Brutal Gamer

Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns of the Patriots (PS3) Review

By Zeth - August 15, 2008 - 18:26 UTC

So, where to start on this game? In fact let’s start with the phrase “game”. I am not going to beat around the bush on this one, it’s 40% game and 60% interactive movie – no wait don’t go! I know the buzz around the phrase “interactive movie” is not a positive but this manages something spectacular. It manages to be a game that you don’t mind kicking back and enjoying the movie segments too.

The story is set in 2014, 5 years after the Big Shell incident of MGS2. War is now raging across the world. Individual corporations (called Private Military Companies or PMCs) have been setup to finance the wars and produce the gun for hire soldiers needed to wage the wars. People are profiting from human suffering across the globe which is the general meaning of this premise and it’s one that reflects the world today. I am not going to dig deeply into the plot and story as you must experience this fully for yourself but I will skirt around a few issues and give a general overview so it may contain the odd spoiler but nothing major – apart from Snakes death, DAMN forget I said that!

You join the action as Old Snake, our original protagonist returns but he has aged terribly due to complications with the FoxDie virus he was injected with by Dr Naomi Hunter in MGS2. Snake begins his mission by infiltrating a war-torn Middle Eastern city with a local militia convoy. The militia is locked in conflict with troops from Praying Mantis, one of Liquid’s PMCs. Snake needs to meet up with another squad so he makes his way through the war torn landscape. This is the tutorial element of the story and allows you time to come to terms with the control system, the Octo-Camo and the new shooting style.

The first thing that strikes you are the visuals, this game looks good. Not just good; but jaw droppingly beautiful. Its textures are clean and hi-res, the number of effects it throws around are incredible, the lighting so realistic and all this locked in a solid 30 frames per second that never dips, ever. It truly is the best game I have seen running on any platform with the possible exception of Crysis on the PC running in full loveliness.  The Octo-Camo is a cleaver game mechanic which allows you, upon holding still, to blend into the scenery thus increasing you stealth meter. It works very well and can allow you can hide within meters of the enemy and they just walk right by with you with your heart pounding – great stuff!! A special mention must go to Dr Hunters’ cleavage… what is it with these Japanese art directors and their accurately modeled cleavage?

As Snake makes his way across the city you have the choice to sneak like old school MGS or bowl in guns blazing and get stuck into the thick of it all. This is a marked difference from the other titles that relied heavily on stealth based action for the meat of the game. This is one of the main reasons this title works so well and why it is the best installment to date. The other being the controls which are now much tighter and responsive than previously. No longer are you frustrated just trying to get Snake to actually move out of the way or shoot someone. With that said the control system still has its floors and is one of the contributing factors in why the game does not reach a perfect score.

On his travel Snake encounters Drebin 893, a self-proclaimed ArmsTech employee who offers his gun laundering services. This is how the game offers you the chance to level up your weapons and add new items to your arsenal. You can call on Drebin at any time during the game by pausing and going to the Drebin menu system. You choose the upgrade or new weapon you want and then Drebin’s little monkey (in silver hot pants no less) delivers it instantly to you – in effect you never run out of ammo and if you need a certain weapon (for example one of the bosses is much easier to take out with the sniper rifle) for a certain stage you can just get it sent immediately. The weapon system is very robust and offers a very wide range with each weapon having the ability to be modified. In all honesty though you will pick a set of weapons and stick to them, in my case I loved the M4 Carbine with laser site.

The sound in the game needs special mention. The spot effects and environment effects are all spot on and brilliantly executed and lend themselves fully to drawing you into the game. I think the musical score is one of the best in the business with Harry Gregson-Williams turning in music worthy of any big budget movie.

Which leads me neatly onto the movie portion. So far we have dealt with how good a game this title is. Now this game is also a very good movie. The cut scenes are long, I am not going to lie to you. The end cinematic including the credits and the bits after weigh in at about one hour and ten minutes. Holy crap you say, and yes I agree that is a very long time to just sit and watch BUT what I can tell you is that by the end of the game you’ll want to watch it, you’ll need to watch and you will really enjoy it. There are many cut scenes through the game, all rendered in incredible detail, and mostly allowing you to manipulate the in-game camera to view the scene from different angles or perspectives. For example in the briefing sections you can stick with the 24 like split screens, move one particular screen to full screen or use the Metal Gear Mk.II to wheel about the scene and look at what you want. There is so much going on in a scene that if you stick to the fixed view you will miss a lot of the little touches. The cut scenes range between the average video game fodder up to that of a Hollywood movie – and to be frank most of them are at the top end of the spectrum. The pacing and cinematography in the game is astonishing and one particular scene, involving a hasty exit on motorbikes, looks like it was lifted straight from a summer blockbuster by Michael Bay.

It weighs in at around 20 – 25 hours for the main story; it took me 23 to complete. Once you’re done there are several features unlocked and this is the first game in many years to make me wants to just start again right after completing it. The longevity is added to with the online portion Metal Gear Solid: Online, this feature is being supported by Konami with regular updates, 2 of which have already landed. The pacing of MGS:O is very different to most other online shooters. This title emphasises stealth and planning more than run-and-gun unlike other games like Call of Duty 4. There are many features to explore and several game modes allowing up to 16 players at once. The online portion would warrant its own separate review and will not be covered in detail here. All I can say is that I found the experience enjoyable but ultimately not for me.

So, what I am trying to say is, this is a damn good game. Not just good but everything any MGS fan would of wanted from this title. It ties up the convoluted and crazy plot in satisfying ways and also caters for the newly initiated. Don’t think that if you’re not a fan or dedicated follower of MGS that you won’t get any enjoyment as you will still get total enjoyment from this title – I would recommend reading the Wikipedia pages before to aid understanding. The graphics are blisteringly good, the sound is fantastic with top notch voices again. The story is as mad as a bag of cats but you are still compelled to know this story, to care about your characters and that is a rare skill which Hideo Kojima has in abundance. The only clouds in the clear blue MGS sky are the lackluster online (but it’s a free add-on so you can’t really complain) and the frustration at the controls at some key moments. Yes, even though Metal Gear Solid 4 does have much better controls than previous installments, they still have the ability to really mess you up at times, leaving you running into a box or wall whilst several enemies all pound you with gunfire. The cut-scenes though brilliant can sometimes grate (but never to the point of skipping) and are generally of a lengthy nature. Then there is the “install” times. 8 minutes at the start and about 3 minutes at the start of each Act (there are 5 in total). – Wow, I can wait that long I think as load times are minimal after this point. All these are just minor quibbles and only surface because the rest of the title is just so polished.

Ignore the hype, cast off the pre-conceived notions and just get this game as I can not recommend it more highly. I even stopped playing GTA4 for two weeks whilst I played this title – that’s how good it is.

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