Burning Typhoon

User Score
10

Presentation - 10
Gameplay - 10
Value - 10

Burning Typhoon's review of:

METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS

This game is my favorite game ever (not including the classics from back in the day, they have a special place).  But, no game is without it's problems, and instead of going though telling you about how awesome this game is, I'll start off with the problems of the game.

I: ISSUES

   Cutscenes

1. 8+ Hours worth of cutscenes.  This is no problem for me, it's like a high end movie.  And there's been plenty of times people thought I was watching a live action movie and not playing a game.  Even if they'd seen me playing the game before.

Pros: If you're like me, you're going to watch every cutscene from start to finish on your 1st run-though.  Then, the more you go though the game, you'll watch less and less, until you're just watching the parts with lots of action.

No matter how many times I watch the 40+ minute cutscene in Europe, it never gets old.

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However, if you don't like watching the hours of cutscene, you can skip it.

Cons: Unless you're watching mission briefing, there's nothing much to do.. Except push L1 to go to snakes 1st person view, or push X to view flashbacks going though not only snake's head, but others as well, which don't effect anything, and are completely useless if you've not played the game the flashbacks came from.

I, for example have never played MGS3, so, I didn't recognise anything from that game (good thing it was a prequel).

Solution: Press the start button (if this doesn't pause the game, press the PS button to turn the controller back on) and hit "skip".

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    WEAPON SWAP, WTF?!

2. Let's say you made it to a boss, and you decide it's time to switch up your guns, and pull out things better suited to fight the boss.  Well, if you die, you're going to have to keep spending those 30 seconds switching your guns back up (or however long it takes) the way you like.  Everything goes back to the way it was when you arrived at the boss (it's the last checkpoint).  It's my biggest issue with this game, and I hate having to re-do all that crap.  It takes away from the pace.

Pros: Well, if you decided your set you started off with (missing bullets if you'd gotten some from drebin) then, you wont have to change anything.  Maybe you got something from drebin that you didn't like.. Well, there goes your DP back.

Cons: Extremely annoying if you know what you want to use, and constantly will have to keep re-stocking, or switching around the weapon selection.

Solution: Make note when the boss is coming, and switch your weapons up before you get there.  However, some bosses have to be prepared for way ahead of time.

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    SNAKE, GET UP!

3.  Sometimes I get really annoyed when snake doesn't stand up and start running when I want him to.  It's annoying.  My second biggest problem with the game.  Sometimes I lay down when I want to lower my stance, and sometimes he continues to crawl when I want him to stand up.  And, if he's on fire... he's going to take his time getting up because he'll continue taking damage and shake a bit..... awesome...  You'll experience this problem the most when you've accidentally layed completely on the ground after a roll.

Pros: This is perfect if you've screwed up on a boss, she (or some cases he) will be able to kill you faster allowing you to hurry up and re-try.

Cons:  If you're open, and the boss sees you right there in a mix-up with your controls, she'll go ahead and use it to her advantage (smart, but really annoying).

Soluton: Granades from Raging Raven will take a moment to hit (they're granades, and they aren't rocket propelled) So, just move while you shoot, and dont walk off the building.

Make sure you're not holding the X button longer than you need, and you wont lay after a roll.

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And that's it for the issues that can cause an annoyance.  No game is without flaws, but, doesn't mean they're not awesome.

II:  Gameplay

Game play is great, but, some may argue that there's not enough gameplay, and too much movie time.  But, yeah, honestly, someone who's extremely good at the game will be watching movies longer than they actually play the game.  But, it's not to say the parts you do play aren't fun, and it's not the the cutscene parts aren't cool, 'cause they are.

It's not like you're doing the same thing the entire time.  Things get changed up from time to time.  You get to ride on a bike (no, you're not the driver in this game) and there's some great cenematics incorperated into the bike ride as long as you don't hold L1 until it's time to shoot.

You'll also be controlling Metal Gear REX (The one from the playstation one). Who's origonal design wasn't anything like Ray's because of the PSX not being powerful enough to do something of that scale.

And, at the end, the game switches gears to a 1v1 Beat em up side scroller/fighter like they did in MGS1, and MGS2.  Again, never played MGS3, so I can't speak on that.

For those of you that have played MGS1, you will actually return to shadow moses (and not in old school form) and don't worry, it is to the same area you were in on MGS 1 (but, you start off in a forest [Otacon makes you walk for whatever reason]).  And pretty much everything has been untouched for 9 years..  But, hey, there's nothing wrong with super frozen 9 year old rations, right? Unmanned enemies have been placed in the area for you to combat, so it wont be so quiet.

Lastly, before I forget, you can shoot anything that moves, from birds, mice to the enemy chopper in the far distance that you migh second guess as a sprite floating in the air (it's 3D, ofcourse).

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III: Presentation

The game presents itself nicely, and has awesome graphics (I didn't appreciate them until I played the 360, and was like "OMG, WTH is this crap?!")  And then, the shacky camera (which tries to immitate someone holding it) does a great job in delivering that feel.  And, all metals look real, and all buildings  for the most part look real as they need to be.

There's a WWII battle ship in the game, and if you'd never seen the game before, and had just walked in the room as that ship was shown, there's no way you couldn't mistake it as a movie.  It looks that good.  The menus are great, and unique from other games, and use the same sounds as the previous MGS games, and ZOE games (scrolling, and entering, exiting... you know...)

The music is very fitting for the game.  I got the sound track, and even put the entire thing in my PS3, and PSP's music folders.  But, that's of your own preference, but, it is of high quality.  Hope you've got surround sound.

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IV: Value

This game has great value in it.  It's the best selling game of the PS3, so, you know you're going to be getting the best for what you pay for.  If you don't plan on selling your games, go ahead ans get the Limited Edition like I did if you can still find one.  I got the last one in the store because I waited so late to get the game.

But, make no mistake, this game is well worth it.  If you're borderlined, go ahead and download the demo, and rent the full game.

V: Overall

What else can I say?  The game is a complete work of art.  These guys even had military training, and went around the world to truly make the game a great experience.  They went around, took pictures and took plenty of references, they really tried hard to bring everything together into one great experience.  So, why not bump them up an extra .5, or however many points and give them that 10.  Because the team behind this game deserved it.

All the bugs and complication in the game, all the training, traveling, vocal work and music...  There's so much that came together in this game, if you have a PS3 and still don't have the game, I hope you have a somewhat good reason for not owning this one.

You can't deny that this is a great peice of work in one way or another.  Although I may not have touched down on everything, there are other reviews you can read to get a better opinion, and I hope this extended review of my favorite PS3 game helped.

And, if you read this entire thing, congrats to you.