MGS4 First Run Through

Looking back at my blog entries for the past month, June certainly belongs to Old Snake and MGS4, with more than half my entries dedicated to the game and record-keeping of my scores.
While i didn't exactly rush through the entire game i felt that the last two chapter didn't as long as i expected. Act 5 was a prime example, boarding the GW offers a lot of opportunity for stealth action in confined space but sadly, after the opening area on the deck the game quickly jump from one epic boss battle to another before arriving at the big ending which lasted for over an hour long of cutscene. Yes an hour worth of cutscene, sure nothing surprising seeing it's a Metal Gear game but a couple of old geezers bonding over at a cemetery sure isn't what i had in mind.

MODE : SOLID NORMAL
Total play time : 26'53"56
Continues : 17
Alert phase : 97
Kills : 306
Recovery items used : 79
Weapon types procured: 42
Flashback watched : 196
Special item used: Not used

Lost in Time

Ever had a moment in time when you see an old movie or song and realised how long has past since you first saw it that everyone has already moved on apart from you? I absolutely hate it and that's why i didn't really like Act 4 in MGS4 where Old Snake finds himself threading familiar grounds as he returns to Shadow Moses island for one final mission calling.

Shadow Moses island looks ancient in Act 4 perhaps due to the fact it's now an abandoned base but it felt like only a while back when i last visited it. Actually it was actually a couple of months ago when i last re-visited shadow moses island in Twin Snakes but it has certainly been years since i first step foot onto the base on the original PSOne version. I still plan on playing both the remake and PSOne original but i don't think i can go back to playing them without the heavy feeling of knowing how cold and empty the place will be in a couple of years.

Damn it, kojima quit messing with my mind....

MGS4 Act 4

MODE : SOLID NORMAL
Total play time : 22'41"15
Continues : 8
Alert phase : 93
Kills : 290
Recovery items used : 77
Weapon types procured: 41
Flashback watched : 143
Special item used: Not used

Heads or Tails

No, i wasn't talking about the new Dark Knight movie, though i did enjoy Aaron Eckhart performance as Two-Face the most out of the entire film. I'm talking about the Dead Rising book that i ordered during the Play asia summer sales which arrived promptly yesterday. I was initially very worried that this might turn out to be a strategy guide since the website gave no description whatsoever on and there was no review by anyone who bought the book posted on the net. So i did my own research by studying the release date of the Xbox original and the past game guides that were done, all released within the first two months of the game release, came to a conclusion that this could not have been a japanese game guide as it was released more than a year after the game was out.

True enough, it wasn't a game guide as i expected but sadly, it's not much of an art book either. It would have made a nice compliment to the game if you read japanese as it's packed with so much trivia and diaries on the game. I can't really make heads or tails of it but it's sort of designed as a program to what's available in the mall as well as delve into the characters and people behind the game. There are occasional production sketches such as storyboard for the cutscenes but it's all drown in a sea of unfamiliar japanese text. Oh well since i only paid half of the full price after discount i guess i can live with it. Boy i sure feel as dumb as frank does here, taking a leak in his boxers.

MGS4 Act 3

You don't need to read the interviews to know that Hideo Kojima likes the recent Jason Bourne series, Act 3 alone is a good enough indication. Act 3 comprises of pure stealth action and it's really a remake of the scene in Metal Gear 2 : Solid Snake where you have to tail the soldier to lead you to the hideout, albeit blown to epic proportions. Thankfully it's broken up into digestible chunks where you are able to save your progress throughout the chase, shame the motorbike chase that follows isn't as memorable as the one in Snake Eater.

MODE : SOLID NORMAL
Total play time : 17'14"54
Continues : 1
Alert phase : 59
Kills : 233
Recovery items used : 42
Weapon types procured: 37
Flashback watched : 112
Special item used: Not used

Call of the Siren

I recall seeing a forumer confessing that he only buy exclusive games, even to the extent of buying exclusives for console he doesn't own which he will then play on his friends' console whenever he gets the chance.

While it does sound pretty extreme (especially the part about buying exclusives for console he doesn't own), being a fanboy myself i do understand what he means and admit that i enjoy exclusive games too. Yes i enjoy exclusive games simply for the mere fact that i don't have to share my games with gamers who don't invest on the same platform, nothing to do with the myth that multiplatform games will be dumb down or compromised, those are just convenient excuse fanboys will use to defend their precious hardware in my opinion.

For a while back, i have been contemplating if i should get either Siren: New Translation or Silent Hill: Homecoming since their release are only months apart. Having played all the previous Silent Hill installments, i do have some attachments to the series and frankly, i'm interested to to see how the new development team will take on the series. The only thing i'm displeased about the new Silent Hill game is it's no longer exclusive to the PS3 platform and worse, during the recent E3 conference Konami announced that it's also going to appear on the PC platform. Now seeing how much i loathe my favourite games appearing on the PC platform, Siren is starting to look like the next best alternative.

After all, Silent Hill creator Toyama is still very much involved with this Siren and the game is also due for a blu-ray release in addition to the PSN release. The only problem is Siren is sort of a semi remake of original which I already played and though I enjoyed the chilling atmosphere and graphics, I couldn’t keep up with the timeline of the game.

The Big Reveal

The big reveal as i promised, this is what i ordered at play-asia today. If there is one thing i noticed about Play is that they rarely ever re-stock their items during sales period like this. Why would they, when they can hold back for a couple more days and revert back to their original store price. The sale is still a win-win situation for everyone, play gets to clear off their old stock of games from gathering dust and us gamers get to pick up a nice bargain.

Now i know every Nintendo fans are sulking for the most part after their recent E3 show because they fail to unveil any titles for their core audience. I for one, am less bothered by this because as i said many times before, i don't play many Nintendo first-party games anymore and i'm very pleased that they are still on the top of the current console race thereby ensuring a healthy supply of third-party games to come.

One such title is Capcom's Dead Rising, heading to the Wii very soon as reported in the pages of Famitsu. Now this is certainly a nice surprise seeing that most would probably expect it to be ported to the Playstation3 instead but when you think about it, the decision is pretty obvious. The game has had little success in Japan, partly due to it originally being an Xbox exclusive and the fact that it's a sandbox-style game, not a very popular genre in the japanese market. Secondly, the original Xbox release was not optimised for play for standard definition TV, drawing heavy criticism from gamers shortly after release.

To address all these issue, Capcom would have to seriously overhaul the entire look and gameplay of the game and knowing how lazy the folks at capcom are, they would surely go for broke and thus, the decision to make a Wii port instead of an obvious PLaystation3 port was conceived. Honestly i was pretty happy with the decision, after all i already got Lost Planet for my Playstaion 3 and the general impression was that it was a pretty unimpressive port. It remains to see how this port will fare but knowing some effort is being put to completely overhaul the mechanics of the gameplay and look, it should at least be on par with the Playstation 2 port of Resident Evil 4.

Oh and before i keep you waiting any longer on what i finally order from play asia today, here it is.

Octopus Garden

Play-asia is having their annual summer sale again with everything in-stock discounted 25% but be sure to catch this octopus quick. Upon learning this last friday evening, i quickly went to work and frantically search through their store for bargains. I found Stranglehold going for less than USD $25 which i was going to order right away but play was facing some technical issues and took their servers off, even until 2am that night.

So i waited till the next day to place my order and to my horrors, the item was already snapped up!

Damn it, looks like i wasn't the only discount scavenger lurking around, over the course of the week among the other items that i was interested in include Tomb Raider Anniversary Wii, Nights Wii and Ghost Squad Wii, all in-stock before being snapped up.
Apart from Stranglehold, i could have placed my order earlier to earn that discount but the truth is i kinda lost interest upon missing out on Stranglehold. Looks like this octopus is going to be harder to catch than it looks, the sale ends this sunday and i might just wait till then to place my order to see if any of the said item might be back in stock before then. If not, i might just order something else though i won't reveal yet what it might be.

Learning from a fellow forumer, you will just have to come back later this week to find out what i will eventually order.

MGS4 Act 2

Looks like i was wrong, act 2 turned out to be better than i expected and in some ways better than act 1. The highlight of act 2 was the co-operative play between snake and the local militia, allowing the players to have the feel of actual combat in the battlefield as you work alongside with the local rebels to capture certain base in the area. Sure like most Metal Gear, it's not entirely essential to the core game or storyline but it makes a fun diversion from the usual sneaking mission.
The change of scenery between each act must have surey kept kojima productions busy and it certainly keeps the player busy as well because you constantly have to change your style of gameplay with the change of environment.

MODE : SOLID NORMAL
Total play time : 13'57"05
Continues : 1
Alert phase : 59
Kills : 200
Recovery items used : 36
Weapon types procured: 35
Flashback watched : 77
Special item used: Not used

Zero-ing on My Options

Biohazard Zero Wii was just released in Japan today and i don't know what's left to say about the game that i haven't said before already. Granted i haven't actually got the chance to talk about the game seeing that i started this blog shortly after finishing the game. I was always far more infatuated with the Gamecube remake mainly for nostalgic reasons even though in reality, that game was a little less polished than this. I remember rushing through this game fairly quickly because Umbrella Chronicles was already out by then so i really didn't give this title the fair amount of attention it deserves. I wanted to play UC pretty badly then so Resident Evil Zero felt like just another obstacle in the way at that time.

The decision on whether or not to get this Wii port would have been made a lot easier had i not already own three copies of the original Gamecube version. Also given that i hardly get any chance to play my Wii these days, having another game lying around isn't exactly a comforting thought. Not the mention the issue of the Wii game being region lock so i would probably have to fork out some more cash in order to actually play this game. Oh yeah, this is easier than i thought...

MGS4 Act 1

The first act of Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of the most thoroughly satisfying chapter of the Metal Gear series, in fact the first 10 minutes before the title screen rolls kinda reminds me of Resident Evil 4 it had the same kind of intensity and excitement to it. The excitement slowly wears out after a while so it's probably a good thing that Hideo designed a different set of scenery for each five acts. I can't wait to see what else's in store though i have a feeling the first act will likely remain as my favourite of the five.

MODE : SOLID NORMAL
Total play time : 06'26"01
Continues : 1
Alert phase : 22
Kills : 36
Recovery items used : 10
Weapon types procured: 20
Flashback watched : 28
Special item used: Not used

Nero minded

I finished DMC4 last weekend and since i didn't have any game scores that i would normally would post, i didn't bother to blog about it. I was pretty determined to finish the game before 8th of July, the official release date of the PC version as i would have the satisfaction of knowing that i have at least beaten a certain legion of gamers to completing the game.

Yes, i was pretty sore about DMC4 coming to the PC platform, perhaps even more so than the XBOX360 because i have never regarded the platform as a viable gaming platform. In my mind, PC gamers are just a bunch of cheap skate gamers would can't be bother to purchase a game console and instead turn to their multi-tasking PC to get their gaming fix. I would know because i happened to be one in the past !

This DMC4 release is a little different because Capcom happened to be handling the development themselves instead of outsourcing it and they have also taken the effort to throw in some extra modes as incentives for console gamers.

Nice move Capcom but you are not getting my money this time....

Snake for sale

There can only be one snake and one big boss, today i finally let go of my extra copy of MGS4 selling it to a local forumer from penang. It wasn't a difficult decision to make, after all apart from some slight font color change both copy are virtually identical even down to the save game file from what i heard. However the manual included in the asian region one appears to be somewhat thicker i believed but since i never open the copy before selling it i won't know for sure. Anyone care to indulge what exactly is included inside there?

Ashes to ashes

I was really looking forward to Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel 2 especially after Konami reveal that it will come with full-voiceovers accompanying the art. Somewhere along the way, Konami decided to release the game on DVD instead of coming exclusively to PSP and its release was coincided with the worldwide release of Metal Gear Solid 4, probably their last chance to release it since interest in Metal Gear is sure to drop after that.While i was a little disappointed that it's no longer on the PSP, i was quite relieved to learn that the voice bubble accompanying the voiceovers will still be retained in its original english form thereby enabling non-japanese speaking audience to understand the plot. Well it is certainly a rare occasion as never in Metal Gear history has there been such an import-friendly japanese release which retains it's original japanese voices while still being accessible to non-japanese speaking fans.

After getting seduced by Ashley Wood's artwork again on my second run through Portable Ops, i decided to finally purchase it. After all, there probably won't be any big Metal Gear release for a while so this will probably be kojima's last chance at getting my money. If only the DVD is not region locked so i could watch it on my Playstation3....