Snake may be old, but he can still kick your butt!“War transforms us.” Those famous, or possibly soon to be famous words by Solid Snake sum up the message in Hideo Kojima’s epic piece of art Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
If you last remember (spoilers ahead for those who haven’t played MGS2), Snake and Otocon recovered a list of the 12 Patriots. All of those on the list had died 100 years ago. This ending made me personally anticipate the sequel to this game more than any game I have ever anticipated. I wanted to know who the Patriots were, why were they out to control America, and how were they managing to do something so intricate as control who gets into the oval office all the way down to controlling fashion trends. Little did I know that I would get much more information than I even thought possible.
Lets get one tidbit out of the way for all of you readers who have still yet to play the game. You might recall me doing a post about Konami asking video game magazines not to include install times and cut scene length in their reviews. Well in this review I will include both. Firs, the load times; initially when the game started to install I thought it was just a one time thing. The first install time took around the ballpark of 8-10 minutes. Throughout the game you will encounter about four more install screens (sorry for not having an exact number, I didn’t think to write this down). Each of those installs will take roughly five minutes at most. So all in all, you are looking at about almost 30 minutes of install time. The game took me about 36 hours to beat, so 30 minutes is really small relative to the actual length of the game.
As you start the game, Old Snake is in a warzone. You don’t know why he has grown old, and moreover you have no idea why everyone else from the previous two games still appear to be young. But Snake is still Snake even if he his old. He has his bandanna and his cigarette; classic Snake through and through.
As the game progresses you meet up with the Mark II. It is a small robot that Otocon invented to help you get through the game. The Mark II is good for instances where you want to check out a nearby building or location, but don’t want to run the risk of Snake getting caught. Since Snake has an automatic camouflage suit he can crouch down and send out the Mark II to go inspect the area. The other neat aspect of the Mark II is the fact that it is invisible to the enemies eye. This gives you more comfort as you inspect the area.
Another new aspect of MGS4 is the Solid Eye. Instead of having a map of the area and being able to see the enemies site range as in previous Metal Gear’s; you now have more of a radar. This can be much more challenging to master than previous forms of detecting where enemies are. An added feature, however, is the ability to tell whether an “enemy” is friend or foe. In some points of the game you run into people who could care less that you are there. These people are usually the rebels and welcome you attacking the enemy. Enemies who are closer to red are to be avoided and enemies who appear with blue next to their name are friendly’s.
As you’ll notice from the very beginning of the game, the cut-scenes are long; very very long. If you are used to playing a game where the longest cut-scene is the ending and that particular ending is only 5-10 minutes I must warn you that you may not like MGS4 too much. Five-ten minute cut-scenes disappear quickly from MGS4 and they progressively get longer and longer as more and more of the story is revealed. If you are a fan of MGS4, you should have no problem with it. But even so, do not be surprised when you play the game for only 10 minutes or less between two 15-20 minute cut-scenes. What you are experiencing is an epic work of art. When you play through the game the first time, if you skip anything, and I mean anything, you will not get the full affect of what Kojima is trying to deliver. And trust me, as a gamer and a Metal Gear fan I urge you to watch every second of the cut-scene. If you do not have time, you can pause it and come back. Just don’t accidentally press “skip” which is an option all cut-scenes have.
Onto the graphics; they are what you’d expect from Metal Gear and Kojima. They are top notch. In game graphics are the same as the cut-scenes. Not once did it appear the cut-scenes were better polished than the actual game, it all flowed well. Following along the lines of the five senses I noticed that the sound was incredible. The first few hours I played MGS4 I was playing on a surround sound system. I literally felt I was in the middle of a war-zone and it made the game that much more realistic.
When it comes to gameplay, Kojima gives you what you’d expect. A great third-person shooter which controls easily, but doesn’t make it so that it’s automatic aiming. Another interesting aspect is the way you can buy weapons. Early in the game you meet a guy named Drebin who is “neither enemy nor friend.” He sells guns and other weapons. Instead of walking over a gun you have and simply having to leave it there, the gun automatically gets sold to Drebin and you get to keep the ammo. In the process you get Drebin Points and then are able to go to his shop at any time, when you press the pause menu, to buy any of his weapons if you have the necessary Drebin Points.
The other neat feature is the first person view for guns. I’m not going to sit here and say that MGS4 is on par with a real first person shooter such as Call of Duty 4, but by golly, it’s great for a game that is considered a “third-person shooter/stealth” game. Plainly put, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
When it comes to story and presentation, Kojima has outdone himself. For those of you that had trouble keeping up with MGS1, MGS2, and MGS3’s story lines, you will be in for quite a ride. MGS4’s story-line is so intricate and so specific that some of you may not fully understand it until you play through it a second or possibly third time. This is not to insult the intelligence of anyone reading this review, I’m simply stating that I held onto about 92% of the words spoken and even I had trouble keeping up the first time. I had to literally listen sentence by sentence and focus in on what I was listening to even slightly understand it more than the average gamer. If you have never played any of the MGS series and you think you will be ok playing MGS4 without playing the others, I implore you to reconsider or else you will be extremely lost and probably won’t enjoy the game as much.
The story takes place across the world. Snake goes from the Middle East, South America, to Europe and to another place I will not disclose due to spoilers. Trust me on this, you’ll love it. The story is so well put together I laughed, I almost cried, and I actually felt compassion for some of the people I was killing. Interesting characters are introduced, and old favorites make a comeback. This literally is an epic motion picture put onto the PS3 for your gaming pleasure. There are so many pieces of subtle symbolism that involve rose petals, the names of people, and the snake in the Garden of Eden. The production for this game is probably the best I’ve ever seen, and that’s coming from a Final Fantasy and Lost Odyssey fan. The characters and their personalities haven’t changed one bit. And the new ones that you will meet beget a personality all their own that makes you appreciate them as if they have been around since the first Metal Gear Solid back in 1998.
All in all I could go into more detail about the game, but that would give away too much of the story. I could tell you about all the wonderful new characters you will encounter, but again, it’s better for you to experience it for yourself. Instead what I will do is leave you with this quote by a character you will meet at the end (which will be sure to surprise you all):
“We are both trapped inside the same cage…liberty.”
Overall Score: 10 (explanation: I usually don’t think any game is perfect, including this one, but this will go down in history as one of the best pieces of art of all time; movies or games)
-Jeremy aka Adridius
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