Anyone else picked up their copy yet?

Initial impressions:

1. Reminds me of MGS3 minus the whole jungle atmosphere. Just like last time there's a heavy emphasis on using camoflauge to avoid enemy detection.

2. "FROG" soldiers are a major pain in my ass! Maybe this has something to do with the fact that I'm reeling from a severe GTA hangover. Instead of being able to "auto-aim" like I've recently become accustomed to, I actually have to aim for these bastards. Note to self... "yelling auto-aim, damn it yields fruitless results." Hopefully I'll get my bearings soon because if I don't I don't forsee myself getting too far in the story.

3. The purchasing system is great. I especially like how a "war economy" system was factored in that revolves around supply and demand.

4. It's cool to see familiar cast members from long ago.

5. It's hard to tell who's your friend or enemy in the battlefield. I've somewhat resorted to letting enemies blow each other away and then taking the items they leave behind instead of approaching them and getting a "!"

Overall this should be a great game. Now if only I'd quit comparing it to GTA though... stupid hangover. :p

Looks cool... unfortunately I dont have a PS3... so I went ahead and watched all of the cutscenes (including the ending) on youtube.

So, it'll start off strong and look unstoppable for the first portion of the game, start to look a little bit more mortal towards the end, then talk a bit of smack right near the end and get embarrassed by someone with half the talent?

Sweet. Sounds fun.

Penny Arcade reviewed it well today.

"If I fail at sneaking, the game ceases to be Metal Gear. In the space of a second, it becomes an incredibly clumsy action game."

And that's exactly what happens. If you get into a gun fight, it can be difficult to survive due to the aiming system. And even if you do survive, it's difficult to figure out what location on the map to run to to stop the endless spawn of backup troops.

I have changed my playstyle a bit to include a lot more sniping from range and shocking dudes with the Mk. II (then slitting their throats).

Besides that though, the game is very solid (lol I said Solid). The graphics are on par with Assassin's Creed, and the amount of things to fuck around with keeps me entertained. 8 hours in so far and still in Act 1 poking around and finding fun, creative ways to kill people.

Good observations by that reviewer. Why they're still playing Act 1 after 8 hours doesn't make a whole lot of sense though. Maybe they're not in a hurry to see how the story unfolds?

I stopped off last night at the beginning of Act 4 (11 hours total play time). The way I'm progressing I'd imagine I'll complete the solid normal difficulty by this weekend.

Most recent observations:

1. The game gets better and better as you progress. I especially like how you're not confined to one specific geographic region for the whole game.

2. The boss battles take forever to beat. I've never played an action game that took me so long to take down a boss. Raging Raven must have taken me 20+ minutes...

3. The AI is fun to cooperate with. Blast enough PMCs on the battle field and next thing you know you'll have a load of allies. That's pretty cool imo!

4. Kojima shouldn't have made so many darn cut scenes. While I appreciate seeing how the storyline unfolds, I feel like the cut scenes get excessive.

Anyone else playing yet?

I'm seriously thinking about picking this up tonight. I was a big fan of the original Metal Gear Solid on the PS1, and even before that I played Metal Gear on the SNES. I have not played the MGS's leading up to this one though, and from what I've heard about MGS3 this game is slow. How does it compare to GTA4? I'd never played a GTA game until GTA4 and I'm having a hard time getting into it - both the story and the pace of the game.

I could see how someone would classify MGS4 as "slow". Here's the thing though... MGS4 is slow because it's divided into "Acts". Since you've played MGS on PS1 then you're probably familiar with a game that could take conceivably 2.5 hours to finish give or take. This time around you'll spend well beyond 2.5 hours just watching cut scenes. According to IGN the longest cut scene clocks in at approximately 45 minutes. Remember this much though... you can pause during the middle of a cutscene or completely skip it if you're tired of watching it.

My best advice... borrow it from someone or rent it if you're unsure. I only shelled out $60 because I've played the games leading up to it and I wanted to see how the storyline concludes.

Took me 8 RPGs, roughly 2 minutes to kill. Hopefully the bosses get better, because currently they are nothing but shooting fish in a barrel and a real let down.

I clocked 12 hours in Act 1 and 15 in Act 2 so far, always looking for every easter egg or goodie.

At $60 these days, the last thing I do is hurry through a game.

Traded in GTA4 and got a 30 dollar credit, then bought MGS4. So far only about 1.5 hours into Act 1 but totally love it... My wife even enjoys watching it for the cut scenes.

One reason I blazed through Act 1 is because I forgot to save my original playthrough of it. When I had to redo it I knew the enemy positions and locations of easter eggs etc so I didn't waste any time.

MGS is one of the few games that I actually enjoy replaying throughout the years. There's something about finding new ways to tackle the same scenarios that I find rather exciting. For instance, in this initial go at it I'm trying to maximize my Drebin Points by avoiding detection, not killing PMCs, not using healing items, etc. During my next go at this I'm going to work on befriending NON-PMCs by taking out lots of PMCs.

Fog, that's impressive that you beat Raging Raven so quickly! I used a few RPGs on her after I started getting frustrated, but I mostly used a machine gun just to prolong the battle. :p Oh and I totally get where you're coming from on boss battles being disappointing if you mean when you fight them in their second form. The first forms are awesome... the second... why bother.

Mike, glad ya like it!

Now here's an off the wall question... does anyone have a copy of MGS3: Subsistence? If so, did you like the extras that were included with it? (I all ready own MGS3: Snake Eater, but I want to play the original MSX versions of MGS because I hear they're great. Any impressions?)

Funny MGS4 mocking game trailer for Bad Company...

http://gamevideos.com/video/id/19481

Wow, Act 3 was shit.

Watch a cutscene for 10 minutes.
Walk across a city with 3 loading screens.
Watch a 20 minute cut scene.
Kill an easy boss in 2 minutes.
Ride on rails for 5 minutes holding down Aim and Shoot (with 3 fucking pointless loading screens*).
Watch a 40 minute cut scene.
Wonder where the gameplay is for Act 3.

I like the game, but so much of it is just horribly paced. Watching 100 soldiers all do the same animation for 5 minutes doesn't build suspense, it makes me go outside for a smoke.

* the PS3 is a modern game console isn't it? I'm pretty shocked at how much loading is going on for a game no where near as detailed as Assassin's Creed (which streams areas 100 times as big effortlessly on the 360).

Act 4 somewhat makes up for Act 3.

Glad to know it's not just me anymore who thought Act 3 had too many cut scenes. That being said, I actually enjoyed the playable part of Act 3 because the city looked great, and I enjoyed using the tranquilizers against Raven Sword PMCs. I'd add what else I liked about this but I don't want to spoil it for others.

Hey Fog... how'd you like the beginning sequence of Act 4? Pretty interesting huh?! I forgot how far MGS has come over the years.

Glad to know Act 4 is a good one. I'll get around to playing it this weekend.

It was great, I was hoping to play the entire thing. The transition back into the helicopter was nicely done, and the resulting head camo is awesome.

Finished my first go at it...

I actually liked how this game ended because it contained a few "wow, didn't see that coming moments."

Ah what to do now though? Parts of me want to play MGS3 since I never finished it. I stopped off right before the battle with "The End" but of course I don't have my memory card so I'll have to start from scratch.

Oh and for the record... Act 4 was by far and away the best of the bunch. Loved that final battle.

My Review of MGS4.

"The worst B-Movie I have ever played".

I really can't say I liked my first play through of MGS4. The acting and story in the endless cutscenes detract so much from the actual gameplay that one gets detached from actually playing the game.

Now on my second playthrough with a goal of no deaths, no kills, no alerts, no food I am starting to enjoy the game. Had Konami explained in more detail things like camo range I may have had a better time on the first play through.

One issue I have is replaying games, it's something I rarely do. If a game can't entertain me the first time, why should I play it again? It's like watching a movie right after finishing it, you already know what's going to happen.

MGS4 is different. The first play through is to get the fucking story bullshit out of the way, and each play-through after that is to see how many ways you can actually get through the game, becoming the meta-game inside the game. With 5 billion things to unlock it will keep me entertained for quite some time.

Yahtzee has his review up now too.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/99-Metal-Gear-Solid-4