Metal Gear Solid 4

[EvilBoris]

Awesome graphical effect alert!

When there is a cloud of dust from say , an explosion, the real time shadows cast in the cloud instead of on the ground

[Dogg Thang]

expect to be sitting waiting for 3 minutes if you do find somewhere to hide.

Sounds exciting. You wouldn't believe the kicks I get at the bus stop in the morning. Sometimes I'm waiting ten minutes or more.

[Rossco]

Someone said somewhere about first and seconds installs? Whats all that mean? Do you install the game so much until you get so far and then have to install more files later on or something like that?

[saturn-gamer]

Initial install takes 8 minutes.

Before every act, there is a 3 minute install. There are 5 acts.

Oh, and for the people wondering about the rumoured existence of the 90 min cutscene:

->Open Spoiler<-

Yes, its there and its the ending.

[EvilBoris]

Sounds exciting. You wouldn't believe the kicks I get at the bus stop in the morning. Sometimes I'm waiting ten minutes or more.

Well it's kinda the point of being stealthy, so you don't have to endure that boringness.

[Bassman]

Up to Chapter 3. The game installs before each new chapter (about 3 minutes worth).

Decided to do a load on dying (better DP bonus) and had to go back 90 minutes to kill the first "boss" again. Took abut 25 minutes to catch up skipping cut scenes. I am now saving whenever I get control for a new section.

[Shozuki]

brilliant, absolutely brilliant. MGS4 is an incdredible peice of software my fave part so far:

->Open Spoiler<-

when you meet Meryl and her team and fight those soldiers, excellent custscene before the fight too

[EvilBoris]

I just realised that this time round they have actually lipsync the english dialogue

What's up with the Apple products? I've just seen the 2nd one

[Dogg Thang]

Well it's kinda the point of being stealthy, so you don't have to endure that boringness.

Yeah, I was just being a tit. The stealth is what it's all about.

One of the things I loved about MGS was the overhead game setup with radar that very much accepted it was a game. MGS3, in my own personal opinion, lost that by giving similar stealth goals but in non-uniform locations, no radar and the crappiest camera seen in games. What it expected me to do and the tools it gave me were at odds.

So how does MGS4 do with all this? Does it bring the radar back? Or improve visibility at all?

[SuperBeatBoy]

So guys are you riking it? ;P

[Daragon]

Out of interest, but does the game have multiple difficulties ala MGS3? If there's just the one and it's a case of "get spotted once = game over" then I imagine my playtime to be minimal at best. Nowt wrong with having that as a difficulty setting for those MG hardcores amongst us, sadly I don't fall into that category.

[EvilBoris]

So how does MGS4 do with all this? Does it bring the radar back? Or improve visibility at all?

It's ditched the full blown radar but enhanced the camoflage side of things from MGS3, you have a noise based radar instead, similar to one of the MGS3 ones. In scenarios where there is a lot of noise, your own camoflage properties work better, presumbly because people are too busy being shot at by the opposite side.

You do have access to a map , but you cannot see enemies on it.
The camera is fully controllable in this one and there is an additional device that basically shows how close you are to an enemy (or more often than not, how close/at risk you are. This is useful in places when you are hiding and visibility is restricted.
The actual environments suit themselves much better to stealth than the jungle of MGS3 also, lots more things to peer around and places to crawl on/under.

[EvilBoris]

how does it play in 1st person? any comparable to a standard FPS?

I've played with the FP view a lot more, I've used it in a few big gunfights.

The view is very similar to the aiming view in the COD games, it is more than adequate for short periods of shooting, but you'll want to let go of the L1 button for proper movement.

[EvilBoris]

Out of interest, but does the game have multiple difficulties ala MGS3? If there's just the one and it's a case of "get spotted once = game over" then I imagine my playtime to be minimal at best. Nowt wrong with having that as a difficulty setting for those MG hardcores amongst us, sadly I don't fall into that category.

Erm, did you pick the hardest setting in the last game you played?
That has never been the case in MGS

[Daragon]

I thought in subsistence there was a parameter which meant an instant game over, what was that?