The Mind of Game
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Why am I not excited?
After all the months of waiting, after saying repeatedly that this is the reason I bought a Playstation 3, after all the times I’ve said I’m getting it day one, here I sit in front of my computer with my copy of the collector’s edition still waiting in the back room at GameStop instead of in my PS3’s waiting disc drive. I should know, I was the one who put it back there when I walked in for work earlier today.
What’s the deal? Is there something wrong with me? What am I missing? It’s been a long time coming but the excitement…it’s just not there. I’m not even a little excited for it, not even a modicum of hype exists within me right now. As much as I hate to say this (and I know Metal Gear fans the world over will hate me for this as well), Metal Gear Solid 4 is just another game to me.
But for a second here, let me delve into my past experiences with the series. I’ve never been a big fan of the Metal Gear Solid series. The only Metal Gear Solid games I’ve ever played through to the end are Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. This is strange because I own many, many games in Metal Gear Solid collection, spanning various consoles, as you can see from the pictures below.
(By the way, the Metal Gear Solid 3 you see on the lower left of the first picture is the original Snake Eater. The cover art you see is from an EGM pullout with replacement cover art. Pretty cool eh?)
Despite owning all of these games, as I stated before, I’ve only completed two of them. I’ve never been sucked into the series like its legions of fans. Sure, the storytelling is great and the cutscenes are enjoyable (albeit incredibly long in some cases) to sit through but the gameplay has never really grabbed me. I can see its appeal, but not when it relates to me.
Again, the question I must ask is…what’s wrong with this picture? Metal Gear Solid 4 is bar none, the most hyped exclusive game for the PS3. It’s the game to get for the PS3 and…I don’t own it and to be honest, I don’t know when I’m going to get it.Hell, the game is getting nines from just about every reviewing outlet worth its salt. While it’s easy to say the reviewers merely bought into the hype, I don’t think that’s the case here. I guess I can attribute my sudden frugality to the fact that I’ve been trying to budget myself, seeing as I’ve got an HDTV purchase coming up very soon (that’s also why I haven’t added Ninja Gaiden 2 to my collection yet). But there’s some games that transcend budgets. Some games are so good that, no matter what, you can afford to buy. I recognize Metal Gear Solid 4 as one of those games…or at least…I think I do.
So. I guess I can end this post here as I still haven’t convinced myself that I truly need to get this game now or in the near future. Before a bunch of Metal Gear fans (or maybe fanboys…) rip my head off, please note that I’m not trying to bash the game or diminish its importance in any way, shape or form. I’m just not excited for it at the time being. Perhaps this will change in time, perhaps not. Perhaps I need to play it before I’ll see the proverbial light and rush back to GameStop and finally pick up my copy.
Or hey, maybe I’m just crazy.
