Metal Gear Solid 4: The first review is out!

^ It\'s a bit fiddly indeed.... Holding R1 is the way to do it - however - if you run towards the dude and R1 him, basically not coming to a full halt ; you\'ll throw him into a KO.

I usually sneak upon their backs real slow, then when the dude\'s within arms reach I press & hold R1 ; it should work because my slow sneak doesn\'t trigger the CQC throwdown in that way.

About cutscenes : the game didn\'t trigger the Act 1 briefing automatically for me ; i had to choose it in the menu - in no way it forces itself upon the player. I\'m now at the part with Rat Patrol team. Until now ; cutscenes are already pretty entertaining. The Meryl & Snake reunite & talks are interesting, especially her temper.

* I had SC DA on the 360 ; loved it. I can see the PS3 version is the inferior port (especially concerning framerate), but it still looks & plays good in it\'s own way.

* I\'ll make a MGS4 review eventually, from different points of view : technical - artistically - gameplay

[BizioEE]

Gamespot will rate it at 3.2 out of 10.

eh eh  It\'s 10/10 from them.

By Kevin VanOrd, GameSpot

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the most technically stunning video game ever made. It\'s also a fine example of storytelling prowess within its medium, combining gameplay and narrative so slickly and beautifully that it\'s impossible to extricate one from the other. It\'s likely you will emerge awestruck from your first play-through, wishing the experience would continue yet nonetheless satisfied with its conclusion. It\'s difficult not to sound hyperbolic when discussing MGS4 because every part of its design seemingly fulfills its vision, without compromise. There is no halfway.

GameSpot Score 10/10

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/adventure/metalgearsolid4/review.html


I\'m out of Italy for job, ahhh, cannot get it now
...and GmanJoe have to wait for my spaghetti!

ps: waiting for your review Knotter8.

[GmanJoe]

No speghetti?

Started playing this on Thursday and stopped on Friday night. Had to sleep early so I could go fishing at dawn the next day. Today is Father\'s Day. No time for games. Gotta do some cookouts with relatives.

Arrrr.....want to play this game so bad.

eh eh  

ps: waiting for your review Knotter8.

I\'ll promise, the review\'s coming up, but my life is going on too so I\'m only halfway Act 2 atm.

But to quickly answer one question - in context of Gamespot\'s statement that it\'s the technically most stunning game ;

In my humble opinion : It\'s not the case - but MGS4, both surpasses others and underwhelms technically at the same time.

It\'s somewhat true that Japanese gamedevelopment is lagging behind technically to Western game developers, but .... KojiPro is so good, that it manages to still wow the player at certain points, yet at other points you can tell it falls behind the pack.

[Viper_Fujax]

i agree. some of the textures are a little meh when they get up-close in the cutscenes. The characters are definitly amazing though.

I\'m about at the same point as you are knotter..maybe past halfway of act 2. I was a main worryer (cant top lic though) about having too much cutscenes and not enough gameplay..and i was definitly proven wrong

^ For me, it\'s not even about the textures...

A glaring \'issue\' - something which I find Kojima\'s traditional weakpoint - is, lighting. Pay attention at some indoor locations : at times, those locations do
not have realtime lightsources, even though light is visually there falling into the room via window or door opening ;

the result is that there\'s no selfshadowing on Snake\'s model even though you can see him casting a shadow to the floor. It makes his character \'stick out\' from the environment and the lack of a realtime lightsource takes away the effect of every normal mapping on Snake\'s model, making it feel very flat.

The other thing is moves & controls... i know, it\'s leaps ahead of what MGS2 & 3 ever had, but in essence.... it\'s a Splinter Cell Chaos Theory version 0.5 beta, it\'s kind of like a primitive version of SC moves ( Snake still cannot jump - the engine can\'t calculate jump motion trajectories ? ) . Still, at least it\'s something really good and the game plays like a charm. I\'ll delve into details later on in my review.

The cutscenes & Story ? Ugh... i guess some ppl are real ADHD patients or just don\'t give a fuck about the storyline. I was truly stunned by the Vamp + Laughing Octopus cutscene in Act 2. The game gives me that feeling of wanting to progress the storyline... it actually teases to rush through it , yet i know i should better take my time to play it slow & stealthy.

In a few hours I am expecting the game to arrive at my doorstep (hopefully). I will try and share my impressions too as soon as I have the chance

[GmanJoe]

Game is HARD! But FUN! And it\'s made me laugh a few times already!

I arrived at act 3 yesterday evening. Hot damn, mid way act 2 the game really gets going : a rollercoaster ride of MGS3 infused stealth - if you play it that way, guns blazing might get you a quick death depending on what level you play - some of the best on rails shooting and awesome action cutscenes.

The first boss battle also appears - contrary to letdown rumours - i was pleasantly surprised.

Act 3 appears to be shift of pace. I\'ll start on it tonight.

[GmanJoe]

I just got to Act 2. I was so impressed by the fire fight at the end of Act I, I kept doing it over and over again.

[Viper_Fujax]

another -im retarded with the controller- question

I had a problem with that firefight at the end of act 1. Are you able to stay in cover, but also shoot. Sometimes it works when im standing up, sometimes it doesnt. But when im crouched i always have to stand up out of cover in order to shoot. can you crouch in cover and still fire? all i can do is peak up a little bit

[GmanJoe]

I haven\'t tried it yet...but pressing L1 and R1 is supposed to make you shoot from cover.

I got to act 4 this evening... A few keywords :

fond memories - sad nostalgia - scared frozen - emotional - awestruck.

Seriously.

I\'m about half way through Act 4, I love how he put different aspects of each game into this one. Opening part of Act 4 is some great memories

I for one like the cut scenes. They really help develop the story which is a key part of the game. I hate games that have no real story, they tend to bore me.

[clips]

Uhm...what is this?....boing?!!


http://www.gametrailers.com/player/35260.html


I\'m not sure who this is, but i\'m going to assume that it\'s those female combatants that you fight in the game,...whatever is goin\' here is a bit pervish, but i gotta admit these are some great looking female models....very uhm..detailed....:fro: