Here’s a new video defending MGS4 as a wonderfully caring sequel that’s full of love, not a jaded attack on nostalgia. The argument revolves around the production values, detail, and care put into the game itself, and accepts the harsh world and themes as being some kind of natural, logical “price to pay” for fans demanding more sequels in a series that should have ended.
Check it out and see if you agree with his point of view.
Our friend Threedogg has written some interesting thoughts on one of the “commercials” from MGS4. By deconstructing what is said in the cooking show and paying attention to the details, we find that it shows a high level of self-awareness and self-commentary, once again pointing to how ironically MGS4 was produced. I’ve added my own thoughts too.
This is Part 1, meaning there’s more coming.
(Click here to start reading!)
After an extremely long hiatus, I present the 13th installment of MGS4: Sold Out! This one deals with the changed dynamic between Solid Snake and Meryl Silverburgh.
UPDATE: This is actually the 13th installment! I forgot to update the classic site’s index page and totally forgot about Part 12: Resistance Gamer Kids!!
Readers, I know you’re waiting for the next installments of MGS4: Sold Out and MGS2: A Complete Breakdown. I’m working on part 6 of A Complete Breakdown again, and progress is good. It’s a bit of an odd piece, but we’ll all struggle through it I’m sure.
I also want to go back and finish my MGS4 analysis — don’t think I’ve forgotten. With Metal Gear Solid V on the way, and the HD Collection released not long ago, it feels like a good time to put some more of my crazy theories out there.
If you have any contributions of your own (a lot of you said you’d like to in the Site Survey!) you can now come directly to me by emailing metagearsolid [at] gmail.com. Comics, articles, videos, audio recordings — send them my way, if you want to get them put on the site. A few notes, however:
Sit tight, and if you haven’t read the first 5 epic parts of my MGS2 analysis, what are you waiting for?
ACHIEVEMENTS ARE THE ONLY WAY I KNOW WHETHER I’M HAVING FUN. THEY LET ME KNOW WHETHER I’M DOING SOMETHING I ENJOY OR WASTING MY TIME. PLUS HOW CAN I BRAG ABOUT DOING SOMETHING IF IT’S NOT OFFICIALLY VALIDATED AS AN ACHIEVEMENT THAT I UNLOCK?
Behold! The achievements (or are they called trophies? I don’t know) for Metal Gear Solid 4 are almost nigh, and some of them are already listed around the Internet! I wonder what impressive feats these permanent, shiny awards will commemorate? What will I look back on and remember with pride?
Overhead View, Just Like Old Times… – Used overhead view on Shadow Moses Island.
Oh. I’ll just… put that one on the lowest trophy shelf, I guess. Right next to that trophy I got for accidentally inhaling atmosphere one time.
After four years of refusing to stroke your delicate little ego for shooting guys in the crotch, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will finally include achievements, this August.
I couldn’t care less about achievements, actually, especially if they’re as boring and straightforward as the ones included in the HD Collection which came out recently. Instead of providing replay value or unique challenges, they simply acknowledge the completion of normal game missions. Hopefully, after four years of waiting, these achievements will be more rewarding.
Much more importantly, this comic will no longer make sense to future generations, because the game will no longer torture players whenever they load a game from a new Act! This laughable feature has infuriated me ever since I first realized the Act installs weren’t permanent and needed to be repeated whenever I tried to replay a previous area. As you can imagine, writing articles and trying to figure out the game’s story by backtracking to specific parts became a nightmare for me.
Andriasang reports:
Select to give the game a full install, and you won’t have to wait between chapters for data to be cached to your system’s hard disc. This lengthy caching, which was accompanied by an image of Solid Snake smoking, was a major complaint by players.
I don’t know when Kojima Productions learned that the “full install” feature was possible for the game, but it doesn’t matter — nothing excuses such terrible, backwards game design in the first place, and this is too little, too late. MGS games have always been leaders of pushing console tech, making use of every feature the system has to offer. To sink to the lowest depths of shoddy workmanship with some half-assed endless re-installation scheme, was really underwhelming no matter which way you sliced it.
[Note: I felt like these videos didn’t stay at the top of this site for long enough, so I’m making it sticky for now. Newer stuff is below it.]
It’s a three-part video, which for some reason uses a Veoh in the second part, but just make sure you watch it and enjoy. It’s by a Bulgarian dude or something, but I couldn’t stop laughing as I watched it. As far as I’m concerned there could be another 50 minutes of this.
