Topic: What PS3 game(s) are you currently playing?

I managed to get them to accept the return on the camera and I got a replacement. also used my remaining £8 voucher toward a PS3 move wand so I paid £30. Still pricey but I want one anyway and I can't really test the new camera properly without it

@Th3solution yeah I've heard that a few times of late... I might not find out for a while though, its tenuously scheduled for sometime in 2024 😉

I just finished Ghost recon future soldier which was an old ps plus game. It's ok, I think I was a bit harsh about it originally. It warmed to me slightly.

I like that you can just order your team mates to kill people instead of having to do it yourself. I quite liked the metal gear style thingy too.

I think the game is quite generic still, I wouldn't pay additional money for it unless it was a quid or two. I like having these sorts of games as a PS Plus game, stuff like this and the 5 or 6 CoD games we've received. They are just games I wouldn't buy normally but don't mind spending 8-12 hours playing through. They aren't amazing and they aren't terrible but they are just sort of good enough if that makes sense.

Started MGS3 today and after initially struggling with the controls, I really enjoyed my time with it.

@Bentleyma- I played the PS4 version late last year and loved it, from what I gather the PS3 version is quite equitable... Kojima is a wizard!

@Bentleyma- I guess that was a tie in to the movie? I've never heard of the game but I actually love both of those films. After twenty bazillion redesigns of the turtles I have become numb to it anyway. They can only give me more turtles, they can't take my turtles from the first cartoon away!

@colonelkilgore nice one on starting off mgs3! I'm trying to remember the controls but I haven't played it since last year. I do remember it being different from both 2 and PW. I think all the games have different options and the Subsistence version of MGS3 which is included in the HD collection uses the stick for 3D camera movement. Not sure if there's an option to do the traditional top down view or not.

I highly recommend the MSX game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake which can be accessed from the MGS3 menu. I played it for the first time last year and couldn't believe I'd put it off for that long. It's like a 2D version of the first Metal Gear Solid. Brilliant game. Metal Gear 1 is good too but nowhere near as good as 2

@ralphdibny @Jimmer-jammer I'm really enjoying it to be fair. Obviously I've moaned a little about the controls but you get used to them. It's just a class way over-the-top, over-stylized cold war supernatural spy romp... and its ticking a lot of my boxes.

Can't be too far from the end now and looking forward to the rest of the series. Speaking of which, I just haven't got the time to play the MSX MG & MG2:SS (which I'm gutted about)... I don't suppose anyone knows of a video that encapsulates the story of those two, so I can watch it before starting MGS and MGS2?

@colonelkilgore it ticked a lot of my boxes for similar reasons!

I can't think of a specific video tbh and I would say they are not majorly essential to understanding the MGS games especially as they get repeatedly retconned from here on out. They just show the "ultimate fates" of Venom Snake and Big Boss and even then you wouldn't even be aware the former existed until you played the Phantom Pain.

I have seen a rather good video that reinterprets the ending of MG using newly made graphics and also graphics lifted from The Phantom Pain which also incorporates plot points from it that even Kojima wouldn't have known when he made the original game. Gonna tag @RogerRoger for this too, I can't remember if I sent you this vid! It sort of caps off MG and sets up MG2.

I think how long to beat has MG pegged at 4-5 hours and MG2 at 5-8 hours long. The first one is a bit stiff to adjust to initially but is great once you get used to it. But yeah apart from the experience they probably aren't that essential to the story, especially as you're playing them completely out of order and skipping Portable Ops anyway! I've been playing the MGS games for decades and literally only got around to MG and MG2 last year so yeah, make of that what you will!

@ralphdibny cheers for the vid buddy. So although MGSV was my first, as just an avid fan of all things pop culture, I’d kind of subconsciously picked up enough from chats with mates etc to very quickly pick up on a couple of the ‘winks’ and twists of The Phantom Pain. I know it gets a lot of grief for it’s narrative etc but a few things in particular hit me hard while playing... and still blows my mind these 6 or so months later. Now, these aren’t spoilers perse so I won’t tag it as such (they are more the initial info drips that kindle the curiosity that ultimately leads to the denouements):

Why Venom Snake’s face just looks like Snake regardless of your character creating exploits.

The identity of Ishmael

The fate of Venom Snake post MGSV

Why Venom Snake isn’t voiced by David Hayter

The future identity of White Mamba

I actually consider those aspects of the greater series genius-level narrative weaving and it was probably those things more than anything else that made me want to play the rest of the games (well MGS, MGS2, MGS3, MGS4, MGS:PW & MGS: Rising).

@colonelkilgore mgs V won't get any grief from me lol I love it! It's different from the other games but not necessarily worse. I love the twists in the game referring to your first two points that I think get explained if you get all the endings. I thought the twist could explain the voice change too but it is Big Boss in Ground Zeroes so that puts that theory out the window but it does remain partially head canon to me.

Your third point is shown in Metal Gear and your fifth point is shown in Metal Gear Solid but not at all explained as V hadn't come out yet. It wouldn't be a spoiler to look up who White Mamba (and the gas mask kid) becomes because it's only ever referenced in MGSV.

The whole series is so confusingly detailed that I was even noticing new things when I played through them last year. For some reason it didn't twig (or I just forgot) on my first playthrough that the Man on Fire was a certain character from Snake Eater.

I was thinking that you could just read the plot of MG, MG2 and MGS Portable Ops on Wiki. I also think there's a section that summarises MG and MG2 with text on the main menu of MGS if I remember correctly. But having played them, I think you probably know that there are "moments" in the games that just won't convey across text. It's just so huge a series that you can get a lot from just reading before and after playing but also from playing them as well

@ralphdibny YES! Totally forgot about Gas-mask kid and who he turns out to be.

Also, I knew that Man on Fire had to be ‘someone’ due to the way his participation was handled in V but it’s only now that I’m playing 3 that I get that info.

Good shout about the wiki’s... think that’s probably my best bet actually. Who knows, once the series is way back in my rear-view mirror, I might miss the world Kojima created and then I’ll always have MG and MG2:SS to go back to.

@colonelkilgore for sure! I mean it took me twentysomething years to get around to MG and MG2. The series is like a fine wine that only gets better with age 😅. When you are really thirsty you can even delve into the sub sub canon.

There's an argument to be made that Portable Ops and Rising are not canon but I still treat them as such because barring retcons, I don't think there's a huge amount that gets contradicted. So that's the sub canon but there is a sub sub canon that directly contradicts the main games which includes things like MG and Snake's Revenge on the NES, MGS on game boy colour, the digital graphic novels of MGS1&2 and Metal Gear Acid 1&2 on PSP. Out of those, I've only played Snakes Revenge (with lots of game genie codes) and MGS for game boy, both are really good but MGS for GBC especially so, it's about as good as some of the main games. So yeah, I've still got a couple of games to come back to.

If I ever get Metal Gear Mobile (n-gage 2) to work then I may have to drag my partner in to a semi canonical playthrough that would include the movie of MGS Digital Graphic Novel, MG Mobile, MGS2 Digital Graphic Novel movie, MGA and MGA2. She might break up with me if I suggest that after she sat through 250 hours of the main series with me during last year's lockdowns 😂, I kid...I hope 😅

Edit: oh yeah there is another mobile game called MGS Touch that was on iPhones in the iPhone 3 era. There's also a bunch of multiplayerish games like the various iterations of MG Online from Snake Eater onwards and MG Social Ops which is another mobile game. I'm going to try and get Touch to work one day but I doubt I'll ever get into any of the online games as the servers will probably be dead/shutdown by the time I get around to it

@ralphdibny as someone who considers one’s self to have an obsessive personality... you’ve just made my level of obsession seem totally inadequate by flashing what can only be described as an obsession-level of over 9000! Well done sir! 🤯

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy still haven’t finished it yet, I only really game on a Wednesday as it’s my day off... but I did get an hour in after work tonight. Reckon I’ll get it done over the weekend (I’ll get up a couple of hours before the missus and log on).

The Boss is great, I find her strangely attractive too considering she is a PS2-era collection of polygons forming muscular femininity. I also really liked The End and The Sorrow. The others are cool too but those three just send my imagination of on multiple tangents during play. As you allude too, they really did nail The Boss and her relationship to Snake, it needed to have gravitas and be epic... and it was pulled off perfectly.

@RogerRoger cheers for reading through my mini reviews. I can't imagine the interest in such content to be anything more than niche so they had to be firm, fair and funny lol.

I don't know why I bother playing these games to be honest, nobody else cares about them so why do I?! 😅 I guess @colonelkilgore was right about my obsession levels being over 9000! 😂

@ralphdibny 🤣

Just finished MGS3, missed one trophy (Fashionista) I’ve looked into it since and think it’s just the Snake Camo after The Boss that I didn’t pick up... just didn’t see it I guess. I have a save just before The Boss though, so I should be able to mop that up quite quickly.

WOW though, I’m blown away! It’s obviously fresh in the mind, so take it for what it’s worth... but right now I’m thinking that was the best video game narrative that I have ever experienced. Phenomenal! Although I haven’t played MGS, MGS2 and MGS4... I know enough to understand (on some level) what a piece of genius prequel storytelling that was. I loved it. Can’t wait to play the rest of the series.

I still rank MGSV above it though. Obviously the narrative was far stronger in 3 and far more ambiguous in V... but I just enjoyed the actual game world and the gameplay mechanics so much in V that it will be hard to beat in my estimation. Still, that is no sleight on 3, V is in my top 3 games of all time.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy yeah thanks foxy, I’ll deffo have a look into the extra stuff you mentioned that was not included on the HD version. The story is so far up my street that I can’t believe I never got into the series earlier. Obviously there is talk of movies being made based on the games, sadly I think there is probably about 1% chance that they will be done justice.

Just finished that Zombie Driver HD. I actually thought it was really good in the end. Some fairly tough bits in it. I'm not sure if I'm going to go back for the platinum due to lack of time but I am tempted.

So the main game is like a horror themed GTA. I tried out the other two modes, there's a racing mode which plays a lot like Micro Machines with the camera angle and the weapons. It's an actual race though, it doesn't have that on/off the screen point scoring. The final mode is like a survival mode where you just have to drive around and kill zombies for as long as possible, it popped like 3 trophies from my first game of it.

So yeah, the original GTA games and the old Micro Machines games are some of my favourites of all time so I can see why this game appealed to me.

@RogerRoger 😂 well I've entertained you at least so thanks! I'll try and do some more short write ups if I get the time!

@colonelkilgore so glad you enjoyed Snake Eater! Honestly the game has me either in tears or on the verge of tears for the whole thing. From the bond style opening credits with that song to the ladder sequence with the subdued version of that song to the end credits with that song 😂. I have a feeling that song might have a lot to do with it...🤔

I've said before that I love the whole series and while it's hard to choose a favourite per say, they are just all brilliant for different reasons. MGS was the first one I played so it will hold that special place in my heart. It's amazing, the voice acting, the exposition, everything really. Snake Eater too for the reasons you've said. Guns of the Patriots for reasons I won't say until you've played it. Peace Walker because of how in depth it is and the amount there is to do. Phantom Pain for the "moments". Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake because it's such an old game but it has the absolute brilliance of something more modern.

Portable Ops, Peace Walker and the Phantom Pain form a sort of pseudo trilogy in themselves because the gameplay is very similar across the three but different from every other Metal Gear game. I get why fans of Metal Gear may not be as enthused with them because of how different they are and I don't think of them as an evolution, just as a side track. I have often wondered if The Phantom Pain would have been better received if it wasn't a numbered entry and so didn't have the expectation of similar game play to the previous numbered entries.