General

Towards the end of March 2020 I bought a PS3 as lockdown started to help me finally get into a series I'd wanted to for the longest time, because it wasn't available on modern platforms as its publisher decided to pop out and get milk.  Fitting, then, that almost exactly five years later I find myself picking up the fifth and final numbered Metal Gear Solid game in the form of MGSV. This was actually the first Metal Gear Solid game I put some decent time into, checking it out back in 2016 and getting a couple of chapters in purely because of the hype, critical acclaim, and the fact it was the only MGS game I had access to on a relatively modern system (no, we aren't going to count the possibility of playing Twin Snakes through backwards compatibility on the Wii). I've heard good things and bad things about MGSV over the years - the good being the quality of the gameplay, and the bad generally being the story - but I figured it was time to return now that I have the other MGS games under my belt and see how I end up feeling about it; this was actually a game I very strongly considered putting on my Pledge List for the year, but instead I decided to go with The Witcher 3 because this always seemed like a locked in playthrough. I probably should've just stuck this on there anyways...ahem So far I've dusted off the hour-long prologue to open the game, the first few missions of Chapter 1, and a couple of Side-Ops. I just Fulton'd some puppies out.  Yeah that prologue was...interesting. I think it's pretty astounding how much of it stuck from my first time around with the game nearly a decade ago, my favourite part probably being the customisation fakeout. That seems about as Kojima as it can get. It's less a tutorial and more the world's longest interactive cutscene. No complaints here, obviously.  The game is simply stunning so far, in its visuals, sure, but especially in its audio design.  I love the ability to mark something through your binoculars like you do in BOTW/TOTK, guess this is where the Zelda team might've got their inspiration from?  Loving the variety of music so far. Kids In America and The Man Who Sold The World? Perfection!  Mother Base has me...nervous. Obviously I already knew it was in the game but after the grating nightmare that was unlocking the true ending in Peace Walker? I'll probably need to look up if there's anything particular I should be investing in or know before getting too far in.  Love the return of the Fulton system, of course. The guys screaming as they launch up into the sky. It popping if used indoors. Enemies noticing their buddy flying up to the moon....good stuff  Already so many minor details I feel like I've uncovered, simple things such as doing something different to what Ocelot asks of you the first time you're at Mother Base, or doing it a different way, prompting what is clearly a unique response.  And I thought MGS4 went a bit wild with Kojima's name being everywhere. Credits after everything is probably going to get annoying at some point, but it's fine for now!  There's just this great tension and dynamism to every task I've attempted in the game so far which feels perfectly balanced. I'm really looking forward to seeing how far I can push things.  So far I've just been doing the main objectives for missions and things I've stumbled across naturally, not sure how much replaying of missions I'll do just yet, think I'll need to see how much I gel with it all first.  No doubt I'll be back with more thoughts as the playthrough goes on  I do feel like there has been a hint or two story-wise about a certain character maybe not being a certain character, but I'll just need to see how that plays out. 

I did start a new game today - well, kind of, I'll necro that thread in a bit - but RE2 wasn't it. I was thinking about it, hence the install, but yeah...that was just a post-install mis-click.  Sorry H-o-T 

This pleases me, @Julius.

That's where I worry I'll end up with it too! I LOVED the game on DS and would have said it was one of my favourite games on the system after I beat it. Even my wife played through it and thought it was great too! I obviously grabbed it on the Switch eShop too as I've always fancied playing it again and enough time had passed that I don't remember exactly what happens or what I need to do in each chapter. I've only played through the first couple of stages but I haven't quite been able to get into it again. I'm hoping that the magic will return when the time is right but I definitely came away from a couple of sessions wondering if I'll enjoy it this time at all of if I'll end up frustrated by not figuring out puzzles that I obviously have done before 😅 That's definitely worrying because I absolutely hated the first couple of levels in Perfect Dark. In fact, I keep finding myself lost for whatever reason and that has happened way too often already. I've left it in Area 51 for now. I'm sure I'll return but the excitement isn't there at the moment!

I picked this up in a recent sale and it wasn't half as good as I remember it being. Part of the problem with games like this is that if you do remember how things play out then they lose a lot of their charm. I also preffered the look of the DS game more than this one. Things looked too sharp and clean and I found myself missing the pixilated look of the original version. Missile still rules though.