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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots
First Impressions - Wait, is this MGS?
Well, this is different. "Estimated install time: 8 minutes." This is, ironically, convenient, because my seldom-used PS3 controllers always seem to be dead. [For some reason, the controllers aren't smart enough to turn themselves off, and there's no hardware switch, you have to turn them off manually through menus. And yet, my XB360 controllers just magically turn themselves off if they're not in use.] I wonder how long I'll be able to play on an 8-minute charge. Note: I played the game all the way through on Solid Normal mode. The beginning of the game was strange for me. I was giddy with excitement, but I quickly felt like the game was exactly what I was hoping it wasn't - a shooter. MGS is billed as 'tactical espionage action,' and what's made the series so amazing is the element of sneaking. I found it very hard to sneak around at first. Part of it was just getting used to the controls, but the biggest obstacle for me was the lack of a radar disclosing enemy positions (not to mention line-of-sight indicators). This changed, once the Solid Eye was obtained and equipped, showing 'disturbances' (presumably, in the 'force'), or moving objects, as blips on the radar - but you still don't get to see enemies' line-of-sight. [For the record, the controller's 8-minute charge lasted for a couple of hours, largely because much of that time was spent watching cutscenes, which leads me to my next point...] There's been lots of talk about the cutscenes in MGS4. If the others in the series were chocked-full of cutscenes, this one's absolutely overflowing with 'em. It's like trying to take a sip from a fire hose... It's just. too. much... About 50% (I'm being generous) of the cutscenes are either unnecessary, or unnecessarily drawn out. I found myself desperately wanting to skip some of them, but I didn't want to miss out on anything important. How about another option in addition to 'skip,' called 'spit it out, already.' Although there are too many cutscenes, I do appreciate the fact that the transitions back to gameplay are largely seamless. If you get bored, you can always zoom in on the ever-present polygon cleavage, not that I ever did that or anything... The 'mission briefing' cutscenes were some of the worst. Even though you could change between cameras or even roam about with the Metal Gear Mk II (MG Mk. II for short - a tiny version of the Metal Gear), the dialogue was usually mind-numbing. At one point, Naomi was talking about her feelings, so I zoomed intently made myself a sandwich. The graphics are stunning - through the entire game, everything just fits, visually. I wouldn't change anything in that department, but that wasn't exactly a surprise. After my first day with the game, I hadn't yet decided whether I liked it or not. I felt like I was playing some sort of hybrid between Gears of War, Call of Duty, and Metal Gear Solid. I found that I was more clumsy than sneaky. Then again, maybe it's just that Old Snake is, well, old... sort of.
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions - Wait, is this MGS? Page 3: Gameplay Page 4: Gameplay, Continues... Page 5: Gameplay, Redux Page 6: Conclusion 
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