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

@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.

I decided to give Max Payne 3 a go. I remember it being good when I played it when it released, but it feels clunky now and the cutscenes have a really weird strobe effect every now and then that gives me a headache.

@Jecht_Ultima I dunno who thought it was a good idea. Surely it came up during play testing that it can cause headaches. 🤷

I wonder if it can be turned off in the options menu.

Anyone else played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows? I just started playing it for the first time in a few years and it's a shame it's not very good. I've always liked the idea of a realistic Turtles game. Although I'm not a fan of the Turtles designs. They just look odd.

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

@colonelkilgore I gave the PS3 version of Metal Gear Solid V a try earlier. How they got that game to run on a PS3 is beyond me.

@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- That's awesome to hear about MGSV on PS3. Ground Zeroes was the first game I ever played on PS4, and my reaction to its next-level graphics was only matched by my disbelief that it could ever work on a PS3. Seeing some of the comparisons on YouTube is one thing, but I've always been oddly tempted to try it out for myself, just out of sheer bloody-minded curiosity.

Also, wasn't that Turtles game famously de-listed a while back? It's impossible to find nowadays!

@colonelkilgore @RogerRoger I only did the beginning, so the game could fall apart after that, but I was very impressed by what I've played so far. Definitely a step above the PS3 versions of Dragon Age: Inquisition and Shadow of Mordor.

I bought Turtles back when I had my first PS3. I guess it's good that I own it if it's impossible to get now.

@Bentleyma- Yeah, it's been the unfortunate fate of a lot of licenced games, especially digital-only releases, when the publisher doesn't renew the licence and they get de-listed. Apparently, that Turtles game is one of the most infamous examples, despite its mediocre reception.

@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

@colonelkilgore MGS3 is my favourite MGS. The bosses, story and setting are just fantastic. Hope you enjoy it!

@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

Was wondering when you were finally getting round to Snake Eater @colonelkilgore!

Glad to hear you've enjoyed your time with it so far though by the time you've seen this post you'll have probably finished it! 😄

It's my personal favourite alongside the original MGS. The Boss is a such a good character (Probably my favourite in the entire series) and I love the dynamic between her and Naked Snake.

Really interested to see what you make of MGS 1 and 2 too!