People complain about backtracking in Metroid Prime?

Foolz said:

People complain about backtracking in Metroid Prime?

Carnage never shuts up about it.

3. Metal Gear Solid 1, 3 and 4

The second greatest video game franchise of all time according to me. Hideo Kojima's masterpiece series has been extremely consistent with its high quality games, groundbreaking gameplay and wild ideas that most games never have. My history with Metal Gear started back in the NES games with the NES version of Metal Gear which I remember mostly cause it had a cool cover. I never got far in that game but even I could appreciate how different it was. A stealth game where hiding and escaping was more viable than combat, it was unique. Years go by and that title just gets forgotten till around 96-97 when at the TGS a trailer for a new Metal Gear game for the PS1 was shown. I first got word of this through EGM and I remembered "hey thats that old NES game". I dont even remember seeing the trailer (remember, the internet was not what it was now) but the desciption from the magazine was enough to have my interest hugely peaked. What they descrbed was a cinematic stealth action adventure with incredible gameplay, the hype for MGS1 had just begun.

MGS got a demo in OPM a few months before release which let you play the first two areas, the dock and the outdoor helipad area. I could not believe what I was playing, a game with so many options and natural reactions from enemies. Footprints are left in the snow! Enemies notice those footprints and follow them! This blew my mind. You can knock to get enemies attention. Grab them and use them as a shield. Knock them out or use leathal force. And if you are caught then the fun begins, the incredible alert theme begins and its a race to find a new hiding place or just go rambo on everybody. I played the demo countless times, tried evey action I could do. Listened to different codec conversations. It was like a game from the future, this was what gaming would become.

In late 1998 Metal Gear Solid released and I had it day one.  The N64 was about to get Ocarina, the highest rated game of all time, but PS1 had MGS1, it was their Ocarina. In the span of a months gaming would get the two greatest games ever made up to that point in time. MGS1 was a roller coaster ride of an experience, one I will never forget. Meeting up with Meryl and having to find the codec on the back of the literal box, that moment where it dawned on me what I had to do, genius. The constant new gameplay situations that would come up, lasers, snipers, hidden mines, tanks, helicopter attacks, it just never relented.

Then there was the star of the show, the boss battles. Psycho Mantis will go down as one of the most clever battles in gaming history. He accesses your memory card to read what you played, moves your controller with his mind and to beat him you have to break the fourth wall and change the controller port, amazing stuff. Thats the genius of Kojima, gameplay ideas no one would ever dare try. All the bosses were amazing for its time, all accompanied by the best cutscenes ever put in a game. It was a true hollywood movie experience in game form wraped with some of the best gameplay we had ever seen.  What a finale; the metal gear battle, the fist fight, the car chase, thats how you create memorable moments.

Metal Gear Solid easily became my favorite game up to that point. It was my first 10/10. It is the best PS1 game ever without question. It started my love for this franchise and the man behind it. It could have easily been a one trick pony but each game kept evolving into something new. While MGS2 was not as good as the first, the next game after blew away all expectations.

The lead up to MGS3 was something. There were a series of trailers that highlighted a new time period, no more Solid Snake, you play as Big Boss and we get to see his origin story. I remember being very upset that we were not seeing the continuation of MGS2, I was convinced this was some trick and part of the game would be with Solid in the present time. But I am happy I was wrong because Kojima went for a stylized period piece of a game, making his own version of a James Bond like espionage game taking place in the 60s. The gameplay looked to be completely overhauled as well. No more pac man like radar watching as you navigate hallways, now you are out in the open and you must use camo to stay hidden. Survival elements were introduced where Snake must eat to keep his stamina up, manage his health from the natural and human dangers lurking in the world. New gameplay systems all working together to create a living world that is an incredible playground for the player to mess around in.

Like MGS1 there was a demo, this demo was of the prologue section so it was rather long but gave a great introduction into all these new mechanics. First thing that was very noticable is that the top down camera was rather limited, switching to first person just to see what lies ahead was necessary, thankfully this was fixed in Subsistance with the over the shoulder camera which is the way this game should be played. MGS1 feels like a prototype in comparison to the gameplay possibilities offered in MGS3. CQC is introduced so that the player now has many options with melee and grabbing like knocking an enemy down and subduing them. You can now interrogate enemies by placing a knife to their throat, this is useful to get information about the game world. Animals and enemies act naturally in conjunction to one another, want a distraction throw a life snake at an enemy and watch them get bit and posioned. I tried out so many strategies in that demo, played it countless times as it was better than most anything I had played up till then.

The full game did not disappoint, from the opening sequence with the Snake Eater song I knew we were in for something special. The story is easily Kojima's most focused, a straight line of action and suspense with none of the weirdness that bloated MGS2. The game world was far bigger, this is probably the longest of the series not counting 5. I was engrossed in ways few games have ever gripped me.  In nearly every new area I was blown away by some new gameplay idea. In one area I learned there was a storehouse and an interrogated enemy told me that destroying it would hurt supplies to enemies, so I blew it up and a few areas later enemies were weak and hungry. Hungry for food meant an oppertunity where you as the player can find rotten meat, throw it in their path and they would eat it and get sick and get knocked out. That kind of sequence of actions just unraveled naturally from learning the game world. What action games have this level of depth, its insanity.

MGS3 has the greatest collection of bosses ever put in a video game. These take all of Kojima's wild ideas and magnifies them. Bosses can be tackled in a multitude of different ways, some that are so crazy that it still impresses me that it exists in a video game. The star of the game is the battle with The End which to me is the best boss battle in gaming. This can play out like an epic hour long sniper battle across multiple areas using every skill at your disposal. You can listen for breathing using your mic, you can watch for birds being disturbed in a location. You can tire him out and leave quality food at locations as a trap. But dont walk around or make too much noise because he is always watching you and at any moment a shot can come from anywhere. It is the most tense and interesting battle I have ever experienced. And its something that doesnt even have to happen because at an earlier point in the story the player can snipe The End during a small window that no one really noticed because what game would ever let you kill a boss before you reach him?! Oh and there is another way to win the fight, dont play for a week and The End dies of old age. Easter eggs like that are why these games are so special.

This game is PACKED with so many little things. Hidden radio stations that heal the player. Totally optional codec conversations, one that leads to a crazy mini game in a dream. The game keeps pushing for awesome new scenarios like disgusing as an officer in an enemy base. Getting captured and having to escape jail only using a fork. It ends with the greates final two hours in gaming history, a non stop parade of boss battles and setpieces that where better than ANYTHING in gaming up to that time. That car chase, that music, the way the story all builds and builds to the final battle with The Boss, its masterful. Its the stuff of legends, it was Kojima's finest narrative and most would argue his finest game ever. Quick mention of the online mode in Subsistance which I loved so much. I had a blast playing with friends and randoms, this was the kind of interesting non traditional online modes I loved.

MGS4, it is controversial and I understand why. The game has a wild story that covers way too much and tries to close every loose end, even those that didnt need to be addressed. I game with far superior gameplay than its predeccesors which is mostly abandoned halfway.  A game that might be too Kojima for its own good, and I love it because of that. To me this is Kojima's Magnum Opus, an epic game in every way, an experience I feel that is unforgettable. Yes the story is ridiculous at times, bloated beyond belief with multiple hour long cutscenes. Still when you boil it down this is the story of a man at the end of his life, a man who is still looking for meaning. Throughout the game he is constantly battered, beaten, insulted; many times by his own side. "You are too old", "leave this to us", "why are you still fighting", through all that he continues to do the one thing he is good at, the thing he was designed to do, fight. He fights and fights and fights ultimately for his friends and himself. It is nowhere near as focused as MGS3 but the story of MGS4 is larger in scope and meaning and by the end (not the after credits end, that was dumb) when you are mashing that button that represnts the very last ounce of strength Solid Snake has in order to save the damn WORLD, its hard not to be emotional. Few games even try to create a grand story like this and even if they do its not presented with such style.

Like all MGS games the real reason I love them is not the story, its the incredible gameplay that comes with them and MGS4 was a massive leap forward. MGS3 did not control easy, it used antiquated Japan third person design that was outdated as the world shifted toward twin stick aiming. MGS4 plays like a modern action game, the gunplay finally at the levels of its peers. Snake's move set is enhanced with far better mobility, transitions between prone, croutch and sprint. CQC is enhanced with even more takedown possibitliies. It played so much better than MGS3, it made combat as engaging as the excellent stealth.

The theme of MGS4 was about being in the midst of an active battlefield. Motars would fall from the sky and explode around Snake. Private armies would engage local militia in active combat, combat you can avoid or take part in, aiding the militia for your benefi, again all optional. Giant robot gekkos would patrol the streets which requires snake to be at his most stealthy. Gone is the clumsy menu driven stealth of MGS3, now we have active octo camo which simply adapts to the area you are in. Jus be still for a moment and your suit hides you dpending on your position and lighting. There were still ways to increase your stealth manually so this streamlines camo system wasn't totally automatic, it was a great system which leads to the best stealth the series has seen. Everything is better gameplay wise, outside of MGSV, MGS4 is by far the best playing MGS game and unlike MGSV it still has all the fun structure and pacing that made us fall in love with these games.

MGS4 is wildly ambitious taking place over five totally different locations, the first two being massive war zones. Each area introduces its own gameplay possibilities and situations. Again the masterful way the gameplay scnearios keep changing is why these games are so special. One moment you are hiding in the middle of a massive shootout, the next you are navigating a crumbling building avoiding troops, then you end up in an all out defense as a FROG unit attacks. Thats just one location, others have their own bosses and vehicle chases, its non stop awesome. I know some of these bosses get some shit but I found them to be great, this game is a love letter to the entire series. Each boss is a taken from ideas of past bosses and made to bring back those feelings of playing them while introducing new gameplay elements. The octopus battles is probably my favorite as it plays out like some creepy horror movie in a lab where this thing is hiding in camo and can be any object. Crying Wolf is a mix of the end and Sniper Wolf out in a snow storm in the same field you battled Sniper Wolf years ago. Psycho Mantis returns with more gameplay fuckery that can be done to win. They are still creative, still better than most anything from other games.

That was just the traditional squad bosses, this game has so much more. Halfway through we get tje controversial decision to ditch the war gameplay that was fantastic and take the game a totally different direction. One far more linear and less experimental, so yes I get that we lose the best gameplay BUT I loved the idea of variety, of trying bold new things. Act 3 which is unlike anything the series has done gets shit on a lot but I loved it. You stroll around a Prague town wearing a disguse as you need to trail a suspect while avoiding the patrolling guards. Sure you can engage with all your weapons but that breaks the spirit of what was trying to be done there, you should try to be a spy. You should be pretending to be a statue grabbing a penis to avoid detection. There are so many fun weirdt things you can do in this section, I feel most just brute forced through it. I remember the game having a camera system and I used that to create my own little story starring the ring of fire members who loved to troll the game, I made a little picture show by using the different emotion tranq rounds that let you manipulate enemies in fun ways. Even when the game gets linear the gameplay possibilties remain. It then explodes into an even better bike chase than the one in MGS3 and leads into one of the best cutscenes in series history.

The nostagia trip leads you to Shadow Moses, in glorious modern graphics. Its now a tomb of a mission long past, the game plays sounds from MGS1 to show how Solid and the player reminisce about their old experience. I loved this section, it has incredible moments and bosses. It ends with an incredible split screen boss battle and the you pilot METAL GEAR REX!!!! Its all fan service to the highest degree, a game so bold it doesnt care how different its gameplay can get. Act 5 could have used some more time but even that has its highs. The final battle is a glorious fist fight that transitions from past game to game, again a total celebration of everything Metal Gear and a grand send off at the same time.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is epic gaming at its peak. Naughty Dog has taken up the mantel of the cinematic game but their gameplay isnt as bold or interesting as this series. MGS4 to me was the last game I ever gave a 10 to. Something has been lost as games become a little too formulaic. MGS4 had all the spirit of creating new gameplay experiences, incredible production values and surprising the player around every turn. Again quick mention of Metal Gear Online which was included, again a unique and surprisingly deep online mode that I spent many many hours enjoying. MGS4 is my favorite MGS game and it is the best PS3 game ever and my game of that generation.  

I absolutely love Hideo’s crazy storytelling which is why I get so enthralled with the MGS games. I thought MGS4 was bloody fantastic, I even wasn’t bothered at all with MGS2 and having Raiden as basically the main character.