Midian City :: View topic

Mercy · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:23 am Post subject:

Where's Mercy been all this time? the few who care might ask...

A mixture of airsoft, random projects, wow, and the town's consumption of alcohol in this horrible economic time has kept me away at work in deliveries...but I, as a giant MGS fan, have time to make a review for anyone who has no idea if they should be getting the new gunmetal PS3 to get the game.

First impression: As a fan of the series, I was already expecting fantastic things from kojima, having had the pre-order dvd that had all the E3 movies and so on, running it in 1080i HD on my plasma screen. Basically it was going to be hard to let me down at all before it finished it's initial install. One might say that makes me an unfair judge here, and you might be right. On I go anyhow.

Yes, it has an 8 minute install when you first start it up. During this install, your treated to watching snake smoke the longest cig of his life while the screen scrolls A: health warnings of smoking or playing/sitting in front of the game for too long. B: Helpful tips on the gameplay itself. C: Kojima's brand of humor. This install screen will be seen again, as each act of the game has a small install time between them of anywhere from 2 minutes to 3.

A problem? As X-play put it, I'll vouch for. No It isn't. Why? Once it installs, you go right back to game play. If anything, it's a good thing because the pee you were holding in or the smoke you wanted...or just a rest for your eyes from the sheer crisp beauty of the graphics will help you keep going.
Because of that, my first day, i played for 9 hours straight. I peed once. I ate....the next day.

Right away snake is put into the combat zone and all around him, shit is either blowing up, dying, being stomped on by gekko mechs, or all of the above. It's chaos and it makes an interactive environment that can change each go around. Getting caught is REAL easy to do. If Gekko see you this early in the game, it can become a real problem real fast, too.

Snake finds himself in the middle east, finishing what he started. Snake's been informed that Liquid Ocelot (Revolver Ocelot with Liquid Snake's arm/personality for those of you that played MGS 2.), Has been sneaking around out there, and PMC activity has seemed to pick up because of it.

He is also informed this is like a hired hit job. They want Liquid dead. It is not sanctioned by the UN, no government, no higher power other than what would seem cold blood and duty. The game's start is one that shows a bleak look for Snake's short term future.

Hindered by rapid aging, Snake looks and feels like he's in his late 50s or early 60s. His body hasn't been well since the big shell and unknown factors in his body have caused death's door to get a lot closer on a 'natural' scale. Everyone else has aged normally...and in fact, are not that much older than the original Shadow Moses incident. (MGS1). The game Is set in X years after big shell, but judging by Sunny's age (Olga's daughter), probably 7 or 8 years, which would make it 2015 at least.

Without giving away story, i'll go into the game play. I will tell you that Anything you ever said 'what the fuck did that mean?' in MGS2 or any MGS game...will. be. answered. If your head doesn't explode from the mass of information they give you of half-truths that in time become full truth, you'll be satisfied finally at a great many answers.

I noticed CQC is rough to pull off. You never quite get what you thought you were going for when you started that grapple, but with a little luck, you might do something cool or even really tactically helpful. After a few real botched attempts at the CQC, I decided I'd rather just not be seen and thus not HAVE to fight....at least not with my hands.

The box has been replaced by the hole-filled rusted barrel...and now your hiding tool is a weapon. If you want the box, it's still there...and still comical. Someone else gives you the idea to use the barrel, and will add to the story as having truly added EVERY character they EVER made and survived to this game.

The game many times is comprised of warzones where local rebels are standing up to PMC forces. If you choose to, you can sneak by both sides and try to have no hand in either force. If you help rebels, they will back you up when around and it often makes life easier in a grand scheme. Helping PMC forces still seems to get you shot at by...PMC forces....AND rebels. The morel is...PMCs are dicks.

Save for the awkward CQC, other aspects of the game play work well. The use of Octocamo, the camo snake uses that when pressed to a texture, will absorb and mimic the texture to make snake 'a part' of the area, has erased the issue of Snake Eater where you had to pause, go into camo, and change suits. You still have that option, and even the option to register currently worn textures to the suit's memory in case you want to recall that texture. You might be spending a lot of time in the viewer just looking at snake with a grass or rock texture on him, going 'damn that looks cool'.

Weapons have a much needed revamping as now there are over 60 weapon types collectable or buy able from a man named "Drebin", and almost all standard weapons can be customized with things like flashlights, laser sights, scopes, and silencers. Some even have different ammo types, such as non-lethal plastic rounds for the shotgun that stun targets, or funny emotion based rounds after the first game completion. It's fun to hit someone with a dart that makes them cry themselves into fainting.

Kojima and his people have even gotten major company rights to things like Playboy magazines you can set down for enemys to be distracted by, sporting pages that are turnable to look for yourself at a few. Snake carries an Ipod, sporting the same interface and controls as a normal ipod would have. Should Snake be using it while running around, it will help ease his stress level and relax him, helping health regeneration as well as a few other things.

The 4th wall: Kojima can't help but knock it down this time. Be it a joke about an older game or straight up busting something that is happening in the now, characters will make jokes or give tips about the game your playing, rather than the life snake is in, even talking to him as if he's a player and not a person. This isn't constant enough to kill the story or the mood, but every now and then, you get a little laughable call on the codec.

On to the codec!: No longer annoying! You have 2 real contacts and neither call you that much. Otocon is the main one that will talk to you and it's not overwhelming. The codec no longer tells the story...the CG scenes do, clocking in at over an hour of movies. Often during these movies, you can slam the X button many times to see flashbacks and ghost voices from the past, or hit L1 to view special things in the scene from snake's eyes.

Metal Gear Online: I haven't had time to review...when I get time to play it, i'll post something.

Easter Eggs: Tons. Kojima packed the game with content and you'll need a ton of extra plays to see them all. The good news is you keep everything you work to get, so each time you have all aquired weapons, camo, ect.

Overall: This game was made purely for the seasoned Metal Gear fan. For people new to the series, 75% of everything will go WHOOSH over their head, while people who've stuck to it will get long awaited answers that will put their souls at peace. New comers to the series will be gifted a twisted story with great game play and fantastic visuals. You can't go wrong with this game, and if it drives you to buy a PS3, it was worth it.

~Mercy.
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"Toast to gun powder and pussy! One brings you into this world and the other takes you out...and i love the smell of both!"