[Velhart]

With it finally coming out today (little earlier for some others >_>), been doing nothing but playing it lately, even at work. This is definitely one of the best MGS games I have ever played and the funny part is that it is portable. Here are pro's and con's I found playing the game for a few days.

Pros:
-Incredible story. What I like that Kojima did was that you do not necessarily have to know the storyline of the previous games to get into this one. Yes, the story is a lot better if you know what happened in the previous MGS games, but people just getting into it will not be lost when following the story.

-Game mechanics are phenomenal and a big improvement over Portable Ops, even slightly in MGS4. The system is highly similar to MGS4 with slight modifications to make it work on a portable system. CQC was improved also with chaining, meaning you can CQC multiple enemies at once. Not only that, there is an armor system instead of just camouflage equipment. You have either normal camouflage clothes that is meant for sneaking around, but the downside is you can only have a small amount of weaponry to take with you. Or you can have a full armor like suit, which greatly increases your defense and can carry more weaponry with you, the downside is that it is very loud and will not have a fun time trying to sneak around in it. This is very convenient for certain situations, like boss fights, which is good because you can prep yourself up before a boss fight.

-The Mother Base system is basically like recruiting in Portable Ops, but now a lot simpler, and feels easier to progress with. First off, instead of picking up an enemy soldier and dragging him to the truck, you have balloons you carry an unconscious soldier, which instantaneously ships them off, saving a lot of time for you when it comes to recruitment. Not only that, having a stronger R&D department lets you upgrade and strengthen current weapons you have, giving this game an RPG feel to it. Hell you can upgrade to the point that you can make your own Metal Gear.

-Co-op is a blast. The games system is set up into various missions so you can either back track with your friends, or go on your own without much consequence in leaving your friend behind, since all missions including main ones are repeatable. Co-Op works extremely well, and sometimes makes the game easier if you are having trouble in a spot. This seems to be the major point of the game and all the side missions (100+ of them) do heavily influence this system, yet it is still not a requirement and everything can be solo'ed.

-Finding hidden things are definitely worth it for a good laugh. If you are a Kojima fan/MGS fan, you know how this works.

-Versus mode is great and competitive, basically if you like Metal Gear Online, you will like this.

-Monster Hunter in my MGS!? Yes, there is a secret mission you can do, which involves taking down famous monsters from the Monster Hunter series, and is set up exactly like the game, except you are Snake, haha. And yes, you can do co-op on that also. I hear there is something Front Mission related in the game also, but I have not seen it yet.

Cons:

-This has been a complaint with almost everyone, but I agree with it. Some of the missions in the game are incredibly hard to pull off solo'ing, which makes you feel forced to find a friend to play with you, just to get past one part. One of the reasons is not just difficulty, but more of an ammunition issue. On the first boss fight, I used all my ammo when he was at low health and had nothing left to use on him, which made me just quit the mission. There is a device you can get to have someone drop down some ammo for you, but it drops your ending stats dramatically when you use it, so to get the highest rank, more than likely you will need to co-op to pull that off.

-Game can be a real hand cramper. The original control scheme does give me a cramp in my fingers once in a while, but you can change it if you want. But I got use to it, and its fine now.

-Ad-Hoc only. Rumors were everywhere that this would go beyond that, but didn't surprise me in the bit that they did this. So basically if you can't get past a part and want to co-op, and you have no friends, or Ad-Hoc party, your screwed on that part.


Overall I have almost no complaints. I am not going to say it is perfect, but it gets pretty close to it when it comes to portable games. But I doubt that people really care what I think, i'm just bored, haha. To anyone who has boughten it, what do you think about it?

Also, if anyone wants to Ad-Hoc party, I am always up for a game. Think that was my main purpose of this thread.