Metal Gear Solid 4: Review of the Patriots - 10/10
It seems as if we have been waiting an eternity for the return of solid snake but finally it is upon us. And while there is bitter sweet pill to swallow, knowing that this will be snakes final mission. We also know that Hideo Kojima and Co will be pulling no punches in story, gameplay and presentation. With a new generation of hardware and an incredible amount of story to wrap-up and conclude. Dose Metal Gear Solid 4 live up to the heritage of it predecessors or dose it leave you with a feeling of “Fission Mailed”. Read on to find out.
Who uses cardboard boxes any more?
MGS4 is quite a bit different from its predecessors. The story is broken up into 5 acts which all take place in different locations. This provides much more variety in not only the visual style of the game, but in the play mechanics as well. From active war zones to jungle tracking and even on-rails shooting MGS4 never leaves you doing one thing too long and is constantly changing the game mechanics and settings.
Stay very still or your children get it
The story of “Guns of the Patriots” starts of with a wrinkled and older Snake. Having to succumb to rapid ageing Snake has at best a year to live. Shortly after discovering this he gets word that his old enemy liquid ocelot is in the Middle East. Where liquid is planing launch an insurrection against the patriots. Snake decides to sneak in and eliminate liquid before he can put his plan into action. The region is engulfed in an endless series of proxy battles. Being waged by state army’s and PMCs (Private Military Corporations). Arriving on a truck discussed as a rebel solider. Snake uses this state of war as cover to sneak into the area.
RPG’s are great for taking down armoured vehicles, they aren’t very stealthy though.
This is probably the biggest change to the solo infiltration mission structure of the pervious games. No longer are the enemy solders single mindedly looking for you. They are engaged in combat with the rebels and Snake can use this to his advantage in order to sneak past them to get to his goal. But unlike the pervious games, sneaking isn’t the only option. In fact you can go in guns blazing and still come out fine. You can choose to help the local militia and they will be come your friends in combat, you can kill every one or sneak past every one. One of the most astounding things about MGS4 is the range of choices you have at any given moment. And to help you through what ever path you take, snake has an immense array of new gadgets and weapons at his disposal.
Snake is a master of CQC (Close Quarters Combat)
Probably the most useful new gadget that this old snake has picked up is the “octo camo”. Which is a skin tight suit worn by Snake which can copy the appearance and texture of any surface that it is pressed against. This is an evolution of Metal Gear Solid 3’s camouflage system, which dose away with the cumbersome and interruptive manual menu system and allows a much more streamlined approach to hiding from enemy sight. Also in Old Snakes new bag of tricks is the “Solid Eye” an electronic eye patch which relay1s battlefield information such as distinguishing between friend or foe, Health of other soldiers and highlights dropped items. The Solid Eye can also be use as binoculars or put into night vision mode to see things that can’t normally be seen. There is a whole swag of other helpful items but I’ll leave you to discover them on your own.
The Octocamo allows you to easily sneak up on PMC’s
But gadgets and gizmos aren’t the only thing in snake’s arsenal. Guns of the Patriots lives up to its name, with a huge variety of weapons available in the game. From the non-lethal tranquilizer gun to a large assortment of assault and sniper rifles, shotguns, explosives and other pain inflicting devices. The only problem is you can use them, Or at least not straight away. In MGS4 the battlefield is under total control by “the system” which has ID tags inside every soldier and weapon. And if you don’t have the right ID tag you can’t use the weapon. Luckily for Snake early on in the first act we meet Drebin a gun launderer who for a price can unlock the ID tagged guns that snake picks up for his own use. He also allows you to customise your weapons with dot sights, scopes, silencers, flashlights, under-barrel grenade launchers and the like. Allowing you make your weapons more powerful and personal.
With the help of Drebin’s weapons and ammo snake can hold his own, even against aerial gunships
In a major breakthrough for the series, controlling Snake’s many actions and abilities is no longer a chore. With greatly streamlined controls MGS4 feels more like a 3rd person shooter. With a fully controllable 3-D camera replacing the fixed isometric view from the previous Metal Gears. This new control scheme allows you to do much more with Snake than you ever have before and yet at the same time made it much easier to pull it all off.
I think some one needs a hug
MGS4 continues the franchises history of gorgeous audiovisual presentation and production values. It has some of the best and most slavishly detailed graphics on the Playstation 3. With the amount of crazy things that happen on the battlefield and the incredible action packed cutscenes, MGS4 is a game that truly delivers on the hype and promise oh the Playstation 3. On the audio front the team at Kojima Productions has delivered an unappalled acoustic environment. With an attention to detail that few games ever get close to. On top of all of that the voice acing from the entire cast is spot on, with Old Snake’s gravely voice given by David Hayter possibly being one of the best performances in video game history.
This snake may be old, but he's still go it
Metal Gear Solid 4 isn’t with out its problems. Upon first booting the game up there is an eight minute installation to the PS3’s HDD. While this is bearable is isn’t the only install in the game. Before each of the 5 acts in the game there is another 2-3 minute install period. Which once again is quite bearable but it would have been nice to choose to get it done all at once. Also while the cut scenes and cinemas are entertaining to watch and have incredible high production values. They can often times go on for far too long and interrupt the pacing of the game. The ending group of cut scenes run for just under an hour. So get some popcorn ready. While this may not come as any surprise to Metal Gear veterans players new to the series might find watching their games for long periods of time jarring.
nothing strange here
And so while MGS4 may lean too heavily on its cut scenes and allow its exposition to go on to long. It provides a fitting end and a sense of closure to the story of Solid Snake. It goes above and beyond to address many of the complaints from the previous games in the series. From a story that makes sense, to a easy and accessible control scheme and a cast of characters new and old that you will love. MGS4 delivers on all fronts with exquisite presentation and gameplay to match. Metal Gear Solid 4: guns of the patriots is on of the most solid titles you will ever play.
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Life Span 9.5/10
Overall 10/10
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