PSN Community Spotlight – A MGS Fan’s Desire to Play MGS4

Another Saturday, another PSN Community Spotlight. It’s that time where PlayStation gamers tell their unique stories/experiences/thoughts, as submitted to this section in the PlayStation Community Forums. Those that make it all the way to the PlayStation.Blog will find a $50 PlayStation Store voucher in their inbox.

Last week, Morgan asked about your experiences with Metal Gear Solid 4, since the game was recently patched with Trophy support. PlayStation gamer luciFOUR wrote in to tell us about his rocky start with the Metal Gear series. Don’t worry, it has a happy ending.

A MGS Fan’s Desire to Play MGS4

It was about 13 years ago. My brothers and I had just gotten a PS1 and we were very excited about the games that we would be playing in the near future. We had played before on a family friend’s system and had already known what we’d be getting into. We got some classic games like “FF VII” and “Ape Escape”. However, one day, my oldest brother had learned about this game that came out the preceding year. It was some title called “Metal Gear Solid”. I had no idea what it would be about with such an odd title name. Is it about combat gear that happens to be metal, which is obviously solid? I just felt I had to try it.

Sadly I couldn’t get too far because of one crucial moment in the game. Remember that CD case Baker gave to you that has Meryl’s Codec frequency? I thought it was on the back of that CD case (like he said), so I equipped it and kept calling Colonel to see if he could help. He didn’t. I had unfortunately abandoned the game for a while before trying again, my brothers thought the same. We feared the game was bugged and never thought of looking online (on dial-up! Oh the 90’s…). Any fan of Metal Gear will tell you that the Codec frequency is on the back of the case for the game itself! I feel like an idiot looking back now.

I had completely forgotten about the game until MGS2 was announced, then MGS3, but never bothered to try it again until I heard detailed coverage of MGS4. This was early 2008, almost a decade later! It looked amazing running on the PS3 (even to this day, I consider it one of the best looking PS3 games). To keep the story short, I played MGS1 all the way through and loved it. Then I got MGS2 and MGS3 and loved those as well. This was, of course, all in anticipation of MGS4. It was one of the main reasons I got a PS3, which was fittingly a PS3/MGS4 bundle. After playing through that, I had nothing but high hopes for MGS5, or whatever was coming next from Hideo Kojima’s mind. One of the most important aspects I look for in a game is a strong story, and it’s almost a guarantee that the MGS games will have that.

Being the first game I got for PS3, I was amazed that this title could even exist. I couldn’t put the controller down. I still have my first gamesave stored on my PS3, unwilling to delete it as it has so many memories attached to it. I loved everything about the game. The ending to Snake’s story was fitting and made me reflect on the first MGS, in addition to the journey I made through all four games, even if it was recent. You could say I was crazy about the series, especially MGS4. Playing through the games and buying each one the day after I finished the previous game, it was obvious I got pulled in. I regret not getting into the series earlier; I probably would have been drawn in a long time ago. 4 years later, here I am playing the game again, for those coveted trophies, and of course, the platinum. I couldn’t ask for a better anniversary gift from Kojima himself.

Thank you Kojima-san, and here’s to another 25 years of Metal Gear.

Thanks for writing in luciFOUR! Hope you enjoy playing through again with Trophies.
Next week, to celebrate the launch of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, we’re looking for stories and experiences from Counter Strike. Click here to check out more info on this call to action.