The story in Metal Gear Solid 4 is very cool and encompasses hours of high-res cut-scenes
Metal Gear Solid 4 has amazing graphics
The gunplay in Metal Gear Solid 4 is excellent
Keep to the shadows and survey your enemy
You may laugh at this slapstick scene, but the barrel is very useful in remaining unseen
This is Old Snake using his stealth suit
You want robots? You got it
Some of the situations you'll come across will allow you to try out some cool tactics
The realism and smooth animation in Metal Gear Solid 4 has to be seen in action to be appreciated
This is the Mk.II robot in action zapping a street entertainer in a battle-scarred town
Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear: Solid
games, has put together yet another stunning videogame in what has been
a very long and satisfying series.
The original Metal Gear games, brought out in the
1980 somethings, must have been a smash hit because Kojima has been
developing these games for 11 years without rest.
From Metal Gear Solid, where Solid Snake
infiltrates the nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, to
Metal Gear Solid 3 where we're taken back to the 1960's to get an
insight into Big Boss, the Metal Gear Solid series has never ceased to
stun and amaze its' audience.
And Metal Gear: Solid 4 (MGS4) is no exception.
The story begins with Solid Snake, the series'
protagonist, who in the Middle East is trying to find his arch
enemy (and brother) Liquid-Ocelot. Yes, the names are odd.
His brother has planned a takeover of the world
using a massive amount of military force and some sinister new technology, and Colonel Campbell has
asked you (Solid Snake) to go on one final mission to stop this from
happening.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is predicted to the the last
game in the series, and as the fans of the game would expect, it has
hours and hours of juicy cut scenes that shed some light on the
unanswered questions from the previous games.
This alone should be enough to make fans of the
Metal Gear Solid universe grab a copy.
On the other hand, there is no doubt that
newcomers to the series will be dazed and confused at the storyline
told throughout MGS4, however a lot of it can be
picked up along the way due to the large amount of explaining and
in-game flashbacks.
As many readers would probably know, the Metal Gear
Solid series has always
stuck to the genre of tactical espionage. It's an action game that
involves lots of combat - both armed and unarmed - but also plenty of
stealth.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is probably one of
the best examples of the tactical espionage genre, and as usual, Snake
is required to
undertake one-man missions that require him to infiltrate enemy bases
undetected, and it's never been more fun to work your way through
highly guarded and secure bases than it has in MGS4.
Sneaking,
crawling, sticking to shadows and blending in to your environment is a
must when playing MGS4, and with the help of new features and options
it
is one of the best experiences available on the Playstation 3.
Added to
the fourth Metal Gear Solid game is a stealth sneaking suit, that
enables Snake to
press up against any surface and copy the appearance of the surface
onto his suit.
Although this chameleon suit is extremely useful in reducing your
level of visibility when trying to avoid enemy detection (the visibility percentage bar appears in the top right
hand corner of the screen), you
still have to work to maintain your level of visibility by ducking and
crawling.
Other sneaky items such as the cardboard box and
barrel will
also come in handy for stealth purposes. They sound simple, but they really work.
Some might say that the storyline is too long and
boring for newcomers to the MGS series (or for people who just wanna
kill stuff), but it really depends on the person playing.
If you're the sort of person who likes interesting
and complicated stories, then this is definitely a game for
you.
If you're the sort of person, however, who just
likes to jump around and kill stuff all the time, then this game is
also for you, because there's a feature that allows users to skip
the long cut scenes (that can end up dragging on for a good hour).
There is also an awesome multiplayer feature that allows users to
interact in the world of MGO (Metal Gear Online), but we'll get to that later.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is easily the most graphically
developed game on the PS3, probably due to the fact that it was
designed exclusively for the PS3.
There is no doubt that if you're looking for some
cutting-edge eye candy, then you're looking at the right game. The
amazing level of detail will stun anyone that has witnessed other games
on the Playstation 3 system, and is easily a competitor for the best
graphics available on any platform or system.
Just to give you a slight idea of the technical
detail that Konami have achieved with this game, the Japanese developer
has said that they were having trouble fitting MGS4 onto a 50 gigabyte
Blu-Ray disc, and that they were forced to compress some elements of
the game to fit the size restrictions. Crazy town...
The cut-scenes take up a fair bit of the disc
space because they are so graphically intense and make full use of all
of the PS3s power, allowing to the player to view the cut scenes from
different perspectives and even to move the camera around while they're
happening!
From the realistic explosions, the lush look of forest environments, the smoothness of the character models, all the
way to the minor and nearly unnoticeable detail of creases and dints on
metallic objects, Konami has produced a game that will stun you with
its graphical acuity.
Obviously, you play the legendary Solid Snake, a
man who has carried out solo infiltration missions for his whole life
and made it out without a worry.
Although Snake is a brilliantly fast and silent
assassin, he is also aging at a very rapid rate, hence his name in
MGS4, Old Snake.
Old Snake is the equivalent of a 70 year old
soldier who has the biggest muscles you will ever see in your
life.
Although Snake looks old on the outside he's a
young-gun on the inside, and can still pack a punch or two.
There is only one fundamental change in the style
of gameplay due to Snake's age, and that is the stress level. Once
Snake gets stressed/looses psyche, you'll have to give him some special
food before he eases up and fights at his full capacity again.
This sort of thing is hardly of concern though, as
you won't be deterred from the amazing gameplay and weaponary available
to you throughout the game.
I must say that the gameplay in MGS4 has been
drastically improved compared to all other MGS games, and this is
probably due to the amount of disc space that Konami were given this
time around.
While playing MGS4, you will find yourself able to
do just about anything you could want to do. Flipping, rolling,
ducking, crawling, jumping, hanging, pressing against walls, peeking
around corners, laying on your back: you name it and you can do it
because Snake is real flexible for an old man!
The close-quarters combat experienced in the game
has also been revamped, taking it to new heights, and allows the player
quite a few options when it comes to kicking, punching and grappling
your opponent.
Shooting is no exception to the list of improved
features either, with Snake being able to successfully and stealthily
overcome any situation without breaking a sweat.
In order to achieve this heightened sense of
interaction, the controls have become tighter and more useful when
aiming, so that you won't have the trouble of your controller being too
sensitive while shooting.
Aside from the basic movement, MGS4 has a
lot to offer, such as a massive stockpile of weapons (probably
every weapon available to the US army...and more) and these
can be bought in exchange for points while playing
ingame.
A gun launderer called Drebin will supply you with
just about any gun available to man in exchange for Drebin
Points.
These Drebin points are collected by selling
unneeded weapons to Drebin, while the ammo from the guns goes straight
to you. This system is fantastic and original because it allows the
player to buy guns in-game, and it's fully automatic, so all you have
to worry about is killing enemies and taking their guns!
The sheer variety and usefulness of the weaponary
in MGS4 are amazing, and really adds a another dimension to this
stunning interactive experience.
Various features have been added to MGS4 that have
not been discussed yet, such as the Mk.II.
The Mk.II is a robot designed by your partner in
business, Otacon. The Mk.II is an extremely miniature version
of Metal Gear Rex (a giant robot tank) that is available for
Snake's exclusive use.
The Mk.II is a handy little thing that you can
control to do various tasks, such as scouting, electrocuting various
bad guys, turning on switches and much more.
The Mk.II also has the ability to turn invisible
so that it can't be seen, even by the more observant AI models in the
game.
Other features added to MGS4 are things like the
Solid Eye, a small eye patch that will allow players to see the world in
different ways, such as being able to see all available items, stats
and pressure points on enemies, as well as being able to see the world
in night vision mode. There are many more features available
in MGS4, but you'll have to discover these things for yourself as I'm
already way over the word limit!
Also included in the MGS4 package is MGO.
MGO (Metal Gear Online) is basically an online
version of Metal Gear Solid 4 minus the special features (such as the
sneaking suit). It's very easy to use: you simply log on with your
broadband connection, select, create and customise a character and then
play!
Note that if you want more than one character you
will have to pay Konami around $10 for the privilege.
You can choose to jump straight in to any online
game, or you can choose one that suits you from a list of available
servers. MGO is probably the most active PS3 gaming community, and
there are always a minimum of around 1000 people on at any one
time.
Metal Gear Online has lots of options and features
that are great fun to play with, and it's awesome fun battling
your friends online too.
Overall, Metal Gear Solid 4 is easily one of the
best buys available for PS3 this year and I would recommend it to just
about everyone who owns a PS3.
Metal Gear Solid 4 brings something for everyone,
from the stealth and camouflage tactical perspective to the running
around and blowing stuff up action perspective, and even running the
gamut of online play.
Konami has produced a smash hit game that will go
down in history with Grand Theft Auto 4 and Gran Turismo 5 as one of
the best games ever made for the Playstation 3.
At I write this, August 2008, Metal Gear Solid 4
is the pinnacle of immersive gaming, with a brilliant story line
matched to some of the best gameplay you'll ever find.
