• Review: Metal Gear Solid 4

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    IlluminatiRex
    Published on August 28, 2015 12:17 PM  Sort - Number of Views: 2005  
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    Single Issue XIV (Written by IlluminatiRex)



    This is good, isn’t it?

    Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Reviewers Note: Played on a Playstation 3.

    Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot is the bookend for the Metal Gear Solid series; taking place in 2014. It sought to close up plot threads, and to bring everything to a conclusive end. Solid Snake, Naomi Hunter, Raiden, and more all make their appearances. But the question remains, is it good?


    War has changed...

    My answer is yes - especially for fans of the series. It’s not a perfect game by any means – especially coming off of Metal Gear Solid 3. But what’s off is mainly in regards to the story and its pacing. Because MGS4’s main goal is to tie up the story, a lot is discussed in its 5 Acts, plus prologue and epilogue. A lot of times the explanation for story points comes down to “nanomachines”; and at times it just feels downright lazy. While Nanomachines played a role in the Metal Gear universe prior to MGS4, they didn’t hold nearly as much importance. And in order to explain this story the player is presented with a lot of cutscenes.

    It may seem like I’m being overly negative of the game’s story, but the fact is that portion of the story is at times awkward. It comes down to, I think, that they tried explaining everything and typing up every plot thread. However, I did really enjoy the overall story of the game – and especially the final two acts and epilogue. The story revolves around Liquid Ocelot (Revolver Ocelot from the first MGS had Liquid Snake’s right arm grafted onto his after he lost it in the first game). Liquid Ocelot is looking to free himself from “The System” – a control system for PMC’s and state Armies that is used to control their troops and weapons easily. Solid Snake also has the body of an elderly man, as his body is rapidly aging – and he doesn’t really know why.
    Of course, in the Metal Gear universe, the world has created a “War Economy” – where the economy is mainly driven by military action and wars. These wars are referred to as “proxy wars” since most PMCs and state militaries are not truly fighting for anything other than to just fight.


    Snake makes his way to South America - wearing his OctoCamo suit.

    Because of these proxy wars, Solid Snake’s mission takes him all around the world – from places such as the Middle East to South America. Sneaking around an actual live battlefield is an interesting concept, and when you do get to actually play in these areas it’s a nice change of pace from the previous games – which were bases and terrorist uprisings. You can now crouch walk, and the gunplay is updated to be more like a modern Third Person Shooter. It made using a more lethal route much more enjoyable. Up to this point, in terms of raw gameplay its the best. The Camo Index returns as well, however now you are armed with "Octocamo" which changes the camo pattern depending on your surroundings, and it does it automatically. You can set it to a specific one - but the most useful is the auto mode.


    Drebin's shop makes the game too easy.

    However, I am not happy with all the gameplay additions – namely Drebin 893. Drebin is introduced to the game fairly early on, and he is a gun launderer; as the guns in the game are “ID Locked” and will only fire for individuals with a matching ID Chip. So you pay Drebin with “Drebin Points” to unlock ID guns, buy new guns, suppressors, ammo, and even gun upgrades. Drebin’s shop makes the game way too easy. In MGS3 you had to scavenge for supplies, and didn’t have an instant and easy to obtain supply of ammo and suppressors. I was never short of Drebin Points (as weapons you find in the field get sold automatically if you already have one of that kind) and when I started to run low on any sort of ammunition I just bought more of it.


    Act 3, the game's low point - gameplay wise.

    That said, I really did enjoy most of the gameplay in MGS4. Act 3 not-withstanding. Act 3 had you following a member of a local resistence group, to find their base so you can talk to their leader. It was a bit too long, and then the vehicle segment not long after that felt like it was added to say "Hey, remember when this happened in MGS3?". Overall though, it was, at that point, the best gameplay in the entire series. While it didn’t have the survival aspects of MGS3 – it didn’t need them. It kept features that worked well for their vision, and got rid of ones that would not. Everything felt snappy, even when the framerate did decide to drop.

    That said, a majority of the Boss fights were not very creative; they came down to a mixture of having to find the boss somewhere on the stage, shoot the boss a bit, and then repeat. And the bosses themselves felt a bit shoehorned in; quite frankly the Beauty and Beast corps were boring. Their backstories were all explained by Drebin via codec after you defeat them; but these explanations ended up being meandering and boring; tragic – but boring none the less. The codec is fairly gimped in the game as well. While in previous games there were many conversations to be had with a variety of people, in MGS4 you had a grand total of two contacts in your codec, and each have a minimal amount of conversations. The only time this changes in Act 4; which had a lot of easter eggs and callbacks to MGS1.


    The new Codec

    I feel like I'm being overly critical of the game; and I guess in many ways that I am. But that’s just how MGS4 is, flawed. I still think it’s a great game and a good bookend to the MGS series – especially Act 4 to the end of the Debriefing and credits. The final boss fight was the end of a 20 year build up that started in 1987 when Metal Gear was released for the MSX. And it remains for me one of the most memorable boss fights of the series. But it really does have its fair share of flaws; and of course the long cutscenes.

    Metal Gear Solid 2 had its fair share of overly long cutscenes, but Guns of the Patriots really takes the cake. In fact, people make jokes that it is mainly a movie because of this. From the end of the final boss fight, to the end of the credits and post credit phone call is an hour and a half of cutscenes and credits. The mission briefing cutscenes that occur before the start of an act also tend to drag on for far too long. However, at least for much of the time in the mission briefings you are able to control the Metal Gear Mk.II/Mk.III – a small remote control robot made by Sunny and Otacon. The game tries far too much to rely on cutscenes to tell its story, rather than the gameplay. This to me is the biggest difference from the prior MGS games. While they had a lot of cutscenes, and obviously cutscenes were used to help tell the story – they also let their gameplay help tell the story as well. This aspect seems nearly gone in MGS4.


    One of the worst bosses, if not the worst boss, in the entire series - Raging Raven

    Overall, while I am critical of Metal Gear Solid 4, I still enjoyed it – especially as a bookend to the series. It made me tear up when I realized this is truly the end for Solid Snake; he’s reaching the end of his life. I can’t recommend this game to everyone however. I can recommend it to those who are fans of the series and wish to see Solid Snake’s journey come to a close – for that alone it is worth it. Not to mention a lot of important story stuff is revealed – especially in Act 3. So, if you’re invested in the series already this game is a definite must play, but if you’re looking to get into the series or just for a new game to play, I don’t recommend you start here.

    Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is available on Playstation 3 standalone or as part of the MGS: Legacy Collection.
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