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    Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

    Game » consists of 21 releases. Released Jun 12, 2008

    In 2014, war has become so routine that it is at the core of the global economy. A rapidly aging Solid Snake picks up his gun and embarks upon his final mission in this epic tale of tactical espionage action -- the conclusion to the Solid Snake saga.

    MGS 4 : My Cons - Your Pros

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    Seppli

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    #1  Edited By Seppli

    I dislike MGS 4 - a lot!

     

    • -clunky controls (every action takes at least one buttonpush too much)
    • -bad controls (no separate horizontal/vertical sensitivity options, aiming feels sluggish, first person view sub-par)
    • -bad taste (the guy, who constantly shits his pants, for example)
    • -voice acting horrible (ridiculously gravelly voices, wierd intonation and timing)
    • -bad pacing (30sec gameplay on 5min cutscene anyone?)
    • -non-interactive environments (no physics, tons of invisible walls - like doors, that won't open. Boxes, that won't move. Lot's of stuff, that anybody could get past, but Snake can't)
    • -silly leveldesign ( often one single convoluted way to get to the next 'cutscene' triggerpoint, feels more like an artificial maze, than a battlefield, monster closets etc.)
    • -complexity, which doesn't add to the fun (tons of silly items, stress mechanic, the whole Drebin ID-weapons thing - it's almost as bad as snake eating and rotting food was in MGS 3)
     
     
    I loved the first Metal Gear Solid on the PS1. Played through twice. The second one on PS2, I liked less - the general cluckiness of the series, as well as the camera perspective, began to disturb me. Raiden didn't help either. Finished the game though. Snake Eater more or less killed it for me. The clunkiness and camera where no longer acceptable. I stopped playing 3/4 through the game and never looked back.
     
    I recently picked up a PS3 with a couple of games, amongst them, MGS 4. I hoped, that the MGS franchise finally catched up with the times in terms of controls and camera - and it did mostly. In execution though, it's still lightyears behind the best 3rd and 1st person games in that respective. The clunkiness of this behemoth of gaming culture knows no equal. The crude story and odd pacing don't help it either.
     
    I will try to force myself through the entierty of the game. So many people still love the MGS franchise, that there has to be something to it. After chapter 1, MGS 4 seems like one of the most overrated games of all time to me. There's nothing there, which I haven't seen done better in other games. It relies heavily on Nostalgia. The gameplay itself is loathsome. From stealth gameplay to shooting action. From voiceacting to storytelling. Everything feels odd, dated and out of place. The music, graphics and the mythology of the franchise are a saving grace, but ultimatly I don't expect to find anything more than disappointment.
     
    Help me see the light! I'm only past chapter 1 and feel like giving up on this game.
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    natetodamax

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    #2  Edited By natetodamax

    Reading through those cons you listed, I find it hard to believe anyone like the game.

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    TheMustacheHero

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    #3  Edited By TheMustacheHero

    He craps his pants for a reason you know. 
     
    Also, I agree with the stupid first person view.
     
    @natetodamax: It's an amazing game. He's just over-analyzing it and not wanting to get used to the controls.

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    NinjaHunter

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    #4  Edited By NinjaHunter

    I had none of the problems you are having with the game. So I guess that's a pro for me.

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    copycatzen

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    #5  Edited By copycatzen

    @TheMustacheHero said:


     
    @natetodamax: It's an amazing game. He's just over-analyzing it and not wanting to get used to the controls. "


     

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    Gabriel

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    #6  Edited By Gabriel

    You can make it, and if you stick throught to act 4 you'll be really pleased as a Ps1 Metal gear solid fan. 
     
    Oh and MGS solid 3 Subsistence fixes the camera problem
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    Ineedaname

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    #7  Edited By Ineedaname
    @TheMustacheHero said:
    " He craps his pants for a reason you know. 
     
    Also, I agree with the stupid first person view.
     
    @natetodamax: It's an amazing game. He's just over-analyzing it and not wanting to get used to the controls. "
    This.
    The only one I can be bothered commenting on is the crapping, no idea why, that's part of the story in a twisted way, suppose it's just to get the point across that there's something wrong/different.
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    AgentJ

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    #8  Edited By AgentJ

    To say I disagree with most of your points would be an understatement. Maybe when I go about finishing the game (when I get a PS3 (when they add BC)) i'll find some of the faults you named, but from what I have seen, I doubt it.

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    TheMustacheHero

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    #9  Edited By TheMustacheHero
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    vasta_narada

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    #10  Edited By vasta_narada

    I disagree most of your points. Everything was as it should be in an MGS game, though the first-person mode could've been better.
     
    Also, you have really weird comma-usage, particularly your tendency to comma-splice.

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    MetalGearSunny

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    #11  Edited By MetalGearSunny

    That title is totally true. What is wrong with you? Have you got a taste in games at all?? 
     
    Ah, I'm only teasing ya'.

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    Boom_goes_the_dynamite

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    I disagree with most of what you say, but I will defend your right to say it.  But I have to be honest first time I tried to play MGS4 I got through chapter one and then chose to put it down for awhile.  I just never found time to deal with really long cut scenes, not that they aren't good just was taking up too much time.  So finally over this past summer I told myself I was going to finish MGS4 and I did and I loved it.  So what you may need is just time with it and you will like it, or maybe not, what am I a fucking fortune teller?  :)

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    Ineedaname

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    #13  Edited By Ineedaname

      @TheMustacheHero: Oh yeah I got the difference I was trying to explain why without giving it away =D.
    My bad, I failed to explain what I was getting at.

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    Seppli

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    #14  Edited By Seppli

    Having finished chapter 2 today, I begin to enjoy the game a bit. My cons still stand though. I'm definitly not a friend of Kojimas design bible for MGS. I hope he gets around to do another 'Zone of the Enders', which I like a lot better.
     
    The next Metal Gear better play, like the cutscenes look in part 4. Seriously. Why tease us with kick-ass cutscenes, if you can't bring them to life in real gameplay?
     
    Oddly enough, I'm actually looking forward to chapter 3, which I will tackle tomorrow. The first two chapters are perfeclty sized for one session. I hope, he keeps on nailing that throughout the game.

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    Hitchenson

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    #15  Edited By Hitchenson

    Why would I play an MGS game for the gameplay and not the story anyway? 

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    LiquidPrince

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    #16  Edited By LiquidPrince
    @Seppli said:
    "

    I dislike MGS 4 - a lot!

     

    • -clunky controls (every action takes at least one buttonpush too much)
    • -bad controls (no separate horizontal/vertical sensitivity options, aiming feels sluggish, first person view sub-par)
    • -bad taste (the guy, who constantly shits his pants, for example)
    • -voice acting horrible (ridiculously gravelly voices, wierd intonation and timing)
    • -bad pacing (30sec gameplay on 5min cutscene anyone?)
    • -non-interactive environments (no physics, tons of invisible walls - like doors, that won't open. Boxes, that won't move. Lot's of stuff, that anybody could get past, but Snake can't)
    • -silly leveldesign ( often one single convoluted way to get to the next 'cutscene' triggerpoint, feels more like an artificial maze, than a battlefield, monster closets etc.)
    • -complexity, which doesn't add to the fun (tons of silly items, stress mechanic, the whole Drebin ID-weapons thing - it's almost as bad as snake eating and rotting food was in MGS 3)
      I loved the first Metal Gear Solid on the PS1. Played through twice. The second one on PS2, I liked less - the general cluckiness of the series, as well as the camera perspective, began to disturb me. Raiden didn't help either. Finished the game though. Snake Eater more or less killed it for me. The clunkiness and camera where no longer acceptable. I stopped playing 3/4 through the game and never looked back.  I recently picked up a PS3 with a couple of games, amongst them, MGS 4. I hoped, that the MGS franchise finally catched up with the times in terms of controls and camera - and it did mostly. In execution though, it's still lightyears behind the best 3rd and 1st person games in that respective. The clunkiness of this behemoth of gaming culture knows no equal. The crude story and odd pacing don't help it either.  I will try to force myself through the entierty of the game. So many people still love the MGS franchise, that there has to be something to it. After chapter 1, MGS 4 seems like one of the most overrated games of all time to me. There's nothing there, which I haven't seen done better in other games. It relies heavily on Nostalgia. The gameplay itself is loathsome. From stealth gameplay to shooting action. From voiceacting to storytelling. Everything feels odd, dated and out of place. The music, graphics and the mythology of the franchise are a saving grace, but ultimatly I don't expect to find anything more than disappointment.   Help me see the light! I'm only past chapter 1 and feel like giving up on this game. "
    Absolutely everything you complained about is bullshit. In my opinion of course.
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    CL60

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    #17  Edited By CL60

    Voice acting is terrible? Wut?

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    Seppli

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    #18  Edited By Seppli
    @CL60 said:
    " Voice acting is terrible? Wut? "
    Odd pauses and wierd timing. Because the Japanese speak diffferently. They take great offense, when somebody cuts them off. Just doesn't sound right to my ears.
     
    The dialogue doesn't feel natural. Nobody talks like that. The whole writing is cheesy and way off. The very opposite of Uncharted 1 & 2, which have very well written characters and natural dialogue.
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    GunstarRed

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    #19  Edited By GunstarRed

    As  someone that thinks MGS4 is one of the best games ever made in the world ever! I totally understand all of your complaints but there seems something completely unique about the game I wouldn't change for anything, yes the acting is horrid, yes the cutscenes are too long and even the third person shooting isn't as satisfying as it should be but  the amount of care and effort put into everything makes me see beyond all of that. 
     
    The first chapter is easily the weakest...I remember a faint disappointment in the game to begin with. I don't think the game really ramps up until you get to the jungles in the second act, as soon as you start fighting the BB squad it really changes gear.

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    Seppli

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    #20  Edited By Seppli
    @LiquidPrince said:

    " @Seppli said:

    "

    I dislike MGS 4 - a lot!

     

    • -clunky controls (every action takes at least one buttonpush too much)
    • -bad controls (no separate horizontal/vertical sensitivity options, aiming feels sluggish, first person view sub-par)
    • -bad taste (the guy, who constantly shits his pants, for example)
    • -voice acting horrible (ridiculously gravelly voices, wierd intonation and timing)
    • -bad pacing (30sec gameplay on 5min cutscene anyone?)
    • -non-interactive environments (no physics, tons of invisible walls - like doors, that won't open. Boxes, that won't move. Lot's of stuff, that anybody could get past, but Snake can't)
    • -silly leveldesign ( often one single convoluted way to get to the next 'cutscene' triggerpoint, feels more like an artificial maze, than a battlefield, monster closets etc.)
    • -complexity, which doesn't add to the fun (tons of silly items, stress mechanic, the whole Drebin ID-weapons thing - it's almost as bad as snake eating and rotting food was in MGS 3)
     
    I loved the first Metal Gear Solid on the PS1. Played through twice. The second one on PS2, I liked less - the general cluckiness of the series, as well as the camera perspective, began to disturb me. Raiden didn't help either. Finished the game though. Snake Eater more or less killed it for me. The clunkiness and camera where no longer acceptable. I stopped playing 3/4 through the game and never looked back.
     
    I recently picked up a PS3 with a couple of games, amongst them, MGS 4. I hoped, that the MGS franchise finally catched up with the times in terms of controls and camera - and it did mostly. In execution though, it's still lightyears behind the best 3rd and 1st person games in that respective. The clunkiness of this behemoth of gaming culture knows no equal. The crude story and odd pacing don't help it either.
     
    I will try to force myself through the entierty of the game. So many people still love the MGS franchise, that there has to be something to it. After chapter 1, MGS 4 seems like one of the most overrated games of all time to me. There's nothing there, which I haven't seen done better in other games. It relies heavily on Nostalgia. The gameplay itself is loathsome. From stealth gameplay to shooting action. From voiceacting to storytelling. Everything feels odd, dated and out of place. The music, graphics and the mythology of the franchise are a saving grace, but ultimatly I don't expect to find anything more than disappointment.
     
    Help me see the light! I'm only past chapter 1 and feel like giving up on this game. "
    Absolutely everything you complained about is bullshit. In my opinion of course. "
     
     
    Please elaborate...
     
    • How are the controls not clunky? It would be easy to simplify and streamline the controls, without losing any depth at all. Like being able to walk up to a ledge/ladder and scale it, without having to push an extra button to do so.
    • How aren't the controls badly tuned? There are tons of 3rd person and 1st person action games, which control better, more precise, fluid and natural. Like Uncharted for 3rd person view or Call of Duty for 1st person view.
    • How is a guy shitting his pants constantly not bad taste? Or Snake dropping a cigarette to peek under Naomi's skirt?
    • How does MGS 4s voice acting and character writing compare, for example, to Uncharted 2s? MGS4s voiceacting feels odd and off-beat, because it's a japanese production. The characters are horribly written. Nobody acts that way, talks that way or thinks that way.
    • How is the game well paced? It isn't. Obviously. Take the escape on Drebin's APC in chapter 2.  It should be a fast paced and dramatic escape sequence, instead it is a crawl. How can one fuck up something as simple as an onrail-shooter sequence?
    • How are non-interactive environments okay? Absolutely no physics simulations going on. Boxes, chairs and whatnot are rocksolid. They won't budge. They serve as invisible walls. Bah!
    • How do the environments feel like a real battlefield? How can I accept simple boxes, barb wire or hip high ledges as invisible walls nowadays? The maps are very restrictive, corridor maps with monster closets. It's not a forrest. It's a maze-like map with a forrest backdrop. It feels so outdated. As if you can't make an open forrest and still keep the gaming experience directed. Look at the first couple of levels in Crysis, which are wide open and still manage to give the player a very directed and thus epic experience. Modern fucking gamedesign.
    • How does something, like the stress level mechanic, bring something worthwhile to the game? It's not nearly as bad as the whole 'eat-snakes-and-watch-out-for-rotten-food' mechanic was in MGS 3 - but it is totally unnecessary. Maybe it will serve a purpose in a bossfight. Even if so, that would not make me a fan of said type of game mechanic.
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    Seppli

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    #21  Edited By Seppli
    @marioncobretti said:
    "

    As  someone that thinks MGS4 is one of the best games ever made in the world ever! I totally understand all of your complaints but there seems something completely unique about the game I wouldn't change for anything, yes the acting is horrid, yes the cutscenes are too long and even the third person shooting isn't as satisfying as it should be but  the amount of care and effort put into everything makes me see beyond all of that. 
     
    The first chapter is easily the weakest...I remember a faint disappointment in the game to begin with. I don't think the game really ramps up until you get to the jungles in the second act, as soon as you start fighting the BB squad it really changes gear.

    "
    Yes - that's a vaild argument. You make some sense.
     
    Despite everything, which I dislike, I too kind of enjoy the game for the same reason. Not the same extent as you, obviously, but it definitly has started to grow on me.

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