Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

[Ayen]

I would have rented it anyway now that I have a place that offers a full month of free rentals with no late fees, so good or bad it won't hinder me much when I do have time to play. I feel out of the loop, though, since I haven't touched any of the PSP games and most likely won't.

[Bolivar]

Portable Ops was interesting but the controls were garbage and it wasn't a Kojima game.

Peace Walker is the most impressive handheld game I've played, a satisyingly playable, free camera third person stealth action game. The story is pretty good and co-op Metal Gear is just as fun as you would hope it could be. It's probably best to play the HD remaster on PS3/360. The game is a little easy, though.

[Wolf Kanno]

I wouldn't call Peace Walker the most impressive handheld, I mean it has to download half the game to the Memory Stick just to function and like most Mission based Games, many of the missions were samey especially the boss battles which had little variation. The control set-up is better than Portable OPs but I wouldn't call POPs controls "garbage" since they got the job done, of anything both games pretty much proved to me that you can't really get an authentic MGS Experience on a handheld as both games suffer from having awkward camera controls that result in the rest of the controls and A.I. being dumbed down to compensate for it.

[Bolivar]

I guess you've just played more impressive handheld games than I have, as the controls were always perfect for me.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think you and I have different standards and needs is really at play here.

I've come to appreciate handhelds as their own thing, not just some system that tries to emulate their console brethren into a portable experience cause not all games work as a portable experience, instead I like my handhelds to be game that just make more sense as a portable experience. I would say The World Ends With You was the most impressive handheld I ever played but that's because it's obvious that the entire game was built around it's system and using all of its features. It was not a console game being forcibly changed and rearranged to work on something it has no business being on.

MGS needs a proper camera control and while I appreciate PW's different control schemes which try to make it as comfortable as possible, I feel none of them make up for the lack of a right control stick and as you yourself admit, the game is easy, largely for the reason that the enemies are compensating for the roughshod quick fix and partially because the PSP can't handle a game as complicated as the MGS series. Kojima should stick to consoles when it comes to the MGS franchise.

[Dat Matt]

I've never played a Metal Gear game before, but I've heard that this game takes about <2 hours to finish. The game received a huge price drop on Amazon from RP £45 to £20 recently. That's pretty telling.

I've heard MGS games have a reputation for being short, but goodness that's short.

[Bolivar]

I think you and I have different standards and needs is really at play here.

I've come to appreciate handhelds as their own thing, not just some system that tries to emulate their console brethren into a portable experience cause not all games work as a portable experience, instead I like my handhelds to be game that just make more sense as a portable experience. I would say The World Ends With You was the most impressive handheld I ever played but that's because it's obvious that the entire game was built around it's system and using all of its features. It was not a console game being forcibly changed and rearranged to work on something it has no business being on.

MGS needs a proper camera control and while I appreciate PW's different control schemes which try to make it as comfortable as possible, I feel none of them make up for the lack of a right control stick and as you yourself admit, the game is easy, largely for the reason that the enemies are compensating for the roughshod quick fix and partially because the PSP can't handle a game as complicated as the MGS series. Kojima should stick to consoles when it comes to the MGS franchise.

I always thought the local co-op and mission structure worked wonderfully for a portable game. It's kind of hard to take your control qualms as genuine when that's what the game was lauded for and you just got done praising Portable Ops.

I think you're reaching a bit.

[Wolf Kanno]

I never said Portable OPs controls are great, I said they got the job done which is what I'm asking for but while I will agree with most that PW is a huge improvement I still feel it falls very short of its lofty goals. The camera i an issue in both games and I do feel PW is a huge improvement but it doesn't change that the camera controls weaken the rest of the experience and I spent every moment of the game wishing I was playing this game on a console with a proper controller.

Besides I'm not the one being stuck up about POps not being a Kojima game , for not having his vision it was still a well made game considering.

I just don't feel that PW brought as much of an improvement as I feel people are acting like it did. Most of PW's ideas are just Kojima re-tinkering with concepts and designs that POps created such as recruiting soldiers, the home base for building weapons, the comic book story cut-scenes, and most of the themes of the plot about The Boss' legacy and Big Boss finally trying to move on from it. After playing through all of POps, PW just kind of felt a bit like a rehash so I'm sorry if I'm not as impressed as you feel I should be.

With that said, I wouldn't be heart broken if Kojima finally (and I do feel this is true) announces that POps is non-canon. As much as I defend it, it was not exactly my favorite in the series either and I would love for all the changes to Gray Fox be retcon.

[Del Murder]

I'd pay 5 bucks for it but nothing more. Seems like a DLC more than an actual game. From what I've heard it's pretty straightforward and lacks the twists and crazy boss fights that this series is known for.

[Mercen-X]

This is the one. My cousin mentioned this past weekend that had got the new MGS. When he mentioned the title, I thought it sounded lame and assumed he made it up. Turns out it's just lame.

[Pumpkin]

Sharky just finished this after borrowing it from a friend. He didn't like the voice change. I asked if he liked it and he said yes and I asked if he $30 worth of enjoyed it and he said no.

[Psychotic]

I'm just giving this thread a bump as I know a lot of what put people off was the price relative to the length, and it's now one of this month's free PlayStation Plus games. I've picked it up and just begun... I really can't approve of Snake's new voice. It's just not right.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I agree about the voice. When I think of a video game character that is known for their voice, Snake is one of the first to come to mind. Maybe if the current voice was the voice all along it wouldn't matter, but David Hayter is Solid Snake and Big Boss now. That's just how it is. It doesn't matter if you explain it with story, you should still use Hayter. He's a voice actor, I'm sure he can change it up if he needs to. It feels troutty.

As for the game. It was really a lot of fun, but yes, it was also definitely a demo that they decided to charge for. That's just how it is. I'm excited for the game, and I was excited to play Ground Zeroes, but I'm also very pleased I didn't have to pay for it. I in now way financially supported Konami's dick move and stand by it.

As for krissy's concern about (SPOILER) Paz having a bomb in her vagina. Unless I totally missed something (possible) it was sewn into her abdomen. When they lift up her shirt you can see the suture marks and all that. Still gruesome, but wholly different in vibe and approach.

I just went back to jog my memory and (SPOILER) yeah, maybe they did. I never thought of it going there. The human abdomen is pretty large, so I figured they just sewed it inside an organ or hid it elsewhere in there. Maybe they did drop the V bomb.

[Mirage]

I'd pay 5 bucks for it but nothing more. Seems like a DLC more than an actual game. From what I've heard it's pretty straightforward and lacks the twists and crazy boss fights that this series is known for.

It's basically just a prologue. I would be surprised if it isn't included in the main game.

[Bolivar]

Change is hard but I like Kiefer Sutherland, I think he's going to do a great job. You can always keep faith with the rumor that the only reason they got a different voice actor for Big Boss is because they needed to distinguish him from Solid Snake, who takes over halfway through the game as the main protagonist, voiced by David Hayter ("kept you waiting, huh?") Basically the MGS2 Raiden switch but in reverse.

I've said all I had to say when the game came out a year ago, I'll just reiterate - if you only play the main story, no, it's not worth it. But the other side missions and everything in total on the disc gave me more hours of playtime than many $60 games did. Gameplay, technology, and story-wise it's better than most of them as well.