| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 3 | 10.00 |
| Overall | 10.00 |
|
It has been over four years that gaming world has awaited the final mission of the legendary Solid Snake. So much hype has been thrown around; to some MGS4 is enough to buy a PS3 for. With all the weight on its shoulders Metal Gear Solid 4 still manages to exceed expectations and deliver a game experience that will be remembered for a long time to come. Make no mistake, this is Hideo Kojima's masterpiece, I doubt I have ever seen a game where such love and care went into it. While past MGS games for the most part took place in one or two locations, this game takes place all over the world. No longer is it a small insurrection Snake is sent to take out, at this point it is the entire world that is on the brink of ruin and Solid Snake must save the day. Compared to the other MGS games, MGS4 is like a sweeping movie epic. It has a massive cast, takes you all over the world, and manages to answer practically every lingering question the series has proposed. The story is a major part of this game, huge chunks of exposition will break apart the gameplay segments. Thankfully the cutscenes are presented in such a way that it rivals most CG movies, the production value is at a point I have never seen before. Yes there is a ton of cutscenes but unlike past MGS games almost all of them are stunning to watch. Codec storytelling is cutdown to almost nothing; all meaningful plot advancements come from the glorious in game cinematics. If huge amounts of cutscenes bothered you before it will bother you again, as with all MGS games it has hours upon hours of cutscenes. Still, these are cutscenes worth watching as it deals with emotions and aspects most games will never touch. You will feel pain, remorse, laughter, sadness, laughter, joy, and love. All the characters you have grown to love all come together; all their lives reach a turning point, its impossible to not get swept up in the emotional impact of the story. Quite possibly the most impressive aspect of the cutscenes is that many of them now transition seamlessly into the game itself. Its something you have to see to appreciate, it adds so much to the mix of game and story. The two are now interwoven in a way that it feels like its one. The only complaint about the story I can come up with is that it does not end on the same high notes that earlier acts in the game do, it kind of gets bloated and almost MGS2 like toward the end. Overall though I was satisfied with story, plus if you want to look deeper into the plot you can find plenty of political commentary. There are some people that play MGS games just for the story; well I am not one of them. I play MGS games cause I believe they offer some of the best unique action/stealth based gameplay. MGS4 takes the great improvements added to MGS3, mainly the camo system and opening of environments, to a whole new level. Snake now infiltrates a war zone; no longer is it just you and a group of enemies you must evade. Two factions will be fighting in many areas and you can either choose to help out the local militia or just sneak around in the chaos. This aspect brings about so many gameplay possibilities; for instance you can hide in shadows taking out anyone that gets in your way silently, or you can disguise yourself as a militia man and advance with them as you help defeat the PMC army, or you can be Rambo and just kill everything in your path. Every new area you enter has some unique event happening, whether its a tank making its way down an enemy street or a battle for a power plant, the variety in locations and situations is staggering. The best part of it all is that Solid Snake now controls like a dream. All the mechanics have been reworked to provide a control scheme that fits in line with today's modern shooters. No longer is gunplay a pain, now you can run and gun with ease. The third person camera works as well as any third person shooter I have ever played, at any time you can enter first person view for more zoomed in shots. Also of note, Snake no longer sticks to walls, at first this may seem like a bad change cause it used to be so easy backing into a wall to peak around corners but when the action would get rough to often would you accidentally stick to a wall when you really wanted to shoot, that does not happen any more. Snake also has more evasive maneuvers like side rolls and the ability to roll while prone. CQC is back and better than ever, holding up enemies or grabbing them is easier to do than ever before. The octocamo applies the MGS3 camo system without any of the constant menu surfing. Also introduced is the solid eye system which is an all in one radar, night vision, heads up display system, you won't believe you used to play MGS games without it. Everything is so streamlined, its vast improvement to the controls and helps the gameplay tremendously. With this new control scheme comes a greater emphasis on gunplay. MGS4 has a RE4 like gun seller named Drebin which sells you weapons and ammo for Drebin Points, points you get from finding weapons all over the battlefield. There are 70 weapons in the game, most of them can be customized even further with silencers, grips, scopes, and with some even a grenade launcher attachment. For the Gandhi types that don't like to kill, there is a slew of stun weapon types as well. Finding DP and gathering all the weapons is a game in its own. To be honest most players will probably find a favorite weapon of each type and just stick with it but it is still nice to have the huge array of weapons (some of which are very odd and can lead to hilarious situations). The game makes sure to make use of all these guns; there are many action heavy moments where you are forced to shoot your way through the enemy. These set pieces are spectacular and really showcases how far this game has come to making MGS has good a shooter as it is a stealth game. The only issue with this system is that you are never out of ammo; conservation is not needed. Initial footage of this game made MGS4 look like MGS3+ or something like that. Well in a stroke of pure genius (in my opinion, some may think this is what hurts the game), that is only the first half of the game. The second half take you out of that war zone style of play and throws you into a whirlwind of gameplay variety and scenarios that pull aspects of all MGS games together to create the ultimate Metal Gear experience. You experience very unique locations and gameplay elements you have never seen or played in a MGS game. I was left in awe at the stuff I was doing, my eyes were popping out of their head at some of the action sequences, and every single MGS fan will be in love with one of the later sections. Lets not forget the boss fights, while I think they never reach the greatness of some of the MGS3 boss fights, they are all very memorable in their own ways. I just wished there was more ways to take some of them down, like in MGS3. Seems that with the emphasis on guns the unique tricks you can pull on them with your items has been pulled down to a minimum, its mostly just shooting them to death (besides two puzzle like bosses). There is not a stinker in the bunch though, they maybe a bit easy but the way the battles are presented will blow you away. To say this game is deep is an understatement. When you first play the game (about 20 hours of play, of which around 8 hours are cutscenes) odds are you missed out on some areas and did not see the crazy amount of easter eggs and secrets hidden throughout the game. One such item is an ipod, which you get at the start of the game with some tracks but many music tracks of classic MG and Kojima games are hidden all over the game. Even if you don't want to look for secrets there are so many ways to play the game there is no way you can say you experienced it all in one playthrough. At the end of the game you get emblems depending on how you play, there are 40 of these, as you play using different styles you unlock them. You will probably not put this game down for a very very long time. To top it off there is even a full online game included, I won't go much into detail here cause I will review it as a separate game but MGO is a great alternative to the usual online shooter. This game not only has great story and excellent gameplay but on the tech front it's a showcase game. Graphically it is the most impressive console game I have ever played. You will see and play things you thought could only be done in CG. The most impressive of which is the final boss fight, which I swear is the most visually impressive fight in the history of videogames. Not to be outdone the sound is movie quality. You have to play this game on some sort of surround sound, it would be a crime not to. The sounds of the battlefield come to you from all sides; it is an immersive sound experience like no other. Musically the score rivals even the biggest of Hollywood's blockbusters. Sadly the main theme is missing cause of plagiarism, still Harry Gregson-Williams does an incredible job closing out the series musically. If I had to find one real flaw with MGS4 it is that it does have frequent small loads and installs after every act, even that is a minor inconvenience. Metal Gear Solid 4 is the total package. Every inch of this game is oozing with quality, not one aspect is left behind. On a technical level its one of the highest quality games you will ever play. The true genius however is how Kojima leaves his mark on this game. Like the best directors in movies, you can see Kojima's style come through in the gameplay and cutscenes. This game was clearly a labor of love, you can tell that he poured every last inch of what he had into making this game the ultimate masterpiece, to make it his greatest achievement. You don't just play this game, you feel it, it grabs you, demands your attention in a way that few games ever do. It is a landmark game, its a game that will be one of the defining moments of a generation, it simply is one of the all time greatest games. |
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Posted by Dvader Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:24:35
Recently Spotted:
*crickets*
I'll write a review soon! As if you don't know my opinion already! Good review.