This summer I am having a crack at a MGS marathon going from 1 - 4 with Peace Walker and maybe Portable Ops and MGA thrown in as well. I've only played Guns of the Patriots before so this is all very new and I should have a much better understanding of events come 4, or not...
So far I'm about half way through MGS1 and despite its age there is something really special about it, even for someone like me where there is not much nostalgia given I never played it before. It does highlight how much games have changed though for better and for worse. Some of the design decisions seem bizarre in retrospect. I had no idea about how to tackle Psycho-Mantis for example, I'd imagine it was confusing at the time figuring that one out but today it makes no sense in the players head to do some of the things MGS expects you to try. I find myself having to approach the game very differently as it pre-dates the laws of current, thought out game mechanics. One point required me to backtrack through the whole game just to find a sniper rifle yet there is no prompting that you should do this and modern video game logic is to never go back but always push on. Another issue is that the puzzles are often placed between MGS's renowned dialogue which often means the incentive to figure things out via trial and error just isn't there given the repetition which comes from re-loading.
This aside there is still a little magic here that is so lacking in many of the current gen games with overly formulaic designs where so much just feels like going through the motions until the next check point. I'm looking forward to MGS2&3 and then going through 4 again to see if they flow.
So far I'm about half way through MGS1 and despite its age there is something really special about it, even for someone like me where there is not much nostalgia given I never played it before. It does highlight how much games have changed though for better and for worse. Some of the design decisions seem bizarre in retrospect. I had no idea about how to tackle Psycho-Mantis for example, I'd imagine it was confusing at the time figuring that one out but today it makes no sense in the players head to do some of the things MGS expects you to try. I find myself having to approach the game very differently as it pre-dates the laws of current, thought out game mechanics. One point required me to backtrack through the whole game just to find a sniper rifle yet there is no prompting that you should do this and modern video game logic is to never go back but always push on. Another issue is that the puzzles are often placed between MGS's renowned dialogue which often means the incentive to figure things out via trial and error just isn't there given the repetition which comes from re-loading.
This aside there is still a little magic here that is so lacking in many of the current gen games with overly formulaic designs where so much just feels like going through the motions until the next check point. I'm looking forward to MGS2&3 and then going through 4 again to see if they flow.
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