The gameplay feels like a real precursor to MGS V (or the home console sibling of Peace Walker, if you prefer). Unfortunately, the stealth action kind of ends before you can get used to it. Most of the gameplay in the game feels as though it was designed to either provide unique setpieces (mainly boss fights), or transport the player between cutscenes.
Speaking of the cutscenes, they are very long and very boring. There are multiple 50-minute non-gameplay sections throughout, and the infamous ending is over 70 minutes long. The game absolutely does not justify the absurd amount of cinematics present, and it really makes you feel like you spend most of the game watching a boring movie instead of playing the game.
The story kind of sucks, and undoes a lot of what I liked about MGS 2. It is very overt about its intentions of delivering 'moar metal gears!!' to players due to popular demand, but this kind of lampshading and metanarrative does not make the actual plot any more tolerable. The constant 'male gaze'-esque sexualised portrayal of most female characters really got on my nerves, too. I did not enjoy sitting through these cutscenes, and ended up doing chess puzzles on my phone with them running in the background a lot of the time.
Overall, the game can definitely bw enjoyable, with some string gameplay and story moments (I quite liked the soundtrack, too), but calling it a 'mixed bag' does not even begin to describe it. The gameplay arguably peaks about 2/5ths through the game, and never recovers, as act 3 onwards is just not the same game anymore. Especially considering the pain of emulating this through RPCS3, I would honestly say that this game is only really worth playing for die-hard MGS fans. I'm still giving it 3.5 stars because I liked some parts of it quite a bit, but the overwhelming majority of players would, in my opinion, be much better off simply playing MGS V or Peace Walker for the gameplay, and the first three mainline titles for the story.
Thinking about it, I think I liked the story of Peace Walker more than that of this game, too...
Speaking of the cutscenes, they are very long and very boring. There are multiple 50-minute non-gameplay sections throughout, and the infamous ending is over 70 minutes long. The game absolutely does not justify the absurd amount of cinematics present, and it really makes you feel like you spend most of the game watching a boring movie instead of playing the game.
The story kind of sucks, and undoes a lot of what I liked about MGS 2. It is very overt about its intentions of delivering 'moar metal gears!!' to players due to popular demand, but this kind of lampshading and metanarrative does not make the actual plot any more tolerable. The constant 'male gaze'-esque sexualised portrayal of most female characters really got on my nerves, too. I did not enjoy sitting through these cutscenes, and ended up doing chess puzzles on my phone with them running in the background a lot of the time.
Overall, the game can definitely bw enjoyable, with some string gameplay and story moments (I quite liked the soundtrack, too), but calling it a 'mixed bag' does not even begin to describe it. The gameplay arguably peaks about 2/5ths through the game, and never recovers, as act 3 onwards is just not the same game anymore. Especially considering the pain of emulating this through RPCS3, I would honestly say that this game is only really worth playing for die-hard MGS fans. I'm still giving it 3.5 stars because I liked some parts of it quite a bit, but the overwhelming majority of players would, in my opinion, be much better off simply playing MGS V or Peace Walker for the gameplay, and the first three mainline titles for the story.
Thinking about it, I think I liked the story of Peace Walker more than that of this game, too...