Metal Gear Solid 4: Cutscenes of the Patriots
So I got a PS3 during the holidays. I started playing Metal Gear Solid 4. And then I stopped.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is an awesome game. The graphics are pretty much the best I’ve ever seen on a console. The story is engaging, twisting, and pretty interesting, with its focus on private military corporations and the “war economy.” The gameplay is solid, with a mix of stealth and action, letting you choose whether you want to go full stealth, guns blazing, or mix it up between the two.
But there’s one other thing going on. Cutscenes. A lot of cutscenes. A lot of LONG cutscenes. And when I say long, I mean 10-15 minutes apiece, with some going even longer (and I’ve read one of them runs upwards of 45 minutes).
Now, I don’t really mind cutscenes per se in a game. They help further the plot, provide you a break from playing the game, and can really graphically show off what a console can do.
But I honestly couldn’t deal with them in this game anymore. I have a limited amount of time to play video games, and when I sit down to play for an hour, I want to actually play a video game, not play a video game for 15-20 minutes and watch 45 minutes of cutscenes. I have back episodes of Chuck and Firefly to watch, and I would rather commit 45 minutes of viewing time to those endeavors than to watching a video game.
While I said this story is good, this story isn’t good enough for me to continue to hold my attention through all of these cutscenes. Maybe it’s because I haven’t played a MGS game before now, and if I got all of the past references I would be way more engaged. But I didn’t, and I’m not.
I really wanted to like this game, and I do, but I don’t want to play this game anymore because I feel like all I do is watch cutscenes. And at this point, they just piss me off. And when I get pissed off at a video game (see: Assassin’s Creed), I turn it off.
But if you don’t think you’ll mind them, by all means get this game. Everything else is pretty awesome.
I can’t believe you haven’t seen Firefly yet. What other show that ran a season and a half has sparked a weekly hour-long podcast and several books of critical analysis? Yes, much of that is Whedon Worship at it’s worst, but I highly recommend the show. Maybe I just have a man-crush on Nathan Fillion, and a not-so-man crush on Jewel Staite and Gina Torres.
I’m through episode 10 of Firefly. I completely missed it the first few times around, but I’m getting there. Can’t wait to be disappointed by the lack of resolution.
Fwiw, I finished Assassin’s Creed. And I still don’t know how or why, seeing as I can’t finish games I even like.
Also, what are you talking about lack of resolution. Um, the movie Serenity wraps it all up in 90 min!
Have you already seen the movie (Serenity)? The lack of resolution in the series is somewhat, though not entirely or satisfyingly addressed in the movie.
And, as a bonus, Serenity sucks and is boring!
Leave it to E to reduce the complexity of the Firefly/Serenity world and characters while expounding for a solid week about The Decemberists. You are such a sci-fi fantasy antagonist!
Haven’t seen the movie either. 45 mins of setting up characters I already know will be waiting for me at the end. At least it’s on Blu-ray!
SUMMER GLAU RULEZ!
The only Metal Gear game I ever beat was Metal Gear Solid for Playstation. The gameplay was great, but the cut scenes were too long even back then, and really didn’t make all that much sense. Jeers to lengthy cut scenes.
Jeers? What are you, TV Guide?
SN makes a good point. It’s about time someone took a stand. so, I hereby declare the following for 2009:
HOT: Cutscenes of appropriate length.
NOT: Cutscenes that are too long.
A TIP OF MY HAT TO: appropriate cut scenes
and a WAG OF MY FINGER TO: metal gear solid 4!
An ICE CREAM SOCIAL to: well-done cut scenes.
A KICK WITH A FUCKING STEEL-TOED FUCKING BOOT TO THE MOTHER FUCKING BALLS to: Forsaken 64
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