Yup, the big one. MGS5 has released, and I grabbed it in the evening. I'm also playing Armello, but I want at least another match in before I do my first impressions on that. ...though when that match happens is up in the air, since MGS5 will clearly be stealing most of my time. Its just amazing.
Okay getting my nitpicks out of the way, the way the game starts is pretty... borderline terrible. It throws you into a hospital, and you've got like an hour full of barely interactive (but just interactive enough that you can't skip it like a cut-scene) pieces strung together. Some part of my mind, especially during a bit where you hide, was telling me it was just a tightly confined way of doing a tutorial, but no.... its just not. It does have a lot of basic elements slowly progressing, like you do hide some, you do shoot some, and you do learn to walk, but everything else is a full contrast to the entire experience. The tone, the action, the stealth, the fact that this is the first open world game, it all is just gone into what might be confused for a military FPS scripted sequence. If I was trying to introduce someone to this game who didn't know about it before, I will make sure they skip this entire piece... even if they miss a bit of the story in the process. Basically this all could have been done 10 times better in the first real level. The only excuse the hospital scene has, is its decent cut-scenes.
Now that out of the way, let me just talk about how superb everything right after that is, because this just might be one of the best games of this decade! There's just a lot to this all! As soon as the first real level happened, I was just jittery with excitement over just taking out two guys at an outpost. There's just so much to do, and as the game keeps going on even more things come out! There's one slight side of me that is kind of upset at how long some of it takes to get going. I mean I guess it makes sense that you would need a weapons expert before your guns can get customized fully, or you'll need to wait to raise the puppy to your companion, but at the same time I've sunk over 10 hours into the game already and I just want to goof off in a replay with maximum options. Still that's a nitpick because of just how much there is still left in what I do have, and I do love still earning some of my stuff.
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| So much chaos just waiting to be caused |
I've gotten my first S rank by doing crazy stuff already. I left a cardboard box in their way, shot up an escort, stole their prisoner, and fled. Boom, bear rating and S rank. It was fantastic! I've been getting all bear ranks now, so I suppose I'm doing pretty good. Kind of weird that I have to actually look up what they mean, but with that out of the way it feels like its time to replay some missions and work on getting the fox emblem unlocked for my flag. Anyways there's just too much to actually talk about, but in basic sense this is another amazing MGS game, and this time its throwing you into a massive world to play in. They really capitalized on the strategy, and playful elements of the game, while also emphasizing this massive meta-element to the whole thing in the form of Motherbase.
Now... the story and side-stuff is interesting, because everyone keeps saying this is not the Metal Gear game you expected in that area. I can see what they're saying, but I also can't help but disagree a bit. Snake really is a bit closer to being a mute, but here it actually makes sense... and not just because the director wanted the player to feel like snake. Snake wakes up and is clearly left in a broken, murky state, yet he's put in charge of this huge operation. I think its perfectly normal to understand his silence, and his quiet attitude. He's sucking in all of his thoughts, and just tries to execute it when its absolutely necessary. The cut-scenes, while kept shorter and go into less exposition admittedly, do still feel directed by the same MGS guy. They go into these awkward dramatic pauses, get the characters to do weird show-offy stuff (shoot the blades of the helicopter Quiet), have humorous little nods to things, etc. These aren't normal or minimalistic cut-scenes by any nature. Combine that with the natural scarcity you'd have in an open world game, and it feels kind of like what I'd expect. I do however miss the in-game story that comes in the form of codec calls, and I also miss the cut-scenes that go very deep into exposition, but still we all knew those would be cut back, so I can't say I'm too disappointed. Besides, the cassette tapes still make a somewhat solid substitute and are very enriching to hear while on the field. Now its about time I just cut this short, and get back on the field. Besides, I need to earn the fox emblem sometime.
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| Break is over, lets go! |
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