Is the Metal Gear Solid series overrated?

[Austin Howe]

Technically speaking, no. The flaws in Metal Gear are partially due to it's sticking to more traditional design in regards to narrative whilst having a more prominent narrative than most any game of that style, but, whilst the dialogue is. . .really more cookie-cutter than bad, the themes are really good. Some of them I have yet to see explored in another medium, and there are some really radical politics that sit right under the surface.
Gameplay-wise, most each of them was revolutionary at the time, a gold standard of design, then completely obliterated by the next game. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake makes Metal Gear, one of the most important 8-bit titles ever, completely obsolete, and this continues throughout the series.

 

[Austin Howe]

The thing with MGS4 is that it is pretentious. It tries to be a thought-provoking treatise on the violence of war, AND a blockbuster Hollywood film. The problems with this are twofold:
1. It's a game, not a film.
2. The script is rubbish.

Also, the gameplay has not moved on significantly since the PS2 days.

WHHHAAAAAAATTTT????!!!
You can't be serious, MGS4 completely redoes the control scheme and camera system, and also introduces total felxibility of play, making the game playable on a range of anything to Hardcore Sneaking/Stealth action to straightforward shooter with lots of customizable guns and plenty of different ways to affect your enemy to keep the variety. 4 is completely different.

 

[GiantRaven]

As far as I'm concerned, Metal Gear Solid 2 is a fucking [http://www.deltaheadtranslation.com/MGS2/DOTM_TOC.htm] masterpiece [http://www.insertcredit.com/features/dreaming2/index2.html] of videogaming.

 

[warm slurm]

Frankly, I don't think anyone who liked MGS4 is a true fan of the series - call it elitism, or whatever, but eh. Kojima lost all my respect as far as I'm concerned.

I think you're missing the point. MGS 4 gives the fans everything they were baying for, but in the most completely hateful way Hideo Kojima could do it. Bringing back the wise, awesome, Bad Ass Solid Snake as a sad old man is just the beginning. There were points where you could practically hear Kojima cackling "Be Careful What You Wish For!", such as The Scrappy finally getting horribly injured - in a meaningless Heroic Sacrifice, with the very conversation from Metal Gear Solid 2 that people cite as the exact moment they started to hate him playing in the background, and the insanely popular Ensemble Darkhorse's surprise appearance, which consists of him doing absolutely nothing awesome at all and then being passively killed, even going so far as to say, "This is good, isn't it?" to rub it in further. Kojima doesn't care if you don't have respect for him: he has hated you for years.

You're giving him waaaaay too much credit.

 

[GiantRaven]

You're giving him waaaaay too much credit.

In the context of MGS2 also being an 'anti-sequel' of sorts, it actually gives him the credit that he doesn't tend to get very often as this aspect of the game flies right over peoples heads.

 

[Stretch.]

I want to enjoy Metal Gear Solid, I really do... But what am I doing wrong? Every Metal Gear I play seems like an absolute chore, rife with pseudo-philosophic babble and unimpressive--not to mention brief--gameplay sections.

I?m glad I found this thread. I recently purchased MGS4 and have been having an experience that very closely parallels yours. My own history with the Metal Gear series goes back some ways, but my actual experience with the games is somewhat sparse. Back in elementary school, Metal Gear was the first game I ever saw in person on the original NES. I remember being intrigued by the idea of stealth and enemy avoidance ? it was a refreshing contrast to the predominant tradition of facing enemies head on and jumping/blasting your way through 2d landscapes. As I recall, back in those days you had to wait until the guard?s back was turned before you could move onward.

It must not have made as big an impression as I thought however, because I never bothered to purchase the game after I got my own NES. In the years following I didn?t pay much attention to the series, with the exception of a brief dalliance with one of the Metal Gear sequels for the PS2. Fast forward to today, where, much like yourself, I was interested in reconnecting with the series to see how far it had come.

My first run through the early portion of the game (on naked normal) produced a number of contrasting impressions that ran the gamut from admiration to dismay. I was duly impressed by the cinematic feel of the first 20 minutes in addition to the atmosphere, graphics and sound design. Those mock TV segments at the very start were confusing, to say the least, and the cutscenes had a tendency to intrude perhaps a bit too much at the start. After things had settled down a bit and I?d gotten past the geckos, I expected to start knocking out guards and sneaking around with at least a decent amount of efficiency, but I found the early experience to be very difficult. The PMC?s seemed to be gifted with a preternatural sense of their environment, and I quickly found that it was quite difficult to get close (for my preferred method of takedown) without them hearing you, or without another PMC appearing from around the corner while I?m trying to knock out his buddy. I was frustrated, so I decided to put the game aside for the evening and start fresh the next day. I made the decision to not adhere so closely to the principal of pure stealth and to simply use whatever means were at my disposal, be they stealthy or weapons based, to get through.

The next day I began again, this time on the easiest difficulty level, stumbled through the early portions, and by the time I infiltrated the outskirts of Liquid?s camp I had really begun to enjoy the game. I felt much more acquainted with the control scheme by now and was starting to get the hang of toys like the MK II. Thinking that a little experience was all I lacked, I went back to the beginning of the game on Naked Normal, just to see if things would work out better this time. Startlingly though, I found the experience to be very punitive once again. Being stealthy was once again difficult, and on a few occasions I had to cry foul because PMC?s were detecting me (as I walked hunched over at the slowest possible pace) despite the fact that their peripheral vision was blocked by environmental structures.

So, right now I?m of two opinions on the game. There is definitely some depth here, and I feel like there is a lot to like, but there are many instances (especially in the beginning) which I feel could have been made better use of to gradually ease new players into the game and help veterans reacquaint themselves with the control scheme. I?m going to try a few different approaches on varying levels of low to medium difficulty over the next few days to see if the experience improves.

Also, learning more about the Metal Gear series mythos and pedigree has helped me to appreciate many of the idiosyncrasies of Hideo Kojima?s approach to game design, and I find myself tending to agree with random fox when he points out that MGS4 is, in many ways, both a distillation of the series? best elements and it?s quirkiest.

 

[loc978]

I really enjoyed Metal Gear and Solid Snake on the NES... and I loved Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid 2 lost me, though. No desire to play anything further.
My advice is to look into MGS for the PC, assuming you posted this from one, it can probably run Metal Gear Solid with little trouble.

 

[Woodsey]

I do struggle to understand why the writing seems to be so highly praised when no one has a fucking clue as to what's going on for most of it.

Even Kojima has admitted he doesn't really know what fits where anymore.

 

[StarTroop]

I've never had any trouble with the MGS games because I'm good at getting into stories near the end. Until I got MGS 3 and Peace Walker, MGS 4 was the only MGS game I ever played, I loved it so much that I replayed 4 times, read through the entire database and spent hours of research on the MGS wiki, now I'm a self-proclaimed expert.

MGS isn't for everybody. You have to be a patient who prefers to watch then act.My advice is to play the games on a hard difficulty fisrt. That way you're forced to use all the stealth & other gameplay mechanics (like the stress gauge). It makes the game much more enjoyable because when you reach the next cutscene, you feel like you accomplished something (as long as you managed no to get spotted). Then, you can start getting into the story.

As for which MGS game is the best, everybody has a different preference. I know different groups of people who who prefer any one of the games over the others. I know people who love MGS1 because of the engrossing story, the nostalgia, the setting and the cast.

Some people love MGS 2 because it brought movie like cutscenes to the series and had a deep plot that takes multiple playthroughs to begin to understand.

Then there's the people who prefer MGS 3 for the new cast, new setting, new type of gameplay, the boss', the action movie plot and the shear amount of content.

There's also the people who (like me) think that MGS 4 is the best. I love it because of how emotional it was. I literally shed tears at the epilogue. There's also the updated combat, the high-tech gadgets, the octocamo and of course the next-gen technology allows for cooler cutscenes and amazing graphics that still hold up 3 years later. Also, believe it or not, but MGS 4 in fact does answer almost all the questions in the MGS series, you just need to be an MGS fan to find all of them.

Finally, there's Peace Walker (my second favorite) which is simply awesome because of the fantastic story about nuclear deterrence which is not only the best and most mature story in the series, but it's also the most accessible because it requires little to no knowledge of the previous games to understand. Plus, to quote IGN for the umphbillionth time, it's the series's biggest game on sony's smallest console.

Anyways, that's my two cents on this whole situation (actually that was more like 2 bucks fifty).

 

[Stretch.]

Out of curiosity I took the time to watch some gameplay footage of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on Youtube. It inspired me to go back and try a more stealthy approach, with special emphasis on shaking down each guard for extra ammo and items. On the easiest difficulty I had a pretty good time of it ? I was able to sneak around with a great degree of success. It was pretty fun and this time I actually felt more like the stealth-commando that Snake is supposed to be. Since I took my time, I was also able to discover more hidden caches in the environment and take greater advantage of the terrain.

I tried doing the exact same thing on Naked Normal, one step up from the easiest difficulty, and found it to be more challenging ? I had to be much more careful when I snuck up behind guards and the ?Put ?em up? move that initiates the pat down sequence didn?t always work, even when I had my rifle aimed. This was a bit of a bummer, because on Naked Normal it seems more difficult ? particularly with the number of guards that come to investigate - to get everything to ?calm down? once the alert has been raised. And since it only takes one guard to raise the alarm, well, I had to be extra cautious with my movement and sound.

MGS isn't for everybody. You have to be a patient who prefers to watch then act.

I think that's a good point of view. Overall I?m still enjoying the game, but in my particular case I?m leaning towards playing through on easy difficulty to avoid too much frustration.

As for the story and cutscenes?.

Even Kojima has admitted he doesn't really know what fits where anymore.

If that?s true, it?s hilarious.

 

[thethain]

I think the series is a bit off. If you want a stealth game I would recommend Hitman or Splinter Cell over it.

If you want a movie with a completely nonsensical story, and an occasional mini-game, play Metal Gear.

PS: F captchas , I am logged in.
Whiblich l88

 

[TyrantGanado]

I think MGS annoys a great many people because they come into expecting a game and nothing more. Now, that is not an unreasonable assumption if you're buying a game, obviously, but MGS has much more going on behind it in the subtexts and the way it messes about with you that it's more like an experience and narrative that happens to be presented in game format.

I'm not going to sit here and proclaim how everything is "so deep man herp derp" but I will defend the series as a ballsy effort in post-modernism and truly messing with the medium it's a part of and exploiting everything from the hardware to the player's expectations of sequels just to fuck with people. Marvellous.

tl;dr In my opinion, definitely not.

 

[Irishhoodlum]

You sound like you have ADD and would be better served playing Modern Warfare 2 than MGS. Personally MGS4 was the first complete MGS I played and I thought both the gameplay was great and the cutscenes were interesting albeit occasionally confusing. You don't even have to watch them, it's still has great gameplay.

 

[HigherTomorrow]

If you go in to Metal Gear Solid expecting top gameplay, especially the older ones (you know, that first one they released, you know, about 13 years ago?) you are foolish. I, personally, think the gameplay is fun, and I especially love MGS3 and 4 for their stealthier aspects.

Coming from someone who has completed the entirety of the series, sans Peace Walker, which I still haven't gotten my hands on, and 3, and 4, which I completed without killing the single person, I love the gameplay. But it's not something to write home about.

You play MGS for the style. For the cinematic-like presentation. For the convoluted, crazed, ridiculous, and campy storyline. For the deep, profound, if preachy, social commentary. For the utter badassery that seeps from Solid Snake, his father, Big Boss, and other characters. It's a full package. From the way you put it, you played MGS4 to shoot up people like most modern AAA titles. You didn't like it. Fine, more power to you. I loved it, and as of 7PM today, completed MGS1 for the 5th time. More power to me.

EDIT:

I must say, I am rather disappointed that the poster above me calls himself a MGS fan. Also, I'd like to know where he was able to obtain a copy of Rising, as he comments on how crappy a game it is. I'd love to play that early.

 

[Crowser]

1. You're shooting - MGS is a sneaking game

2. MGS has always been very story heavy, and the cutscenes reflect that. Cutscenes are certainly not the only way to convey story, but they are the chosen style for MGS. Some like it (including me) and some don't (including you). It's personal preference.

3. You won't enjoy this game at all unless you have played the previous 3. The story is one of the main draws, and MGS4 makes NO sense without all of the backstory. This game was made for the long time fans of the series as a last hurrah.

4. The controls are very complicated when you first start, and I agree that they could have done a much better job of telling you how to use mechanics before you are actually expected to use them. That being said, they are complicated for a reason - it allows you to perform a multitude of moves that increase your chances of sneaking and surviving. Once you have the controls down they are a joy to use.

 

[Stretch.]

You won't enjoy this game at all unless you have played the previous 3. The story is one of the main draws, and MGS4 makes NO sense without all of the backstory. This game was made for the long time fans of the series as a last hurrah.

A few other people have expressed the same opinion in this thread, and it has got me to thinking - since i'm starting to enjoy MGS4 much more now, I wonder if would indeed be better to play through the first three games.

There's a bit of talk going around that the first three Metal Gear games might be subject to a Classics HD remastering (similar to the God of War collection) on the PS3, but right now it's just a rumor. If the information on that was a bit more concrete, I might be tempted to wait for their release before tackling MGS4.