Zero Punctuation: Metal Gear Solid 4

[Pastey Old Greg]

for the people that complain... if you are mad at his reviews, what are you going to do about it? he is not going to post a vid on how sorry he is then say it was good. besides if was nice all of the time then people will complain how bad the game is. think about it.

And hell, at least he gives good reasons if he complains. It's a big contrast to his more sycophantic fan base who say they hate popular games just so it gives them some kind of indie cred.

 

[Kshandamionreal]

I haven't actually played MGS 4, so what you're about to read is someone who TRIED to get into the franchise, but had to walk away.... as the cutscene are STILL going. *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

My Experience: Played "a bit" of MGS 1 at a friend's house during a party, therefore not the right atmosphere to get into a game more about sneaking around than the usual "shoot everyone that moves" plan. Didn't play MGS 2. BEAT MGS 3 and when I say "beat" I mean as a regular gamer that didn't want the monkey camo or any other super special camo that you have to spend another 15-25 minutes looking for just so I can say "I have the Japan flag camo YAY!" and get this, I, y'know KILLED people because what else would you do with a sniper rifle, automatics, bombs, etc.? In other words, I am not one of these Super Gamers that posted their vids on Youtube which is both impressive yet sad at the same time. Everything else about the series I learned from Wikipedia and Youtube.

When I rented Snake Eater, I felt like I could finally join in the hype and not act like Psycho Mantis shook my controller for the sake of conversation because I was playing wannabe-Sonic games (i.e. Punky Skunk) back in '98, plus with this being a PREQUEL I wouldn't feel as lost. Things were going ok, I hid, I plugged some head with darts, I shot out some radios and hid again and in a matter of cutscenes, began to sit beside myself, Gamer and Viewer.

Gamer: Hey, what'd I miss?
Viewer: It's beautiful. Snake's having this moment with EVA.
Gamer: Ok, for how long?
Viewer: (looks at clock) I guess about 15min. Time sure does fly.
Gamer: O...k. Have you noticed anything else?
Viewer: Huh?
Gamer: YOU PUT THE CONTROLLER DOWN AND KICKED BACK! You've spent almost half an hour staring at the screen WITHOUT PAUSING.
Viewer: Whoa. So I did. And?
Gamer: AND you rented a GAME, not a DVD (movie.) As in, you rented a GAME to PLAY, not a movie that occasionally lets you zoom into cleavage or wet granny panties.
Viewer: But it's so pretty and involving!
Gamer: Pretty, yes, involving HELL NO. Two hours have gone by and we're still plugging grunts. In God of War, the Hydra and a mountain of undead would be long dead and those twins would've been done about 5 times over.

Once that mental issue died down, I noticed just like Yahtzee pointed out that the game kinda groans about letting you actually play it like it wants to gush its life story for the rest of the week, so I go back to shooting soldiers, killing The Pain, killing The Fear (without getting the infrared goggles,) resetting the PS2 clock to make The End die of old age and watching karma/Kojima scold me for KILLING DURING A WAR as The Sorrow brings back EVERY guy I slaughtered, intentionally or otherwise (because I forgot/didn't care about choking people out instead of throat-slitting.) The game eventually ends with one or two more cutscenes which now feel more satisfying since the game's over and you can restart with the Patriot gun, which has infinite ammo... yet the game/franchise DISCOURAGES killing EVERYONE even the mutant/supernatural bosses.

I've pretty much seen all the significant cutscenes and STILL needed Wiki to straighten things out from the deluge of dialogue to basically learn that the entire franchise is based on one woman's (The Joy/Boss) dream of soldiers getting treated right getting repeatedly bastardized by people and machines. The key problem is that in order to fully understand the weight of this revelation you have to play EVERY Metal Gear even the PSP games as even the non-canon games have some relevance whether its a wannabe-Metal Gear weapon or a villain that ALMOST accomplished what the main guys did. In other words, if you missed the appetizers, LEAVE THE PARTY NOW! Naturally the game sold well in the U.S. and Japan because of its loyal fanbase, BUT it could've gone even farther if a newbie could be introduced to the franchise without feeling more lost than being dumped into the wrong part of town in a country that doesn't speak your language. You can play RE4, Bioshock and GTA4 without a BIT of previous history and not feel left out.

Then there's the technicals. Minutes of loading and hour-long cutscenes on the PS3 sounds like a bad joke to anyone who didn't buy the big, black behemoth specifically for MGS4. The defenders say "Well you can skip the cutscenes!" which with any other game (ANY Resident Evil game) would be fine, but MGS has ALWAYS been about the story, hence the infamous "more movie than game" title its made for itself. I love a good story in a game as much as the next guy (ok, MORE than the average guy, but a lot less than a JRPG fangirl,) but when you can eat a full meal, go to the bathroom, come back and the cutscene is STILL going, it's too damn long no matter how great its touted to be. Save for the content and load times, the same thing happened in Kingdom Hearts, people fawned over the blissed-out Final Fantasy/Disney crossover, but when FOUR HOURS goes by before you're kicking Heartless/Nobody ass, it has been WAY too long. Again, Yahtzee clearly pointed out how Kojima wants to use gaming as a new medium for storytelling yet at the same time doesn't really want to let gamers... game. So basically Kojima, the guy who did Kingdom Hearts and probably others are frustrated movie directors and before anyone accuses me of fanboyism, I KNOW Dave Jaffe truly wanted to be a movie director and focused that energy into God of War, but he also knew when to let you kill Ares and not just watch him.

Yeah I know this went on a little bit long, but its fitting for an infamously long series.

 

[SAccharing10]

HAHAHAHA - LOL - seriously. I mean what a reply, made my day - first off don't quote my threads if you're a fucking idiot like this guy. "it's not about stealth on easy difficulties" well of course it's not going to be fuckwit, because that's what it's meant to be, easy. The thing about the gameplay, I think the "you're a simpleton" needs to be reapplied. If you're "REPLAYING" the game, that means knowing where all the enemies are and knowing what to do. I know there's a fucking reward for doing it in 5 hours but if you do that on hard or even normal the first time round you're Johnathon wendle, Half-life was done in 28 minutes, does that mean it has 2 hours gameplay?

 

[Wargamer]

Kshandamionreal, I've got to say I like your outsider's view.

Myself, I bought the first MGS when it came out, and I bought it cold. I'd heard one or two passing comments about it being "a cool game", but that was it.

It blew me away.

Metal Gear Solid 2 was going to be amazing. I remember the hype. I remember how much I wanted it. I wanted it like a lonely teenager wants sex. Alas, when I did get it, I got a short sequence of awesomeness (the Tanker) and a load of crap (the Plant). The mechanics were brilliant, no question, but I hated so much about the game; I hated playing as a whiney ******, I hated the convoluted and frankly retarded storyline. I hated so much about that game.

When I looked at Metal Gear Solid 3, I was in love again. This was a PREQUAL! We get to PLAY AS SNAKE! There is no Raiden! That sold me on its own!

But then we get Metal Gear Solid 4. At first, I wasn't interested. MGS2 had scarred me, and all the vids I saw only strengthened my conviction that I shouldn't buy this game; it was all "Look how cool Raiden is now!" and "look! Snake's shooting himself in the head!"
That's not how a I want a game promoted. Kojima has this masterful ability to be utterly retarded when showing off a game. His lies with MGS2 and "hiding" Raiden almost ruined the game series for me, and it was not until I actually got to read the synopsis of MGS4's plot and learn what it really involved that I relented and bought it.

If it were not for people handing out spoilers, I'd still be branding Kojima a fucktard. THAT, I feel, is MGS4's greatest failing; the guy doesn't know how to give facts.

 

[Korolev]

The problem I've always had with Metal Gear Solid games is not the dialogue - never had a problem with listening to long conversations.

The only problem I have is how stupid the game can be. Sometimes, the game can be great - the game can be extremely atmospheric and can explore unique and meaningful ideas. But sometimes... the game just looks and sounds stupid.

For example:

1) The Name Big Boss. I've always hated this name. He's supposed to be the world's greatest mercenary, the greatest soldier.... and his name is BIG BOSS. Every single time the voice-actors say the words "Big Boss", I wonder how it is that they don't die from embarrassment. It's a really, really, stupid name. If it had just been "The Boss" (I know that was the name he used in MSG3 for that woman), it would have been better. Big Boss just sounds sill.

2) Old eye-patch man in a flying octopus suit (with flames), screaming "STUPID MACHINES!!!". That scene just speaks for itself. It felt embarrassing to WATCH.

3) Possessed Arms. I know it explains it away in MSG4, but when I was playing MSG2 and that part came up in the tanker mission..... ugh. I didn't know whether or cringe or laugh.

4) SHOW ME YOUR RAGE!!! is stupid, no matter how you try to deliver the line.

5) Johnny Sasaki needing to go to the bathroom every 2 seconds, was stupid. I know it's his character, but honestly, he had stomach pains EVERY SINGLE TIME THE CAMERA was on him. So Kojima creates this incredibly atmospheric game, great music, great voice actors, great graphics - you feel as if you are sneaking around the war-torn middle east, listening to the bullets go by your head, the sound of distant explosions.... and suddenly you find Sasaki having constipation in a metal can. Yeah. Way to go. Really improves the atmosphere.

The Metal Gear Solid series does have some incredibly good parts, incredibly well-designed characters and plot lines. It has much more good than bad. But some parts.... I mean, who honestly thinks "SHOW ME YOUR RAGE!!!" is a good line? Why the hell did Solidus have to strap on that ridiculous Octopus suit (with flames coming out the back). Did Kojima really think the name "Big Boss" sounds good? It sounds stupid.

The Metal Gear Solid games are 80% fantastic, 20% sheer embarrassment. Kojima's "Wacky" humor destroys the atmosphere on any number of occasions. It would be like putting jokes in a serious war drama - like putting constipation jokes in the middle of "Saving Private Ryan". It just doesn't work.

It's a real shame - the Metal Gear Solid games are great, for the most part. They come very close to being classified as "art". Then Kojima makes toilet jokes and gives a character the name "Big Boss". Ugh.

 

[Darky24]

I agree with Korolev completely.

 

[Anarchemitis]

(It seems that the person who wants to post first must have a permaban wish.)

 

[Tempdude0]

I've read it before, played MGS1, 2, and 3, yet I disagree. I think the delivery is great in the MGS series. It keeps you completely interested until the very end, and even inspires some to decode and understand the whole story (Most or all details, which inspires a lot of thought. Thought-inspiring work is great work.) of MGS. There's a short version (Ocelot is evil) and a hidden long version (Wikipedia Ocelot: War and Peace) for those who are interested. You can take MGS1 and understand its story as it's given to you or you can play MG1 and 2 and link all of them together, but that's not necessarily needed in order to understand it.

Having more details doesn't make writing bad. It makes a story feel more like it takes place in a functioning world. In fact, a lot of people seem to enjoy stories with large amounts of details, which is proven by the many fans that analyze and debate the plot-points in MGS (which requires a lot of thought), and the fact that MGS is so popular.

What I really want to know is why you think the delivery is poor? I probably won't debate it. I don't have that much time, but I'm just interested.

The delivery is poor because it force feeds you all this information. If it was all background things you had to look up I'd have slightly less issue with it. It would still be roundabout like a carousel, but at least it wouldn't beat the information into your head.

Delivery is knowing when enough is enough, and too much is too much. Take Mass effect as an example. It got overly verbose at times, but imagine if it tried to include that database into the cutscenes. It would be mind numbing. It's nice to have a fully fleshed out world, but having the ideas crammed down your throat lesses the effect.

Going further, the sheer level of "He did it, no he did, no him etc..." gets to such an absurd level it breaks the "functioning realism" aspect the game goes for. I can suspend disbelief so far, but taking Ocelot as a kind of personification of the story, it gets to be wa-haaay too over the top.

HAHAHAHA - LOL - seriously. I mean what a reply, made my day - first off don't quote my threads if you're a fucking idiot like this guy. "it's not about stealth on easy difficulties" well of course it's not going to be fuckwit, because that's what it's meant to be, easy. The thing about the gameplay, I think the "you're a simpleton" needs to be reapplied. If you're "REPLAYING" the game, that means knowing where all the enemies are and knowing what to do. I know there's a fucking reward for doing it in 5 hours but if you do that on hard or even normal the first time round you're Johnathon wendle, Half-life was done in 28 minutes, does that mean it has 2 hours gameplay?

...Well, you didn't ignore the bulk of what I said at all...And it wasn't a "thread' it was a "reply" or "comment" Just throwing that out there chief. Considering your lack of understanding of my post on the whole, I figured I should clarify everything in case you decide to attempt a reply.

I find it ironic you refer to me as an "idiot" yet you can't figure out the "Stealth on easy difficulties" line was about stealth being irrelevant at any level of difficulty other than the hardest ones. I guess being a fan of MGS doesn't make you any more intelligent or able to grasp ideas...pity...Anyway, normal plays more like you're rambo with the sheer amount of bullets you can fling at people. When you can run around like a chicken with it's head cut off spraying bullets wildly about on normal difficulty, stealth has officially left the building unless you REALLY feel like sneaking around and even then it's no longer a core part of gameplay, asshat.

Nowhere did I say "replaying the game". At least get your complaints right. If you knew where everything was any complaints about the stealth aspect would be..lessened. Take Siphon Filter. You can know where the shit is in the earlier games and still have it go balls up because of something small, needle dick.

As for the last comment, yeah, it could have 2 hours gameplay, but that isn't the point. The point is that when you cut out all the cinematic of the game, you're left with a relatively short play. Now, 5 hours is the "crazy obsessive" level, but tacking on an extra three hours or so for people who have an understanding of what they're dealing with is about right. Let us even go so far as to say 10 hours. That's still not much. Hell, you get almost that much time when playing "Alter Echo" on normal, whorey bastard..

See, I can toss random insults into things as well. See, the key to using them EFFECTIVELY though, is to use them only when being especially vehement or pointing out a glaring flaw.

 

[Opacic]

Shit, Yahtzee, either you didn't play it enough or you just never learned to shoot in the game. You don't press that many buttons.

Rest assured your "LOL UR SO RITE YAHTZEE XD XD" friends will still believe everything you say.

 

[Erudax]

Sometimes it helps to put things in short points ey.

- Stop trying to turn opinion into fact. You can't. Even if the whole of world population says game X is pants, it's still opinion. That's by definition. Everything that follows is opinion.

- People like the story of MGS4 because it's essentually a big drama in a video game, the culture of which does not produce drama on the scale that MGS4 has done. Admit it, all the games work you up very nicely to the conclusion.

- But oh my god lordy lordy is the story so badly contrived and put together in places you'd need to be completely blind deaf and dumb to see that it turns into one big mess.
BB - Hi Snake, don't kill yourself yet.
SS - Why not?
BB - Because I need to suddenly out of nowhere explain everything that's gone on.
SS - But if you know me and my character, I don't care. At all.
BB - But I have to, suddenly and out of nowhere! Otherwise how will the player know?
SS - Sigh.

(20 minutes later, with an even more contrived cutscene about x that goes into a mini-cutscene with y in which you enter a mini-cutscene about y about obvious plot-devices that are there for convinience)

SS - Ok thanks for that, but you still haven't really convinced me to change my mind and live. Not really.
BB - But I have, in completely hidden, mysterious and wishy-washy ways.
SS - Oh, ok then.
BB - Oh, I'm dying! Give me 20 minutes here, I have to forcefully die slowly to camp up the scene.

So, so, so contrived and forced. Personally I like all loose ends being tied up, but not in forced and contrived ways. Here's a good comparison, you know Bill and Ted 2, the movie? You know where they can all go back in time and in the final confrontation the bad guy is like, ha, I went back and gave myself a gun! But Bill and Ted went back and screwed the gun over! But the bad guy went back and put a cage down! But Bill and Ted went back and got a key! Yeah.

- Here's another example, Snake / Ocelot fighting with exactly the same moves. Yeah I guess you can say it makes the fight feel more epic, but more stupid contrived elements. Thought we were trying to keep on the lines of reality.

- As for the game, well there isn't much there. Let's ignore the cutscenes etc, and think about the game. There's not a lot is there. If I said, well you can do the game in 5 hours, I guess I would hear "well you can do Super Mario Bros in 5 minutes, what's the difference!". The difference is this was to be an epic game, and it should be (as was percieved to be) epic in the GAME part of the game, not just the MOVIE part of the game. There's some really nice original elements to it, I like how we go split screen for some encounters, and that as usual there's a link between what you're doing and the character, such as mashing triangle to attempt to replicate the pain that Snake goes through in the microwave room (as mentioned, I thought MGS strived to tie up all loose ends, what happens to his face being completely fine!). But in the end, MGS4 is overhyped. Yep, that's my opinion, but there's some good reasoning to why I have that opinion.

 

[AceDiamond]

...I am shocked that people are this thick. Moreso hilarious because first Terra says Yahtzee isn't using his actual opinions anymore, and then in the webcomics review thread says that she has an issue with Yahtzee expressing *gasp* his opinon of CAD and Tim Buckley.

I'll just let that sit as a testament. A testament to epic fail.

Also, has it ever occurred to anybody here that reviewers are not going to immediately go into a game balls-to-the-wall extreme difficulty? Most gamers don't even do that first thing in, and reviewers especially won't because they need to play the majority if not all the game just to generate an opinion on the whole experience. I say in most cases.

Finally, I am a big MGS fanboy but I completely agree with Yahtzee on the points that there are serious problems with the series, made even more clear by the spoilers i accidentally have exposed myself too. I'll just say that I liked my conspiracy theory that as son of the Sorrow, Ocelot had accidentally absorbed part of Liquid's spirit, rather than what actually happened.

Also just because a story is someone's penultimate vision doesn't automatically make it good (see: Uwe Boll, M. Night Shamalyn, and George Lucas)

The fact is that at the end of the day, it's still his opinion and people are still getting bent out of shape about it, and that's just silly.

 

[Aries_Split]

This thread is the same with any game yahtzee reviews. Yahtzee beats on game, a whole bunch of ignorant people that want to seem cool agree with him. Flame war's and epic fail ensue.yawn,

 

[GreyFox785]

Hey now, to be fair, it's obvious why Yahtzee had such a breeze playing. As it stands it's obvious he was playing on easy, how do I know? A tranquillizer that has infinate ammo? Anyone who's played the game knows that difficulty levels above easy do not have infinite ammo for anything but the Patriot. That explains the dulled down AI and the fact that it was easier to just run and gun, so don't get too mad at Yahtzee, he's just alittle insecure about his playing skills.

 

[Churchman]

this is still going? wow. and I thought brawl had angry fanboys

 

[SoulsGrave]

I'm surprised that Yahtzee didn't include any details in his review regarding the online play aspects of MGS4 which he should have done to make the review a bit more finalized. I was slightly disappointed because of that.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

I'm surprised that Yahtzee didn't include any details in his review regarding the online play aspects of MGS4 which he should have done to make the review a bit more finalized. I was slightly disappointed because of that.

I'm not, he believes online multiplayer on a console is "beneath" him, or something. All I know is he says he doesn't "give a flying shit about multiplayer" but gave a relatively deep analysis of class balance in Team Fortress 2.

 

[badazz5001]

Tell me what u know plus you could wach this aws well http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/426712

 

[Robix]

For once, i disagree with Yahtzee. This game is amazing
Also sounds like you were playing this game on the easyest level and didnt skip any cuts
but whatever that your problem. =P

 

[assslips]

FIRST COMMENT.

 

[Sandoggg]

Gamer: Hey, what'd I miss?
Viewer: It's beautiful. Snake's having this moment with EVA.
Gamer: Ok, for how long?
Viewer: (looks at clock) I guess about 15min. Time sure does fly.
Gamer: O...k. Have you noticed anything else?
Viewer: Huh?
Gamer: YOU PUT THE CONTROLLER DOWN AND KICKED BACK! You've spent almost half an hour staring at the screen WITHOUT PAUSING.
Viewer: Whoa. So I did. And?
Gamer: AND you rented a GAME, not a DVD (movie.) As in, you rented a GAME to PLAY, not a movie that occasionally lets you zoom into cleavage or wet granny panties.
Viewer: But it's so pretty and involving!
Gamer: Pretty, yes, involving HELL NO. Two hours have gone by and we're still plugging grunts. In God of War, the Hydra and a mountain of undead would be long dead and those twins would've been done about 5 times over.

Interesting dialogue. The fact that you?re having a conversation with yourself during your playtime with MGS4 makes it painfully obvious that MGS is simply not your kind of game. I?d recommend sticking to things like DMC, Ninja Gaiden, or Dynasty warriors if you want to do nothing but fight things for a half hour. You can?t really draw comparisons between God of War and MGS. It?s like trying to compare a drama and a comedy movie.

Once that mental issue died down, I noticed just like Yahtzee pointed out that the game kinda groans about letting you actually play it like it wants to gush its life story for the rest of the week, so I go back to shooting soldiers, killing The Pain, killing The Fear (without getting the infrared goggles,) resetting the PS2 clock to make The End die of old age and watching karma/Kojima scold me for KILLING DURING A WAR as The Sorrow brings back EVERY guy I slaughtered, intentionally or otherwise (because I forgot/didn't care about choking people out instead of throat-slitting.) The game eventually ends with one or two more cutscenes which now feel more satisfying since the game's over and you can restart with the Patriot gun, which has infinite ammo... yet the game/franchise DISCOURAGES killing EVERYONE even the mutant/supernatural bosses.

Yes, you are fighting during the cold war ? a war. On one hand, you are a spy trying to infiltrate an operation undetected ? if you get out of the God of War midset and into the MGS mindset you would not be tempted by the wide array of weaponry available. Yes, you are discouraged from killing people because unlike in God of War, it is not the point of the game. To get the best scores at the end of the game, you kill as few people as you have to.
On the other hand, people like you and me love nothing more than to fight soldier after soldier until forced to retreat to cover to get ready for another round. If they really didn?t want you killing anybody they?d have given you one weapon ? the tranq. I hope you can see that you should not be so angry about the fact that this is first and foremost a sneaking game. How did you honestly not laugh after seeing how long your river of ghosts was.

Then there's the technicals. Minutes of loading and hour-long cutscenes on the PS3 sounds like a bad joke to anyone who didn't buy the big, black behemoth specifically for MGS4. The defenders say "Well you can skip the cutscenes!" which with any other game (ANY Resident Evil game) would be fine, but MGS has ALWAYS been about the story, hence the infamous "more movie than game" title its made for itself. I love a good story in a game as much as the next guy (ok, MORE than the average guy, but a lot less than a JRPG fangirl,) but when you can eat a full meal, go to the bathroom, come back and the cutscene is STILL going, it's too damn long no matter how great its touted to be. Save for the content and load times, the same thing happened in Kingdom Hearts, people fawned over the blissed-out Final Fantasy/Disney crossover, but when FOUR HOURS goes by before you're kicking Heartless/Nobody ass, it has been WAY too long. Again, Yahtzee clearly pointed out how Kojima wants to use gaming as a new medium for storytelling yet at the same time doesn't really want to let gamers... game. So basically Kojima, the guy who did Kingdom Hearts and probably others are frustrated movie directors and before anyone accuses me of fanboyism, I KNOW Dave Jaffe truly wanted to be a movie director and focused that energy into God of War, but he also knew when to let you kill Ares and not just watch him.

you say MGS has ALWAYS been about the story? yet you keep comparing it to God of War? a game not exactly known for it?s story.. so again, comparisons are very weak. And yes, you can skip the cutscenes. I just beat the game a few days ago and I?m planning on going through again? not for the story.. but to get bigger and better guns and to go murder countless PMC?s. I had 400+ kills my first run through, and I still got to enjoy the story. I really can?t see what you?re complaining about in those regards.

When I looked at Metal Gear Solid 3, I was in love again. This was a PREQUAL! We get to PLAY AS SNAKE! There is no Raiden! That sold me on its own!

?the factor that sold you was misinterpreted.. you didn?t play as snake(david)? snake wasn?t quite alive.

But then we get Metal Gear Solid 4. At first, I wasn't interested. MGS2 had scarred me, and all the vids I saw only strengthened my conviction that I shouldn't buy this game; it was all "Look how cool Raiden is now!" and "look! Snake's shooting himself in the head!"
That's not how a I want a game promoted. Kojima has this masterful ability to be utterly retarded when showing off a game. His lies with MGS2 and "hiding" Raiden almost ruined the game series for me, and it was not until I actually got to read the synopsis of MGS4's plot and learn what it really involved that I relented and bought it.

Raiden was hidden in MGS2 in the same way the (DARK KNIGHT SPOILER) Harvey dent played such a huge role in the dark knight although his.. other character was not shown in the previews at all. Kojima obviously didn?t intend for raiden to be so unpopular. He didn?t ?hide? raiden for that purpose.

If it were not for people handing out spoilers, I'd still be branding Kojima a fucktard. THAT, I feel, is MGS4's greatest failing; the guy doesn't know how to give facts.

What are the spoilers that were handed out to you? Did you honestly think that after such a bad reception than they would center another game around raiden? Again, it is not an issue of ?not being able to give facts,? but an issue of ?not giving people the script before they buy the game.? Who the hell would buy a game like MGS if they knew the whole story beforehand?

The problem I've always had with Metal Gear Solid games is not the dialogue - never had a problem with listening to long conversations.

The only problem I have is how stupid the game can be. Sometimes, the game can be great - the game can be extremely atmospheric and can explore unique and meaningful ideas. But sometimes... the game just looks and sounds stupid.

Kojima often breaks the fourth wall with his games, and this is probably what you are referencing.

1) The Name Big Boss. I've always hated this name. He's supposed to be the world's greatest mercenary, the greatest soldier.... and his name is BIG BOSS. Every single time the voice-actors say the words "Big Boss", I wonder how it is that they don't die from embarrassment. It's a really, really, stupid name. If it had just been "The Boss" (I know that was the name he used in MSG3 for that woman), it would have been better. Big Boss just sounds sill.

For some reason this has never struck me as a silly name. maybe it?s just because I?m a silly fanboy and hold such reverence for the man. But then again in the MGS universe, everyone else does as well. Either reverence of hatred I?d suppose?

2) Old eye-patch man in a flying octopus suit (with flames), screaming "STUPID MACHINES!!!". That scene just speaks for itself. It felt embarrassing to WATCH.

Solidus isn?t really old.. sure he has white-ish hair, but as he demonstrates he could battle with the best of them. Sure, he has help from his suit in terms of extra muscle and snake arms, but all in all someone yelling ?STUPID MACHINES? while jumping on top of a 50 foot robot and raping it?s face is acceptable to me.

3) Possessed Arms. I know it explains it away in MSG4, but when I was playing MSG2 and that part came up in the tanker mission..... ugh. I didn't know whether or cringe or laugh.

Hmm.. yeah I guess.. my only issue was why he got his arm replaced with Liquids.. but I?d also say ocelot possessed by liquid is better than no liquid at all.

4) SHOW ME YOUR RAGE!!! is stupid, no matter how you try to deliver the line.

Arugal? lol. WoW boss.

5) Johnny Sasaki needing to go to the bathroom every 2 seconds, was stupid. I know it's his character, but honestly, he had stomach pains EVERY SINGLE TIME THE CAMERA was on him. So Kojima creates this incredibly atmospheric game, great music, great voice actors, great graphics - you feel as if you are sneaking around the war-torn middle east, listening to the bullets go by your head, the sound of distant explosions.... and suddenly you find Sasaki having constipation in a metal can. Yeah. Way to go. Really improves the atmosphere.

Ok here?s a nice fourth wall example. Yes, the game is mostly very good at being atmospheric, but if there?s one thing kojima loves, it?s making jokes completely out of context of the game, or a joke relating to past games. Johnny is more of a cameo I?d say, and the fact that he ended up playing a pretty big role is even more amusing.
Other points of great atmosphere ? countless talks with otacon and both encounters with psycho mantis. (psycho mantis got some boss reward from IGN or something for being really intuitive).

The Metal Gear Solid games are 80% fantastic, 20% sheer embarrassment. Kojima's "Wacky" humor destroys the atmosphere on any number of occasions. It would be like putting jokes in a serious war drama - like putting constipation jokes in the middle of "Saving Private Ryan". It just doesn't work.

It's a real shame - the Metal Gear Solid games are great, for the most part. They come very close to being classified as "art". Then Kojima makes toilet jokes and gives a character the name "Big Boss". Ugh.

It seems you?re taking this nearly opposite as the previous guy I responded too. It seems like you?re taking this a bit too seriously. It is a game. It is (kind of) a movie. It really can?t be just one. All of the codec calls during the fight with screaming mantis had me on the floor. God knows the first thing I tried was switching the controller settings?

- Here's another example, Snake / Ocelot fighting with exactly the same moves. Yeah I guess you can say it makes the fight feel more epic, but more stupid contrived elements. Thought we were trying to keep on the lines of reality.

sorry, this was just a blaring error on my screen. Have you looked at any of the boss fights in any of the MGS games that have come out in the past ten years? Some things that simply cannot be explained: vulvan raven, psycho mantis, fortune (her last hurrah), vamp floating above water and running up walls, the sorrow, the pain controlling bees, the end communicating with the forest, volgin controlling electricity, the boss?s scar slithering off of her body, all of the B&B corps. And probably more. Realiity? Nope. Not really.

As for my response to Yahtzee?s review, I thought it was unfair (ooh, who saw that coming). He assumes you have never heard of the previous three installments, so to get a good review it has to be either 1. the only game or the first game in a series, or 2. a game that is constantly changing like FF.
Being someone that has played 1,2 and 3, I can?t say I was surprised when it took a while for the game to actually start. It was a little ridiculous when I got control of snake, crawled under the jeep, then another cutscene started.
It was a frustrating first hour, the controls took a while to get used to. But, being the war machine that I am, I got a lot of practice pretty fast to by the time I got to act 2 I was fighting pretty smoothly.
I can see what he means when he says it could have used some editing, but this isn?t a movie. It doesn?t have to be constrained into a 3 hour time slot. Maybe people just need to be hardcore about it (like me..?) and play through the game in a day and a half (pretty solidly..)(SOLID. HAHA.) instead of playing mgs4 during your daily half an hour video game time before lights out every night, so you can actually get some playing in around the immense story.

But then again, I don?t take Yahtzee?s reviews seriously. I don?t know who does. I watch them because they?re hilarious. Especially when he rips on a game that I like to rip on. They?re great to show to your friends. Anyway. [insert link to Famistu?s 40/40 review of MGS4]

G?night.