-- I actually just purchased MGS3: Subsistence about last week or so. I was really looking forward to playing out the new 3rd person camera system and finally experiencing what this game really had to offer. But very shortly into the title, I became not only extremely disappointed, but flat out bored. Bored to the point where I started to doze off with the controller in my hands (and this was during mid-day time, at that).
In changing the camera to 3rd person, the game needed many more additions in order to balance the title out. First off, the ?holding down a shoulder button to enter a static 1st person mode? is extremely flawed right out of the box. This may have worked for MGS2(!), a 1st gen title on the PS2. But as a last gen game, Hideo really should?ve learned his lesson. Especially considering that he claimed his team spent so much time playing PC online FPS?, you?d THINK that they?d pick something up from these experiences.
Then there?s the factor that you cannot aim, shoot and move simultaneously. Hell, you can?t even AIM to begin with unless you use the shoulder button. They didn?t add a lock-on ability, nor did they have dual-analog support to supplement the camera change (let alone, add a reticule for aiming). And it?s not as if MGS is a technical series to play, mind you. The CQC functions are dirt poor compared to what it was hyped to be initially (Comon..he still does a corny 3 hit combo, only now with the ability to slash throats).
In my opinion, i found Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory to be entirely more advanced and polished as far as gameplay is concerned, and im don't even like that game to be honest. I hope the PS3 version of MGS really changes my outlook on the series as a whole.
If he really wants to improve this series, then he needs to stop letting the design fall into what Metal Gear and MGS2 had to offer. Unbelievably, all of the recent MGS? STILL play like their NES/MSX originals in the 80?s. Even the functions are still the same; you cannot crouch walk still to this day, and when crouching and moving in any direction, it still leads to a crawling function. If you play MGS 2, it functions in the EXACT same way as today, and that kinda sucks. And taking your hand away to use the D-Pad in "stalking mode" is probably one of the dumbest functions around, I believe.
This game still doesn't change my overall view on MGS games like i'd hoped it would-- i still say MGS is one of the most overrated series of all time.