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Nate

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Metal Gear Solid 4 - initial impressions

 I'll probably be blogging about this game a few times as I get into it, mainly because I've been drooling over it for a couple years (I think it came out a little over 2 years ago). I first played MGS2 when I got my PS2 in 2007, enjoyed it quite a bit, got MGS3 - loved the hell out of it, but then made the fateful decision to go with the 360 for my next console (not a move I regret in any way). So; now PS3 day one, and these are my impressions after 2.5 hours of playing.

Graphics- they are great, but not quite as good as I expected. I suppose this is due to the fact that they were much more exceptional when the game first came out, and I was so amazed by them at the time. But, that was 2 years ago and other games have had time to catch up.  Also, while I started thinking "hmm . . . this really doesn't look much better than Snake Eater" ... I really had to catch myself on that one.  How quickly we forget how bad past graphics were (for the record - MGS3 was a good-looking game). We've probably all had those experiences where we go back and play an old game and realize our recollection of how good it looked was much more favorable :)  I'm quite sure MGS4 is a huge graphical improvement; maybe I'll go back to 3 and confirm. 
Gameplay – Still lots of cinematics in this game, that sure hasn’t changed. In the first couple hours I’m wishing there was more gameplay, and the times I am playing the game I kinda wish it were more clear what I should be doing. Maybe it’s because I started on the higher difficulty level, but I find I’m having to figure things out for myself. For example it told me how to ready and fire a gun, but for the longest time I didn’t figure out that I first had to go into my weapons inventory to equip the gun (assign it to a weapons slot). Also, have CQ take downs been removed? Because all I can seem to do is walk up to a dude and slash him with my knife. Then he turns around and shoots me. J Lovely.   While I’m sure part of the issue is just a need to put in more time and let Otocon explain things to me as they arise, I also remember that gameplay has never been my favorite part of MGS. The gameplay is decent, and enjoyable for the most part. But I always loved the crazy and intricate storylines in the MGS games, and the grand scale of saving the world Solid-Snake-style.  

So far so good here; but if I remember correctly, these games take a while to go from good to great. I’m confident some of my initial disappointment will be well worth it once things pick up.
EDIT: One AMAZING  thing I forgot to mention.  You can pause those ungodly long cutscenes. I usually play for 5-10 minutes before my toddler son or my wife need my help with something, so pausing is a must and would've been a gamebreaker :)

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