TangoUp

Still not interested in the (US) government-issue console.

To continue my tirade against this game, consider the environments you play in,

urban area with buildings and cars

urban area with buildings and cars

refinery

sewer

warehouse

urban area with buildings and cars

office building and rooftops

Dark Tunnel

office building

Japanese Garden

sunset on the highway

military base with fences and steel boxes

Seems like all the creative talent has left Platinum Games with Shinji Mikami.

Dark and gritty is an excuse increasingly being used for unimaginative writing and settings. Also, I would like it if they avoid putting in sequences like avoid obstacles in the river or in the air while moving through at fast speeds.

Yes that first comment is true. But I've played MGS4 without playing any of the other MGS games and I still loved it. And I assure you, I'm not trolling, I'm serious. Vanquish's US faction has that same motivation. MGR just adds another 50,000 lines of dialogue to say the same.damn.thing.

I like that premise but it is anything but straightforward after going from trying to save Africa, saving Abkhazia and the kids then moving on to save some bwaiiiins then dealing with PTSD then ugh, that end level. If they were trying to outdo Kojima, I'm afraid they failed miserably.

Raiden himself isn't bad at all. He's given NOTHING to work with apart from the PTSD and Jack the Ripper angle.

Because Vanquish didn't spend 50% of the last level on dialogue which makes you want to throw your controller and nor did it move erratically from one concept to another through the story. Besides, the end boss and cinematics were way cooler.

I am serious.

That sort of thing is par for the course for these type of games but usually the end bosses are spectacular. Like Vergil in DMC3 or the end boss of Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Armstrong was just ... I don't have the vocabulary to describe this monstrosity.

I know they are not. It was meant to be rhetorical. Kojima wrote all of it? I don't believe it because that last bit sounded like Vanquish's plot.

Just finished it. Phew.

It is an incredibly, incredibly short game. And that said, I still think the last level (not just the end boss) should have been canned completely. It is the most stupid, idiotic and insulting pieces of shitty dialogue and exposition and ridiculousness I have ever seen. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Forget Mass Effect 3, I think this game's shitty excuse for an ending takes the Razzie award for the worst finale in games. Also talk about reducing a ninja game into a juvenile WWE wrestling match. That last boss has to be the worst boss I have seen in a game.

The story is all over the place and unfortunately, apart from Mistral and Sam, the bosses don't have much in the way of personalities. The exposition at the end is an overblown rip-off from Vanquish (and Vanquish didn't even pretend to have a coherent story) with the war economy stuff. Are Platinum developers Americans? I don't understand their fascination with all things US.

Back on topic, George was probably the highlight of the story and it's a shame we see him for less than 10 minutes. So character wise,

Doktor - won't shut up

Kevin - his story about the memes and Richard Dawkins saves him from being a bore

Courtney - I think she was written in for the cleavage

Boris - Da, tovarich

Sundowner - Shut up fatty

Monsoon - no comment

Armstrong - what this is, I don't even ...

Wolf - drown in molten lava you sanctimonious tin can

Well, at least I can concentrate on the gameplay when I replay it because this is just a loose set of missions with a few bosses thrown in to give the semblance of a game. I will not be supporting this title by buying the DLC.

That said, the gameplay is smooth but the camera is problematic. 3/5 stars. I expected better from the makers of Vanquish.

I don't know why I'm surprised because Vanquish's side missions were insanely sadistic (still haven't beaten 4 and 6) so Platinum does have some track record with this sort of insanity.

But seriously, Raiden faced with 4 dual golden-katana wielding Ryu Hayabusas is the definition of de-motivation.

Any other VR Missions that are on the level of Vanquish's side mission 4?

I had never played a single Metal Gear game before MGS4 and I still found it to be one of the best games I have played. Kojima does agood job of hinting at the history between characters and thats whats important. I couldnt give two whits about the convoluted stories in the prior games because even if i hadnt played them some of the exposition in 4 summarizes the important parts aanyway.

On its own though the game has the cliched 'old warrior back for one last battle' feel to it but it is done so well that I couldn't help but feel Snakes struggle towards the end of the game.

Gameplay wise, I guess you are restricted to sneaking around and it isnt the most replayable for me but it still is quite good and definitely better than the point and click epidemic in the industry.

As for review scores, they matter not an iota to me anymore. they still havent persuaded me to get Bioshock Infinite or the Last of Us.

Three issues I have yet to overcome are,

Parrying/Dodging in the middle of a combo especially with the big units around because of their AoE attacks.

I sometimes can't see the enemies I'm trying to attack because the camera looks away.

The target lock keeps toggling between enemies because of the right stick presumably, but I need the right stick to look around (the camera in Ninja Run automatically stays fixed behind Raiden. So, does it only allow the use of right stick for toggling target lock?) The constant switching sometimes discourages me from trying direction sensitive attacks like the HF Blade Energy Wave. Camera wasn't a problem in Vanquish though, so I'm not sure what's causing it here.

And fuck those Helghan Gorillas.

Assassin's Creed

Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption

Revengeance (in Metal Gear Rising)

Mirror's Edge

Bulletstorm