When asked about how size limitations could affect Final Fantasy XIII on the Xbox 360, producer Yoshinori Kitase said, “…we’ll work on trying to find ways to compress the prerendered movies and voice that take up a lot of data in ways that don’t affect the final product. As for the in-game visuals, we’re going to look for ways to ensure that the quality remains the same between the two versions.” Wow, compression. You know what else could be optimized for the Xbox 360? You guessed it…
I finally beat Metal Gear Solid 2 today. It took me just under sixteen hours to complete. I have to say, I enjoyed this much more than the original Metal Gear Solid. My only complaint is the repetitive scenery. I don’t know how they could have used any other scenery in the game though so that is not much of a complaint. Now for the good stuff…
For starters, I thought this game was much harder than the original Metal Gear Solid. It actually felt like what I would expect from a stealth game where as Metal Gear Solid did not. It seemed like there were many more enemies to evade in MGS2. In MGS1, I felt like I was running from boss to boss with only a couple of guards in between. The boss battles did seem a bit trickier in MGS1 though. I felt that the bosses in MGS2 were easy in comparison (aside from fighting all of the, well, you know…).
*** Potential Spoilers Below. Highlight To Read ***
As far as the story goes, it can be hard to follow. I think I understand the relationships and pasts of the characters in the game up until the end of the MGS2. What I don’t understand is, what do I, as a player, have to do with the story? Was I controlling Raiden, and even Snake in MGS1, as part of S3 (Selection for Societal Sanity, previously Solid Snake Simulator)? Did Raiden take control of his life when he tossed the dog tags with my name on it? At this point, I believe the answer to all of these questions is yes. Hopefully I’ll get some confirmation in MGS3 or MGS4.
*** End Potential Spoilers ***
I have to say, at this point, I feel like an idiot for not giving this series a chance in the past. I ignorantly disregarded it as a bunch of cookie cutter games for the masses. The series is not at all what I expected it would be. I had no idea it had such a deep and complicated story. I didn’t even know the story had anything to do with the NES Metal Gear games at all. Hopefully I’m not missing too much by skipping those. Anyway, Onto Metal Gear Solid 3…
While talking to one of my friends about the announcement at E3 that Final Fantasy XIII is no longer a PS3 exclusive, I made a comment stating that all Xbox 360 owners need now is Metal Gear Solid 4. He said that would never happen because the size of the game is too big and it would have to be put on multiple DVDs. Who cares if it is on multiple discs? Apparently Kojima cares… or he pretends to care because Sony probably paid him to. Metal Gear Solid was on multiple discs and nobody seemed to have a problem with that, but that is beside the point.
You see kids, there is this little thing called compression. Did you know that the mp3s you buy (or pirate) are compressed? If they were not compressed, your songs would be 30mb and up compared to the 3-6mb songs we are used to. That is quite a difference isn’t it? The video on your DVD movies that you buy at the store (or pirate) are compressed. Most of the textures you see in games are compressed as well. The point is, with compression, it is possible to get MGS4 to the Xbox 360 with a reasonable amount of discs. I have heard people say that there are no pre-rendered cut scenes in the game, meaning, there is no video to compress in the game. That may be true, but there are other things to compress. The audio and textures used in the game most likely take up the majority of the space and can be compressed.
Also, some developers have had to duplicate data on the Blu-ray disc in order to decrease the load times for their games. Bethesda had to do this with the PS3 version of Oblivion. Basically, the larger a disc is, the longer it takes to read and jump from point to point on the disc (this is why some PS3 games require you to install the game to the hard drive). By duplicating data, the laser will have multiple points on the disc to read data, making it closer to the data it needs. Why is this relevant? If this technique was used for MGS4, the game may be a fraction of the size they claimed they needed.
Even if MGS4 has no duplicate data on the disc, and Kojima did not want to compress anything at all, there is now another way to get it on the Xbox 360. At E3, Microsoft announced that you will be able to install Xbox 360 games on your hard drive. I don’t think I need to explain much, but with this option you would need a large hard drive for your Xbox 360 and would have to install Metal Gear Solid 4 on it. After an install, no disc swapping would be needed.
What I am trying to say is, if Metal Gear Solid 4 does not come out on the Xbox 360, it is because Sony is paying for exclusivity. It has little to do with the size of the game. Before I get death threats from any Sony fan boys, know that I own a PSX, PS2, PSP, and a PS3. I am also going to buy MGS4 for the PS3 (after I beat 2 and 3). So There.
I got my first Playstation 3 trophy from Super Stardust HD. It took about an hour to get used to the game before I could pass the first level to earn the achievement. Now all I need is trophy support for ALL the games I own. Too bad that will never happen.
Today until 1 pm ET, Amazon.com offers Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 for $44.99. With free shipping, it’s $8 below our May mention and the lowest total price we could find by $11.
CircuitCity.com offers the Sony PlayStation 3 80GB Console bundled with Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for $499.99 with free shipping. That ties a mention from a month ago for the lowest total price we’ve seen, but it’s also one of the few units we’ve recently seen in-stock. Sales tax is added where applicable. Note that the controller included is the newer DualShock 3 with rumble support.
With all of the Metal Gear Solid 4 hype going on, I decided that I want in on the Metal Gear series. Unfortunately, I have never finished any Metal Gear game so I know little about the story. That is, until today. I am attempting to play through all of the previous Metal Gear Solid games to get a deeper understanding of the series and the story before playing MGS4. I just finished Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation, and will be going over some thoughts I had about Metal Gear Solid before playing it, as well as how I felt during and after the game.
I always thought the Metal Gear series was a stealth action game, much like the Splinter Cell series but with more cinematic camera angles. I thought there were some puzzle elements to it as well. I had actually attempted to play Metal Gear Solid when it first came out but lost interest after losing a few times on the second boss.
After getting past the second boss this time around, I learned that the game is not all stealth action. The guards seemed few and far between. The ones I did come across were fairly easy to avoid and kill. It felt like there were more bosses than guards. The boss fights all seemed to happen one after another with not much in between. This is not necessarily a bad thing mind you, just not what I was expecting. The bosses seemed fairly easy as well. The only thing that made the boss fights a challenge were the controls. I’m sure the controls felt spot on when the game came out, but a decade later, it makes me wonder if the game would be a challenge at all if the controls were better.
After finishing the game and thinking back on it, I realized that the story didn’t do much for me. Don’t get me wrong, the voice acting was great and the cut scenes were interesting enough, but I just did not feel attached to the character at all. In most cases, I feel a bit sad when I beat a good game and, in some cases, attempt to play through it a second time. I had no such feelings with Metal Gear Solid. I did enjoy the game while I was playing it, but as soon as it ended, I was glad it was over.
The balance and polish of Bad Company, along with the “Gold Rush” game mode, make it a truly amazing online experience. In each round, there is an attacking team that is trying to blow open some gold crates, and a defending team trying to protect the crates. This sounds like a typical game mode for any shooter right? It is until you add an almost fully destructible environment, unlockable weapons, and effective classes. What you are left with is pure gold… and my new favorite multiplayer shooter.
The destructible environments may sound like a gimmick before you play the game, but after a few rounds, you will see that it adds much more strategy to an already tactical game. Imagine taking cover and a few seconds later you have no cover at all. This helps keep the game moving and makes for some quick decision making.
Experienced Battlefield Veterans may have some trouble adapting to the game as there are a few changes. The biggest change for me was the fact that there are no parachutes. You are going to hate this at first, but after a while you will see why there are none. Basically, helicopters in Bad Company are meant for fighting, not transportation. It might also be hard getting used to the majority of classes not having a pistol, but I don’t miss it at all at this point.
I do have some complaints, but they have not stopped me from getting addicted to the game. My biggest complaint is the control scheme. The knife button is in the worst spot ever, and there is no way to change the button layout. Another problem I have with the game is the award system. It sounds like an odd thing to complain about, but after being in many games where my team lost due to a few guys trying to “Get 4 road kills with the helicopter in a round” or any other near impossible award; I can say that they are extremely annoying. I want achievements as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of a loss.
At any rate, it is worth a rent at the very least. Battlefield veterans should definitely try it before buying. I personally like it more than previous Battlefield games, but there are many who feel the opposite. Do yourself a favor and play it for a few hours before passing judgment.