I've been playing a few games consistently as of lately. Oddly enough, all of them are shooters. It's odd because I used to dislike the genre back when Unreal came out. Never liked Doom/Wolfenstein. I played Unreal for a while at a friend's house who had a Voodoo card. It looked amazing. After that, I lost track of the genre.

The first game I finished after my lenghty hiatus was Metal Gear Solid 4. It is not your average shooter, of course, but it felt more like a third person shooter game at times than what its self proclaimed "Tactical Espionage Action" subtitle would make you believe. To me, at least. Hardcore MGS players/junkies have no trouble doing no-kill runs on the hardest difficulties, and I'm pretty sure the open design of levels lends itself perfectly to experimenting on different approaches to accomplish an objective. I am not that good. All I could do is pack myself with the best Drebin (the in-game arms dealer) could offer and work my way in a blaze of hot lead and blood.

Fortunately the game is forgiving and accesible enough to let you play it any way you want to, which is something to be grateful for as someone who left the series after the first MGS game. Perhaps when I buy games again I'll pick the third game up to see what the fuss is all about.Â

The game itself is remarkably well made. It's PERFECT from a technical standpoint. I never noticed a single framerate hiccup, pop in textures, bugs or glitches in my 25+ hour run. In this era of release it now, patch it later (or never), such commitment to quality is refreshing. Both facial and body animation is top notch, and voice acting is among the best gaming has to offer. If this is the result of preinstalling chapters, then I'm all for it in future games.

Gameplay sticks to the tried and true MGS formula, I had no issue picking up controls even not having played the second and third games. They are very accesible. Gun variety is wide, even a bit overwhelming because of its breadth, something which lets you experiment with different approaches. Things such as the Octo-Camo and the MK II are never intrusive, and complement perfectly the low profile approach that an accomplished player would seek to maintain.

Plot wise is where the game gets drag down. Although I believe the game and its creator get more flak than deserved on this. Complaining about weird paranormal stuff or bizarre twists in the plot when we get aliens and zombies (or zombie aliens) rammed up our asses on a constant basis shows that we have some sort of selective suspension of disbelief. Perhaps is the way things take a turn for the bizarre when it could be easier (arguably) to stick to a more reality-rooted approach. We'll never know, I guess. My main gripe is the lack of editing and its (seemingly unneeded) complexity. Cutscenes are amazing when they focus on action segments or meaningful dialogue, but some of them just drag on for too much.

Unfortunately, the game never realizes its own potential as a social commentary about the war industry and its economics. About the way it affects everyone's lives, almost everytime for the worse. About the weight it has and the burden it puts on an old, tired, weary man. It could have focused on a more intimate story (Snake's one), or it could have focused more on the grand scheme of things; instead of that, it ends up stranded somewhere in the middle, and somehow it still manages to provide an unforgettable experience. That's no small feat these days, considering the type of audience we are evolving into.

Afterwards, I turned my sights to BioShock. 

A quality shooter, fast paced, agile and unbelievably atmospheric. Its art direction and design is superb, which combined with a very retro musical score effectively puts you in the mood of a 1950s underwater dystopian setting, whatever that mood is. The atmosphere is opressive at all times, and the sense of isolation is heightened everytime you get a chance to peek outside the thick glass walls to watch sea wildlife wandering about among towering buildings in the distance. 

As far as shooters go, it lacks a bit in the weapon variety department, but that's only because the main focus of the game shouldn't be weapons, but plasmids instead. Weapons can be upgraded to increase their kick, and as you achieve more ADAM (your genetic currency) you are able to unlock more plasmids to maximize your power/endurance/hacking skills. Plasmids are fun to use, but the design of the game itself doesn't encourage their use too much besides the logical environmental puzzles. 

Plot is your average, run of the mill mad genius gone bad stuff, although it is wrapped in thick layers of objectivism, and delivered through a system that allows you to mind your own business without having to go through cutscenes. Analog recordings are scattered all over Rapture, waiting for you to unveil a tiny bit of the picture, although the fact that you have to actively look for many of them could cause eager players to miss important facts that flesh out and give depth to both plot and characters. It is coherent enough to provide a sense of closure upon the game's ending. 

Technically it is not without its flaws, some textures load right in front of your eyes, and although it's not as bad as in Mass Effect, it is somewhat jarring. The design choice of not penalizing death is questionable at best, but not a deal breaker in my book. Whoever wants to play it by the book can choose to reload from last save instead of going through the Vita Chambers. All in all, the game delivers a compelling tale of things gone awfully bad alongside well crafted and fun gameplay elements, even though the lack of a more orthodox storytelling approach might soften the overall impact of the plot. 

On to Half Life 2. 

A sequel to a game that redefined a whole genre. Not many games can say the same, and even less can pull the trick off convincingly. HL2 does it in a remarkable way, delivering compelling gameplay, thoughtful puzzles and a story arc that slowly unfolds , revealing the bigger picture lying underneath. 

The game is impressive to look at even today. A testament to Valve's technical prowess and attention to detail. Art direction is even better, effectively conveying the idea of a totalitaristic regime, and hostile places that might have been familiar once, but in which you are not welcome anymore. Whereas some games have an opressive atmosphere thanks to their secluded environments, HL2 manages to outperform this even on open, sunny ones. Everything looks sterile, run down, and decidedly hostile. The sense of height in some locales (such as the bridge on Highway 17) is so accurate that I am suspecting I have some undiagnosed acrophobia. 

Pacing is superbly crafted, while smart level design and well thought out puzzles spice things out between battles. There is always something new to do, almost zero backtracking, and enough room to try out different approaches to any given situation. AI is good, taking cover most of the times while a couple soldiers (the dumbest of the squad, undoubtedly) charge blindly at you. The way the story is delivered reinforces the premise of your own experience, never taking you out of Freeman's perspective, and only letting you know what's happening elsewhere through conversations (with great voice acting) or other hints, while still managing to surprise you with enough plot twists to keep you on your toes.

Weapon variety is good, from your humble crowbar to RPG launchers and of course, the gravity gun, an extremely useful and smartly designed weapon that helps you whether you are in combat or trying to solve a puzzle. Plot slowly reveals itself in front of your eyes, letting you know a bit more with each chapter, and showing the steady growth of your impact in the gameworld until the shocking conclusion, which sets things up for Episode One. 

HL2 is a game that belongs to the very best the industry has to offer, while showing the true potential of the FPS genre. 

You can play MGS4 like a 3rd person shooter? Huh?

So I'm guessing you can stick to stealth too. But whats the point if you can just shoot everyone? So its like Hitman?

gamingeek said:

You can play MGS4 like a 3rd person shooter? Huh?

So I'm guessing you can stick to stealth too. But whats the point if you can just shoot everyone? So its like Hitman?

You can even play it as a true, balls to the wall first person shooter. The breadth of gameplay approaches is unbelievable.

I fucked up the editing, now the MGS part of the post is finished. More later.

gamingeek said:

So what are the incentives or benefits of playing one way or the other? Is it purely to challenge yourself? Or will an all out stealth approach give you real ingame rewards?

 If you beat the game with no kills and no alerts, you unlock some rad stealth cammo that makes you look all predator like.  There are also different rankings you can get that maybe don't have much in game value, but they are kinda like achievements/trophies.  Also, at the end of each chapter you get more money to spend on weapons and items depending on how well you do.  Doing a no kills/no alert run is the hardest, so you get more cash for that.

While the story wasn't one of MGS's best I thought it still served its purpose pretty well. I was reading it as an allegory for Kojima's own frustration and boredom with the series which actually worked really welll right up until the point at the end after the sunset.

After that there was nothing but a whole lot of sentimental and unecessary bullshit that should never ever have seen the light of day.It was disgusting.

Don't insult MGS4 by calling it just a shooter.

Its still an action/adventure game at heart, offers you many options to approach any situation and tons of gameplay variety.

SteelAttack said:

Never liked Doom/Wolfenstein.

aspro73 said:

Dvader said:

Don't insult MGS4 by calling it just a shooter.

Its still an action/adventure game at heart, offers you many options to approach any situation and tons of gameplay variety.

Davidader, how would you compare it to Uncharted? (if you could).

Uncharted is far more a traditional shooter but with platforming elements added in. All the combat in Uncharted is one way, you take cover and shoot people. There are some melee moves mixed in as well but practically all battles play out the same way.  

That is not how MGS4 is, there are options to how you approach every single area in the game. There is a bunch of variety in the types of situations, one level has you traveling in a jungle where you can shoot up the place. The next is in a city where you need to secretly follow a guy. Later in a base avoiding machines and tripping their alarms. There are plenty of scripted moments and boss fights that break up the usual action. All MGS games do this, they have a ton of variety. Uncharted is basically split up into shooting and platform moments, with a chase thrown in every once and a while.