The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is out, and people were saying it was really great! I was like, “Man, I’d like to play a good Metal Gear game again…” and then I realized I had MGS4 just sitting on my shelf, and I had only played the first chapter. Then I played through it and beat it. I’d just like to thank Peace Walker for getting me to beat Guns of the Patriots. Thanks!

Then I’d like to punch Kojima for being so stupid.

Seriously, the ridiculous horribleness of this plot cannot be overstated. Kojima decided that literally every single little stupid thing should be relevant in a really stupid way. Every single character from MGS3 is somehow relevant to this world-wide conspiracy bullshit… it’s just lame.
Here are two minor spoiler examples. The DARPA chief from the original game is SIGINT… just because he had to be involved somehow. Not for any reason reason. Also, Johnny, the guy who exists JUST FOR POOP JOKES gets a ton of time devoted to giving him a happy ending. FOR NO REASON.

What the fuck, Kojima?
Every time a cutscene started, I was overwhelemed by how stupid it was. I mean, MGS has always been a bit over-dramatic, but rarely has it been this in-your-face with stupidity. It beats a player savagely over the head with it for hours on end. Ugh.

When the game actually lets you play, though, it’s really damn fun.

I think my playthrough benefited from having watched that MGS3 LP. It basically showed me how much fun fucking around and not trying to play the game the “right way” with all the sneaking and stuff could be. As such, I actually used guns and killed dudes, and it was a ton of fun running around with the huge arsenal I had, playing with enemies, and being a very old murder machine. With the polygonal head of MGS1 Snake on.

Similarly, the boss fights were a ton of fun, and really well designed. They all took a certain amount of strategy to beat, which was nice. (Granted, since I was playing on easy, I could Kamakaze and dodge some of that strategy if I got annoyed, which was nice as well.) MGS has always done boss fights well, and MGS4 was no exception.

It’s just a shame the game didn’t focus more on the gameplay. I hear that’s what Peace Walker does, and if it can deliver this kind of gameplay without quite as much bullshit, I will be so there. MGS4 doesn’t dethrone MGS3 in any way, but it is pretty solid, if you are willing to skip cutscenes, or go get a snack, or even better, play through with someone else’s save that already has all the guns. Savor each moment of awesome gameplay. It’ll be good, I promise.
Just prepare for Kojima bullshit. Maybe this was his goodbye to such convoluted, unrealistic madness. That’d be cool.