Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Comments by Oli Welsh

roquito, love is in the eye of the beholder. You know the game is 11/10, and you find yourself to be be smarter than the rest of the populace. I know the feeling, I've been there. Then I grew up (and stoped listening only to Joy Division).

"The only time I've really disagreed with a Eurogamer review was after playing Halo 3... christ, now that MUST have been reviewed by a Halo lover... dull, dull meh. But I digress."

Actually it wasn't. As far as I can recall, Rob was underwhelmed by the series before the third installment.

Next future Eurogamer reviews:
Grid part 22: 9
Forza 34:9,9
Carmaggedon XX:9
Resident Evil XX:6
MGR:7
Truck me men:9
They love macarra games

you said that before... (thrice). Why don't you indulge us with your review, macarra man ?

I was expecting higher, but an 8 is good and I'm still stoked. I can understand a lot of Oli's criticisms and will likely agree with them (all the MGS games have had unnecessarily convoluted stories with way too much unnecessary boring exposition and some cheesy dialogue to boot), but I've found that the MGS hold up better on repeat playthroughs once you know the story and gameplay mechanics and can then just skip through the more boring cutscenes and codecs. I recently went through MGS3: Subsistence again in preparation for MGS4, and since it had been a couple years, I decided to sit through all the cutscenes and codecs and good lord are they long and often boring! But the gameplay still hold up spectacularly even after 2+ years and 5 playthroughs. There's just so much depth and variety to how you play that even as a single-player linear game it has more replay value than just about any game in my collection. MGS2 doesn't hold up as well though, but even that game is significantly better once you know the story and can skip past the fat. So yeah, I don't expect my first playthrough of MGS4 to be spectacular, but I think it'll age well and that's something that wouldn't come across in early reviews.

so basically the text says "if you liked mgs 1-3 you will love this".
works for me.

Miguel, I'm too old for this. I am a gamer of the spectrum era, and I know when a review is wrong, and even why .

hahahah PS3 is carp.

But still, the most jarring example of a missed score must be the 10/10 for Oblivion, right? ..right?

You do think you are "smarter", don't you... ;)

¿Eurogamer or MicroGamer?

Dizzy I would love to hear what your opinion of a decent plot or story is. As far as I'm aware, the Metal Gear Solid series has some incredibly detailed and creative storylines, plotlines and conspiracy theories. It's also intelligently connected to the modern world surrounding us today.

So is this another movie with a bit of game play thrown in to justify it's 'game' status? Don't get me wrong, I love the MGS series, but I buy a game to... you know... play a game, not be subjected to hours of deep, overly-complex narrative, only for it all to be blown away and reveled to be something even more confusing at the end...

wow...people are joining EG just to complain about an 8/10 for MGS4.
roquito? You have 10 posts...all of them whining in this thread.

Who are you? And why post a bunch of bogus sites with high MGS4 scores? Who cares?
This is madness....it's just a fucking game!

Deem: "hahahah PS3 is carp."

LOL... instant classic :)

Stories are not about the complexity, but the way you tell them.

Roquito - how do you know? Have you played it? Finished it?

Metal Gear Solid is in the same relation to great narrative as a Magic Eye book is to great painting.

So it's a next gen game with the same faults as its previous gen versions and this time it only gets an 8?!?!

Even in not making sense EG makes no sense...

The 10/10 of GTA4 is a travesty, that's for sure and I think this score is fair: MGS is a (rather big) niche game franchise and definitely not something for the inexperienced.

I am sure they will review the online component later.

"Dizzy I would love to hear what your opinion of a decent plot or story is. As far as I'm aware, the Metal Gear Solid series has some incredibly detailed and creative storylines, plotlines and conspiracy theories. It's also intelligently connected to the modern world surrounding us today. "

Please.. don't push it. Read more books FFS.

So, not a system seller then.

Quite possibly one of the most bizarre comment threads ever. Some of you guys really need to step away from the keyboard, go outside, take a deep breath and wipe the froth away.

roquito - you're acting like a 5 yr old, that you claim to be an adult amazes me.. If you don't agree with the score, fine, now go away.
The fact that your English isn't fluent suggests that you may not grasp the complete meaning of the text of the review, in the same way that I wouldn't understand a review in Spanish, French or German. Seriously, if you don't like it here, stop spamming the board with rubbish and just go back to the sites that you do appreciate.

"The only time I've really disagreed with a Eurogamer review was after playing Halo 3... christ, now that MUST have been reviewed by a Halo lover... dull, dull meh. But I digress."

Actually it wasn't. As far as I can recall, Rob was underwhelmed by the series before the third installment.


Yeah, I should have checked :D Now I'm even more convinced the score was rigged ;)

Oh, and GRID 9/10 I disagreed with... (note *I* I'm not saying it's wrong).

This thread will do Halo 3/Gears of War numbers I can just see it.

/shrugs because he's still enjoying GTAIV

What's wrong with the world... demanding that their chosen game get praised whilst denigrating ones they personally didn't get on with?

All reviews are subjective to the reviewer. Deal with it...

Except for Blue Dragon. :P

Isto é uma vergonha depois de dar 9 ao Grid vão dar 8 a este jogão que está a ter 9 e 10 em todo o lado.

A Microsoft anda aqui é mesmo uma vergonha.

Não percebem, problema vosso, é que este site não merece eu estar a escrever em inglês!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hip-hop gear solid, that would be solid gold!

Go fuck yourself Dizzy. Stop dodging questions.

@americorloliveira

Your first post isn't in English on an English game site...novel way to make new friends ;)

Arbiter - MGO beta has already been covered by the site and Shinji has confirmed that they will be looking into the MGS4 bundled 'starter pack', etc, at a later date. Regardless, it's not unreasonable to leave it out depending on whether a) it's not a complete mode in itself, rather just a little bonus (something that can easily be covered in a seperate article), and b) the review of the game is of the game itself or the complete disc package. Either is valid.

The reason that the MP was mentioned in Halo3 is that it has, arguably, become the most important part of the game. MGO will never do that for the MGS series and therefor it doesn't require the same page space in the review.

Either way it comes down to the importance you put in that part of the game, something a review mirrors itself. No two people will agree 100%. Accept this for wht it is and move on.

americolol

@Dizzy

"Read a book" is exactly right -- I've always thought the MGS series would fail MISERABLY as novels. Or as movies. Or as stage plays. Kojima genuinely doesn't seem to grasp the most basic rules of storytelling, or if he does he feels free to ignore them. MGS, really, strikes me as a series of great games that are buried beneath a heap of slush-pile-quality crap.

Whether the game is worth suffering through the slush-pile crud for is another question -- one that I go back and forth on, honestly. It's why I /buy/ the MGS games but then tend to give up on them halfway through.

DAL9000 isn't emo enough. UNMAN UP, BOY!

8 is a great score. If you have a ps3 you HAVE to buy it.

@ Derblington

I have to agree with Arbiter. Starter pack or not it comes WITH MGS4 so it deserves at least a mention in the review, or at least tell us it's being reviewed separately. I am keen to know what's in the starter pack.

8 is a number

PS3lol?

/gets coat

To be honest I think Eurogamer chose the perfect guy for a review in someone who both loves and hates the series. For these are the only people the review actually matters to.

If you already love the MGS series then you'll have pre ordered this already and your mind wont be change by any criticisms of over long cutsequences and impenetrable plot.

If you already hate the series then no review on earth will persuade you to touch it with a barge pole.

So what of people like myself who (if I actually owned a PS3) would be swithering about whether to buy the game? What of the people who enjoyed MGS but disliked MGS2? Who enjoyed the gameplay but who found the CODEC rather tedious? Who liked the silly characters, boss fights, and silly jokes but disliked the crudely handled pompous metaphors and sometimes dodgy voice acting? We're the people who need a review that weighs up the good and the bad and tells us whether the game is worth out hard earned cash.

This is EXACTLY the type of review that does this. An almost entirely positive review clearly written by an enthusiastic fan (see IGN's review for an example) is all well and good but tells us little. Whereas a review like this that is a bit more objective would hold much more sway over any decision to part with hard earned cash?

So the big question is - would I part with said cash?

The answer; based on this review is yes. The review did have a lot of negative points but the overall feeling I got was that this was a game worth playing. While not as good as Metal Gear Solid (explicitly stated in the first page) it sounds like a mostly enjoyable experience interrupted by some tedium but nowhere near as much as in MGS2. I got a good impression from the review and if I had a PS2 I'd be buying it now.

While the score is less relevant an 8 is enough to persuade me to by a game like MGS4.

I think if it comes on the disc/package that you buy, then you review the whole wadge. Otherwise its like reviewing an album but deciding to omit the last two tracks from your critique.

How did this maracca guy get out of kindergarten so early?
Is it half days on Friday or something?

Well, I guess I'll have to stop saying things like 'the function of a review is to provide facts (to describe what happens when you play the game) combined with personal opinions (to describe what the reviewer actually thought about the game, and why).'

Because apparently, according to roquito that means that 'the only fanboy is me.' You're right. I'm a massive fanboy for common sense. What was I thinking?

If you'll excuse me, I need to go to Tesco now to restock on my irony.

anyway, I found the review very well written and if I had the time to own 2 (different) consoles, this would be instant buy for me, because I dig this kinda game. I also like racers, and shooters, and RPGs..., macarra and other stuff, in a nutshell.


Guess I'm just a normal guy, it's really a shame I can't be above the populace like a true "MGS fan" or whatever they call themselfs nowdays.

I love you Eurogamer!

So how do you review a new Metal Gear Solid? Do you assess it on its own terms, ones that its legion of fans will understand? Do you play the sceptic, and take Hideo Kojma and his team to task for their stubborn refusal to catch up with what the rest of the world expects of a videogame? Or do you walk the path of compromise, down the middle?

You do neither. You review it from a position of objectivity. That's what you do when you review anything. What are they teaching kids in journalism school nowadays?

SO! The cutscenes/codec conversations are still as intrusive and annoying as ever. OK. I can deal with that. Even if it does leave me with the impression of trying to get on with some work with my mum phoning me up every 5 minutes.

What about the controls? Do they still feel like they've been dug up by an archeologist?

roquito,

You originally registered as panashe, said you were leaving twice and then reregistered as your current name to continue your childish rantings about how this review is unfair.

The question is why? I am guessing you are just a paid Sony shill, spreading FUD on reviews that do not make the Sony PR grade.

Indiana Jones and the Metals of the Gears Solid?

This install before each chapter bit sounds very problematic. Does it wipe out each previous install when you change chapters or do they accumulate? If so how many gigs is this game going to take up?
At this rate anymore than about 10 games and the hard drive will be out of space.

IGN uk: 9,9
Meristation 10
Swedish Magazine 9'7
Chief:9'7
Hobby Spain:9'6
Gamepro: 5/5(=10)
etc.... ad infinitum
Congratulations, Eurogamer.

Yes, this is precisely why I come to Eurogamer.