Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #6: E.Emotions

“All the feels. So this was a session that consisted largely of cutscenes, but my word did those cutscenes make their mark. My increasing investment in the fiction of MGSsuddenly paid off in a couple of hours that almost made me cry on a couple of occasions. It’s such a silly story, I don’t really understand why I’m having such a reaction but IT ALL SUDDENLY MATTERS SO MUCH. The gameplay elements were actually pretty excellent though, mainly based around guiding Otacon’s sister Emma through Big Shell.”

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #6: E.Emotions:

http://www.gamegrin.com/articles/metal-gear-solid-noob-diaries-6-e-emotions/

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #5: Jumping Mad

““OK, time for another Metal Gear Solid session – I do love the fact that I’m actually looking forward to it each time I play. Big Harrier boss battle was completed last time, so some stealthy stuff is probably on the cards next!

Right, just got to shimmy down this pole and land on the big pipe.

Done, easy peasy.

Run a little bit, now a nice big gap to jump over. Obviously I’ve got to hit X to do that weird flying cartwheel thing Raiden does, shouldn’t be too difficult. Here goes…

Agh! Nope, dead.

Right, back to the beginning, shimmy, shimmy, shimmy aaaaand jump!

Nope, dead again.

OK, third time lucky. Ready…. go!

Nope.

Fourth time actually lucky!

Nope.

Five you’ll be fine?

Nope.

Please, for the love of sanity let me cross this damned gap!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

*Timeout*

“Right, come on, concentrate. Go, go, go!

Yes! Success. Wasn’t even that hard *scans to see if anyone was watching*.
Ah, a silencer for my AK, very nice. Now I just go round the corner, a little bit of sleuth-ary and… wait, is that a drone. Ah, yes, and it’s spotted me, and is shooting at me, and so is everyone else, and now I’m dead.

And now I’m back to the beginning. With the jump.

Which I’ve failed again.

Kill me.””

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #5: Jumping Mad:

http://www.gamegrin.com/articles/metal-gear-solid-noob-diaries-5-jumping-mad/

Broken, Bruised and Battered: The Class of 2014

“Picture it: you go to see The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies in the cinema. You’re enjoying the movie, as is intended, when all of a sudden Bilbo’s face practically implodes and loses all of its skin; leaving only his eyes, hair and teeth. It pops back into normal shape after a few minutes though, and things carry on as normal. Then a little later, during the big battle scene, the film starts to judder as the frame rate takes a sudden drop, making it difficult to properly follow what’s going on. It’s pretty annoying, but all seems rather minor when the film comes to a screeching halt halfway through, forcing the cinema staff to restart the movie. Turns out this has been happening across the world, in a whole host of cinemas.”

Broken, Bruised and Battered: The Class of 2014:

http://www.gamegrin.com/articles/broken-bruised-and-battered-the-class-of-2014/

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #4: Harrier Battle From Hell

“So today I spent a couple of hours in a section of the game that probably should’ve taken about a quarter of the time it took me. I’ve discovered Mr Ames, who knew the whereabouts of the President. Revolver Ocelot has rocked up on the plant and a big new kingpin is in play – Solidus Snake. He’s the third clone of Big Boss by the looks of things, although I prefer Solid and Liquid’s lighter touch to his mechanic presence. Raiden has finally put 1+1 together and realised that Snake is Snake, oh and I’m starting to warm to David Hayter’s voice work. Honestly, I still think it’s horrendously over the top, but I guess that’s part of the charm of the whole series, really. Gray Fox is back too by the way, he didn’t die… nobody apart from Raiden was surprised.”

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #4: Harrier Battle From Hell:

http://www.gamegrin.com/articles/metal-gear-solid-noob-diaries-4-harrier-battle-from-hell/

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #3: Enter Raiden

“So I’m now a few hours into the main plant mission of MGS2, with a new protagonist called Raiden in tow. I think I’m actually starting to improve. I’m slowly but surely picking up the controls and while the camera is still giving me a massive headache, I find myself becoming a lot more stealthy. Guards are dropping without even a slight hint that I’m around, my movement and ability to predict guard movement has greatly improved and I’m starting to feel like a proper spy.”

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #3: Enter Raiden:

http://www.gamegrin.com/articles/metal-gear-solid-noob-diaries-3-enter-raiden/

Europa Universalis IV: Art of War Review

“Art of War is an unusual choice of title for Paradox’s latest DLC for Europa Universalis IV. It’s certainly the biggest update to the warfare mechanics of the grand strategy title yet , but it’s not the best thing about the expansion. The phrase itself also implies a closer look at the Eastern provinces of the game (Sun Tzu and what not), yet the core feature of the DLC looks at Europe once again, in particular the 30 years’ war that ravaged the Holy Roman Empire during the 17th Century. Considering that title, I was hoping for a much grander overhaul of the game’s military systems which, while functional, have never been especially exciting. Instead we have yet another solid, but not essential, piece of DLC.”

Europa Universalis IV: Art of War Review:

http://www.gamegrin.com/reviews/europa-universalis-iv-art-of-war-review/

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #2: Sons of Liberty

“So here we are at the real beginning of this little adventure. The Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection arrived in my post yesterday morning (a day late, despite having Amazon Prime, may I add!). I instantly dusted off my PS3, hooked it up and got the game running pretty quickly; not too much fussing around with installs, which was nice. The HD Collection contains MGS 2, 3 and the once PSP-exclusive Peace Walker, all of which I’ll be playing for this diary. Weirdly, the game’s menu suggests that you play the games in chronological order as opposed to release order. I read somewhere that it’s best to just play the games how they were released (isn’t that always true?) so went with Sons of Liberty first.”

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #2: Sons of Liberty:

http://www.gamegrin.com/articles/metal-gear-solid-noob-diaries-2-sons-of-liberty/

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #1: An Introduction

The beginning of a long, long journey. I spent months playing and writing about Metal Gear Solid. Over the course of the coming months I’ll be posting up different parts of my story through the series. It was quite a challenge, but I’m rather pleased with the outcome:

“E3 proved to me that a trailer – just one (albeit very long) trailer – can sell a videogame. Hideo Kojima and his team undoubtedly hoped that their shiny E3 trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain would rev up the engine on the ol’ hype machine, but I bet they weren’t expecting to hook people on to the series as a whole. With many long and complicated games in the series, Metal Gear Solid is a tough nut to crack for new players, but that’s what I’m going to attempt. Gary Oldfield and that E3 trailer has single-handedly convinced me to buy and play MGS.”

Metal Gear Solid Noob Diaries #1: An Introduction:

http://www.gamegrin.com/articles/metal-gear-solid-noob-diaries-1-an-introduction/

Randal’s Monday Review

“Comedy has always been a challenge for videogame developers. Gaming, at this point in time, just doesn’t seem to have a hook on the ability to make people laugh. There are definitely some good examples out there: from the blatant silliness and wit of Monkey Island to the subtle charm of the Uncharted series all the way through to the outrageous parody of GTA. Yet it’s easy to say that there aren’t enough games designed specifically to make people laugh. A comedy videogame is a rare breed, so it’s good to see some newcomers to the firing line. Randal’s Monday is a comedy game, through and through.”

Randal’s Monday Review:

http://www.gamegrin.com/reviews/randals-monday-review/

Oddities: M&M’s Kart Racing

“Mario Kart is very good. M&M’s, they’re not Smarties, but they’re pretty good too. Blend the two together and you can imagine how great the outcome is.

That’s right. Damned awful.

Mario Kart is apparently only good when developed by Nintendo, and M&M’s are best enjoyed as an actual physical piece of food, as opposed to little digital men. In all seriousness though, who actually likes those annoying M&M’s men? Their adverts are awful. So it was unlikely that a game centred on these horrendous mascots would succeed, and succeed it did not.”

Oddities: M&M’s Kart Racing:

http://www.gamegrin.com/articles/oddities-m-and-ms-kart-racing/