Published by: Konami
Developed by: Kojima Productions
Score: 95

So here we are, the last Metal Gear Solid game to feature Solid Snake, according to Kojima at least. Keeping true to its roots since the original Metal Gear Solid (MGS), Metal Gear Solid 4 launches on a Playstation format. The game is crammed with all sorts of spectacles for the eyes, ears, and if you like women wearing skin tight spandex, the genitals as well. As with so many others, we at Team Headshot found ourselves marking off days on the calendar, waiting until we could finally use Solid Snake to go after the Patriots and point out all the instances of characters pissing themselves as a direct result of Kojima’s lesser known urine fetish. Aside from all the oddities of the game such as crotch grabbing that we’ve seen in various trailers, the resulting game is a masterpiece. I usually don’t say that but for MGS4 I make the exception because at no point did I ever ask “hmm, I wonder how much longer the game is?” Instead, I kept asking for more as my eyes became bloodshot and I started hallucinating from a lack of sleep. All of the questions left lingering since the day MGS1 launched to be answered but in addition, Konami has made a game which not only fully utilizes the PS3 but also sends one of the videogame world’s icons out on a high note.

The MGS saga is almost unrivaled in terms of story, characters, and themes. Every time I finished a MGS up right to the final phone conversation I found myself looking at Wikipedia for more information. “How did that happen?” “Who’s that?” Sadly I would find myself only left with lack of information. However, in MGS4, so many questions are answered that if this is truly the final MGS ever, then this would be a truly satisfying ending for the series. Without giving anything away, I will say there aren’t too many huge revelations because after a moment of thought or two you might just conclude that it made sense. Of course that doesn’t mean you won’t be surprised, because these are all still interesting plot fill-ins especially if you’ve been playing the entire series like I have.

Presentation might be the strongest point of the game and that’s saying a lot because the rest of the game is so damn impressive. The cutscenes in the game are unrivaled by any other game to date. It might be because there’s such a blast of information and revelations that it feels so much more satisfying even if they may be just doing a mission briefing. However, the cutscenes that are more action oriented are the real draw here because they push the story along with and engrossing element. Some were concerned about the excessive length of some of the cutscenes before the game released and there is no real cause for concern if that’s an issue for you. Granted if you’re a fan of the series, the time will just fly by, but if you’re a newcomer it may be a little taxing at times, but again, because they’re done so well that even if you don’t understand what’s going on, you may be drawn in anyway.

I think what has changed the most from the previous games is the style of going through levels. Back when MGS4’s first trailer released in 2006, there was an emphasis on Snake having no where to hide. This is somewhat true. A good chunk of the game feature areas having battles going on between two factions. You’re given numerous options on how to go about getting from point A to point B, but it boils down to either stealth or just going Rambo on one faction. Now that sounds bad but it’s actually interesting that way. Rather than worrying about that damn Alert countdown starting up when you fire at an enemy, you’ll actually just sort of ‘fit in’ with all the chaos. This happens to the point where if the opposite faction sees you killing enemies, they’ll actually attach to you and help clear the way for you. Of course the game is still about stealth, so finding different routes, using barrels and boxes, etc. are all still the name of the game.

Item and weapons selection remain the same. You have 2 boxes in the bottom corners which indicate which item and weapons are equipped. However what has changed are some of the toys you get to play around with. Most notable is the Mk-II, which acts a sort of little robotic sidekick displaying Otacon on its monitor. The Mk-II is also good in battle situations as it can be remote controller by Snake and serve as a scout in hot areas. Rather than finding out there was an enemy in a corner when its too late, you’ll be well aware and can handle it how you see fit. The Mk-II can also provide a little shock amongst other things to take down some enemies, but it’s mostly useful for scouting. Rather than having a bunch of boxes like in past games, you now have the option of fitting Snake with a barrel. As shown in past trailers, the barrel can be turned on its side with Snake in it and be used as a bowling ball toppling enemies. New to the series is weapon customization. Aside from attaching suppressors, you can also attach other parts like red dot sights, scopes, stocks, and other parts in order to make the gun a little more suited to your playing style. These are just some of the add-ons to the in-game inventory, of course there are much more, some of which are obtained only after beating bosses. All of these changes do keep the game fresh and add some more new elements in dealing with the new surroundings.

Snake still has all of his old moves despite him looking like he should be in a retirement home. He can crouch, crawl, run, dive, etc., none of that has changed, but what has changed are some of his sneaking and weapon firing actions. For instance, now Snake doesn’t stand stationary when firing a gun. Instead, he now has that popular over the shoulder firing view that has become all the rage since Resident Evil 4. So if you feel the need to play the game Rambo style, MGS4 has you covered, but it’s also great for the parts where you’re forced into showdowns with multiple enemies coming at you. Octo-camo is Snake’s primary method of evading enemies 2 feet away from you. Gone from MGS3 are the cumbersome menus and constant camo monitoring. “Okay, so the grass facepaint only gave me a 5% increase, but the woodland gave me 10%, but only if I have the polka-dot suit and a crotchless thong.” No. No more of that. Instead, the octo-camo can be set to automatically blend in to any surface, with an emphasis on any. As for moving Snake around, there seems to be more options in terms of maneuvers. Snake can now roll around on the ground in order to get a better shot as well is just one of those new maneuvers. Instead of looking around corners with Snake’s back to the wall, he now puts his chest to the wall to look. They’re small changes, but when you start going stealth into some areas, they become noticeable.

The enemies are still the same type enemies with a new coat of paint. On regular difficulty, they’re still dull as rocks. Even the so called “advanced” enemies still can think it’s a good idea to run into an area littered with the bodies of three of his/her buddies. However, despite this, the new Gekko enemies, the huge mooing Metal Gear-esque robots, provide a new challenge. It’s not very easy to kill them, so dealing with them makes them sort of like a moving wall of sorts. They’ll scan all over the area for Snake and can inflict major damage quickly. As said earlier, Snake is in a warzone for most of the game, so you will have the opposing side giving you a hand here there, but they serve mostly as a distraction while you sneak around to the other side. Aside from that there aren’t any other major changes, which is kind of disappointing. With many of the areas being fairly large, I would’ve hoped there would’ve been a few more type of enemies I could screw around with or some stationary weapons which could be used to change the tide of a battle.

As in past MGSs, there have been boss sets which serve to take down Snake or whomever and in the process provide some of the best boss fights. The Beauty and the Beast Corps act as MGS4’s bosses and are actually based on real-life models. As I said in my previous post, in my opinion, these are the best bosses in the MGS series. Now, I know some may not agree. Some of you still have raging hard-ons for Sniper Wolf or Psycho Mantis, but the BB Corps seems to be a culmination of all pervious bosses and not just in name. As for the actual fights, Konami doesn’t disappoint. Whether it be Raging Raven bombing the hell out of Snake or Laughing Octopus trying to choke him to death, you do get a sense of satisfaction out of beating them. Maybe it’s because just watching the intros for the bosses would make you otherwise think that Snake is in for the ass whopping of a life time. These bosses are all based on twisted designs from Kojima from an aesthetic and psychological point of view with each of them having some horrible war memory. All of the battles have some sort of quirk to them which not only makes them fun, but memorable as well.

In a new twist for the game, there is now a gun shop with a gun launderer by the name of Drebin. Keeping in with the tradition of having half an armory stuffed in your back pocket, the gunshop acts as shop you can access anytime, anywhere for all sorts of guns and ammo. In the middle of fighting a boss fight and need an RPG? No problem, call up Drebin and you’ll have one instantly. The claim is that Snake’s little helper, the Mk-II, goes to retrieve all your guns and bring them right back to you. Not realistic, but half of the stuff that goes on in the game isn’t either. In order to buy the guns you need Drebin points which are obtained by collecting guns from downed enemy soldiers. Snake will strip the gun of its ammo if you already have the gun and send the gun on its merry way to Drebin for points, kind of important if you’re less inclined to using stealth. Now when you pick up a new gun, you can’t use it automatically. Due to all guns having ID codes which can only be unlocked by its users, you must first get Drebin to launder the gun by spending points. The whole Drebin idea is a mixed bag. On one hand you get practically unlimited ammo and weapons since you’ll rarely if ever run out of points. On the other hand, the whole “stealth” thing can become an afterthought if you rely on having a cache of weapons with you. Of course it’s not like you can just go guns blazing everywhere since you Snake is vulnerable to being mowed down as well. After a while, however, I found myself not using the shop that often as ammo was plentiful just about everywhere.

Sound design is also top notch. As usual, voice acting is the highlight of this department. Solid Snake acting old and coughing up a lung really does add to his persona as this old guy who’s too damn old to be firing rocket launchers. Of course everyone else also does a fine job and adds expression to their voices which matches perfectly with what is going on the screen. Surround sound makes MGS4 even better and adds to the sense of actually being in a war. Bullet sounds and explosions all over the damn place, the only downside is the constant screaming and yelling coming from enemies dying. Since they endlessly respawn it doesn’t stop either. Visually, the game is beautiful. Everything has detail and texture, everything. The game definitely utilizes the PS3 hardware as a second generation PS3 game. Animation is fluid as ever. Even the robotic sentries seem more “alive.” Cutscenes keep with the tradition of MGS, which is to have everything in-game, no FMVs or anything like that. Now you might be thinking that it takes away, but in fact it doesn’t because the cutscenes look great, even comparable to some FMVs. Every locale Snake is taken to has an art style that matches the place. I would say more on that aspect except that would give away a lot of the game. Bottom line, MGS4 looks and sounds great and feels very next-generation. It almost makes me want to push this game in front of big budget developers and tell them “See? This is how you do it.”

Konami has also added in the full Metal Gear online mode in MGS4. Essentially, this is the multiplayer section of the game. So, I’ve told you the presentation is unparalleled in this game, which for the most part is true. However, for the online multiplayer, not so much. In addition to your PSN ID, you’ll also need to sign up for a Konami ID, as well as a Game ID. Yes, that’s right, you need to sign up for more shit. At least it’s free shit. When you finally do get all the paper work finished, you’re allowed to create your own character from a fairly decent selection. After that, however, you’re bombarded with menu after menu of selections, lobbies, gun skills, etc. I would’ve hoped everything was a bit more organized and/or streamlined, but it isn’t and it becomes a cumbersome interface until you actually sit down and go through what everything does. As for the actual online games, they’re actually fairly standard. There’s the obligatory deathmatch modes, objective modes, and returning from its last stint, Sneaking mode. Sneaking mode basically has 2 teams searching for a camouflaged Snake, whoever gets him first, wins. As for the other game modes, there isn’t really a whole lot you’ve seen. And, none of these modes are done any better than other games. It feels like the system is set up perfectly to deal with AI opponents, but when facing human ones, it’s not up to the task. Sure you can use all sorts of guns, but when they all kind break down to sniper rifles, non-sniper guns, and knives. There really isn’t a lot of variety. There wasn’t much lag, but it is kind of noticeable that there is a host advantage. What it comes down to is that MGS4 is one of those few action games that gets its replay value out of it single player and not its multiplayer.

One complaint I have is the length of the game. In having no where for Snake to hide, you also find yourself getting from area A to area B fairly quickly regardless of whether it is stealth or heavy gunfire. One of the concerns before the game came out was the length of the cutscenes. Yes, some are fairly long and no, I don’t know the length, but for one or two cutscenes it was at least 20 minutes, at LEAST. The game took me about 13 hours to finish at a reasonable pace. Minus the cutscenes, I’d say it came down to around 11.5 hours or so if they were counted in playtime. Of course, I’m always in favor of games that jam a lot of action into a shorter game rather than slowing the game down in order to stretch it out. Take it as you will. I know it’s lazy to say that if you’re a fan of Metal Gear you won’t mind, but it really is the case. I guess I would say if you’re not a fan or just don’t care about the story, I think the length is just right. The significant battles and boss fights definitely keep you entertained and warrant multiple playthroughs. Rather than having one huge area in which you can return to some areas multiple times as in past MGS games, MGS4 is split up into acts which restrict you from going everywhere. So when you’re playing in act 4 and decide you want to go back to some place in act 2, you can’t. Not really a big deal, but it does feel a little disjointed. I would say it reminds me of MGS: Portable Ops in these sense it isn’t one huge area, but then again, there aren’t any dull areas in MGS4 that serve only as a bridge for the next area. MGS4 is jammed pack with numerous easter eggs and other surprises that will keep many completionists back just to see where everything is.

MGS4 leaves no stones unturned in its quest to send Solid Snake out on a high note and on its way is a model for quality in terms of presentation and story telling. Is it Game of the Year worthy? Sure, why not. Is it the best game ever? No. I think what MGS4 has done better than anyone else I’ve seen so far is provide a great exterior, but really the game is almost the same as its predecessors albeit with some additions and subtractions and a little more choice. Snake will sneak around and get into memorable boss fights. Taking an objective point of view, I can safely say that’s all done extremely well. However, I would say that if you were never a fan of the series and hated stealth action, then I wouldn’t bother with this one. Yes, it looks fantastic and the hype has been lived up to, but nothing has been revolutionized per se. It feels like MGS has made the appropriate leap given its expectations. A livelier background with the ferocity of war and a slew of options on how to get through has taken center stage in MGS4, whereas in past MGSs there was emphasis on stealth and figuring out how to get out of a room. MGS4 feels the same way only you’re trying to figure out how to get from act to act. Regardless, MGS4 is without a doubt the best game on the PS3 and the perfect example of how to keep a series stronger than ever.