Same ol’ Solid Snake

First things first – I was NOT able to obtain a copy of the Limited Edition of Metal Gear Solid 4. Somewhat disappointing, but to be expected if it wasn’t reserved.  The only real bonus I was looking to get out of it was the soundtrack – hopefully this can be downloaded at some point in the future.

Now to the beginning of my tale (I can’t really think of a better transitional phrase right now.)  I did decide to go ahead and pick up MGS4 at midnite from the nearest Gamestop.  It was a great thing that I had it preordered since they were only selling the preordered copies and would not sell to anyone else at midnite.  The crew present at the opening was your typical gamer crowd (including at least one person with a belly hanging out of their clothing.)  Was there about 45 minutes before midnite just in case the line got long (it didn’t.)

The Gamestop website made it sound like every store would have trivia contests, Big Boss costume contests, and first looks at the game.  Apparently this Gamestop didn’t get the memo.  Everyone was just hanging out doing their own thing – one guy on his DS, two just browsing the store, an employee playing DBZ: Burst Limit, and the rest of us watching him.  Most comments about the DBZ game were negative (even though the visuals do look great) and it seemed like a good way to waste time as the clock stroked closer to midnite.

Finally, after getting the game, I jetted home.  The initial install took about 8 minutes and was accompanied with a chain smoking Solid Snake as well as some great tips from the Kojima crew.  Some of the highlights included:

• Reminding me to take a 15 minute break for every hour of gameplay.  This confused me since there are probably cutscenes of over an hour.
• An environmentally friendly suggestion for proper disposal of cigarette ashes and butts.
• A health tip to play in well lit rooms and to play a good distance from the TV.
• The game could, in fact, cause burn-in on non LCD projection TVs – including plasmas.

After the longest 8 minutes of the day (nite…morning?), I finally got into the game.  The opening is interesting as there is some live-action footage before the game actually starts.  I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be treated as “trailers” before a movie or something else entirely.  After this seemingly waste of time, we finally get into the opening movie for MGS4.  Kojima makes sure you know this is supposed to look like a movie from the start.  The biggest indicator of this is the effect of making it look as though the scenes were recorded (with reflections and scratches on the “lens” that recorded the scenes.)

Throughout the next hour or so, there is some stop-and-go play with plenty of movies in-between as you make your way through the tutorial.  At this point, I have probably only played about 2 hours of the game (I did actually have to go to work 3 hours AFTER I stopped playing.)

So far my initial impressions are mixed- although not surprising.  The game looks amazing.  Simply the best graphics I have seen and am wondering if Kojima wasn’t lying when he said the PS3 has been pushed to the max for this game.  The gameplay has some good new enhancements with the Octocamo, Solid Eye, and Threat Ring.  However, it carries from MGS2 and MGS3 with what seems like more time focused on the cutscenes than the actual gameplay itself.  Which is OK as long as the movies remain exciting and stay away from diatribes (which I’m sure they will get to shortly into the game.) One interesting twist with the cutscenes is there is some actual interactivity to them.  I was plesantly surprised when I was scrambling to get my thumbs and fingers wrapped back around the controller so I could participate.

Well – that is all for now.  Need to get back to playing more MGS4 to get a better feel for it so I can provide even more impressions of the game.

As a final side note, I will eventually go ahead and get some CSS changes made to this page.  Looks just a tad dreary right now.

Thanks in advance for your time.