Gave the strategy guide a good look through, and it's put together REALLY well.  The book is published by Piggyback Interactive (and not Prima, as originally thought), who was also responsible for the superb MGS3 The Official Guide.  MGS4's pegs itself as "The Complete Official Guide", and from what I see, I think it deserves that moniker.  I can't believe the amount of stuff that I missed the first time around, pretty much making multiple successive playthroughs a gimme.  I'm gonna be busy with the game for a long, long time.

The guide was apparently developed on-site at Konami, and the wealth of information certainly attests to that.  On that count, by far the best part of the book is the final chapter, which is a clear and thorough retroactive summary of the entire Metal Gear saga.  If anything about the series ever remained unclear, this chapter is THE definitive, horse-from-the-mouth explanation.  It does cover the events of MGS4, all the way up to the ending, so you'll want to completely avoid this section until you've finished the game.

You can check out samples from the guide here; don't worry, there's no spoilers.

http://www.piggybackinteractive.com/en/ … d_guide=39

Finally, a heads-up that Circuit City is selling the standard version of the guide for only $9.99 this week.  That's a hell of a steal, and I picked one up just so that I can have a dog-earred copy to leaf through.

.

This happened in MGS3, too. I just finished my no alert/no kills run (woo! Stealth camo!), and I noticed after a noticeable number of cutscenes, the M1911A1 would make it out of my backpack and into my #1 weapon slot. It looks very much like the M22 in the item windo and also has a suppressor, so there were a few times when I started after the cutscene and went to pop someone and saw blood. Total bummer, but after that happened a few times I started getting smart enough to double check the gun model before I started shooting the place up.

After a three-day hiatus (not my choice), I sunk a good amount of time into it today, and just passed the (first?) boss fight of Act 2.

Holy CRAP, that was intense. I want more bosses as soon as humanly possible.

Yeah, the first boss battle is incredible; it's definitely one of my favorites in the game.  I intentionally turned off the Solid Eye to prolong the battle -- and to heighten the suspense. :)

Need a watch to go with that Bluetooth headset, Angela?
http://kotaku.com/5017626/the-extremely … mgs4-watch

That does look pretty sweet; my fandom is percolating, but I've gotta resist.  *uses one of Snake's syringes to calm self*

Yeah, as much as some people love the "gun porn," I think the selection does border a bit on superfluous.  Even though I'm well into my second playthrough, I don't think I've even messed with a third of the weapons that I have in my inventory.  As such, I was able to get by pretty well with these five basic weapons: the M4 Custom, the Mk.II Pistol, the M14EBR, an RPG, and the P90.  The M4 Custom is truly the ideal weapon for most of the game; it's the most versatile in terms of customization, and I didn't hesitate to soup it up with a red dot sight, laser scope, dozens of suppressors, and a foregrip. (I never really bothered with the F. Light for any of the weapons - I guess it might be useful for the nighttime sequences, but using it strictly to blind the enemy seems unnecessary, since if you're that close already, you'd be in clear shooting range or in a position to perform CQC.)  The Mk.II Pistol I keep for the few areas I needed to go for no-kills, or when I wanted to do non-lethal take-downs of the B&B.  I went with the M14EBR sniper rifle because, despite its cheap relative cost to other rifles in its class, I found it works incredibly well.  It might not have the power of, say, an SVD, but if you're aiming for a headshot, it's still an instant kill.  It's also the only sniper rifle that can be fitted with a suppressor, plus it holds a generous 20 rounds, AND it has auto-fire.  I think I abused the RPG far more than I should've, basically creaming most bosses with it; the ability to buy RPG ammo on-the-fly made my acts of killing even more over-indulgent.  Finally, I use the P90, which is what I rely on when it comes to straight-up shoot outs.  It's got a huge magazine and it's pretty powerful.  The P90 can also be fitted with a suppressor, but I deliberately don't put one on - it's a waste if you're using them during full alert phases. 

Which brings up two of my problems with the Drebin weapon system, one niggling and one severe.  The niggling one stems from the fact that you can't equip or de-equip a suppressor off any given weapon from in-game, like you were able to do in MGS3.  You instead need to go into the weapons customization screen just to take off the suppressor - an annoyance when you find yourself in a full-on battle where a suppressor simply isn't needed.  That's precisely why I keep the M4 Custom and P90 together, so that I can switch between a quiet automatic and a noisy one.  It's just bewildering that for all the great user-based options that Konami's put into the game, they failed to put in this simple option.

The severe one perhaps isn't of the Drebin System itself, but with the way saving your game is handled this time around.  I've always liked MGS's saving system, where all your progress is saved once you reach the next checkpoint - which is generally the following area screen.  MGS4 still uses the same system, but it's severely flawed now for a variety of reasons.  The first problem is the fact that some areas are now so vastly stretched out from checkpoint to checkpoint, that you could be making some really excellent progress - and then trip an alarm and bite the bullet before getting to the next checkpoint.  What this means is that any changes you've done within the weapons/items customization screen, any purchases you've made in the Drebin Shop - if you die, all of those changes are wiped out and resetted. This has by far been the biggest annoyance I have with the game, because I know that if there's a tough situation ahead, I'd want to make all the necessary preparations before tackling it.  And you can't always rely on the trick of going back to the area, make your changes, and enter the new area again before saving - because sometimes they don't give you an option to go backwards; they simply plop you right into the new one. 

It's irking because you can still basically save anywhere at anytime; they'll still start you off at your last check point, but would it have killed them to give you the opportunity to at least save your Drebin stats?

I watched a friend play the intro of this game and it looked *terrific*. Very pretty, even though it's odd to see a MGS game take place in a war zone. It felt very CoD4ish.

I personally can't play it because I don't have a PS3... although I'm considering getting one. I recently got some unexpected money and I can either buy the console or put it into savings. The latter would probably be the responsible move but dammit, I want to play MGS4! Either way, my hands are tied until the 80-gig bundle gets back into stores. I refuse to buy the 40-gig PS3 (widely available) that lacks PS2 compatibility.

(To make the investment more appealing, there are other reasons I want the PS3, like Blu-Ray, a decent upscaling DVD player and obviously, the PS2 upscaling. I once tried to connect my PS2 to the HDTV and the results were... sad.)

I still haven't played MGS3. I really should.

Yeah, I'm soon finding that out with my new TV.  It's not enough that it looks awful, but the lag is just as bad, rendering most of my action-based games (of which is made up of about 95% of my collection) pretty much unplayable.  Which is strange, because my previous Sharp Aquos played titles just fine.  But yeah, if you want your PS2 games looking semi-decent on your HDTV, definitely go for a BC model.

You definitely should.  Though the story is a direct continuation of MGS2, there are several crucial tie-ins to the story elements of MGS3 as well.  Very crucial, in fact.

Seconded. MGS3 is great.

Edit: And anyone who hasn't played it yet is a tool.

Guess I'm a tool, though in my defense I did try and buy the MGS 1~3 Box today but didn't because my local EB didn't have a sealed one. I wasn't taking the sample one with a ton of stickers on it as getting those off the damn box would be "fun." I'm really sick of always getting the damn display copy when ever I buy a game, I usually let it slide but just couldn't this time... didn't we bring this up in the Contra thread?

Edit:

I'm going to try the other nearby town for a copy tomorrow.

Huh... Probably not a good thing that I don't really remember the plot to MGS2. I remember that it *really* confused me. Fortunately, there is always Wikipedia!

And yay for being a tool!

Wikipedia is good, but you might also consider the Metal Gear retrospective Gametrailers did recently.
I know it refreshed MY memory.

http://www.gametrailers.com/retrospective.php

I finished this early this morning. I'm so glad it's over.

So is that, "I'm so glad it's over because it was awesome," or "I'm so glad it's over because I can put it behind me"? Details, man, (non-spoiler) details! You needn't be positive if that's the case, but at least be verbose.

For my part, I wrapped up today having just started Act 3. Spoiler-choked thoughts abound:

Tracking was pretty fun, actually. It's probably too much to hope they'll make a boss fight out of it again (like The End), but it was fun while it lasted.

Good lord, the Raiden vs Vamp fight/dance-off was absolutely ludicrous. Crazier than Advent Children by a Texas mile. Not that I wasn't entertained - I was laughing my ass off. It'll be interesting to see if they can out-ridiculous Raiden's breakdance-swing-two-Gekkos-by-their-tethers-to-helicopter-into-the-air.

It's gratifying to know one of the earliest assumptions I had about the series (that Big Boss wasn't actually dead) was completely corre--well, half-correct. My original thought after MGS1 & 2 was that Ocelot was Big Boss. But hey.

Hot damn, European Snake is wearing Gillian Seed's trenchcoat! Happy Snatcher Reference Dance!

My apologies - I should have written a longer post but I had just gone through it on another message board, meant to post more here but just didn't get to it.

Unfortunately, I meant the latter.

I adored the music, which was just stunning all the way through. I also really loved that this was a real ending, which tied every single thing together. Now, at times, the process of bringing it all together really weakened some of the stuff from previous games, like SPOILERS FROM THE END OF THE GAME SO DON'T READ THESE YET PANDA (have to be highlighted obviously!)the Patriots just being the support crew from MGS3 took away all mystery and I just didn't buy that they could be the same huge secret all-powerful Patriots from MGS2. And the revelation of Ocelot being hypnotised was actually a bit cack within this game because it rendered the Snake/Ocelot fights meaningless. It wasn't Snake vs Liquid, brother vs brother, les enfants terrible, sons of the legendary soldier. It was old man Snake vs deluded hypnotised guy. Actually, I could have done without that whole Big Boss sequence. It added nothing but another 40 minutes to the game.

But, like I said, I did like that he really put an end to the story. I admire that.

I also loved the references to the previous games. The opening of Act 4 was great fun and Snake waking from the dream sequence was one of my favourite moments, with Otocon telling me to change discs at the exact point it happened in the first game being a close second. That was all great stuff.

But the game itself? Like, the actual game? I thought it was fairly atrocious.

SPOILERS FOR THE ACTS BELOW SO FEEL SAFE TO HIGHLIGHT BITS FROM THE PARAGRAPHS YOU'VE FINISHED.

As I had mentioned in a previous post, Act 1 revealed a massive flaw right from the start: someone in the development of this game wanted it to be a war game. And this game is simply not equipped in any shape or form to be that. The controls are clunky, unintuitive (even for someone who has played through every single MGS game) and severely limited. I don't think I could name a game in the last five years that has a worse control system. But people argue this works for MGS games. Yeah, as outdated as it is, it sort of does. But this game opens as a war game and Otocon's reminders that this is still a sneaking mission just seem to conflict with everything in Act 1. Someone couldn't decide what this was, or was being told it had to be a certain thing. The escape from the building in Act 1 is the worst, most hideous, example of this. Snake making his way all around and around a building to get out, because he can't jump anything that's waist high, with the most basic AI repeating the same patterns over and over and Snake not having decent firefight controls is the height of where this all went wrong. Control works for MGS type stuff? Maybe, but what the hell is this section?

Act 2 at least sets up some sneaking. But it seems Kojima got tops on level design from Square. It's all path, path, open area for encounter, path, path, open area for encounter and repeat. You could interchange the map with Crisis Core and nobody would notice. Piss poor design. And then a repetitive and unimaginative on-rails shooting bit.

Act 3 is like the equivalent of one mission in an entire GTA game. It would count as about .5% of the game in GTA but it's a whole act here. I'll mark spoilers even for gameplay from here (and of course story). One single 'follow this guy' run in a city that doesn't in any way feel like it was ever lived in, in spite of the photographic textures. A bloody massive conversation. And then yet another repetitive and unimaginative on-rails shooting bit. And that's it for the entire act. Oh, there's a boss fight too actually. So maybe it's one and a bit missions from GTA.

Now at this point, I was close to just chucking it in. And I think, had I done so, I would have been pretty justified saying that this 'game' is an utter pile of steaming crap. But I was so close to just getting to the bloody end of this chore and finding out what happens to Snake that I went on. I had invested play in MGS1, 2, 3 and half of this so...

Act 4, in a surprise move, contains some gameplay. Yeah the nostalgic setting helps, but it also reminds me what's missing - avoiding cameras, guards, using chaff grenades, stun grenades, scanning for mines, setting up C4, Nikita missiles, etc, etc, etc. You know, like, sneaking missions. That thing Otocon said we were on at the start. Would be fine if all that gameplay was replaced by something else but all we get in the place of all that is octocamo. But there are some good gameplay sections in here. Just a few but, still, better than nothing, eh? Two decent boss fights. Okay, so the Rex bit going up the same corridor over and over was cheap and rubbish (repeating the same sections seems to be this game's trademark) but, once out in the open, it got better. Yeah, there's a game here.

Act 5 has just one tiny barely structured sneaking section and two boss fights, one of which looks pretty but is rubbish to play. That's it. For the whole act. Oh, but it takes about three hours to get through with the amount of cut scenes.

And on the cut scenes - perhaps I should have mentioned them talking about Act 3 because that was the first one that felt like there was much more watching than playing. The cut scenes look pretty. Clearly, these are where all the work went because some of the textures in the gameplay sections are seriously nasty (best looking game? Not a bloody chance. Nice looking movies, average looking game). Okay so we all knew a huge percentage of this game was going to be cut scenes, not game. But, on top of that, it turns out that a huge percentage of the cut scenes are just a few people talking. Over and over. Conversations that go on for 20 minutes that have about 30 seconds worth of information or story. These people don't shut up. And most of it is boring as hell. And yet there's the fear that if I skip them, I'll miss that important nugget in the 30 seconds of actual info buried in there.

So there were a few good Raiden fights to watch and the rest just ended up a search for cleavage shots or camel-toe to pass the time while these people waffled on about cack I didn't care about. Far too overwritten. For a game with some excellent characters and mythology, there was no need for it. They... just... wouldn't... shut... up.

And they weren't half as emotional as I think Kojima thinks they were.

So all I really got out of playing this was an end to the story and some nice nods to some games I liked.

But there's people gushing over this game. There's always differences of opinion with games. That's normal but I haven't played a game with a worse control system or level design in years. Maybe one exists, but I haven't played it. This game is wrong in so many ways. Even if the story is great, which I'm not all that sure it is, would it be enough? If ET on the Atari was bundled with the movie, would it have gone down in history as a great game? I don't know. I don't get it.

But I loved the music. And I so, so, so wish they bring out an art book that contains the art from MGS3 and 4. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

Pretty much agree with everything you said, Jay, with the sole exception that I don't care for the music at all.
I find myself playing this game to see the next cutscene (cutscenes here RULE by the way) and the game itself just gets in the way.
Sneaking is half-assed and uninteresting and just reminds me of how incredibly much better the Splinter Cell series is in this regard.
I like the graphics and the story, a LOT, but I find myself constantly reminded that in terms of gameplay, this game feels like its about 15 years old...

Ah. Well, that's a pity. I'll go over the post in finer detail once I'm done. Apparently I'm halfway through now (Act 3)?

I wasn't keen on Act 1 myself (the first chapters to these games always seem to be the weakest), but as I said, I enjoyed Act 2 pretty well. Light-spoilerish gameplay highlight: Marching around the Armament Camp with military disguise in broad dawnlight while my favorite MGS3 piece, The Fury, played on the iPod. I even marched in rhythm. Such a dork.

If I've a prevailing issue at this point...well, I'm going to sound like my mother for a moment so bear with me.

I'm really not in favor of the coarsening of videogaming. MGS1 drew the line at 'bastard', MGS2 stopped just shy of saying 'Christ' (strange since the Game Boy game had no compunctions about using it), MGS3 added the trifecta of 'bitch', 'whore', and 'shit' (once), and now MGS4 uses 'shit' freely and has even tossed out 'f---ing'. And you know, it doesn't feel right.

I know the counter-argument of course. "Maturity, warzone, that's what adults say, psychotic killers don't say 'gosh-darned.'" I get all that. But you know what? Back when I was a diehard Law & Order fan (the Lennie years, don't you know), not once did I ever sit back and think that the show rang false for lack of cursing. When the pressure from NYPD Blue led them to try dirtying up the stories and characters (including one solitary episode where they made Briscoe seem like a racist!), that was what rang false.

Now it'd be one thing if it'd had this tone from the start. No More Heroes' coarseness is an inherent part of the fun. But here it seems more a blunting of the series' sophistication, for the sake of an attention grab. Shadow the Hedgehog is the extreme example of course, but there's plenty of other game series out there that have added unnecessary 'edge' and 'darkness' (the Megaman franchise for instance - I remember everybody getting worked up because MM Zero censored the blood, without asking why robots started bleeding in the first place) to try and get noticed.

Again, I get it. The Sopranos was one of TV's biggest shows for years. GTA keeps packing them in. But do people seriously think that all they need to achieve that level of visibility is to show more blood and say 'f---' every now and again?

OK, I'm done.[/mother]

Still enjoying the game, hope to play more tomorrow.

But at least Snake doesn't have old man pants.  Right, Jay?

And SonicPanda, if you're about to finish up Act 3, here's a pro-tip if you aren't going for a no-kill game: ..... Use Auto-Aim for the chase.  If there's just one time you ever use Auto-Aim in the game, this is it.  I didn't get hit ONCE for the entire sequence, whereas my first time through NOT using it, I used up a crap load of healing items.

Also.... yes, Seed's trenchcoat for the absolute win.

No old man pants to be found. Snake quite suits being an old man.

.

Finished it earlier this week. Man, what a rush. The sheer amount of nostalgia is staggering. Surprisingly, I didn't mind the absence of the classic MGS theme. The Old Snake and Love Theme are just that awesome. They have this...gravity about them. Good stuff.

The only part I didn't like was the beginning of Act III...and the constant flurry of cinematics in the final Acts. I started rolling my eyes at how long the epilogue dragged on. But I suppose a long winded closure is better than none. I was also hoping Nastasha would make a cameo, too.

I'd rank it just a hair right behind the original MGS. Can't top the original's awesome cast. If the BB Corp bosses were a little more interesting personality wise, hmm. Can't believe it's been almost 10 years since it came out.

Oh, and I think I'm in love with Laughing Beauty. <3

Time to start am Extreme run. y00ts

This is the bit where you have to tail the whistling jackass to the Resistance, right? That part's driving me crazy right now. I've gotten to the point where he changes into the PMC uniform but I get screwed when the vehicle troops show up and wake up the guys I tranqed before, leading to a cluster attack that's almost instantly deadly. I'm convinced the jerk doubles back over that ground just to screw me over.

Oh, on a related note, I made my first major purchase from the shop: A missile launcher. I'd tranqed a herd of PMCs after triggering an alert, but the damned searchlighting helicopter wouldn't leave.

*fwoosh*

BOOM!

Which led to a pretty funny moment - some of the guys waking up, saying 'I heard an explosion' as the chopper continues to detonate over their heads. Fun.

But yeah, damn this stupid Resistance doofus and his whistle that melodically matches Sunny's songs. *mysterious music*

Ok... Metal Gear Solid 4.  The culimination of Metal Gear's 100+ year storyline, seven canon games, and nearly two decades of Kojima's life.  Since MGS1 made this series cinematic, gameplay has always been the series' weak spot.  That said, it has evolved consistently from MGS1 to MGS2 to MGS3 to MGS4.

From a gameplay standpoint, MGS4 is a brilliant evolution.  The problem here is that the player never really needs to use the new gameplay elements to their full extent.  Only during Act 1 did I ever feel that I was being challenged to use the new gameplay systems.  Once you get the Solid Eye and the Mk22, you can comfortably revert back to everything you've done since MGS2.  Although the beginning of Act 1 was a brutal adjustment, I loved how it forced me to adapt and learn new ways to play MGS.  I was pretty disappointed that, upon arriving in Act 2, I could play the game almost exactly as I played MGS3 and forget everything I learned in Act 1 (except for one very important thing: Always help the rebels!

I also really like how Konami has added lots of little gameplay surprises to mix things up this time around.  For example, the tracking segments in Act 2 and the follow-the-spy segment from Act 3 both delighted, though the former's impact is greatly reduced if you're an item collecting nut like myself and insist on exploring everything.  The farther I got into this game, the more I realized that this game is much more fun if you play it like it's a movie and stop trying to make it be a game (stop worrying about collecting and customizing and just get out there and do your thing... it's actually easier if you follow this mantra too).  Additionally, I strongly disagree with Jay about the rail sections.  I loved them in MGS3 and I love them here as well.  They increase tension and keep the cinematic feel flowing fast and hard.

For an MGS diehard, I will now say something that I'm sure other MGS fans will take issue with: boss fights in MGS games suck.  They do.  The gameplay and controls are always horribly suited to these encounters and this problem has been present in every single MGS game.  These fights are lengthy, frustrating, obtuse, annoying, and more than anything, cruelly remind you that the fantastic experience you're having still clings to its 1980s gameplay roots.  From a gameplay standpoint, the boss fights are by far the least enjoyable parts of MGS4.  In fact, I can honestly say that the only boss fight I actually enjoyed in MGS4 was the cathartic final fist fight.

Unfortunately, my disappointment with boss the fights extends beyond their gameplay.  MGS1 still stands head and shoulders above the others in terms of bosses for the simple reason that the bosses in MGS1 have personality, history, and pathos.  You really like these guys and defeating them means something, however irritating the actual process of doing that may be.  Each successive MGS title has made bosses less significant.  The grotesque Dead Cell members have some story behind them, but they're never fleshed out the way FOXHOUND is in MGS1.  MGS3's Cobra Unit is barely detailed at all, and MGS4's pitiful B&B Corps is completely wasted.  All you get about them are very barebones after-the-fact recaps from Drebin, making them completely meaningless.  They have no bearing on the story whatsoever and serve to be mere obstacles.

Like Angela, I feel that the introduction of the customization and Drebin points system should have brought a better save system with it.  It's quite frustrating to have to reconfigure everything back to the way you want it if you die before reaching a new checkpoint.  This is particularly problematic in the early parts of the game where checkpoints don't come as frequently as they do later in the game.

I like the Drebin point system and the function it serves -- the economic implications and how they dovetail with the story are particularly clever.  That said, the need for this system completely dissolves after the second act, as does most of the related gameplay, so it almost seems silly that this game has such an enormous arsenal of weapons that only completists will ever use.  Still, it's a neat little system, certainly more practical than the tiresome eating and healing systems introduced by, and thankfully discarded after, MGS3.

One particular gameplay element I felt was somewhat underdeveloped was the affinity system.  There are some really cool things you can do with this system, particularly in Act 2, and I would have liked it if said system hadn't been abandoned after Act 2.  It also would have been nice if the game itself would have been less vague on how to benefit from this system.  I have most of my knowledge of its workings from the extremely well written strategy guide, and it's a shame that Otacon doesn't give you better guidance as to how to employ it.

To condense the gamplay as I was playing the game, I began to get the impression that, with the exception of Act 3's unique gameplay motif, each act evoked a different MGS game:

Act 1: For me, this really felt like MGS4.  You're forced to adapt to a very different kind of MGS experience, and only this act showcased the "No Place to Hide" tagline that Kojima promoted so heavily.

Act 2: This act is clearly MGS3.  Aside from the very cool PMC vs. rebel stuff, the level design and gameplay structure is straight out of MGS3's outdoor sections.

Act 3: As mentioned earlier, the central part of this didn't really feel like any previous MGS game, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  In fact, when I first received control of the trench-coat wearing youthful Snake, I immediately began humming the first few bars of "Minnie the Moocher."  Don't really know why, but I was having a blast, either way.

Act 4: This evokes MGS1 not just for the obvious reason, but also because this part of the game brings back some of the more careful timed "look before you leap" gameplay elements from MGS1 and MGS2.

Act 5: The final act brought back memories of MGS2 for a couple reasons, the most prominent of which is that it features very little gameplay and a lot of story.  It also reminds me of MGS2 simply because it is set on a ship, has one of those damn doors you have to jam the triangle button to open, has a boss fight where you do a lot of shooting (the Frog Battle and Screaming Mantis fights reminded me of the Vamp fight from MGS2), and has you trying to complete basically the same objective as you did in MGS2.

Still here?  Good.  Now let's talk story.  First, I'm immeasurably pleased that this game finally, FINALLY, ties up the clusterfuck that was MGS2's storyline.  One wonders what this could have been had MGS2's storyline not been absolutely ridiculous.  It's kind of a shame that Kojima had to make an entire game with a huge amount of ret-conning over the entire series just to explain what happened in MGS2, but I will give him credit for his dedication to seeing this through and finishing it, however overly complicated, dragged out, and downright incredulous some of what happens in this game is.  I would love nothing more than for this to truly be the end of it, but some of Ryan Payton's comments leave me fearing that they aren't going to truly let this arc go yet.  I say LET IT GO.  Move on.  Make the next MGS have nothing to do with this arc.  Please?

As a side note, if you want to actually understand everything that happens in this game and how this game ties everything together, I second Angela's sentiment that you should absolutely read the wonderful synopsis and interpretation that is included at the end of the strategy guide (but only after you've finished the game, of course).  While you may (like me) not agree that the level of complexity that Kojima has woven into this massive conclusion is necessary, at least you will learn exactly how it's supposed to fit together.

So, while the preceding 1,383 words have been largely critical, I have to say that they leave one critical component out.  And that is that all four of the main MGS games are more than games.  They are experiences.  They achieve what the game industry completely failed to do in the early 1990s: successfully blend movies and games.  The MGS series achieves this spectacularly, and MGS4 is no exception.  All four games are amazing experiences, and should not be missed.  It is for this reason that despite all of the above, I enjoyed nearly every minute of MGS4 (with the notable exception of the extremely cheap Vamp fight... my friends tell me that Campbell will call in and tell you what you have to do, but this never happened during my play through and I had to use the guide to know how to beat him).  Was it worth the $530 (tax inc.) less the free $100 Wal-Mart gift card?  I don't know that I'd go that far, but it was great fun and, for the last week, I was Solid Snake.

And now, the requisite series rankings.  Only MGS1-4 are considered.

Best Story
01. MGS1
02. MGS3
03. MGS4
04. MGS2

Best Gameplay
01. MGS4
02. MGS3
03. MGS2
04. MGS1

Best Overall
01. MGS3
02. MGS4
03. MGS1
04. MGS2

Ooh! Rankings! I think you're right to split it like you did. So here's mine -

Best Story
MGS1
MGS3
MGS4
MGS2

Although should it be split further because the characters rather than plot are why I rate MGS3 over 4?

Best Gameplay
MGS2
MGS1
MGS4
MGS3

Best Overall
MGS1
MGS2
MGS3
MGS4

I think... I can't decide 100% on the last category. Honourable mentions to the two (seemingly non-canon) Acid games, which I think are great.

I dug out an old copy of MGS1 at the weekend and I'm going to replay it. Will be interesting to see if it holds up in my rankings or if I'm clouded by nostalgia. I remember watching an episode of ALF as an adult a while back - didn't even crack a smile. I was very disappointed. But then there was V, which was every bit as good as I remembered it. So, which will it be - ALF or V?

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I'm replaying the first MGS now, and I'm fresh off the cusp of my third MGS3 playthrough. I'm really enjoying MGS for its story, but the gameplay doesn't hold up too well for me. I spend more time looking at the radar than I do the screen, which is pretty much the exact opposite of how MGS3 plays. I really, really like MGS3. Like, a lot. Tons. Oodles. While MGS is still one of my favorite games ever, I'm going to have to say that I prefer MGS3 (Subsistence) right now. That game is friggin' incredible.

MGS1 gets the award for best location/setting/dark ambience.

Well put, indeed.  It's for that reason that I hesitate ranking them in order of preference, since I pretty much liked them all.  (Fancy that, eh?)   However, I think I can at least state a clear winner in the field of gameplay - and that's MGS2.  They just seemed to nail it absolutely correct as far as refining and perfecting the controls from MGS1.  The restrictions of the top-down viewing allowed for really tight mechanics that still hold up unbelievably well today.  Collision is razor sharp, while features like corner view, pop-out shots, and auto-aim -- features that have become more and more rubbish as the series went on -- are dead-on accurate here.  Best of all, there's little to zero in the way of having to jump into a menu every five fraggin' minutes. 

It's just a shame that the game itself didn't allow for the gameplay to fully nourish - but then Substance came along, and remedied that.

After reading this thread, now I'm torn whether to replay Sons of Liberty or Subsistence next.

It's been years since I've played MGS2...and I sorta zombied my way through MGS3 (had some personal issues then, blargh). Which one is more appropriate after playing MGS4?

I'd say if you plan on going through the series by its internal timeline, start with MGS3 and work your way forward. Or if you haven't played it, dig up the Game Boy alternate-story entry, it's great.

For my part, I wrapped up Act 3. Spoilers ho!

Finally got past the tail-the-dumbass-who walks-past-the-armed-vehicle bit the same way I got past the helicopter - missile launcher. Blowing it up set off alarms, of course, but since it killed them all instantaneously (BWA HA HA), I didn't have to worry. Even though the whistling boy got spooked and ran, it was only for about 15 seconds, and then he went back, whistling past the smoking ruin like it wasn't there.
Tangent time: with all due respect to Amazingu's sentiments and those like it that the Metal Gear series fails on its attempts at stealth-based gameplay, I say...of course it does. Even at their most intelligent, the guards are morons. But that's exactly why I enjoy playing Metal Gear games whereas I couldn't be bothered with freaking Splinter Cell for more than a half-hour (well, in addition to the dull characters and obnoxious controls, but staying on point...). I suck at this stuff. I love it, but suck at it, and I appreciate the designers compensating, even ten years past MGS1, for the fact that some of us love the games dearly even though we'll never rightly get the hang of them. My family feels this way, too - the addition of the EZ Gun made MGS3 accessible to my sister, and it's her favorite in the series now.

Mama's conversation was full of stuff, much of which I'd pieced together after watching Portable Ops. The one thing that took me somewhat by surprise was that Para-Medic was Dr. Clark. Wasn't Clark described as a 'he' in MGS1?

Thanks for the chase tip, Angela. It helped loads. I didn't use any curatives on that part whatsoever. A good thing, too, since Raven was such a BITCH. I finally got the drop on her by, again, whipping out the missile launcher and going to town (and again, BWA HA HA). Tranqed her in the end, so now I have her face, too. I feel pretty.

Last series of cutscenes there was a bit of a bloodbath, wasn't it? I'd guessed Mama wasn't going to be around for long anyway, but I'd figured that the Body would at least make it, story-wise, to the final act. Kind of an ignoble end, I must say. Liquid's finger-gun games were a hoot though. I'll never look at Taxi Driver the same way again.

P.S. Naomi still sucks.

*whew* Dunno when I'll get into Act 4. Baby Kate's coming on Friday and there's preparations yet to be done. But it'll be interesting to see what comes next.

EDIT: Speling errer.

Just on the gender thing, SonicPanda, apparently the JP version of MGS1 had the mention of that character gender neutral and it was a translation error. So says the internet anyway, as I asked the same question.

Yeah, it's disappointing that she couldn't join this MGS all-star cast.  But I am glad that they acknowledge her in that one codec conversation in Act 4.   Look out for it next time if you haven't yet heard it.

Anyone checked out Konami's MGS Database available for download on the PSN Store?  They have a startingly detailed glossary, covering everything from Apoptosis to Zanzibarland.  Regarding the gender, the database states that..... Dr. Clark deliberately kept a low profile, and that Naomi hadn't even met her before.  That's where her confusion stemmed from, and she just assumed that Clark was a "he".....

Sounds like a sketchy bit of rationalization, but at least they were acute enough to address the discrepancy.

As for the rest of your Act 3 story impressions, Sonic -- you'd do well to remember that assumptions should never be tossed around in a MGS game until it's all over. ;)   And I hope you'll enjoy Act 4.  Here's another pro-tip: explore every single nook and cranny, and hit up every codec conversation.  That's the only way to get the full experience out of this particular act.

Yahtzee weighs in on MGS4:

http://kotaku.com/5019567/zero-punctuat … rough-mgs4

You know, I've never understood what makes this guy's reviews popular. Is it the language? Really? I dunno, sometimes I agree with him, sometimes not, but I don't know what really makes his proclamations more special than any other jerk with a blog.

P.S. Act 4 this Saturday!...maybe.