The initial shock and awe of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has come and gone, and it's now time to reflect on Hideo Kojima's recently released opus. Though MGS4 is no doubt a stunning game and many would argue evidence for videogames being treated as art, it's by no means perfect. Having just completed the game and spent some time in Metal Gear Online, I'm here to share my gripes about the game. Being a long-time fan of the MGS series, it's frustrating to see MGS4 turn out the way that it did, but I suppose it is what it is. Be warned, I don't have any criticisms of the story, but I do discuss the gameplay in each Act of the game, so if you don't want anything spoiled, best to just move on.
1. No reason to be on the Playstation 3
Why is this game on the PS3 again, besides Sony likely throwing a ton of money at Konami to keep it exclusive? It doesn't utilize the Playstation 3's strengths at all. The previously shown SIXAXIS support is nonexistent in the final product, with only one small sequence that uses it, to poor effect at that. And don't tell me they needed the storage space for Blu-Ray. We all know it was merely an excuse for Kojima to use uncompressed audio throughout the game. Throw some lossy compression at the audio (that 99% of users will never notice) and this game could fit on a single dual-layer DVD.
First of all, why does anyone give a shit which athlete will be selected for the cover of a game? Are you hanging game boxes on your wall and kneeling before it on a daily basis? I don't know about you, but my game boxes go on a shelf, spine facing outward, so I rarely see the cover at all. When it comes time to open the box, my left hand is usually obscuring the cover as I pry it open, so once again, I don't really see the athlete.
Have you ever not purchased a game because of the athlete on the cover? Of course not. Has the appearance of a particular athlete on a cover swayed you into purchasing said game when you otherwise may have passed? No. Therefore, cover athlete announcements are ridiculous and useless, unless you happen to be the athlete involved and need a little extra spending money.
Sid Meier has hinted that a Civilization MMO may be in his future, something that gets my inner-geek all hot and bothered. Hell, it hasn't even been created yet and I'm already addicted.
“I'm exploring lots of exciting ideas right now. A Civ MMO is a really intriguing idea and we're spending time thinking about how we could make it the fun addictive experience Civ players expect. Beyond that I have some new ideas that are quite different from games I've made in the past – and that's all I'm able to tell you right now.”
Getting a change to play through the earlier Metal Gear games with only a week to go before MGS4 might be a little tough for people. Thankfully, someone from thesnakesoup.org has decided to make things a bit easier for those without the time or means to run through the Metal Gear saga. Here's the schedule:
The Snake Soup will have a Metal Gear marathon starting Sunday, June 1st. Each day, I will be broadcasting myself playing through several Metal Gear titles. Here is the schedule so far:
Sunday, June 1 - Metal Gear
Monday, June 2 - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Tuesday, June 3 - Metal Gear Solid
Wednesday, June 4 - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Thursday, June 5 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
?, June ? - ???
The starting time will be 1:30 PM PST. This might change so keep on checking this page for updates!
You can watch it on their justin.tv channel, or embedded right here after the jump.
WTF?! is a flash-based, side-scrolling World of Warcraft parody that is worth your time. This isn't a lame, made-in-an-hour game but a well-crafted, graphically beautiful skewering of all things World of Warcraft. The attention to detail is awesome, the interface excellent and the mindless quests and grinding will make you feel right at home.
I thought it unlikely to find a single gaming magazine or website display a little integrity, but EGM has showed some class in telling Konami to shove their MGS 4 review demands up their collective ass.
If you're not in the know, Konami has a list of demands a reviewer must agree with before they will send you a pre-release copy of Metal Gear Solid 4. Usually, reviews only have a single demand in the guise of an embargo, but Konami is upping the industry ante by demanding reviewers don't talk about install times or the length of cut-scenes. Why don't they just ask for a 10/10 while they are at it?
Know this: Any review that appears on a major website or magazine days before MGS 4's official release was possible because the publication in question was more than willing to sell their integrity for a few extra hits.
It's not the Metal Gear Solid 4 "review," although that's generating the most discussion online -- the editors decided against giving out scores due to "the limitations Konami wanted to impose on our comments," so they just printed a five-page roundtable instead, one mostly filled with praise but also throwing a few jabs.
Kudos to EGM for standing tall. All you other sites and magazines should be ashamed.
Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight on The Office, will be attending the Sasquatch Music Festival this weekend, where he'll be promoting his new movie, The Rocker. He'll also be playing some Call of Duty 4 multiplayer as part of a Microsoft-sponsored promotion, so now is your chance to virtually kill Rainn Wilson once and for all.
If you're interested in being chosen for the match, then send a friend request to: SASQUATCH GWF1. You are advised to be online at 1:30 PM (eastern), with the event kicking off 30-minutes later. Good luck!
Well, after Uwe Boll's latest film Postal got dropped from all but 4 of its scheduled 1500 screens and we got to enjoy Uwe's hilarious response, some of you may still be wondering where you'll actually be able to find the infamous film. Thankfully, the film has seen a dramatic increase in support in the last 24 hours, and the number of theaters that have committed to show the film is now into double digits! That's right! 12 theaters, across the entire United States of America, will be showing Uwe Boll's latest disaster. Hit the jump for the full list.
I was one of the lucky folks who managed to get my pre-order code approved before supplies ran out, a feat that entitled me to join Age of Conan a few days early before it officially launches on May 20th. I come to you now from the land of Hyboria with a report of my impressions, which covers the good and the bad of Funcom's latest MMO.
A lot of players are filling up GTA IV servers but very few appear to know what the hell they're doing, something this guide will attempt to rectify. Using these tactics and understanding how to play well with others will find you making more money in ranked matches, as well as racking up kills and dominating the game with your uncanny abilities.
This guide is focused on general strategies that can be used on most of the available game types. I'll be posting a game-mode specific guide in the coming days, followed by a helpful hosting guide that should make multiplayer games more enjoyable for all involved.
Word is coming out of Japan where a Metal Gear Solid PR extravaganza is being held that Paul Thomas Anderson, director of the awesome There Will Be Blood, is slated to direct the theatrical version of Metal Gear Solid.
PTA handling a grandiose spy action film would be bananas and make for a highly unforeseen and no doubt controversial follow-up to his masterpiece, There Will Be Blood. Venturing into pipe dream land, I’m not sure if I’d rather see Tarantino’s Grand Theft Auto (the Internet fantasy fave for Rockstar’s franchise at the moment) or this. Not sure why Saito would just throw PTA’s name out there if there wasn’t some truth to it.
With game reviewers still mopping up their collective ejaculate, you'd think GTA IV was the greatest game of all time. The amount of hyperbole showered on Rockstar's game was unparalleled, with nearly every critic unleashing a string of adjectives that cast GTA IV as the second coming of video gaming Christ. Once the initial euphoria of the graphics wears off, you soon realize that GTA IV doesn't evolve its inherent gameplay beyond that which has come before, and in a lot of respects, significantly less.
With a Metacritic score of 99%, one might think it impossible to find any faults with a game that has been equated with everything from Citizen Kane to The Godfather. Wrong.
Commence flame-war! 8Bit Joystick has posted a feature titled 12 Reasons Why Grand Theft Auto IV is Better on Xbox 360 than PS3, something sure to get loyal PS3 owners all worked up.
Some of the reasons include a higher native resolution, more available RAM, faster disc access and multiplayer that actually works.
Dr. Boa at Destructoid has written an interesting editorial about the idea of a one-console future, something urged by David Jaffe and Dennis Dyack. While they have an argument from the perspective of game developers, this ridiculous idea has zero benefit for gamers. For proof, you need only look as far as the battle between PS3 and Xbox 360. Love it or hate it, the Xbox 360 has forced the PS3 to get better. Competition breeds evolution, and that benefits everyone. Why David Jaffe can't get his mind around this fundamental concept is beyond me. Thankfully, it's also beyond Dr. Boa.
Jaffe and Dyack are crazy if they think that it will make gaming life better. So why would I waste five minutes of your time seemingly giving the thumbs-up to a one-console future? Because while I painted what an ugly future it would be if we had 200 consoles, having one would be even worse.
