Vince
11-20-2004, 03:14 AM
So I picked this up two days ago, but with only one TV in the house, 5 other roommates, and 9 hour workdays, I haven't been able to play much. Just got finished with my first 2 hours of playing...
...and all I can say is wow. This game is phenomenal. Graphics are superb, the story is amazing, and the gameplay seems quite realistic -- if you're spotted, you're in deep trouble, and you can't just run away and hide in a corner; the guys will follow you even into other areas.
For those unfamiliar with the MGS line, here's some info.
3rd-person action-adventure game. You're a military special forces type guy, but the emphasis is on stealth, not strength. If you go in guns blazing, you're going to get killed. The trick is to sneak around, crawling through tall grass when the sentries aren't looking, etc. Without playing spoiler -- the game is set in the 1960s, just after the Cuban Missile crisis. You, Snake, are sent into the jungle in Russia on a mission. You run around through the jungle, responsible for hunting for your own food, treating your own injuries (such as broken ribs, lacerations, broken arms, etc). Neither of these things is a pain (yet -- I haven't played much yet :)), as they are implemented quite innovatively. Injuries are handled in two ways -- normal damage (when someone shoots you, etc), and serious injuries such as lacerations and broken bones. When these occur, you need to disinfect cuts, suture them up and bandage them, or splint and bandage broken bones. The only experience I have with these types of injuries are scripted ones, so I'm not sure how they all work. However, the ones I've seen are healed immediately upon fixing (apparently splinting and bandaging a fractured rib is enough to heal it immediately), so this isn't quite realistic for what I've seen. If you don't treat serious injuries, you will never heal from the damage they cause, while normal injuries will heal over time (faster if you have more stamina). The necessity of food is implemented quite well as well. You have a life meter and a stamina meter. your life meter goes down when you are hurt, obviously. While you are running around and performing actions, your stamina meter slowly diminishes. Lower stamina results in many things -- unsteady hands while aiming a gun, slower healing rate, less oxygen when underwater, less strength with which to hang on to a ledge. Eating replenishes your stamina, and depending upon what you eat, you get more stamina back. So far, the only hunting I have done is to stab a snake or rat with my hunting knife, and one time I knocked down a hornet's nest, which I am able to eat but haven't yet. I've heard later in the game you can set snares and traps, but haven't been able to do that myself yet.
If you aren't into storylines, however, you might have a problem with this movie -- I mean, game. So far my save game has about an hour and fifty minutes of 'playing time,' while I've actually had MAYBE 15 minutes of actual game play. The rest has been cinematic scenes which have been absolutely dazzling, and quite informative in terms of the storyline. Since this game is set in the '60s, and the first two have been contemporary, it's doing a very good job of explaining things and setting up what appears to be a quite well done story. I'm extraordinarily excited about this game, and can't wait to fire it up some more.
Now that I'm done rambling...feel free to offer your own opinions :)
...and all I can say is wow. This game is phenomenal. Graphics are superb, the story is amazing, and the gameplay seems quite realistic -- if you're spotted, you're in deep trouble, and you can't just run away and hide in a corner; the guys will follow you even into other areas.
For those unfamiliar with the MGS line, here's some info.
3rd-person action-adventure game. You're a military special forces type guy, but the emphasis is on stealth, not strength. If you go in guns blazing, you're going to get killed. The trick is to sneak around, crawling through tall grass when the sentries aren't looking, etc. Without playing spoiler -- the game is set in the 1960s, just after the Cuban Missile crisis. You, Snake, are sent into the jungle in Russia on a mission. You run around through the jungle, responsible for hunting for your own food, treating your own injuries (such as broken ribs, lacerations, broken arms, etc). Neither of these things is a pain (yet -- I haven't played much yet :)), as they are implemented quite innovatively. Injuries are handled in two ways -- normal damage (when someone shoots you, etc), and serious injuries such as lacerations and broken bones. When these occur, you need to disinfect cuts, suture them up and bandage them, or splint and bandage broken bones. The only experience I have with these types of injuries are scripted ones, so I'm not sure how they all work. However, the ones I've seen are healed immediately upon fixing (apparently splinting and bandaging a fractured rib is enough to heal it immediately), so this isn't quite realistic for what I've seen. If you don't treat serious injuries, you will never heal from the damage they cause, while normal injuries will heal over time (faster if you have more stamina). The necessity of food is implemented quite well as well. You have a life meter and a stamina meter. your life meter goes down when you are hurt, obviously. While you are running around and performing actions, your stamina meter slowly diminishes. Lower stamina results in many things -- unsteady hands while aiming a gun, slower healing rate, less oxygen when underwater, less strength with which to hang on to a ledge. Eating replenishes your stamina, and depending upon what you eat, you get more stamina back. So far, the only hunting I have done is to stab a snake or rat with my hunting knife, and one time I knocked down a hornet's nest, which I am able to eat but haven't yet. I've heard later in the game you can set snares and traps, but haven't been able to do that myself yet.
If you aren't into storylines, however, you might have a problem with this movie -- I mean, game. So far my save game has about an hour and fifty minutes of 'playing time,' while I've actually had MAYBE 15 minutes of actual game play. The rest has been cinematic scenes which have been absolutely dazzling, and quite informative in terms of the storyline. Since this game is set in the '60s, and the first two have been contemporary, it's doing a very good job of explaining things and setting up what appears to be a quite well done story. I'm extraordinarily excited about this game, and can't wait to fire it up some more.
Now that I'm done rambling...feel free to offer your own opinions :)