Sieferx2

 
A fans dream indeed.
 
  think especially from a gameplay standpoint it was far more refreshing for me than MGS3. For example in 3 kojima wanted so desperately to move to a stealth game with expansive open environments but he left in the visual constriction(camera angles) of prior mgs games....and stripped away the camera. Also the camo system was cumbersome and irritating. So at least for me the gameplay issues i had with 3 were all but resolved with mgs4.

The story i guess is really subjective but i enjoyed the somber tone of the game....and also the theme tackled with old age....as i mentioned i think old age is the perfect theme to tackle for the conclusion of a legendary series. I love games that truly leave you thinking long after you set the controller down and mgs4 did that for me... 

  I absolutely love metal gear solid 4 despite the fact that probably 60% of my experience was spent WATCHING a cutscene. As a gamer who as invested himself emotionally in the series since the original METAL GEAR SOLID took the world by storm back in 2001, i can honestly say MGS4 is exactly the game i dreamed it would be. I have no problem setting my controller down for long stretches of time BECAUSE i have invested so much of my gaming life in this franchise.My own personal expectations were high and ive been patiently waiting for kojima to conclude his opus since i watched the credits roll in mgs2(i mean as solid as MGS 3 was it was still JUST a prequel). The production values here are staggering, and i think its fair to say MGS4 is fan service of the highest order.

Of course fan service can only be great fan service at the end of the day right? What makes MGS4 so interesting is that kojima revamped the entire gameplay structure of past entries in the series in favor of an incredibly polished and accessible 3rd person shooter. Stealth has now taken a bit of a backseat (ala splinter cell conviction) and the end result is a final chapter that sends snake off into the sunset guns blazing. Stealth is still an option and its implemented incredibly well (via a sneaking suite that can camouflage to any kind of terrain) but its more of a fun complimentary ingredient than a core mechanic ...for the most part.

I also felt the gunplay beckon my trigger finger far more than any entry in the series because of the fantastic new weapons shop. One of new interesting characters in MGS4 ( a gun launderer named DREBIN) travels around and assists snake on his journey. Drebins shop allows snake to take an extra weapons and ammo accumulated in battle and trade them in for points, which snake can then use to buy pieces for armor and ammo for his favorite guns. Fuse all of these rpg-esque elements together with a beautifully handled camera system and you have an incredibly well rounded 3 person shooter. Other than the fact that i had a tendency to use certain weapons throughout the game there is very little to complain about from a gameplay standpoint. Sure the game feels much "different" than past entries in the series...but as a gamer who is too often struck by the DE JA VU bug with sequels i found kojimas approach to snakes 4th chapter incredibly refreshing.

Gameplay aside,The usual metal gear staples are here. Weighty cinematics, crazy characters, ridiculous plotlines....all weaved in a beautiful ball of perfection by the genius himself hideo kojima. As i reveled in the strangely epic final battle ( a fist fight between and old dying snake and an old shirt-less revolver ocelot) i wondered how i could enjoy something so absurd so much. Also the craziness of metal gear solid 4 is told so wholeheartedly it almost feels impossible not to accept. It always makes me smile when i see how awesome raiden has become and how repeatedly throughout MGS4 raiden saves snakes ass.....kojimas big fuck you to raiden haters, as most of them were probably left scratch their heads thinking " how did i ever dislike this character?".

Every possible loose end is tied up in snakes somber final chapter. Dreary undertones permeate throughout he experience(as the soft Spanish guitar pangs the beautiful metal gear solid theme) and the themes are just as heavy as ever. What better theme to tackle than old age for the conclusion of a series? Most artists would aim for sending their heroes out in a blaze of heroic glory...but MGS4 mostly focuses on a dying hero. Snake is seen throughout nearly all of mgs4 coughing,stumbling,groaning,bleeding....and experiencing the true pain of knowing his body is in its final phase of life. With MGS4 kojima really got me thinking about age, and how just having a few wrinkles on your face can cause the whole world to treat you differently(even a legendary hero like snake). For snake to finish his final mission he becomes kojimas sacrificial lamb of sorts. A good friend of mine always jokes that snake is "jesus" after playing mgs4 and that just goes to show the emotional impact metal gear solid games can leave on us gamers. Above all else i was truly surprised to see how fresh and impactful a new metal gear game can feel almost a decade after the original rocked the gaming world. Its beautifully ironic that although snake may be showing some wrinkles, Metal Gear solid 4 feels just a fresh an important as ever. 
 
Would love our thoughts!
mo

  Halo Reach is a solid game. It's also basically the 3rd itteration of "halo 3" fine tuned to perfection with a different coat of paint. As much as i love the halo series im a bit surprised by the accolades and praise being hurled in bungies direction. Is Reach at the end of the day not basically Halo 3 with more bells and whistles and less heart? Why does halo seem to get a pass on the "de ja vu" department when most other games would Not?

Well the answer is simple. Halo games gets a pass because they are the finest FPS shooters on the market. More elegant,polished,and strategic than its closest competitors for sure(im looking at you Modern warfare)..and usualy just more interesting. This makes it all that more difficult for me to say how little REACH stirred up within my gaming soul. Reach controls incredibly,and looks great...but dont all halo games? Hell if it were up to me i would have rather went back and spent time with Halo 3 again. At least then i could watch master chiefs story conclude one final time and feel like i was playing something that matters, involving characters i actually cared about.

The multiplayer is the big draw here...and yes bungie has sanded their beautiful halo ring down to the smoothest of stones. And of course if you had to play one version online now you would pick reach, but i think we are forgetting all to quickly how great the online multiplayer in halo has always been. Sure now we have new weapons,maps and forging tools but it all feels like extra seasoning in the gravy, instead of a new recipe for the steak.

I find it really interesting how a game that prides itself on the little things can garner such incredible reviews from the gaming media...especially when it is the 5th entry in a series and uses a very similiar formula to past entries. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, Reach is the 5th entry in the halo saga and the 3rd game to grace our 360(so the graphical OMG just isnt there anymore). Not to mention Reach's most impressive achievment is simply the "little refinements" that only the hardcore halo fans will truly even notice.Reach feels more like a faithful echo of a series that crashed through the gaming world many years ago...and for most gamers that is more than enough to warrant high priase. However as someone who has spent countless hours with each true new itteration of the franchise the DE JA VU this time around was too powerful to ignore. It pains me to say this, but Halo reach is a game that is simply "there", and at the end of the day has no true significant impact on gaming whatsoever. 
 
I know perhaps im in the minority here..but what you all think?
 
Have a great one
mo

 
I wouldnt argue that the storyline is anything other than "meh" but then again the player is only subject to about 20 minutes to a half hour all total of cutscenes throughout a 12 hour game experience.
 
So regardless of the quality of the cinematics there just isnt enough of them to detract from the experience. People who would like to hate on this game simply take that flaw and magnify it to rediculous proportions in order to justify their hatred for the game.
 
At the end of the day the game does control incredibly well ( i mean if nothing else that IS what team ninja does well right?) and researching the devolper interviews and making of videos you can clearly see team ninja studied up on their metroid. They nailed the feel. isnt that enough?
 
Its too bad the games isnt quite as imaginative as the prime games...if only team ninja would have colaborated with retro studios...ah how glorious that would have been.
 
have a great one
mo

WOW great to see all the love here! Im glad someone mentioned that g4 review...
 
Im all for opinionated..but a 2 out of 5 ? wha?????? Thats a bit rediculous. All the "samus has been exploited sexually" remarks are silly as well....not once throughout the game did i feel as though any of the camera angles were gratuitous.  Sure your going to get a sweeping ass shot or two ...but honestly  samus DOES tromp around in a blue skin tight suit...???right?? lol... Your going to get an ass shot or two regardless.
 
The sexual explotation aimed at this game is so misguided!
 
Great remarks here! Loved the thoughts!
 
mo

  Metroid other M is the perfect example of how trusting the gaming media wholeheartedly can sometimes misguide us on our gaming journey.

If your like me(even being a longtime fan of the series) you have probably read the myriad of negative other M reviews condemning the latest metroid game to the halls of mediocrity. But wait that is impossible right? Metroid games are NEVER mediocre....right? The game is hovering at a borderline 80%over at gamerankings and a 79% over at meta critic. After absorbing the barrage of disappointing reviews my excitement for the game had all but evaporated. Oh well i told myself....if i have a slow week maybe ill rent other m just to check it out for myself.

I m so glad i gave other M a shot because it ended up being one of the better action games ive played all year.

Lets get the bad out of the way first. The biggest issue i had during the firs few hours of the game was the highly disorienting switch to first person perspective to solve puzzles and defeat bosses. The player really has to get used to a split second of nausea as they switch from the slick action oriented portions of the game to the FPS mode (By pointing the wii mote at the screen) and then flipping the controller back sideways to continue battle. It took me HOURS to adjust to these gameplay elements but by the middle of the game i was a fucking pro. Confidently switching back and forth in the midst of some truly menacing boss battles with ease.....and when i pulled it off right...it felt good. Really Good. The learning curve however will most likely alienate a large chunk of casual gamers..which is too bad. When the FPS elements work it really does feel like a great fusion of classic metroid, and the excellent metroid PRIME games.

Other M is also really lacking in the music department...quite a bummer considering metroid games usually have incredible music from start to finish. It seemed as though they were going for the "quiet atmospheric-less music" approach but that kinda backfires in the final product. Its hard to create atmosphere running on a platform with the graphical prowess of the wii....i mean when i think atmosphere i think BIOSHOCK and LIMBO. Team Ninja are masters of gameplay and action....mood is NOT their strong suit.

Also much has been said of the games voice acting/cinematics. Yes samus's voice acting is a little flat sometimes but at least the voice actor feels right. What? Ok i guess what im saying is the DELIVERY of the dialogue seems a bit "read from paper" but her voice is actually quite perfect. The storyline is far from engaging but at least the game isn't heavy handed. There are actually only a small handful of cutscenes and all of those scenes are pretty short. If the cinematics were constantly interrupting the flow of the game then their mediocrity could have been magnified...thankfully this is NOT the case.

Many have spoke to the games linearity, but as i have learned over the course of FF13 this year LINEARITY is very....preferential. Of course most gamers would say "preferential my ass! METROID games are about exploration!". This is true....but the linearity in other M isnt quite as bad as it seems it would be. For example your always moving on to a new area...something new.. .i found that the game have rather exemplary pacing( i couldn't put the damn game down). Its just Its interesting to see how upset people get when alot of the "backtracking" is removed until later portions of the game. Shall we look in the mirror people? Do we NEED Heavy handed backtracking? Most of us gamers live incredible hectic lifestyles and it was refreshing to play a game that seemed to move so briskly from each new idea to the next.


Above all else though the reason Other M really worked for me was the FEEL. Team Ninjas finest quality is their ability to nail the feel and controls of a great action game. Within the first few minutes of the game i was completely sold on just how fun samus was to actually play. It really did feel like playing a fully 3d iteration of the classic metroid games and that really made my soul tingle with pangs of glorious pleasure. Perhaps i never new just how much i love the CONTROL in a metroid game....or how much i WOULD love it in a fully 3d action adventure game. I mean after all this is really the FIRST 3d metroid game...well...ever. We had the 2d classics and then retro studios gave us the PRIME series( told from a fully first person shooter perspective)..so perhaps i was truly starving for a modern metroid game that harkened back to the series roots. Or perhaps i learned just how important the FEEL of a metroid game was for myself as a gamer, and in this regard i feel like team ninja knocked other M out of the park.
If you love a great action game, and are a longtime fan of the series other M really is the only true metroid game us gamers have been able to sink our teeth into since ZERO MISSION released on the GBA back in 2004(no offense to the prime series..but they feel like an entirely different beast). Ignore the media on this one and give Other M a shot, you will probably leave pleasantly surprised. 
 
would love to know what you all think!
have a great one
mo
 

@killer rabbit
 
Absolutley!
 
Even after everything mgs2 accomplishes it leaves strong moral themes imprinted in my mind. I cant remember mgs1 and mgs3(as great as those games are) leaving any sort of mark quite as deeply in my conciousness.
 
@sixpin
Mgs4 was designed as a conclusion to the series. So anyone who is playing the game has been emotionally invested in the MGS saga for over a decade, which makes the high cinematic ratio a necescity. Your not converting new fans with a 4th game afterall! lol
 
Why is raiden terrible?
 
 
have a great one
mo

@B017
 
Thanks for the constructive criticism.....spell checkers these day fail! Err...perhaps grammar is not my strong suit. Nonetheless thanks for the kind words and i agree with almost everything you said.

  One of the bravest, boldest, games ever to grace the gaming world, metal gear solid 2 forever carved out its name in the great statue of the finest games ever created. Released in 2001 ( the same year that halo left its mark) MGS2 was not only the first classic of the 2000's but the work of a master(hideo kojima) in the peak of his craft.

Of course even though the critical reception was incredible(gamerankings:95%/Metacritic:96%)MGS2 still dropped with its fair share of controversy. Front and foremost was the bait and switch mechanic of the lead protagonists...replacing the iconic solid snake a few hours in to the game with the long blonde haired(and slightly more feminine) character "raiden". Raiden in many ways was the complete opposite of snake from both a design standpoint. Raiden was slender and more ninja like compared to snakes steady gruff American soldier persona. Raiden was kojimas brilliant fusion of stronger Japanese elements into the metal gear solid series. But for me personally i found it really interesting that hideo allowed us as players to play with snake for the first portion of the game (to satisfy that MGS1 craving) and then allowed us to team up with snake(almost as comrades) while playing as raiden. Allowing us to see snake from another angle, and also allowing for a natural progression of snakes character. Its very apparent that snake has become a bit older now ( as he and otocon have joined an anti metal gear radical group PHILANTHROPY) and its was interesting to see snake from another perspective.

This character switch was particularly effective because all of the ad campaigns and previews released before the game dropped ONLY showed snake. So once the game dropped everyone(gamers and critics alike) experienced the twist together and the gut reaction from the media(if the review scores are any indication) was that the move was a success. It was only later that the more vocal raiden haters came out of the woodwork. A small percentage of gamers decided that raiden simply wasnt "manly" enough and that they needed a more "testosterone fueled" character like snake. Cuz only a "mans man" could be the hero in an action game right? Wrong. Personally, i think raiden may be the best thing that has every happened to the series.Not only is raiden a more interesting character aesthetically...but he also allowed the series to grow. We learn that raiden was a killing machine by the age of 10 and the fellow soldiers he fought with as a child called him "white devil" and "jack the ripper"...surprisingly brutal nicknames(for a character most called effeminate)... which eluded to a surprisingly dark past within hideos new warrior. By infusing a character as powerful as raiden he could later could bring back throughout the metal gear saga and continue some of the more interesting storylines that developed in MGS2(like raidens rivalry with vamp). Snake and Raiden above all else made a great TEAM and with raiden hideo kojima found a way to bring in a new audience in(while ironically alienating more close minded gamers) while still keeping snake right there along side the player for most of mgs2.

Sons of Liberty is also exploding with IDEAS. From the start of the game you never ever feel like a single moment throughout the 10 hour or so playthrough is wasted. Whether the player is snapping photographs of the new metal gear, engaging in incredible boss fights, diffusing bombs ingeniously planted throughout the facility,or swimming through flooded offices to save a young girl...i really felt like there truly is never a dull moment. Even the more familiar portions of the game, seem to brim with more life than 99 percent of games available. take the Sniping section for example. Kojima has the player immerge into a beautiful sunset scene as he guards a young girl ( "emma" otocons niece) across a fence line floating above the water. Oh and Snake himself is helping assist you in this act of protection..how cool is that? Also knowing what is at stake with emma and the relationship she has developed with raiden (and us the player) makes it all the more gut wrenching when vamp leaps from the water and takes her life in an epic standoff. Even when kojima is treading familiar ground, hes leaving footsteps in a manor we wont soon forget.

Visual speaking (even playing the game again 9 years later) MGS2 is one of the finest looking games available. This may only further contribute to the classic nature of the game as we the player can go back and play mgs2 for many years to come and it will still look incredible. Leave it to hideo kojima to push the boundaries of what the ps2 was capable of. Its incredible to think that sons of liberty was a first generation PS2 game. From a hype standpoint all eyes were on MGS2 at the time of its release back in2001 after the unbelievable success/impact of the original MGS, Kojima made sure that MGS2 would be remembered as a landmark for visual presentation in a video game.Also,You know that metal gear theme that you just cant seem to shake from your head? Well that also started with sons of liberty. First heard in the games opening cinematic sequence the theme would eventually find its way into every metal gear game to come.

There is really very little wrong with MGS2. Some criticize the complexity of the plot toward the final section of the game...but after further analyzations everything does truly make sense...its just alot to swallow in one sitting. Hell ive probably played MGS2 about 5 or 6 times in my lifetime and i feel like i unravel a bit more of its depth every single time i play it. So for those who played through the game once and were left scratching their heads a bit, i understand. But at least for me personally it was incredible refreshing to find a story crafted with so many layers of complexity (and consistency) that i can still enjoy it 9 years later.....and almost enjoy it MORE than my first playthroughs. A brilliant story that resonates within your soul and leaves its mark, leaving you in awe after the final credits roll.

Metal Gear Solid 2 does technically only build off the foundations of the original, but it also took the series to stratospheric heights in terms of both production values, and overall depth of experience for us the player. Above all else for me personally as a gamer, metal gear solid 2's themes of free will, controlling information, and finding something to believe in, keep the game cemented within a special place of my gaming heart forever. A game that even after everything else it accomplishes finds a way to infuse such interesting philosophy throughout the very fiber of its being. A true masterpiece.  
 
So i know this game is crazy controversial but what do you all think??
mo