Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots | 
| From: Konami
List Price: $59.99
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Rating:  312 reviews
Sales Rank: 84
Format: Playstation
Platform: Playstation 3
Genre: shooter_action_games
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: PlayStation 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 20160
Model: 20160
UPC: 840356969299
EAN: 0083717201601
ASIN: B000FQ2D5E
Release Date: June 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Although little is known, MGS4 is being touted as the final installment in the Metal Gear Solid series. | | • | Chameleon-like camouflage system, Octacamo, blends Snake into his surroundings. | | • | Loads of characters from previous Metal Gear Solid installments will return in this final chapter. | | • | Slated for simultaneous worldwide release in June 2008, Konami has released very few details about MGS4. | | • | Built for the PS3, the game is expected to be the finest representation of the console's graphics |
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Amazon.com Product Description
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, is a next-gen experience complete with top-of-the-line graphics and surround sound designed for the Sony PlayStation 3. Featuring the most revealing display of Kojima Production's premier title, MSG4 details the world where Snake must under go his final mission. In a world overrun by private military companies (PMCs), wars are no longer fought over nations or ideologies. Instead, the wars of the future are micro-managed by overarching PMCs, right down to the bullet. New gadgets and abilities fuel Snake's journey deep into the enemy domains of the Middle East, South America, and beyond. New gear includes "Metal Gear Mk. II," the ultimate reconnaissance tool, and "Solid Eye," which gives Snake real-time information on enemies and his surroundings. 
Old timer Snake returns for what is slated as the final installment in the Metal Gear series. View larger. | 
New and old characters abound in MGS4. View larger. | 
PMCs have run amok and the world is at war. View larger. | 
Octacamo will help Snake blend into surroundings. View larger. | Joined by a familiar cast of characters, Snake must once again return to the battlefield to confront his lifelong rival, Liquid Ocelot, who is manipulating the world's wars from the one world where soldiers will always have a place. But Liquid Ocelot is not the only one who will be able to manipulate the world's wars--Snake can destabilize opposing forces by working behind the scenes, supporting the local militia as they fight PMCs, creating a smokescreen that allows Snake to move freely within the war-zone. MGS4 is a next-generation adventure set in the aftermath of MGS2: Sons of Liberty. The concept behind the latest Metal Gear Solid project is "no place to hide," and this edition in the series will force Snake into unexpected circumstances with an all-new storyline that breaks away in some ways from the previous MGS franchise entries. We don't want to spoil it for you, but, producer Hideo Kojima did reveal some very juicy tidbits about the game and the storyline when it was first announced at E3 of 2006. "Until now," said Kojima, "we've released two entries of the MSX2 Metal Gear series, and three entries in the Metal Gear Solid series. Add to this Portable Ops, and you get a total of six titles. All mysteries will be cleared up in Metal Gear Solid 4." Kojima was very clear about the finality of MSG4, leaving gamers to wonder, "Will Snake die?!" When asked if the story will come to this sort of an end, Kojima responded without the slightest bit of vagueness, "It will come to an end." The MGS4 E3 trailer showed a number of characters from the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid histories. This final installment is sure to deliver loads of cameos, in fact, it is rumored that nearly all the characters from the series will make an appearance. In addition to a return of classic Metal Gear Solid characters, the gameplay systems from part three are also expected to make a comeback. The camouflage system from part three will make it into MGS4, with the addition of "OctoCamo," Snake's most advanced stealth suit to date. The name appears to be formed from the words "Octopus" and "camoflauge," and players will be awestruck by the chameleon-like camo that changes with the surroundings. OctoCamo allows Snake to blend in with his environment as it digitally manifests nearby textures in real time. Think if it this way, if Snake is standing next to a wall worn out with holes, he too will appear to be riddled with holes. It has also been revealed that MGS4 will have online play, but no specifics have been released. Although very little information is known about the game's visuals, rumor has it that MGS4 is expected to be the finest representation of console graphics on the PS3, and it is expected that they will just get better and better as the game nears its release date.
Product Description
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3
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| Customer Reviews: Read 307 more reviews...
 Game of the year! no doubt!! June 12, 2008
Aussie Xtreme Legend (Melbourne, Australia)
95 out of 122 found this review helpful
well picked this up earlier today, and have not being able to put it down!! i am a huge MGS fan so i know alot about these games and you can trust me when i say this one is by FAR! the best!!
everything from the game play, wicked baddies, the sound effects and graphics (amazing at 720p - not 1080p)! breath taking, heart pumping cut scenes that REALLY make you think that you are inside a movie! MGS has always been very theatrical , but with how advanced this game is visually you almost can believe you are directing your own action movie! Hideo and his bois at Konami have out done themselves again!
Same voice cast holds up fantastic again, MGS has always had a great english voice cast (i dont care what anyone says)! David Hayter adds a few years to his voice which suits Old Snake very well!! Didnt have to wait very long for Snake to say my fav MGS line thats in all games, "Metal Gear..?"
All the new gadets in this game are fantastic, Drebin's shop is a handy welcome to the series, taking a leaf outta Resi4 with collecting weapons and other pieces of gear to buy new imp weapons and ammo!! Great touch!
will not spoil plot details or anything coz if your like me and you play this for the story side too you will no doubt be on the edge of your seat with a great story! action packed cut scenes to get the blood pumpin as you get thrust into the heat of some very big Skirmishes!
i dont see or can beilieve this game can have any haters!! it is a must for both old time fans to one of the greatest games ever made! and for new fans lookin to get into the series!!
No doubt, 'Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots' is, the Game of the Year!!! so do yourself a favour and buy MGS4 NOW!!! ( back to the game for me XD )
"War Has Changed..." June 13, 2008
Sean (Aurora, Colorado)
46 out of 58 found this review helpful
Pros:
+Very satisfying story
+Incredible voice work
+Incredible cinematics
+Eagle eye attention to detail
+A lot of gameplay elements
+Memorable Music Soundtrack
Cons:
-Long cutscenes. To the point where you feel more like you're watching than playing. This goes a long way as you'll play for five seconds to be treated to cutscenes several minutes long
-Some load times are really annoying
-The Camera can sometimes be a pain
After three and a half long years of waiting, Metal Gear Solid 4 finally drops down on the Playstation 3. With a lot of questions to answer and some mighty big shoes to fill, Metal Gear Solid 4 is easily one of the most anticipated video games ever made. For the Metal Gear fan, the game is absolutely fantastic. Continuing an already mesmerizing story, Metal Gear Solid 4 proves to be one of this generations greatest games.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is the conclusion to Snake's story. The game is told through some gorgeous cutscenes. There's a lot of detail to the characters faces, their actions and it has some fantastic voice acting to boot. You'll want to grab some popcorn, though, because there are definitely a lot of cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid 4, and some of them are really long. This is easily the biggest problem with Metal Gear Solid 4 and it's one that has often plagued the series. While the cutscenes are very dramatic and well written, and while they even shed some humor, some of them are just too long, some of them seeming almost useless. If a cutscene is getting a little long, though, it would be a grave mistake to skip it as you might miss some important parts of the story. And if there's any Metal Gear Solid game one should be playing for its story, it's this one. The other big problem with the cutscenes is how they come at you, even early on. There are moments where you'll play for a matter of seconds only to be sit through a cutscene that's several minutes long. At the very least, you can pause the game during the cutscenes. However, it's hard to get over the fact that some of them really drag on. When you get to play the game, though, Metal Gear Solid 4 is amazing.
Metal Gear Solid has always been about stealth. The same is true of Guns of the Patriots. The difference being that you're also in the middle of a war and there are two sides fighting against one another, the PMCs and Militia. You're able to help the militia and doing so can have its rewards, such as characters being willing to give you items or being able to go through certain areas more easily. Although, you can also turn the Militia against you.
There have been some improvements to sneaking around, though. The camouflage system has returned but it's much better. Rather than having to go into the menu constantly, Snake's camo will change automatically to blend in with the environment and help him evade enemies. You can also hold up enemies just like before, only this time you can perform body searches while holding them up rather than having to shake them down. You can also restrain them to the ground to knock them out. If you really need to get by an enemy and you're running out of options, you can always play dead. This also works when you get spotted and knocked down by an enemy.
There's also the implementation of the Solid Eye. This is more vital to sneaking around than anything. It works very similar to the radar in Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, showing you how much noise you or your enemy is making. Also new to here is the threat ring. The threat ring surrounds Snake at all times and will begin to act up depending on how close an enemy is to him. All of these seem like they'll take forever to get used to, but you'll quickly adapt. Just like previous games in the series, if you're spotted, you'll have to escape from the enemy and hide.
There are also moments where you can take control of a Metal Gear Mk II, a very small version of Metal Gear that is controlled by Snake. This little guy allows Snake to scout out the area ahead. You can also use the Metal Gear Mk II to stun certain enemies.
Lastly, Snake has a psyche gauge. This is very similar to the stamina gauge in Metal Gear Solid 3. The gauge depletes depending on how stressed or exhausted Snake is. You can refill this by eating certain snacks like Rations or Noodles, but you can also refill it by resting for a while. But there are plenty of factors that affect Psyche. For example, if Snake has been in the sun too long, you'll have to move him into the shade. If he's been in cold water, you'll have to get him out of it. As his psyche gauge gets lower it becomes harder for him to perform certain actions, such as being able to aim properly. In other words, from time to time Snake will need to rest. Though there are also certain points in the game where his psyche gauge is restocked automatically.
You won't always be in stealth mode forever, though. There will be times when you have to fight, and the shooting mechanic works much better in Metal Gear Solid 4. When you're thrust into combat, the game plays very similar to a third person shooter. Allowing for more precise aiming and no longer forcing you to go into first person view to land a well placed shot. There's also a weapon shop where you can purchase, upgrade or customize weapons to your liking, another element that works to your liking and gives Metal Gear a lot of customization.
All this variation in gameplay means that Metal Gear Solid 4 has several different ways to approach it. Combine it's various gameplay elements with a selection of difficulty levels to up the challenge, and Metal Gear Solid 4, like the three before it, becomes a game you'll want to replay again and again. Sometimes it's just fun to mess around with your enemies or just to see how else you can go about a certain area.
Metal Gear Solid 4 also goes online, and the online mode is pretty big and exhaustive. Much of it plays like the single player experience. You can go online simply to train or you can for multiplayer experience. The multiplayer is where much of the differences and excitement come into play. There are enough gameplay modes to keep it interesting. There are death matches, missions where you're to protect a certain target as well as sneaking missions. Much of it plays absolutely fine and its fun.
Visually, Metal Gear Solid 4 is incredible to look at. There's a ton of detail in the environment, and the atmosphere is also a good one. You're very much immersed in the world of Metal Gear Solid 4. There are a couple of load times that can be annoying, especially the installation. The camera, while it's great, can sometimes be a pain. It's easy to control, but sometimes you'll find yourself fighting with it.
Music wise, there's a memorable score to Metal Gear Solid 4. There's a lot of voice work as well. Much of it is great, although at times you will get the feeling that some of the voice actors and over-acting. On the whole, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a beautiful looking, (and sounding) game.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is an amazing experience. If you can handle lengthy cutscenes you'll be satisfied with the final results. If you can handle a couple of annoying load times, you'll be satisfied. The amount of gameplay here is incredible, and the fact that there are so many ways to go about each area is also a lot of fun. For Metal Gear fans, Metal Gear Solid 4 is easily the reason to own a Playstation 3.
Pure brilliance June 16, 2008
N. Durham (Philadelphia, PA)
44 out of 59 found this review helpful
It's finally here. After what has seemed like an eternity of waiting, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is here, and not only is it a stunning achievement in terms of technical aspects (this game utilizes what the PS3 is capable of like nothing you have ever seen before), but it also conveys one of the deepest and most engrossing storylines that you will ever come across in a video game. Yes, as you have no doubt heard by now, the game features some quite lengthy cut-scenes that seemingly pop up out of nowhere in the middle of gameplay. While this can get annoying, nearly everything else about Metal Gear Solid 4 is simply flawless. The storyline, what little can be mentioned without giving away a barrage of spoilers, finds an aging Snake in the middle of Liquid Ocelot's new, destructive plans. Familiar faces are abound as well, which will lead to many surprises and shocks, even for the most hardcore of Metal Gear Solid fans. As said before, Metal Gear Solid 4 boasts the best audio and visual presentation you will ever see in a video game. Quite frankly, this game is a gorgeous sight to behold. Gameplay wise, the game offers up some equally impressive shooting and stealth mechanics, while the boss fights are nothing short of epic. Online multiplayer modes seem to be the only aspect of MGS4 that don't conjure up the awe-inspiring moments that the rest of the game does, but they are fun on their own regardless. Words alone can't do this game justice though. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is by far and large the best game to come out on the PS3 thus far, and without a doubt is one of the finest video games to ever see the light of day. Yes, it really is that good, and if you have been waiting for that PS3 "killer app", your wait is over.
 Prepare for Really Long Cutscenes June 16, 2008
Lisa Shea
37 out of 83 found this review helpful
The final installment of Hideo Kojima's "Metal Gear" series has a lot to live up to. Besides its innovations in gameplay, Metal Gear Solid 4 has to worry about wrapping up and connecting the stories of 5 different Metal Gear games. As such, this long-awaited finale has its work cut out for it, but does it pull it off?
The story in this game is all but impenetrable if you haven't played every other game in the series, including the PSP-only Portable Ops. The game relies heavily on references and flashbacks from old games to tell its story, drawing from every other game to wrap up the series as a finished product. As a result, people who haven't played any of the games in the series before would do well to avoid the game and perhaps get the MGS Essential Collection for the PS2 first.
The new theme in this Metal Gear Solid game is "the battlefield". Working against mercenaries employed by various Private Military Companies, you attempt to sneak (or fight) through warzones as the PMCs engage rebel and militia forces. Instead of the simpler and quieter job of sneaking through areas where your enemies are not engaged, you must instead brave gunfire from either side and avoid being detected. In many areas it's possible to aid the rebels by attacking PMCs; since the PMCs are always your enemies, it's useful to have people on your side who are fighting them. Doing so will make the rebels friendly to you and make your job easier. If you choose to attack the rebels, or not fight the PMCs, you'll have a tough time moving through rebel-controlled areas as well as PMC-controlled areas because both sides will be hostile towards you. Your participation in the battle is not required, though depending on your style of play, the game may get easier or harder depending on how you "use" the rebels. There are many pitched battles in the game, often involving armored vehicles and heavy weapons being used by both sides, with artillery raining down from above. Atmospherically, these sections definitely have the feel of a dangerous warzone, where any cover can be destroyed and an ambush can come from any side.
Your main tool to avoid enemies is OctoCamo. A development of the camouflage system in MGS3, OctoCamo blends in automatically with any background you press against, granting you near-invisibility in almost any setting. Defeating the game's first boss grants you a mask addition that allows you to either camouflage your face (increasing your invisibility even further) or put on masks of human faces to use as disguises (it's purely a cosmetic change, though). Furthermore, there are certain uniforms that allows you to blend in with the crowds of militiamen and rebels and reduces the likelihood that Snake will personally be spotted. It also makes an ally out of any rebels that you happen to meet, since they assume you're on their side.
Another item introduced in the game is the Solid Eye, a multipurpose "eyepatch" that allows you an extra heads-up display over your regular one. This HUD highlights items for you to collect, adds informative statistics to NPCs within range (specifically things like their mental status, health, and how they feel about you). Furthermore, it also includes a binocular and night-vision/thermal vision mode, both of which are useful at spotting enemies at long range.
There are two "health" bars in the game - the first represents physical health, while the second represents your state of mind. Being in stressful situations, such as being pursued, being shot at, or having killed a lot of enemies, will raise your stress a great deal and lower your state of mind. The lower your "psyche" bar is, the less accurately you will shoot, and furthermore Snake will breathe heavily and move sluggishly. The health bar is restored by items like rations, while the psyche bar is recovered either through certain food items or by staying out of combat for a certain amount of time to gather your wits. The Psyche bar may be a relatively annoying development, based on how you play; if you are a gung-ho soldier who intends to run around and shoot everything, then the psyche bar will hinder you fairly often. If you avoid combat, move slowly, and don't get caught in major fights, it isn't much of a problem.
Weapons in this game are handled differently than previous games. In the past, weapons had to be found "clean" - you couldn't take weapons from enemies, but instead had to find them in certain areas at different parts of the game. In MGS4, a new character called Drebin is introduced. Drebin is a gun launderer - in exchange for "Drebin Points" accumulated by selling him weapons found on the battlefield, Drebin will remove the personal ID of any gun you find, which will allow you to use the formerly locked weapon. He will also sell you guns and ammo directly, though this tends to be more expensive. The sheer number of weapons is far greater than any other Metal Gear game: pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and anti-tank missiles are all included in the game's arsenal. The weapons in this game are in many cases customizable with a variety of items, including scopes, silencers, grips, laser sights, flashlights, and a wide variety of ammunition, both lethal and non-lethal. The effect of both the shop and the number of available weapons is to remind you that you are in a warzone, not a clean sneaking environment. As such, combat is often much more frantic and intense, and justifies the use of an RPG or a guided anti-tank missile.
The new gameplay and controls in the game have mostly been improved. Instead of previous MGS games' overhead camera, MGS4 allows either an auto-aim or a third person over-the-shoulder shooting scheme. The option for first person also exists, using scopes or iron sights. The over-the-shoulder camera should be familiar to anyone who's played Resident Evil 4, and is one of the most helpful additions, gameplay-wise, to the game. Snake can aim either from the right or from the left, which helps when peeking out around corners. The controls are different, but primarily intuitive. The option exists to press against certain walls, either to hide out of someone's line of sight or to blend in with OctoCamo. This also allows for the ability to lean out into doorways to shoot at enemies, a refined version of the ability used in MGS2 and MGS3.
In less gun-related combat, CQC has been brought over from MGS3, and for the most part it is the same. For some reason, it feels less smooth in operation, however. The option to hold enemies at gunpoint if they are caught unaware has been upgraded; instead of the somewhat nonsensical "point your gun at enemies and they will shake items out of their bodies" that previous games had, MGS4 goes with a more realistic "body check" as Snake pats down his enemies for weapons and ammunition. CQC and holding enemies up both can cause enemies to drop their weapons, unlike in previous games where enemies would hold on to their rifles and riddle you with bullets as soon as you dropped your guard. The items all feel much more realistic, and there are no more "floating item boxes". Some items are still contained in large boxes, but at the very least they no longer float and rotate anymore.
The main problem with the game, in terms of gameplay, is that there isn't enough of it. The game is divided into five acts. The first two are as I described above: fighting through a warzone populated by PMCs with the help of rebels. However, from the third act onwards, these features disappear. Only the first two acts of the game are really identifiable as "MGS4", while the rest is like a different game that uses MGS4's gameplay and engine. Act 3 has you tailing an informant through a PMC-controlled city, Act 4 consists almost entirely of fighting robots and unmanned vehicles, and Act 5 consists of only two areas.
For the most part, the game feels like wrestling with the cutscenes and story for control of the game. So many things happen in cutscenes that should have been done as actual gameplay sections. In fact, there are two cutscenes that occur while you are doing a gameplay segment, forcing you to rapidly move your eyes back and forth to the sides of the screen if you want to see what's going on in the cutscene. One character, returned from a previous game as a buffed-up cyborg ninja, has fight scenes that only occur in cinematics, and he never fights alongside you in actual gameplay. The sheer number and length of the cutscenes is overwhelming, as well. Early on I was willing to forgive it because MGS4 did have a lot of loose ends to tie up, but by the end it seems like unnecessary things were added or put in just so it would seem more like a Hollywood-style movie. I beat the game in 20 hours, and I estimate a third or a fourth of that was spent watching cutscenes. To be fair, they are well-directed and good overall, but they're just overwhelmingly long and poorly paced. The ending, for example, takes a good hour to complete, at least. Especially when you consider how many cutscenes would translate fine to regular gameplay, it seems way too excessive.
The bosses of the game - the "Beauty and the Beast" unit - are also somewhat disappointing. All four are meant to be shadows of earlier bosses - combining the animal names of FOXHOUND from MGS1 with the emotions of the Cobra Unit of MGS3 to create "Laughing Octopus", "Raging Raven", "Crying Wolf", and "Screaming Mantis". Out of all of these bosses, only Laughing Octopus is really enjoyable to fight, as she uses a lot of stealth and surprise tactics. The others are just gimmicky fights that tend to be more annoying than fun. The worst part is that these bosses have nothing to do with the storyline other than "they're an elite unit under the bad guy's control".
The graphics in the game are smooth and effective. The animation, in particular, seems very natural and realistic, with a lot more focus on how people actually move. There's no fault that can be found with the graphics; the characters and environments seem exactly as good and detailed as they need to be, and definitely help keep you immersed. The voice acting is great, with a lot of nostalgic returns from the original Metal Gear Solid's voice crew for characters that are returning in this new game. The music is usually understated, allowing the environmental noises - gunfire, yells, wind, and so on - to take center stage except in situations when Snake has been spotted, when tense and exciting music plays. The quality of the music is excellent, being thematic and evocative for each different area of the game. One of the items is an iPod that allows Snake to play songs that he has collected in the game. Some of these songs actually affect gameplay; certain battle themes will increase Snake's accuracy or health regeneration, while other songs will cause emotions in enemies that Snake has caught in a chokehold (presumably, that's where they have to be so that they are close enough to hear the music).
Overall, MGS4 is an incredible game, but there's not enough "game" to rate it that highly as a total package. The overwhelming presence of cutscenes was incredibly stifling, and the sections of the game that were working with the established rules of the game were remarkably short. It feels like the game got too caught up in the story and forgot it was supposed to be a game, deciding instead to spend almost all of its time expounding on philosophy and history from previous Metal Gear games. There were a lot of really good sections, but these were far too short and seemed more like exceptions to the norm. If it was being rated as a movie, it would deserve full marks, but to rate it as a game, it only deserves an 7 or 8 out of 10 at most.
UPDATE: The full walkthrough for both the regular and online components of this game are now done. We give the online component a 9/10 rating.
 Too many cut scenes, counterintuitive controls. July 17, 2008
Chris Longhurst (Salt Lake City, Utah United States)
31 out of 105 found this review helpful
I had high hopes for MGS4. Next-gen platform - the writers probably learned from the previous games - lots of hype and lovely hi-def gameplay footage. It bode well until I put the disc in and it took 8 minutes to install the game instead of just running it off the disc. During the install, the screen is filled with preachy health-and-safety warnings like "don't play when you're tired" and "don't sit too close" and stuff like that. Oh oh. That's a really bad omen right up front.
Too many reviews are gushing over the graphics and sound and I think they've fallen somewhat for the hype, because if you analyse the game for what it is, it's just not that good. So rather than gush and fawn, I'm going to try to tell you what I found, and what I think it's faults are. If you've read any of my other reviews you'll know that I detest dark games, poor control systems and game programmers who think they're being clever. MGS4 exhibits two of these so if you don't like to read honest reviews, you should probably skip the rest of this.
So the faults in MGS4? Well - where to start?
I guess the most obvious place is the control system. It's truly the worst control system since - well - MGS2, MGS3 and Hitman. It's awful. Other reviews claim a one hour learning curve. One hour? In what gaming universe is that acceptable? First impressions last. If it takes an hour to figure out the controls (and in MGS4 it certainly does) then a lot of people, like me, are just going to switch off. How are Konami going to hook new players to the genre if the game is so difficult to get into?
MGS4 is largely a sneak-and-shoot game but once again, Konami chose to make it third-person. ie. you spend the entire time looking over the top of your own character. This makes it just impossible to move around properly because you're constantly fighting the camera and movement controls. It's like the original Tomb Raider in terms of the camera getting stuck on scenery and obliterating your view of the action at some critical moment. I've never understood third-person camera. It's a waste of time in racing games because it makes the cars uncontrollable, and it's a crime to employ it in what should be a first-person perspective game. How am I supposed to sneak, examine, explore and shoot when the camera is above and behind me?
The answer in MGS4 is supposed to be the threat ring. It's an Anime-style halo that surrounds Snake and has bumps in it where the enemy are. It is described briefly in the game manual but it's never really introduced or explained in-game, so it's just sort of there. It seems like a lot of trouble to go to for something that could have been solved by simply using first-person mode. Then you wouldn't need a threat ring - you'd be able to peek around corners, or use the audio to hear people around you.
Speaking of the camera controls; there isn't one invert-look option, but three. So if you're used to playing up-is-down on your vertical control, you have to change it in three places in MGS4. Why? Why not have a single "invert look" option?
I think one of the biggest crimes in MGS4 is the sheer amount of gameplay interruption. It's like watching TIVO and having someone else with the remote constantly pausing live TV or skipping fowards.
For example : weapon pickups happen when you run over something, but it pauses the game to give you a very nice but totally irrelevant info screen on what you just ran over. So the programmers spent the time to interfere with the flow of the game, but didn't spend the time auto-equipping the weapon. No - once you've picked something up, you have to pause, go to the inventory screen, equip or swap weapons, then back out and back into the gameplay. It ruins the flow of play.
It's. Like. Trying. To. Read. A. Game. Review. One. Word. At. A. Time.
Whilst talking weapons, it's worth talking about the targetting / aiming system. Third person mode is once again totally useless. You might as well have a nerf gun for all the good it does. So you have to go into first-person mode to aim, but this requires two controls to be activated - R1 to "activate" the weapon, then triangle to go into first person mode. Why? Why not just go into first-person mode when you activate the weapon?
Once in first-person mode it's impossible to move around, and your turn speed is like having your feet nailed to the ground. I timed it - it takes a good 35 seconds to do a 360. So there's no quickly turning around to pick off the bad guy behind you - you'll be dead long before you can even see him. Plus, if you waiver even slightly on the R1 button, it flicks back out into third-person view where the turn speed is much quicker. So you end up popping out of first person into third person mode, the turn accelerates and then you've overshot where you wanted to aim. (Sigh). Why? What purpose does this meddlesome control system serve? This is another place the camera control just fails miserably. Someone is behind you so you need to turn around to shoot at them. Snake spins around, the camera tries to follow, but gets stuck on scenery and is now facing Snake from the front. Now you're facing the enemy but you can't see him because the camera is stuck.
Then there's the rest of the interference problems.
I'd hoped with MGS4 that they would have gone away from the 75% story/cut-scene, 25% gameplay split, but sadly not. In the opening 30 minutes of "gameplay", I must have spent 25 minutes watching cut scenes, and having control taken away from me for a Bruckheimer-esque slow-motion shot of something completely irrelevant. Once again - stuff designed to destroy the flow of playing the game. You're just getting into the swing of things when *pow* - control taken away, arty shot of tank approaching - *pow* control given back. I could see the darned tank without the cut scene - it was right in front of me! Or worse, you'll be running towards an objective and *pow* - you drop out of game mode for a cut scene of someone making you eggs for breakfast. Jeez. It made me throw the controller at one point and just stand up and shout "Oh come on!". Hideo Kojima - the game's inventor and chief designer - has understood that videogames are a great medium, but he does concentrate too much on the 'video' and not enough on the 'game'. For example : put MGS4 in, start a new game and a stopwatch and time it; you won't be able to actually engage an enemy for over 20 minutes.
Speaking of "what the....?" moments, when you start the game, you'll sit through a weird TV game show clip where a woman chooses the wrong answer, followed by an advert (I think for women's perfume) advertised by gun-laden women squirming underwater with an octopus with a skull for a head. In pink water. I kid you not. I have absolutely no clue what that was all about. I seriously thought I might have had the wrong game disc in at that point - I ejected it and checked.
Oh and speaking of loading - if the game is installed on the hard drive, shouldn't there be zero load screens? After all, Drake's Fortune, Paradise City and GTA4 manage to let you free-roam massive environments with no load screens. Not in MGS4 though. Every time you get into a tight crawlspace or have to open a door, you drop out of the game into a loading screen. Worse, you then need to hit 'start' to get back into the game. It's bad enough they have load screens on a next-gen game but to make you have to hit a button to get back in-game is just criminal. Again - interrupting the flow of the game.
Then there's your assistant Otacon. He just will not shut up. He yaps and complains and - my god - the boy has verbal diarrhea. You can probably ignore 99% of what he says - it has no relevance to your gameplay. Problem is that a lot of the time - you guessed it - you'll drop out of gameplay to hear him blather on about something. It's like the programmers didn't know the PS3 supports bluetooth headsets. You know what - if Otacon is talking into your earpiece in the game (which he clearly does because Snake always stops, squats and jams a finger in one ear), why not have him talk into *your* headset whilst you're playing? That would have been a good idea, and so much more intuitive.
Other things that are problematic? Well - the you're-not-quite-dead problem. When you get hit sufficiently hard (which you will because the control system will fight you all the way to the ground), you lie there with the breeze wafting your cape around - or your hair - or something else. For all intents and purposes, the game would have you believe you're dead. Only you're not - you're still alive but there's no prompt to tell you this. The programmers filled the game with meddlesome icons, popups, info screens and pauses for everything from picking up an iPod to changing weapons, but they didn't have the courtesy to tell you that you aren't actually dead. Of course by the time you figure this out, you actually will be dead because someone will have found you and shot you.
So what about the graphics? Well, on my 120-inch screen through a full HD projector, it looks nice and polished. It runs in 1080p full HD as best I can gather. (correction from earlier assertion that it ran at 720p)
The graphics are good enough, but they're not really next-gen. More like warmed-over PS2 graphics with some neat touches. There's a fair amount of aliasing ("jaggies") especially when the game engine tries to render lines - power lines, ropes, that sort of thing. This sort of stuff just shouldn't be present. Draw distance is good, but not brilliant. There's a fair amount of popup and fade-in for smaller items. For example when you get the inevitable cut scene of a tank rolling up, watch the flare launchers on it's flanks. They wink in at a ridiculously short range.
There are other problems too - it's all in the details. The enemy soldier's feet are about 8 sizes too small for the rest of their body. The specular highlights change badly on some of the vehicles when they transition from low to high detail models. The dust and smoke effects, whilst clever, seem to use only three texture maps so the repeat in them is very noticable. One neat feature that is done well though is the Octocamo - where you can lie on the floor or press up against a wall and your suit behaves like a chameleon suit and takes on the texture of whatever you're next to. It's quite entertaining to see Snake running around the battlefield wearing a chintzy wall covering.
The motion capture isn't up to much though, with jerks and pops between the various character's predefined routines. Stand up. Pop. Aim. Judder. Fire. Pop. Squat down. It's really very irritating. The enemy troops 'patrolling' motion capture makes it look like they're walking on tiptoes, and there's another obvious pop in the motion capture loop after each left-right step. Tiptoe left. Tiptoe right. Pop. Tiptoe left etc etc. It's one of those things you won't notice at first, but once you've seen it, your eye will be drawn to it all the time.
In fact - it looks like they didn't do any new motion capture for a lot of MGS4 but re-used the stuff from MGS3. I put MGS3 in to check it out, and sure enough, the enemy troop movements are identical to the point where you can't tell them apart. So - four and half years to wait for the new game and they re-used the old motion capture? Classy.
As I said above, the dust and dirt effects are nice, and the modelling of the environments has been really well done, but you'll come away from it feeling somehow empty. Occasionally you'll walk around a corner to see the culling routines pop a whole street in. Why? Why are these problems in this game? Did they just not do any QA on it?
It's not that it isn't impressive to look at - it is - but it just doesn't have that X-factor. So I would consider the graphics somewhat below par for a next gen platform.
Let's go with the audio then. Weeellll let's not. There's a lovely Dolby Digital logo at the beginning of the game but the audio separation isn't up to much. The soundstage is mostly middle speaker with the occasional left-to-right effect. Barely anything comes out of the side or rear speakers. I'm so used to playing games where I can locate enemies by sound alone, that MGS4 was once again a total let-down in the audio department. Again - the threat ring seems to be compensation for something that wasn't done right the first time around. The weapons sound effects are pretty weak - hardly any bass content. So firing the M4 is like firing a child's pop gun. Mortar rounds landing close to you shake the camera, but not your room - they should be full-bass, well-stereo-separated sound effects, but they're not. The best audio in the game is all the speech, but there's just too much of it.
So - MGS4. You can tell I'm not impressed. It's basically MGS2 and MGS3 in terms of playability and longevity sprinkled with sort-of-next-gen graphics and 1990's audio. I suppose if you're a MGS fan, then this game will leave you shaking with joy but for everyone who's not in that club, this seems to be addressing a very niche market.
Personally I just couldn't handle the sheer amount of irrelevant story and gameplay interruption. It's so unintuitive and meddlesome compared to Resistance:Fall Of Man or Call Of Duty 4 that you will just end up screaming at your PS3.
Add to this the curious lack of of save points. You'll spend a lot of time carefully working your way towards an objective only to have the controls and camera ambush you at some inopportune moment, resulting in your death. (Incidentally, Otacon still has his lisp when you die - "Thnake? Thnake? Noooooo!") At this point you'll be transported back a good 45 minutes of gameplay and cut scenes for a do-over. Really really bad design.
I really wanted to like this game. I thought with as much hype as it's had, and the glowing reviews in everything from Playstation Magazine to EDGE that it would be a game of the year contender. After the first bunch of failures (it took me 6 attempts to get out of the intro scene because of the movement and camera controls), I walked away to cool my anger. I came back after a couple of hours to give it a second go but then things were even worse. I managed to progress beyond the opening scene (at last) into what appeared to be a bombed-out middle eastern town. At that point, the sheer volume of cut scenes, control and Otacon interruption just made my blood boil. Then I was presented with a cut scene of a soldier defacating into a barrel (oddly with some of the finest sound effects in the game) followed by a cut-scene of his naked buttocks running away. That pushed me over the edge. Game over for me. What relevance is that to the game?
That brings up an interesting point. Didn't we do away with the "infinite pockets" syndrome in the 90's? You know - where you can carry a seemingly endless number of guns and ammo? Apparently Snake can carry this barrel with him everywhere, along with all his guns, but you never see any of them. They just appear in his hands by magic. Shouldn't you only be able to carry a couple of weapons? Drake's Fortune, for example - two guns - a pistol in a holster and a larger gun on your back. That's an example of a problem with the previous games that I would have expected to have been addressed by now.
After barely an hour of wrestling with it I just had to give up. As a gamer I just don't have the time of day for things designed this poorly. I've returned the game for store credit.
I wish I could tell you I was an Xbox360 fanboy who was bashing this game just for the sake of it, but I'm not. I hate the Xbox360 - I'm a total PS3 devotee so it's difficult for me when I come across quality problems like those I find in MGS4. I so hoped the games for the PS3 would be better than this.
I don't understand how people can proclaim this game a 'masterpiece' or 'awesome' or any of the other accolades bestowed upon it. Look at it in the cold harsh light of day and you'll find a so-so game riddled with problems.
I've been gaming since Elite came out on the BBC Micro computer in 1984 so I'm no stranger to any type of game, but it's not often that one comes out that just leaves me thinking "what the hell?".
My advice - don't fall for the advertising hype. If you're not into the previous MGS titles then you're just not welcome at this party (as the comments at the end of this review will attest where fervent MGS fans will no doubt proclaim me to be the Antichrist for not liking their game.)
Pick up Call Of Duty 4 instead - you'll actually enjoy playing that instead of wanting to throw your PS3 through a window. If you must play MGS4, then rent it first to see if it's your cup of tea. Because if it's not, you'll feel totally robbed.
One last thing : for all those who think that this wraps up the MGS storyline, think again. MGS5 is being talked about now, possibly as a prequel. If they don't fix these problems in that game, I'm sure I'll be reviewing it just the same in 5 years time.
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