Metal Gear: Ground Zero

Technology and Gaming
#21

WARNING: TONS OF SPOILERS

A Chico that’s aged a few years could make for an interesting character. While he was a kid in Peace Walker he was an annoying brat used as a device to introduce EL BASSILISKO, but now that he’s older and seen more of the horrors of war, it’s more likely that Hideo Kojima will use him as a plot device to show how war affects young people caught up in it’s wake. He tried to do that with the B&B Corps in 4 but it was about as subtle as an anvil to the face because of Drebin’s narration of their stories.

EDIT: Yeah, he didn’t look that much older in the trailer. But how old was he in Peace Walker, anyway? 10?

WAR SCREWED HER UP, YO. FEEL SORRY FOR THIS BOSS. WATCH YO’ BACK. CLICK

It used to be that bosses would espouse their life stories. Sniper Wolf’s death sequence in MGS1 was emblematic of how effective this could be (although I honestly thought the end boss of MGS3 was more depressing because of how much it was rubbed in the player’s face). Sure, it was often long and drawn out, but it was sometimes effective.

Drebin taking over just gave the point a real disconnect. You never got to know the Corps as characters. You didn’t see them as frequently as Dead Cell from MGS2, even. (Of course, Fatman only showed up for his fight, he was only foreshadowed by his ‘game’ with Stillman)

But back to my point about Chico. If this game is going to set about breaking down Chico into a shell-shocked psycho, it could be effective if it’s handled well. He already had a lot happen to him in Peace Walker, so it wouldn’t take much to send him over the edge.

I agree about Paz. The twist about her in Peace Walker pretty much broke the game’s plot over it’s knee. [COLOR=‘DimGray’]The fact that she stole ZEKE in her fucking underwear was even more absurd.The revelation about all that was way too compressed and not foreshadowed at all. If they take the time to flesh out [COLOR=‘DimGray’]her involvement with CIPHER then it’s possible that she could be worked into the plot in an interesting way. But it’s unlikely.

#22

Like with PW, I can’t see how it would anything to the series’ storyline. As in, it 100% won’t.

At least Portable Ops stuck to the framework - yeah, it failed in a process with a shitload of retcons, but at least it tried to add something. This, however - is another polished turd.

Reboot is what Metal Gear needs.

#23

YET MORE SPOILERS

Peace Walker was pretty self-contained, yeah, but it was basically supposed to be about [COLOR=‘DimGray’]Big Boss founding Outer Heaven. Kaz “Master” Miller got a ton of background as well, and tried to give some gravity to his faux appearance in MGS1.

Plus, Peace Walker is a great game to use in arguments about how you can’t shoot Americans in games ever, because you spend the entire game fighting a CIA merc squad. I agree on principle that the MGS series has a lot of dead weight to the plot. I think Kojima should just find new IP and work on that from now on. But at least we’ll have a shot at seeing an open world stealth game that’s actually stealthy, unlike Assassin’s Creed.

#24

supposed to be, but instead we got an incoherent mess about PEACE, motherbase, otacon clones, loli… and the lamest fucking cia ex-chief ever devised. Not to forget fucking j-pop. Really, canon could do without it.

Building upon that shit the way kojima does now is simply intelligence-insulting.

#25

To be fair, Paz is actually in her twenties according to the game/the internet. Which makes Chico’s crush on her EVEN CREEPIER. Her codename for CIPHER is still stupid.

Yeah. The plot was also supposed to deal with Otacon’s father. Except he was just Otacon in a wheelchair without the anime inspiration. And the implication that Strangelove shacks up with him. WTF.

But honestly, it’s a Hideo Kojima game. Since when has anything he’s written abided by any reasonable standards of coherence? Half the reason I play these games is because they’re completely insane and yet somehow enjoyable despite themselves. Plus, Splinter Cell went Call of Duty on us.

#26
  1. I know
  2. It doesn’t matter - it is still retarded.

Now, now, don’t go all Straw Man on us.

But to rebut - MGS3 was the last turning point in the canon. You can also argue it was MGS2 - but MGS3 still had that ‘class’ regaardless of the stupid Boss character and the whole Cobra batshit insanity.

Everything after that pretty much sucked.

#27

I think, from a story perspective, MGS3 was my favorite because it was the right way to do a prequel- from the perspective of a newcomer, things were still relatively follow-able without lots of fore-knowledge of the series, and from the perspective of series veterans, there was tons of background material and connections forward in time to the games set in later time periods. I played it from both perspectives- MGS3 was the first MGS I finished, and going back and playing it with knowledge of later installments lets me in on a few things I missed the first time.

Peace Walker was my favorite from a gameplay perspective because the CQC system had throws and chains which made putting down opponents that much faster, holdups automatically force the enemy to the ground, and the aiming over the shoulder was retained from MGS4. Plus, there were lots of scenarios to play, and the management of Mother Base was a great design, similar to the clan management aspects of “Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.” I just wish more had been done with Outer Ops- like randomly generated maps where the fights could be done in real time with your units.

#28

yeah
I therefere stopped considering everything past MGS3 canon. It’s easier to live.

I still prefer MGS3 as the staple of gameplay. Those few little additions do not redeem inability to crawl.

#29

Yeah, the inability to crawl in PW was rather perplexing. I mean, they had a button for crouching already. They could have just made it a stance change button- press once to crouch, press twice to crawl. But I guess it was about dumbing the game for PSP.

I played 60 hours of that game, but I did it on a PS3 in the HD collection so it was actually playable. It’s tough to aim without a second analog stick on the PSP.

#30

Hah, HD collection was another flop. So many bugs, it makes the extra resolution worseless.
And they fucked up the main breakthrough feature of MGS3 engine - bloom:

Compare:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Qv8d4c6Mg
to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN6C04V_aDw

Aparently, making everything sharper included bloom too.

So glad I bought a fat PS2 and Subsistence/Substance a couple days ago. Best purchase ever.

#31

I did like the conversion of MGS3 to 60fps. It’s something I had wanted for the game since MGS2 was at 60fps on PS2. Problem was all the animations were keyframed at 30, so some of the blocking looked jerky at the higher framerate. The graphical glitches with the Tanker chapter of MGS2 was because the game’s cutscenes were originally cropped to letterbox so the water isn’t rendered outside of the original frame. The port itself was certainly better than Silent Hill 2/3, which fucking MURDERED the atmosphere. I happen to have SH2 on PS2 already. Scary fucking game when the controls and the camera aren’t being a total asshole.

EDIT: Just saw the comparison. Holy fuck that is awful. And I do have Subsistence on PS2. I even played the original version of Snake Eater sans 3D camera. Pain in the ass, but it was still pretty fun.

#32

Tbh, 60fps and high res hardly alleviate all the eyesores.

I’m really exctatic now that I own a PS2 with original Subsistence/Substance. Normal font, game looks great without old as fuck textures exposed on a huge screen, bloom working - and no fucking bugs.

Fuck 60fps. I can live with that.

#33

Oh look it’s Old Snake but not really Old Snake cause he still has some brown hair.

Can’t wait for MGS5 where we see Old Snake is still alive a couple years after MGS4 and they turn him into a cyborg ninja and the main appeal of the game is cutting watermelons.

#34

Thought that’s Big Boss

#35

I wish I could play MGS4 >.>

#36

Only the first two acts are any good. Then the game just goes downhill fast.

#37

Considering the fact that they’re not even referring to him as ‘Big Boss’ in the video, he may as well be Old Snake.

#38

Not to mention… Kojima seems to really love “Here’s To You.” Last time he used it was MGS4. Perhaps it’s an indication this is the last Big Boss MG game, and a subtle cue to the fans that he’s finally going to finish the series off for good? I like the MG series and all, but working the same IP for 25 years can really stunt creativity.

#39

Maybe, but if so, Ground Zeroes won’t be his final MG game. Unless he’s full of shit, he said that Ground Zeroes is a ‘prequel’ to an upcoming MGS5. So, if anything, that’ll be his final game. AND EVEN THEN, he’s said that MGS2, MGS3, and MGS4 were supposed to be his final games, and yet he kept making sequels. I, personally, would prefer an MGS5 to be the final game in the series if it suitably bridges the gap to the original Metal Gear. Kind of wanted an MG and MG2 remake, but I’ll take what I can get.

#40

Believe in them, they made some great work on the old PS2.

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