Metal Gear Scanlon: 4 - Part 12

@larmer: give an example of a smarter console one? Computer games really don't count as the markets are way way different. For a 12 year old (which lets face it that is the market for these games) who has never read all quiet on the western front. The themes here will come as a revelation. Is this game all quiet on the western front? Hell no. It isn't even on the same planet. But that doesn't mean it isn't an incredibly meaning video game that will hopefully lead to people actually reading All Quiet On The Western Front. Which I expect 90% of the people commenting here have not read. *shrug*

@zaldar said:

I'd say Valiant Hearts is pretty good. Although that's a recent one.

That is one seriously strong wolf. Great job Drew!

I see where you're coming from but I don't see the depth in meaning that you see.

Saying Metal Gear gives even a glimpse at how dark war can be is like saying reading an Ayn Rand novel gives you a glimpse into how society works. There's maybe the smallest most infinitesimal kernel of truth in it, but it's completely juvenile and once you get a chance to look at it with a fully evolved mind you realize it's BS. MGS isn't even a "My First Treatise on the wrongs of War" it's a game that mentions war as bad in a whisper as it marches towards gunning down a thousand nameless enemies who are evil because they're "the bad guys" and it's ok because Snake is "the good guy".

All Quiet On the Western Front depicts the worst war in history in terms of pointless combat deaths. Is there a point in Metal Gear when Snake jumps out of cover, runs across an open field under thundering artillery bombardment while Meryl, Otacon and John Sazaki get blown into tiny bits, only to reach the other side and find he's all alone? Or where snake CQC's an enemy in dramatic kojima fashion and then has to watch him die from his wounds slowly for hours like Paul did in the book.

And does the game even mention "civilians" ever? No, they don't exist, for Snake, the world is one big combat sandbox that he and his soldier buddies play in. World War 2's casualties were largely in the civilian population. War moved in and out of people's hometowns constantly rather than being tied to a static front. But there are no civilians in Metal Gear Solid. The game spends lots of time talking about how PTSd'd to hell all the PMC soldiers would be without nano machines but the effects of that aren't shown in any of the actual main characters or on the people caught in the crossfire. Why did Kojima add nano machines anyways? So he could paint them as mindless enemy robots that the player can mow down while pretending like there's some hidden commentary about war in there.

MGS is standard black and white storytelling with some fun silly bits to make it standout. But it is not in any way a good depiction of war. I do not see how a kid would get more from a metal gear playthrough when it comes to the seriousness of actual combat than he would in any other shooting-videogame.

I mean, in Call of Duty 2 you run out of the landing craft and get hit by a nearby shell and watch your fellow soldiers get gunned down, thrown off cliffs and otherwise murdered. It's pretty dramatic and memorable, and clearly shows war as bad... but then you spend several hours gunning down german soldiers to the point that "Schizcher Grenaten!" becomes little more than a silly catch phrase. The bits where you slaughter your enemies always overpower the part where someone says "Gee, isn't killing people wrong?"

MGS is just one long "press X to feel/hide in this massgrave/pay your respects".

Agreed with Drew on the way the BB back stories are told, they could have done it better.

Also, as a self-proclaimed huge MGS fan, Dan not knowing about the camera's effect on the BB Corps was very surprising, even Jason knew.

Dude, seriously thank you for saying this. If Drew's playstyle and Dan/Drew's commentary is pissing you all off so much then turn off the video, go pop the MGS4 disc into your PS3, and play ihe game however you want. Using a silenced rifle with a scope to pop off one-shot-kill headshots has been serving Drew just fine and is a perfectly efficient way to play the game. I swear some people don't understand that there are certain considerations you have to take into account when you're recording a Let's Play for an audience versus just playing the game yourself. You can't take 30 minutes for each patrol of 1-2 guards to perfectly sneak around them or dispatch them stealthily because then each episode would be 6 hours long and would be boring and tedious to watch. I've never owned a Sony console so this series has been a perfect way to catch up on the MGS series story before I buy MGSV on the PC in September.

PS: the B&B bosses are definitely way more one-dimensional than the bosses from MGS1.

Well I guess y'all can call me...

I played warhead storage with the music. So great! :)

Good God. Crying Wolf took me so long to beat. Like weeks.

What is that fucking noise at the end?

"a non-descript hallway" Hallway that was the scene of a massacre commited by a cyborg ninja painting the walls with blood

I find digital ladies hot.

Drew - "Not even a blip from Otacon about this"

Maybe give him a call... take your own advice.

Revolver Anaconda. Best of both worlds.

Hissssss.

did Dan just say "Psycho Mayonnaise"?

Watching through this series is reminding me how batshit crazy this game was. I played through it when it came out, but remember very little of it for some reason. Anyway, thanks for the videos.

Crying Wolf gets ejected from a robot wolf vagina, covered in viscera, her hair is still fabulous!

Man, I never though that Gekko that comes while MKII is opening the door can be so much of a hassle, I just blasted 3 STINGER rockets at it and it explodes, lol.

I didn't really enjoy "The End" fight in MGS3. It wasn't bad, but I was able to walk behind the old dude and just light him up after he got about 1/2 way down, finished him fast. This fight, while similar to The End, was way more satisfying for me.

MGS 4 Part 13

That's some pretty good fan service.

With all the tips Dan managed to see, how did NO ONE tell him that you can shoot a gecko in the leg with the tranq to make it fall over?