Metal Gear retrospective

[Cantaloup]

Another great video series from GameTrailers.

Part 1:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/33740.html

[Sudo]

Just finished watching this. I seriously cannot wait for MGS 4, I can;t remember the last time I was looking forward to a game this much. I need to go back and finish MG 2: Solid Snake sometime this month; perhaps I'll start tomorrow.

[c0ldb33r]

Just finished watching this. I seriously cannot wait for MGS 4, I can;t remember the last time I was looking forward to a game this much. I need to go back and finish MG 2: Solid Snake sometime this month; perhaps I'll start tomorrow.
The only metal gear game I've played was the demo for MGS for PS One. It seemed pretty good, but I don't really understand why this series is so popular.

[Graham Mitchell]

The only metal gear game I've played was the demo for MGS for PS One. It seemed pretty good, but I don't really understand why this series is so popular.

That's because the only metal gear game you've played was the demo for MGS for PS One. You should really delve into one of those. I consider MGS2:Sons of Liberty to be the best. It's kind of short by modern standards, but a fantastic game nonetheless.

There are a lot of "tricks" and nifty little trends that I see in modern games that were all done first in the MGS series. (ie-it's a toss-up for me as to whether half-life or MGS was first to have scripted sequences; also the whole stealth genre in it's entirety started here.)

[LightL]

I find mgs3 to be the best. The sneaking was so cool, with the % and whatnot. Ah, such a great series.

Finally they come out with this, though.

[guitargary75]

Loved it.

[outsider]

also the whole stealth genre in it's entirety started here.)

Didn't Tenchu precede Metal Gear Solid?

[ClassicGameTrader]

Didn't Tenchu precede Metal Gear Solid?

No! It came out after...

[InsaneDavid]

Didn't Tenchu precede Metal Gear Solid?

No, but I believe Theif did.

[Graham Mitchell]

No, but I believe Theif did.

Yeah, Thief I guess is the root of just about everything cool in a lot of modern games. Unfortunately hardly anybody I've talked to ever played it and it gets forgotten about quite a bit. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that it never saw a console release.

[outsider]

No! It came out after...

I was pretty sure Tenchu did come out first. I checked Gamefaqs and found that Tenchu was released about 7 months earlier than MGS in Japan, the initial area of release for both.

[venturousviking]

Yeah, Thief I guess is the root of just about everything cool in a lot of modern games. Unfortunately hardly anybody I've talked to ever played it and it gets forgotten about quite a bit. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that it never saw a console release.

I have it on Xbox. Choppy as hell thought so the PC versions were the ones to have.

[Graham Mitchell]

I have it on Xbox. Choppy as hell thought so the PC versions were the ones to have.

I had no clue it even came out on the Xbox. Wonder if it runs on a 360...

[venturousviking]

I had no clue it even came out on the Xbox. Wonder if it runs on a 360...

Yes it is backwards compatible.

[rkotm]

it was good, very in depth, wonder when part 2 comes out, its been a week hasnt it?

[Cantaloup]

Part 2 now available:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34187.html

[Cantaloup]

Part 3:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34425.html

[Cantaloup]

Part 4:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34700.html

[roushimsx]

Yeah, Thief I guess is the root of just about everything cool in a lot of modern games. Unfortunately hardly anybody I've talked to ever played it and it gets forgotten about quite a bit. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that it never saw a console release.

...and Metal Gear 2 predated Thief by a few years and had the basis of most of the gameplay systems that wound up in Metal Gear Solid (which played basically like a 3d version of Metal Gear 2). Not to say that Thief didn't innovate like a motherfucker, but that game did amazing things for the use of sound and shadows within a game. Off hand, I can't think of any other game that utilized both to such a high degree of complexity and depth.

None of Looking Glass' games ever seemed to get the public love that they deserved back when they came out. Lots of critical praise, but the massive commercial flops of Terra Nova (a personal favorite) and British Open Championship Golf really brought them down, though. Damn shame. At least Randy Smith landed a gig at Ion Storm Austin to work on Deadly Shadows and it panned out fairly well. I wonder how a modern version of Terra Nova would fare with a decent advertising budget behind it.

Random Tangent - > Man, shame about Harvey Smith fumbling with Invisible War...and then again with Area 51: Blacksite. I wonder what project he'll ride on its descent to disappointment like a hippy nerd version of Slim Pickens from Dr. Strangelove.

Oh well, I love how the Metal Gear games balance action and stealth. You get a decent amount of freedom to play around with both ideas in the games and it makes for some really fun times. Other games, like Syphon Filter, tend to veer way towards being glorified third person shooters while stuff like Splinter Cell leans closer to the Thief school of thought. I dig 'em all (the well made ones, at least...I try to avoid stuff from companies like Ubisoft Shanghai...). Reminds me that I still need to give Spy Fiction a shot and see how it agrees with my tastes.

tl;dr - I really want to watch this retrospective but I'm super paranoid about anything even remotely resembling a Metal Gear Solid 4 or Acid 2 spoiler (as those are the only two I've yet to play). Maybe after this month I'll be able to sit down and watch the series, because I really dig the quality of GameTrailers' retrospectives.

[Cantaloup]

Part 5:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/35020.html

[Cantaloup]

6th and final part:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/35094.html