effort. I deserve it. All of us do. The shit about the modern technology of modern warfare? Trump can currently kill me legally with a robotic drone. This is nothing less than Michel de Nostredame with a budget.

I need to replay this because some people seem to have some serious criticisms, but when I played it at launch I loved it to a slightly lesser degree than 2 and 3, but probably equal to 1. Someday I'll re-evaluate it.

I remember my friend's brother was liking easily going through levels. So Implayed this and beat it. They went into a whole new dire tion with this because the previous ones were trash in gameplay.

Metal Gear Solid 4 represents a past-his-prime Kojima doing an unnecessary sequel to a franchise which already felt long in the tooth. Combine that with the most hamfisted justifications for the wacky crap that happens in these games and you get an MGS game that really doesn't feel like it lives up to the name. But even as a slight disappointment, Guns of the Patriots manages to extract some final moments of sheer brilliance from this franchise, almost in spite of itself.

I don't know how something can be the worst thing ever and the best thing ever all at the same time, but MGS4 finds a way. What a glorious trainwreck.