Tag Archives: review

Please watch Critical Close-up: Metal Gear Solid 2

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Here’s a video you don’t want to miss.

If you enjoy my articles, you will certainly enjoy this deconstruction of Metal Gear Solid 2.  Unlike me, he actually puts a hell of a lot of effort into production, going to locations and intricate editing to make it really watchable.  I dare say it’s the best video analysis of MGS2 I’ve ever seen from a technical and analytical point of view.

Don’t just watch the video, however, do the guy a favor and spread it around!  He deserves major attention from game news sites, forums like NeoGaf, etc.  Think about how many shitty fluff pieces get promoted on Destructoid, and then think about how substantial and interesting this is.  A true MGS fan will spread the word, just as (Raiden’s cobbled together idealized VR manifestation of) Snake taught us to!

My notes?  I think the video could have been improved by having symmetry at the end.  It starts off talking about postmodernism, but it ends with the digital age.  Bringing up such powerful ideas without paying them off is a tiny bit of a shame.  I respect that he doesn’t speculate too much on Kojima’s motivations for the postmodern themes.  I love the fact that he deals with the VR theory, which is unforgivably neglected in most reviews and analysis, and I think it’s about time it gets a respectable presentation.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review

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[Updated again: Kojima says the game is a “spinoff”, an “interpretation”, and a “parallel” universe in this interview.  Considering that he’s the final authority on the subject, I guess my initial review was correct after all (I knew he’d said that somewhere before!)  Either way, I’ll leave the review as it is, and you can see my take on the game no matter what they decide in the future.
Thanks to JMG519 for having my back with the link — go watch his videos!]

Revengeance Review

Bottom Line: Platinum Games does their best with a failed experiment.

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The -/+ Rating System Explained

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If you’ve seen my recent review of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you’ve seen this rating system already.  This is an explanation for how it was designed, split into right (positive) and left (negative) sides.  The decision to account for “outside factors” is very important to me for rather philosophical reasons:

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So… this X-COM game needs to be deconstructed

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Sorry to make you stare at that “Online education is doomed” post for the last few days, but I’ve been burning through X-COM: Enemy Unknown, which I am now finished.  The fact that I finished it may or may not be a good thing (I would have gladly accepted getting helplessly lost in a web of ever-multiplying strategic decisions, never to emerge).  The important part is that I’m now fully qualified to judge the game to the fullest — which is exactly what I intend to do.

I know that I should probably just finish Part 5 of the MGS2: A Complete Breakdown already, since it’s getting so close to completion, but the sooner the better with cases like this.  It’ll be great though, so don’t worry.

Part III (MGS2: A Complete Breakdown)

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PART I – PART II – PART III – PART IV – PART V – PART VI – PART VII

{NOTE: Clips are best watched in Full Screen mode.}

Part three is a careful study of Metal Gear’s creator, Hideo Kojima.  More specifically, it’s a study of his motivations for betraying player expectations with Metal Gear Solid 2.  As confusing as it may seem, there is a logical explanation for it all.  (Here’s Part 1 and Part 2)

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