As a giant fan of the Metal Gear Solid series, the in-jokes overwhelming Metal Gear Solid 4 aren’t lost on me. I’m the kind of person Hideo Kojima was thinking of when he put these things into the game. I have to wonder though – what would I think if I was new to the series? Why does Solid Snake – sorry, Old Snake – go onto a battlefield without any weapons? He’s on his way to assassinate a guy and he hits up the battlefield with cattle prod/knife.
Fans would know the mission is OSP - on-site procurement – and that’s just how Snake rolls. There are even more things not immediately obvious to newcomers though, and it makes me wonder how much a greenhorn would get out of the game – if anything.
If you’re a fan of the Metal Gear series and you haven’t already got MGS 4 stop reading this review, sell your car/house/kidneys for a PS3 and a copy of the game and take time off work. Metal Gear Solid 4 is everything you want and then a little more. Otherwise, read on.
The Metal Gear series has always been a stealthy series – Metal Gear made it into the Guinness Book of Record: Games Edition for being the father of the stealth game – and from a perfectionist’s standpoint MGS 4 is no different. Unlike previous games in the series however, this doesn’t mean you can’t just run and gun. On lower levels you could run from one end of the game to the other, and on higher difficulty levels you can usually get away with being seen.
(Disclaimer – Don’t read ahead if you’re planning on playing the previous Metal Gear games… Spoilers ahoy! Nothing is spoiled from MGS 4 however.)
1.Otacon. That glasses wearing lab coat guy who is always in contact with Snake – his name is Hal “Otacon” Emmerich. Old Snake and Otacon are best friends ever since Old Snake saved Otacon’s life from a Cyborg Ninja (named Gray Fox) in the first Metal Gear Solid. In the second MGS game it was revealed that Otacon’s father committed suicide upon finding out that Otacon and his Step-Mother were having an affair. He’s the ultimate nerd champion – a self confessed “anime otaku” and robot designer who is irresistible to women whether he knows it or not.
2.Liquid Ocelot. This one’s a doozy. Liquid Ocelot, the boss character in Metal Gear Solid 4, is a combination of Liquid Snake and Revolver Ocelot. Liquid Snake is Solid Snake’s twin brother, and the primo bad guy in Metal Gear Solid. Revolver Ocelot is a friend of Liquid and Solid Snakes’ dad – Big Boss - and the son of the Big Boss’ mentor, The Boss. Revolver Ocelot loses his arm to Gray Fox in Metal Gear Solid and attaches Liquid Snake’s arm in its place. In Metal Gear Solid 2 Liquid Snakes personality overwhelms Revolver Ocelot – creating Liquid Ocelot.
3.Naomi Hunter. The Doctor assisting Liquid Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 4 has worked against Snake before. In the first Metal Gear Solid she injected Solid Snake with a modified version of the FoxDie virus used to kill Liquid Snake – she did this to avenge her adoptive brother… Gray Fox. The modified virus she injects Snake with doesn’t kill him however because she sets it to trigger at random – and it never does.
4.Metal Gear. The Metal Gear from the games’ name is taken from the nuclear weapons platform the enemies are attempting to take control of in each Metal Gear game. Usually a giant humanoid robot, they’re armed with nuclear weapons, machineguns and missile launchers. And they’re all defeated by humans. Not the best mechas really.
5.Old Snake. You understand the Metal Gear in the title – here’s the Solid part. Old Snake is the old version of Solid Snake. One of three clones of Big Boss, he was designed from birth to be the greatest soldier ever. The geneticists who created him halved his lifespan deliberately – hence his rapid aging. His two brothers, Liquid and Solidus Snake, were the primo bad guys in two previous Metal Gear Solid games – MGS and MGS 2 – while Metal Gear Solid 3 concerned Big Boss himself. In the Metal Gear games Solid Snake fought Big Boss who wanted to establish santuaries for soldiers. During these battles he killed Gray Fox, Naomi Hunter’s adopted brother who would later challenge and help him as the Cyborg Ninja in Metal Gear Solid. Got that?
In fact some facets of the game are in direct contrast with the idea of taking it slow – take the Drebin Shop for example. The Drebin Shop is a weapons shop with fully customisable pistols, rifles, grenades and even an assortment of rocket launchers. The easiest way to earn Drebin Points to spend in this shop is by putting a bullet in the head of everyone you see and stealing their guns (extra guns are auto-sold – you keep the ammo and get points for the weapon).
At first glance it appears to be a bit of a vicious circle. You shoot people to get their guns to earn better guns to make it easier to shoot people - meanwhile the ideal way to play the game is without killing a single person. This highlights the step the game takes away from it’s predecessors – you can choose how to play.
You can kill however many people you like, get spotted however many times – just finish the game however you need to. It’s a luxury MGS4 affords to players, and a welcome one. Subsequent play-throughs you can try to be the ultimate sneaking machine… if you want.
The choice is welcome primarily because your first time through won’t necessarily be perfect. Playing MGS4 is a challenge in itself – the buttons are at times unintuitive, even annoying. A classic example is firing from the person view, which requires you to press and hold L1, press triangle and then finally press R1 to fire. Once you get used to all the controls you’ll rarely have a problem, but it can make the first half an hour of the game frustrating.
Ignoring the control issues Metal Gear Solid 4 is very novice friendly though. It’s probably the best looking game out right now, and it really shows off the PS3’s power. It has about 10 hours of gameplay, plus subsequent play-throughs to earn new items like invisibility and special guns. When it comes to MGS 4 the game is only half the picture though.
The key thing which will make or break Metal Gear Solid 4 for anyone new to the series is the story. The story has always been the focal point for all the Metal Gear Solid games, and it’s no different in MGS 4. Through cut scenes and codec calls Hideo Kojima tells one hell of a story – and while the in-jokes and fan-service are there, they don’t get in the way of the actual story.
Having a great story isn’t an issue, of course. It’s the fact that you will spend nearly half your game time watching the story unfold which is the real issue for gamers weighing up whether they should play MGS 4. It’s a sore point for a lot of gamers who argue that they want to be part of the story as it unfolds – not simply watching it happen.
That’s a completely fair statement. I guess the verdict on Metal Gear Solid 4 is simple really – if you’re after a deep, involved story and great action sequences interspersing each update you get, Metal Gear Solid 4 is for you. Even if you haven’t played the previous games the story is complete – you won’t miss any crucial details because ten years ago you didn’t play a game – just some jokes.
If you want to be in control the entire time, or you don’t want to sit through lengthy cut-scenes (the final cut-scene is honestly over 60 minutes long) you have the option to skip them, pause them, or simply not play the game. The game isn’t worth a purchase if you skip the story though – maybe buy it for half-price for half the game.
At the end of the day MGS 4 is a hardcore gamer’s game, and it makes absolutely no concessions otherwise. If you have a PlayStation 3 even if you’re not a fan you owe it to yourself to get this game. It’s still the best looking title out right now and you don’t have to finish it all in one go. If you’re less driven, don’t buy a PS3 for MGS 4 unless you’re a giant fan of the series.
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