Setting: Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe, Alaska
Story: You know the drill!
Graphics: Terrific. I like the sun bleached palette of colours. Characters can look realistic to plastic doll like. Landscapes look terrific too.
Sound: Effective, especially in some of the boss battles...e.g. with Crying Wolf.
General observations:
It's probably not a good idea to start this series here. Starting the Mass Effect franchise on PS3 with Mass Effect 2 proved to have a drawback for me...the game referenced so much assumed knowledge I felt that I was missing out. If you don't mind old generation graphics, Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation Network is a good game to start with (the older games are so old gen that they seem a different genre...blocky figures and all that. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of liberty was my first 'real' game when I bought the Playstation 2 (I'd generally buy sports games on the N64 and would quickly exchange or refund non-sporting games on that console due to not liking the interface...as with "GoldenEye")...no doubt due to it getting a great rating on an official Australian Playstation magazine. For some reason I also bought the official guide to that game. Have to say that MGS2 has really shaped my gaming in first person shooters. When I recently played the remastered Splinter Cell trilogy on PS3, I'd take a MGS style approach to the game...even though there was no real need to!
Lastly, I have to put in a good word for the last MGS game I played...MGS3: Snake eater. Even though I haven't really played a great number of games, I've never been as moved as I have in that game...specifically the final fight in that...the reveal before that fight (in one of numerous cutscenes) actually affected me emotionally...it made me misty eyed. That was a great moment in gaming for me...it totally changed the dynamic of the final fight for me.
Good about the game:
For those familiar with the series, there are lots of little "Easter eggs" for you...returning characters, in-jokes and trips down memory lane. I especially got a kick out of the first experience of Alaska, which was a bit befuddling at first.
Bad about the game:
This is the reason I'm scoring the game at around this level...gameplay can be unintuitive, especially around the boss fights. Things are even trickier if you - as I do - try to play the game in which the maker, Hideo Kojima, intended...let's call this "The way". It's probably best to come into this series with a blank sheet...play it how you like. When you to try to follow The Way, things become even more complicated...and harder to achieve. So, this criticism boils down to this...even ordinarily, defeating certain enemies or progressing to the next stage can involve such unintuitive gameplay that you will find yourself resorting to going online for the solution...often. And it's not just the whole 'unintuitive' thing either...gameplay can have so many variables that weeding out the unproductive aspects of your game can be Hellish and time consuming...especially given the limited opportunities to save in this game.
Some examples:
The fight with Vamp. Got frustrated trying to beat him so had to consult my official book to learn the crucial information which would help me defeat him.
The fight with Crying Wolf. Trying to use The Way, this got immensely frustrating. On a positive, I think that I managed to solve this fight My Way...which was superior to the suggestion in the offiicial guidebook. However, the problem is it just took too many attempts, and the reason for that is simple...just too many variables to work out in any way which resembles 'fun'.
I wonder how pleased Hideo would feel with himself if people had his direct number and there were no official guides or help on the internet. It's the kind of game where to get the 'most' out of it, you really need Hideo by your side, telling you what to do and where to go, so that you don't miss anything...and taking the controller when things get to hard. However, in the game's favour, I did manage to beat this game - with help from the official guidebook at times - on the "Solid Normal" difficulty level...which is one difficulty level below the "hard" level..and two below the hardest level, which you have to unlock...which I did.
I completed the game in 21:37:02 hours. My main ranking was "pigeon", along with "inchworm", "lobster", "hyena" and "scorpion". I actually prefer this ranking system to often stupid trophies on offer in other games...although some of the ranks on offer are pretty stupid or jokes.
Parts of the game where I struggled due to either trying to follow The Way, or just due to the DIFFICULT nature of the game: - The first battle with what I call the 'ninjas'...I'm replaying the game now and am sort of hoping I can defeat them this time following The Way (I got past them first time using a non-kosher methods).
Problems:
Story: You know the drill!
Graphics: Terrific. I like the sun bleached palette of colours. Characters can look realistic to plastic doll like. Landscapes look terrific too.
Sound: Effective, especially in some of the boss battles...e.g. with Crying Wolf.
General observations:
It's probably not a good idea to start this series here. Starting the Mass Effect franchise on PS3 with Mass Effect 2 proved to have a drawback for me...the game referenced so much assumed knowledge I felt that I was missing out. If you don't mind old generation graphics, Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation Network is a good game to start with (the older games are so old gen that they seem a different genre...blocky figures and all that. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of liberty was my first 'real' game when I bought the Playstation 2 (I'd generally buy sports games on the N64 and would quickly exchange or refund non-sporting games on that console due to not liking the interface...as with "GoldenEye")...no doubt due to it getting a great rating on an official Australian Playstation magazine. For some reason I also bought the official guide to that game. Have to say that MGS2 has really shaped my gaming in first person shooters. When I recently played the remastered Splinter Cell trilogy on PS3, I'd take a MGS style approach to the game...even though there was no real need to!
Lastly, I have to put in a good word for the last MGS game I played...MGS3: Snake eater. Even though I haven't really played a great number of games, I've never been as moved as I have in that game...specifically the final fight in that...the reveal before that fight (in one of numerous cutscenes) actually affected me emotionally...it made me misty eyed. That was a great moment in gaming for me...it totally changed the dynamic of the final fight for me.
Good about the game:
For those familiar with the series, there are lots of little "Easter eggs" for you...returning characters, in-jokes and trips down memory lane. I especially got a kick out of the first experience of Alaska, which was a bit befuddling at first.
Bad about the game:
This is the reason I'm scoring the game at around this level...gameplay can be unintuitive, especially around the boss fights. Things are even trickier if you - as I do - try to play the game in which the maker, Hideo Kojima, intended...let's call this "The way". It's probably best to come into this series with a blank sheet...play it how you like. When you to try to follow The Way, things become even more complicated...and harder to achieve. So, this criticism boils down to this...even ordinarily, defeating certain enemies or progressing to the next stage can involve such unintuitive gameplay that you will find yourself resorting to going online for the solution...often. And it's not just the whole 'unintuitive' thing either...gameplay can have so many variables that weeding out the unproductive aspects of your game can be Hellish and time consuming...especially given the limited opportunities to save in this game.
Some examples:
The fight with Vamp. Got frustrated trying to beat him so had to consult my official book to learn the crucial information which would help me defeat him.
The fight with Crying Wolf. Trying to use The Way, this got immensely frustrating. On a positive, I think that I managed to solve this fight My Way...which was superior to the suggestion in the offiicial guidebook. However, the problem is it just took too many attempts, and the reason for that is simple...just too many variables to work out in any way which resembles 'fun'.
I wonder how pleased Hideo would feel with himself if people had his direct number and there were no official guides or help on the internet. It's the kind of game where to get the 'most' out of it, you really need Hideo by your side, telling you what to do and where to go, so that you don't miss anything...and taking the controller when things get to hard. However, in the game's favour, I did manage to beat this game - with help from the official guidebook at times - on the "Solid Normal" difficulty level...which is one difficulty level below the "hard" level..and two below the hardest level, which you have to unlock...which I did.
I completed the game in 21:37:02 hours. My main ranking was "pigeon", along with "inchworm", "lobster", "hyena" and "scorpion". I actually prefer this ranking system to often stupid trophies on offer in other games...although some of the ranks on offer are pretty stupid or jokes.
Parts of the game where I struggled due to either trying to follow The Way, or just due to the DIFFICULT nature of the game: - The first battle with what I call the 'ninjas'...I'm replaying the game now and am sort of hoping I can defeat them this time following The Way (I got past them first time using a non-kosher methods).
- The bike ride in Eastern Europe. Having read the official guide book, I might be able to follow The Way this time...but it still seems way too tough...and the cheat that the official guidebook offers - whilst not original in this franchise - is so unintuitive that plain old gamers are likely to miss it and the higher rankings on offer if you follow The Way.
- The final battle. Winning felt so random...after repeated failures. Honestly thought I could not complete the game here...would have given this game a rounded up 7/10 in that case.
Problems:
- Not a fan of quicktime events...which this game has. Even worse is when your battery powered controller goes to sleep during the very long cutscenes...and you miss quicktime events!