Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the latest installment to the Metal Gear Solid series. As a fan of MGS, this game was a must own. The cliffhanger left in MGS2 was the main reason I was anticipating this game. I wanted to know the answer. How will Kojima pull it off? I didn’t care for the reviews; I ignored the spoilers and kept counting the days until the game’s release. Now the game is on my hands. Did Kojima deliver with his latest game?
Let’s get this out of the way. The boxart is terrible. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put Snake’s old face on the box with in-game graphics needs to be fired on the spot. I pop in my game into the PS3 only to be greeted by an install. The install process was about less than 10 minutes. It was pretty entertaining watching Snake smoke and reading what was on the screen when the install was going on. After that, I start the game. The title screen was well done. Definitely great filled with an amazing song. Alright, after that, the game starts out with some commercials. These are pointless, and you can’t skip them.
After those dumb commercials, the game begins. You are Old Snake or Solid Snake if you like, located in the Middle East looking for the one and only, Liquid Ocelot. Your mission is to infiltrate the warzone, where the PMCs and rebels are fighting. The opening cutscene was shown were Snake, in an Altair costume, riding in a convoy filled with terrible, repetitive dialogue. Snake repeats the same thing like 3 times in that same cutscene . After that, you are able to play the game. Of course it is short since Otacon yells at you to go under the truck. It takes about less than a minute to do that. After that, another cutscene. The game feels too scripted. After the cutscene, you are able to control Snake again, but only for a minute or two. You are greeted to yet another cutscene. The Geckos, which are like bipedal Metal Gears, crash the party. With no great weapons, the only choice you have is to run away. The game takes off from there. The game is divided in five acts. Between the acts is an install. It gets annoying after a while.
What I first noticed is some changes they made from previous installments. The controls were changed, and they work really well. It is easy to use, and it’s more user-friendly. The game got a western-make over. Whether you like them or not is up to you. The gameplay is more action-oriented compared to the previous installments. Another thing was the Octocamo. This is a dumb idea and takes away the fun of stealthing. It requires no skill at all to blend to your environment opposed to Snake Eater in which you had to choose your face paint and camo. Besides that, the AI is pretty dumb. The MGS series had some great AI, but this one was lacking. They were dumb as rocks. Their vision is also terrible. I’m right in front of them, and they can’t see me. You can also take sides in the war that is going on. If you do, it makes the game very easy to stealth in. When they see you, they just ignore you. No need to fight or stealth your way. Another thing is that the game is too linear. You press start and the map tells you where to go. Pretty pointless. It takes away the fun from exploring the environment. In the past series, you need to find your way to the destination. Another addition they did with the game is drebin points. Terrible, terrible idea. The game will not force you to conserve or wisely use your ammo. You run out of ammo, no problem. Call Drebin, who offers gun laundering services, and buy some ammo for your weapons. Ran out of ammo during a boss fight? No problem. It takes away the challenge of the game.
The graphics are amazing. Definitely the best I’ve seen this generation. The character models are amazing. While it might not have amazing textures like Gears of War or something, it is still pretty amazing to watch. The environments are well built. I’ll only talk about the well-known Middle East environment since I don’t want to spoil it for the others who haven’t beaten the game. The details on stuff are amazing: falling rocks or rubbles from the ceilings, movable pots, etc. The cutscenes are amazing to watch. Some of the best I’ve seen. In some cutscenes are little flashbacks you can watch. It is a brilliant thing, and just brings a smile when you remember those past events.
The music is pretty great. Fits very well in the type of situation it is at. While it may be the weakest from the series, it will definitely make you turn up your TV volume. The sound effects are top-notch. The gun effects, the explosions, etc. are very well done. It definitely feels like you are in the warzone. The voice acting are some of the best this gen. My only complaint is Old Snake’s voice actor, David Hayter. He sounds very awful. You can barely understand what he says. All he does is mumble throughout the whole game.
The game includes many returning characters from previous installments and new characters. I won’t tell you who they are since I don’t like spoiling the game, but you’ll notice those familiar faces. The new characters are awful. Drebin has no point being there. He has no personality, and he is accompanied by a stupid monkey who likes smoking. The B&B Corps, who are the new boss groups, are a total joke. They have no personality. After you fought them, Drebin calls you and tells you their life story. Who cares? I killed them already. Do I need to feel sympathy for them? They pale in comparison to the Cobra Unit, Dead Cell and Foxhound. The boss fights are pretty good, but they feel they’ve been done before from the previous games. The final boss battle is an epic battle. It’ll bring so many memories. Also, I won’t tell you who hooks up with whom, but two familiar faces get married. It is terrible. They hurt the characters, and it is one of the worst ideas to ever emerge on the Metal Gear Solid series.
The story is terrible. I enjoyed the previous stories since it was well written and definitely made you replay the game to understand the story. Newcomers most likely won’t understand the story in MGS4. As a fan, the story didn’t hook me until the second half of the game. Either way, the solutions or answers to many unanswered questions were terrible. They were just an insult to people playing the game. I'll say this, one certain thing is pretty much the answer to everything. Once you find out what that is, you'll just feel disgusted or disappointed. The dialogue is awful. The same thing is repeated again and again. The game is too cutscene heavy, and that’s not a great thing especially since the story is terrible. The storytelling is awful. Someone should tell Kojima that there are other ways to tell a story other than 30 minute cutscenes. The drama, for the most part, is funny and pathetic. This was only one part that I almost felt like crying. The amazing plot twists were lacking. There was a huge shocker at the end that it made me cry because it was just stupid. The game also tells you what Outer Heaven is. Once I found out, I died a little inside.
The game also has online. The max number of players supported is 16. The online is region-locked which is a bummer. Quite frankly, it’s either a hate or love it thing. First of all, you have to sign up for a Konami and game ID. It’s a pretty stupid process. Why couldn’t they let us use our PSN? You can customize your characters and guns. You can only have one character. If you want more, you have to buy them at the Konami store. That’s right, there are not on the PSN store. The same thing goes for other stuff such as expansions. The game modes include team deathmatch, deathmatch, capturing, sneaking, team sneaking, base and rescue. There are a nice amount of game modes that surely you’ll find one that you’ll like. The game has five maps at start. There is only one that stands out and that is Gronznyi Grad. The others are terrible. Map designs are the most important thing in a multiplayer game, and this one disappoints. They are lacking in design. The body damage is terrible. It takes a lot of shots with the shotgun to kill someone. The game is filled with glitches and lag that it kills the experience.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is a huge disappointment. Metal Gear Solid games are legendary, but this one was lacking in the brilliant story, gameplay and dialogue. The game clocked in around 14 hours. I only played 5 hours of the game and spend the other 9 hours watching a mediocre movie. There are emblems you can get, but the game is pretty boring that I just can't find the motivation for it. The online is a mess. Kojima turned something so brilliant to something broken. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a troubled war game.
The PlayStation 3 may not have been the strongest generation for Sony, but there were still some diamonds in the rough that deserve a revisit as PS5 remasters.
Even if they could just remaster and put on PSVR2, some would still look great as VR titles and could do a whole lot to bolster the headset w these exclusives! I'd imagine the investment of reworking these titles into VR would be way less than building new games from the ground up, and they could be amazing experiences, and VR often makes flat games feel fresh again. The Resistance and Killzone games are particularly what I want to see!!
I played killzone 3 in 3d and it really changed the game per being immersive.
In vr, that would be even more awesome.
Funny you mention that... my son wanted to play some PS3 games in 3d on my PS tv and he was blown away by how good KZ3 was. It really was a great addition to the game. Im surprised there have not been more 3d games from that era being ported to the PSVR/VR2.
resistance 1-3, killzone 1-3, uncharted 1-3, uncharted golden abyss, folklore, socom 4 , motorstorm, twisted metal, MAG, heavenly sword
Killzone 2+3
Sly Thieves in Time
Crack in Time
God of War Ascension
Motorstorm
Modnation racer
Infamous 1+2
Killzone trilogy in VR would be amazing bonus points if they offer shadow fall.
There was a psvr1 Killzone project that supermassive was working on at one stage which wasn't up to scratch and Sony brand it back in house I was hoping we would see that on psvr2 eventually.
Personally I'd love to see some more love or acknowledgement of psvr2 from Sony in general it was a expensive headset and Sony barely acknowledge it's existence
The amount of work needed to remaster these games wouldn't be beneficial on a financial and business sense.. MGS4 would probably be the best bet as it would need the least amount of work!
The time is perfect for a resistance fall of man game campaign coop multiplayer
The resistance series is str8 trash to me. Socom 3 I would welcome. Or killzone MP.
Resistance was ok but Warhawk and Starhawk was better and kept me coming back for almost a decade of fun and petty revenge on the loud mouth unskilled players 🤣
Edit I loved capture the flag dropping the pot on the flag carrier was extremely satisfying as well as transforming your plane in bot form and stumping them to death 😱
An article looking at the symbolic meaning behind the cigarettes in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Game creator Hideo Kojima is and probably will always be best-known for his creation and stewardship of the Metal Gear series at Konami, which since his departure has been more-or-less on permanent hiatus (don't mention Survive). In his almost three decades these games evolved to the point where they predicted certain problems of the information age (MGS 2), took aim at contemporary topics like Guantanamo Bay (MGS: Ground Zeroes), and ended on a profound sense of sadness about our species' inability to break the cycles of global conflict (MGS V).
It's not clear what sparked this reflection, but Kojima's been thinking about Metal Gear Solid 4, an entry that was (and unfortunately still remains) a PlayStation 3 exclusive. In that entry the player controls an aged Solid Snake in the year 2014, caught up in a civil war being fought between Private Military Companies (PMCs).
To this day, it's one of those games where I refuse to skip the cutscenes, no matter how many playthroughs I've done.
But if you ask me...MGS2 was bloody prophetic and has aged like fine wine. That game was blasted as the weakest entry, and yet it's so enduring. I replayed it some time last year and it was remarkable.
Heed not the lamentations of people that say that MGS2 is bad because of the Snake/Raiden bait and switch. Every MGS game has its own merits, and while most people consider 3 to be the best, they all shine equally in my opinion.
@sad
I would generally agree but with the exception of MGSV. It had truly excellent gameplay/combat, but dull and largely empty open world(s), and a narrative that is literally only half finished.
I really wish Kojima hadn't tried to go open world with MGS. It just wasn't right for the series. But I get it. He didn't want to make MG anymore but he wasn't allowed to make anything else. So he had to experiment within that franchise. Still, it was the wrong direction.
I have been thinking about this a lot, MGS2 being the weakest and getting blasted.
My conclusion, for some years now, it's my favorite game of the series.
Going from MGS1 to MGS2 was such a big leap, in graphics, mechanics, etc.
And now it's even more relevant for being 'bloody prophetic' as you stated.
Maybe dust of my vita and play it again...
It's a shame we never got a remaster of MGS4. The original game only rendered at 1024x768, and it ran anywhere from like 20fps to 60fps depending on the area. A remaster could have very easily cleaned up the visuals and performance. It's such a great game. I just want to play it again but in its best possible state.
I agree, but they did all sorts of tricks to make use of the ps3’s cell processor….they’d probably have to rebuild the game in order to make it run on another machine. And, if that involves remaking those cutscenes somehow, then itll never happen, unfortunately.
Nah. There have been plenty of remasters of PS3 games and they've turned out fine. It can be done.
War... war never changes. Or does it? The war has changed ...did it? The answer is no! Unless it is yes! No, of course it is! Is war! Yes! No! Yes?
He was always ahead with this series. MSG1 taught me about the importance of passing on our genes into future generations but in a responsible way, for they are bound to what we experienced in our lifetime. Sons of liberty taught me about global control and simulation runs to test society in a grand scale, the importance and dangers of control of information. MGS3 taught me about patriotism and how that can blind you into doing things you never would have otherwise, all for the sake of politicians who only see you as another pawn in their grand scheme of things. MSG4 taught me war is inevitable and always orchestrated because it's great for the economy. Soon simulation systems will start dictating who goes to war and why, all run through proxies. Privatization of military company are already here. We already started to see how a small group of elites dictates everything that happens. Nothing is done, nothing happens without strings being pulled.
All that was literally the themes and core story of each game, so not surprising he learned that from MGS. Metal Gear Solid 2 in particular is so relevant today, it was more than a decade ahead of its time and a work of genius. Kojima saw what the digital future was going to become when it was in its infancy. Even MGS 5 despite being unfinished and less of a traditional Metal Gear Solid game with regards to story, had a fair bit to say about language and control over it that is relevant today.
It's a highly acclaimed series for a reason, and one of my favourite.
I've watched my brother play the MGS games, but I only beat MGS1 myself on the PSP in 2014, and MGSV in 2016. I took the themes and plots as lore, tbh.. trying to piece together the story of MGS rather than relating them to our current times.
It's definitely social commentary, Eidolon. You should read the "themes and analysis" section of the Wikipedia page for MGS2: Sons of Liberty for a start! Game was heavy on this.
I'll take a look, thanks. Actually might pick up MGS2 again (PS Vita), It's been years since I last played. Might start a new game tbh.
MGS2 literally predicted digital manipulation of information that we see today all the way back in 2001. MGS2 became Zucc's playbook.
Yes back in 1998 when I was 13. Throughout the years more information has been shown on this subject matters, but go back to early 2000s and information wasn't as prominent. Kojima was ahead of the game
If it wasn't for the retconning of how FOXDIE works, including clunky scenes with Naomi and Liquid, MGS4 would be a perfect game. There are so many gameplay options. It felt like us PS3 owners got something truly unique and special.
I couldn't possibly disagree with this review anymore then i am right now.
But it is you're opinion.All the power to you..but wow..
First off saying everyone has no personality doesn't make it so. 2nd off if you don't like the story that's fine but the fact is that it ties up almost all the loose ends in the series which was no small feat considering the amount of them there were. I personally had no problems with the story at all except for maybe Otacon's acting. You are of course entitled to your opinion but I can't help but feel you were a little bit to harsh on the game.
lol wat a hater.
PLAY on a difficulty HARDER THAN EASY. Really plz. The AI is very good... unless you play on easy. How can you say that pausing that game every 5 minutes in MGS3 to change your camo to what ever it told you to is better than Octocamo. Did you PLAY Mgs3? The online does suck. I was a newcomer, but I knew enough of the story to say it was 10/10 story. I don't think you have actually played it... at least not all of them. There are a few things in your review that sound copied from official reviews. Some things are also inaccurate. Drebin has no point. WFT? You need to buy weapons. I don't know how you couldn't hear David Hyter. I have a 200$ T.V and no speakers except the ones in the T.V. and I could hear him well. There is still stealth in the game. It does have more action, but if you play on a HARDER DIFFICULTY, then you will see how stealth matters.
Come on... 6,7, or 8. any thing does not belong next to MGS.
Homicide,you hated this game more than I thought.Whoa