This review contains spoilers
The game was fun. There's no denying it. The character performance and memorability was amazing and right up there with MGS 1-4. The boss fights were the best part of the game! It felt really empowering just parrying the sht out of the bosses and transitioning into the blade mode sections. Very cinematic gameplay that was easy to grasp but hard to master.
My main gripe with the game was the level design and story. First off the level design was completely fine until you get a few chapters in. It starts to feel draining having to fight the same enemies between every genuinely exciting section. I found myself wanting to run past a lot by chapter 5. Even with the decent enemy variety it still couldn't mask the repetitive loop of doing combos until you can zanatsu them.
IDK im not rly a pro at analyzing gameplay so lets move on to the story. I absolutely love Raiden. He's my fav character in MGS. MGS 1,2, and 4 are my sht. I've seen people saying that this game ruins Raidens character. I don't completely agree with that. My favorite part of Raidens character is how unfair his life has been. His childhood was horrific. He was left as an experiment up until the end of MGS2. He has been in a daze his whole life. That's until he was finally free of the murderous life he was forced into by the end of MGS2. He began his path of free will and was able to ask himself, 'who am i.' It was a defining theme for his character progression. We don't know what happens in between 2 and 4. But we know that in 4 he went through becoming a cyborg and had distance with his wife. He was at rockbottom once again. Who knows exactly what happened but in 4 he found purpose in protecting the man who gave him the will to find his own. He felt alone and scared. He didn't know what to do except fight. He must've thought I might as well fight for the ones I know and love. Idk im going a bit whacky with my descriptions but basically this game does not compliment his character IMO.
He is bullied into doubting his resolve and purpose of protecting the weak - fair enough; I'd be breaking down too yknow? But therefore he awakens to Jack the Ripper. He embraces it even. For the rest of the game this HUGE theme never gets resolved. Raiden had to cope with his trauma for his whole life and only started seeing success when he was with the people that cared and understood him ie. SNAKE, SUNNY, ROSE, ETC. This thematic moment of his embracing the ripper basically undoes all of that in an instant. The game had the chance to focus on that character plot. Instead, the game kept wanting to introduce so many other ideas that everything, (not only including raidens character), got mixed up to the point of no return. It was trying to do so much but I feel like I came out of it feeling confused.
That's not a familiar feeling for me when it comes to MGS. In all the games I've played I came out of it feeling inquisitive. I had so many questions but not because I couldn't answer it with the information the game gave me. I was taking in the story, the ideas, the themes, and the point itself. This game is different though. I came out confused. I was wondering why they didn't do so many things that I feel like they could've done story wise. It's a shame but It's also not all bad.
The characters overall were very memorable and enjoyable to watch. They all had amazing VA as always in MGS. The dialogue was detailed and felt fulfilling in most conversations. The designs were amazing and I love the new things that they introduced into this game.
Theres alot to love and theres a lot to question. Its good and great and bad and weird and stupid.
Try it out for yourself ;)
My main gripe with the game was the level design and story. First off the level design was completely fine until you get a few chapters in. It starts to feel draining having to fight the same enemies between every genuinely exciting section. I found myself wanting to run past a lot by chapter 5. Even with the decent enemy variety it still couldn't mask the repetitive loop of doing combos until you can zanatsu them.
IDK im not rly a pro at analyzing gameplay so lets move on to the story. I absolutely love Raiden. He's my fav character in MGS. MGS 1,2, and 4 are my sht. I've seen people saying that this game ruins Raidens character. I don't completely agree with that. My favorite part of Raidens character is how unfair his life has been. His childhood was horrific. He was left as an experiment up until the end of MGS2. He has been in a daze his whole life. That's until he was finally free of the murderous life he was forced into by the end of MGS2. He began his path of free will and was able to ask himself, 'who am i.' It was a defining theme for his character progression. We don't know what happens in between 2 and 4. But we know that in 4 he went through becoming a cyborg and had distance with his wife. He was at rockbottom once again. Who knows exactly what happened but in 4 he found purpose in protecting the man who gave him the will to find his own. He felt alone and scared. He didn't know what to do except fight. He must've thought I might as well fight for the ones I know and love. Idk im going a bit whacky with my descriptions but basically this game does not compliment his character IMO.
He is bullied into doubting his resolve and purpose of protecting the weak - fair enough; I'd be breaking down too yknow? But therefore he awakens to Jack the Ripper. He embraces it even. For the rest of the game this HUGE theme never gets resolved. Raiden had to cope with his trauma for his whole life and only started seeing success when he was with the people that cared and understood him ie. SNAKE, SUNNY, ROSE, ETC. This thematic moment of his embracing the ripper basically undoes all of that in an instant. The game had the chance to focus on that character plot. Instead, the game kept wanting to introduce so many other ideas that everything, (not only including raidens character), got mixed up to the point of no return. It was trying to do so much but I feel like I came out of it feeling confused.
That's not a familiar feeling for me when it comes to MGS. In all the games I've played I came out of it feeling inquisitive. I had so many questions but not because I couldn't answer it with the information the game gave me. I was taking in the story, the ideas, the themes, and the point itself. This game is different though. I came out confused. I was wondering why they didn't do so many things that I feel like they could've done story wise. It's a shame but It's also not all bad.
The characters overall were very memorable and enjoyable to watch. They all had amazing VA as always in MGS. The dialogue was detailed and felt fulfilling in most conversations. The designs were amazing and I love the new things that they introduced into this game.
Theres alot to love and theres a lot to question. Its good and great and bad and weird and stupid.
Try it out for yourself ;)