Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

By Oli Welsh Published 22 January, 2008

Sneak previewed.

There's one small feature - inconsequential, really - that we noticed during our playtest of the next Metal Gear Solid that really sums the game up. Maybe even the whole series. At certain moments during cut-scenes, when a familiar character appears or there's a reference to some past event, a button prompt appears in the corner of the screen. But it's not an invitation to skip (although you can - and for the first time, you can skip codec conversations, too). It's not some kind of simon-says scripted action moment, or 'cineractive', in the uniquely horrible term coined for them this year. No: it's a flashback button.

Hitting it at an opportune moment switches playback to a cut-scene from some previous Metal Gear, filling you in on relevant details of the cast list and back-story of Hideo Kojima's extravagant spy soap opera. The series' plotline is now so tortuously convoluted and multi-layered - especially after bouts of period nostalgia that were Snake Eater and Portable Ops - that even diehard fans will need their memories jogging.

The other reason Guns of the Patriots needs a flashback button is that it's clearly throwing the kitchen sink in. Kojima has been threatening to end the series, or quit it, or both, with every instalment since the first. This time is no different, and really it's no more likely to be true. But it feels true. Not just because Snake is now a white-haired warrior staring death in the face, but because the game's comprehensive roll-call makes it feel like a greatest hits. Even in the brief demo level we played, we came up against a couple of very old friends: support geek Dr Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, and erstwhile love interest Meryl Silverburgh, returning for the first time since the first MGS on PlayStation.

'Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots' Screenshot 1

Otacon appeared at the very start of the demo, communicating with Snake via the screen of his invention, the Metal Gear Mk. II, Snake's robot helper and comic foil. This radio-controlled roller-skating camcorder was by far the most striking and exciting new gadget in the demo, with huge potential to ease Snake's progress. It can be taken control of at any time - Snake grabbing a Sixaxis to do so - and scout ahead, invisible to enemies thanks to its active camouflage. It can even stun guards with a whip-like electrified arm. It made early sections of the demo - set in the ruined, nameless Middle Eastern city familiar from trailers - a breeze.

Another new feature to help you as you pick your way through the maps is the 'threat ring'. Not unlike the sound indicator in the PSP's Portable Ops, this is a faint white ring that surrounds Snake and distorts and quivers in the direction of enemies making noise. It's a really elegant and beautifully realised graphical device that goes some way towards giving you a real sense of spatial awareness without the need for a top-flight surround sound system.

'Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots' Screenshot 4

As you'd expect, Guns of the Patriots tinkers and tampers with the Metal Gear Solid template in other ways too. The Octocamo active camouflage system didn't feature in our demo, and nor did the weapon customisation. The new stress meter - replacing the stamina meter from Snake Eater - was present and correct, and succeeded in stressing us out as we watched it creep up with every noisy blunder and awkward scuffle with the guards, although its precise impact on gameplay wasn't quite clear. The Close Quarters Combat unarmed fighting system returns in modified form, and felt more smooth and powerful than before.

By and large, in terms of features and controls at least, Guns of the Patriots feels more like traditional MGS than Snake Eater or Portable Ops did. Uninterrupted by the heavy menu usage and elaborate gameplay systems of both those games, it's a tense, exacting, crisp and relatively fast-paced stealth thriller, with a stop-start rhythm that harks all the way back to 1998. Its departures from what we expect of Metal Gear don't come in the form of some arcane new mechanic; they're more subtle, more general, but perhaps more fundamental.

The series' traditional bird's-eye view of the action has been replaced with a more contemporary free-look third-person camera. This actually first appeared in the Subsistence version of MGS3, but this is the first time a Metal Gear game has been designed around it, and it shows. The environments are more open but also more complex, detailed and multi-layered.

The demo consists of a honeycomb maze of shattered, bombed-out building shells, and our route through takes us sneaking all around its outskirts, looping and circling and doubling back, before finally heading out into the street for a confrontation with an enemy tank. Blowing this up with a rocket launcher earns the trust of the rebel soldiers fighting the mercenary bad guys, and the demo ends with a quite un-MGS running battle, accompanied by the rebels, mopping up the last of the PMC (private military corporation) soldiers. Then a cut-scene introduces Meryl and her new Foxhound unit, one of whom appears to be Frank Spencer in a balaclava.

'Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots' Screenshot 2

The "no place to hide" strapline is a bit disingenuous - in this demo at least, there were places to hide absolutely everywhere. But the feeling of cover was much more fragile, and the option of shooting your way out much more realistic. Guns of the Patriots bring action to the fore more than any Metal Gear Solid to date has dared to. Snake is tooled to the nines with heavy hardware, and allowed to use it without necessarily having to run for cover in a querulous flap afterwards.

That will come as a relief to many players, but we're not 100 percent sure it's a good thing, yet. The fact is that the nine-year-old template for this game was not conceived as a full-bore shooter, and the controls and camera can't really cope with the action. Aiming is maddeningly imprecise, lock-on has a mind of its own, and the camera moves with a vague inertia which works nicely for taking in the view, but not for flicking around a battlefield quickly. It's messy, frankly, and the game feels much better when playing with the painstaking, inch-at-a-time precision you had to in previous instalments.

'Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots' Screenshot 3

One thing you needn't worry about: Guns of the Patriots looks stunning. There are far more expansive, varied and showy game environments out there, it's true - the setting is almost drab in its realism - but the characters and their costumes are rendered and animated with an exquisite eye for detail, understated style and perfect, disbelief-suspending finish. Old Snake has the smouldering, craggy dignity of a Connery or Redford, and he's not even real. Metal Gear Solid has always been one of the sexiest game series, and Guns of the Patriots is just dripping with spy-fetish cool.

But it's a game with a flashback button, and all that implies. It's burdened - or blessed, depending on your point of view - with a long and complex history and a decade-old style of stealth play, and as much as it seeks to break out of that, it probably won't. It's probably going to remain a Marmite game, delighting, enraging and confusing people in equal measure. But there's no doubt that it will be a dream come true to MGS fans, and based on our demo, it's quite likely to be their favourite since the first.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (84) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • tobi #1 4 years ago

    Ole!

  • drumbaby #2 4 years ago

    Second!

  • Ramases #3 4 years ago

    Meh Gear Solid 4

  • fantabulo #4 4 years ago

    Snaaake!

  • Agent_Llama #5 4 years ago

    I never finished the second game... :(

  • SlackMaster #6 4 years ago

    I think being able to skip cutscenes is a much needed addition to the series, and the flashback button is an interesting concept. It's just a shame the story ended up being pap in most of the games.

  • konstantinos #7 4 years ago

    Such a unique game series... despite its commercial success, for me it remains a deeply personal experience each time...
    harkening back to the emotional layers of melancholic summer afternoons in an empty big city... or something like that...
    awaiting this one with baited breath... like a Stanley Kubrick/Nicolas Roeg spy/war film saga, written by Billy Wilder, Oliver Stone & Quentin Tarantino...

    cheers...
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/08 @ 08:04

  • Dizzy #8 4 years ago

    "Stanley Kubrick/Nicolas Roeg spy/war film saga, written by Billy Wilder, Oliver Stone & Quentin Tarantino... "

    Errr?? You mean written by a confused, suicidal teenager on drugs surely?

    /coat

  • konstantinos #9 4 years ago

    come on, we never really grow up, you know that...

    cheers...

  • konstantinos #10 4 years ago

    and I would add a bit of Samuel Fuller/Seijun Suzuki somewhere in there too... if they ever aspired to do a James Bond film...

    cheers...

  • lambtron #11 4 years ago

    "Btw people who haven't played MGS 3 you owe it to yourself to play MGS 3: Subsistence in preparation for this. It starts a bit slow but keep with it, you'll be rewarded awesomely."

    Agreed Big Boss is an awesome character, I actually prefer him to Snake. I hated MGS2 though - load of old bollocks.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/08 @ 08:20

  • TheDudesRug #12 4 years ago

    The only reason I want a PS3; it makes me genuinely sad to know I'll likely never play this installment in the fantastic MGS series :(

    /wrists

  • JohnnyWashnGo #13 4 years ago

    This game will rock I am sure.
    Although, in all honesty, I can never be arsed to complete any of them - just too hard.
    But I do enjoy the bits I actually play :)

    Also, what has happened to the photo captions?
    I don't seem to get any these days :(

  • zoch #14 4 years ago

    looking forwared to this game going to be great

  • Luvbeers #15 4 years ago

    Sounds like 8/10

  • Psiloc #16 4 years ago

    The worst thing about this game? It's a direct sequel to MGS2.

    MGS2.

  • Carlo #17 4 years ago

    Flashback buton - praise the lord!

    I can't keep up with the story!

  • mechamonkey #18 4 years ago

    MGS 2 LOL..

    I gave up on MGS 2 after one cutscene and bad suprise too many
    MG3 was terrible to start with and there were more easily accessible games to hand so I never carried on
    MGS portable was simply horrific

    yet MGS is still one of my all time favourite games but I think I'll be passing this by.

  • Universal_Hamster #19 4 years ago

    What happens at the end is that it turns out it was all the monkey's sugar-induced dream, and that he is really Snake four hundred years in the future, and must fight GIGA METAL GEAR!
    Its gonna be so sweet...

  • Krelle #20 4 years ago

    Yay, The Reason to buy a ps3. And MGS2 is the best one yet. Yup.

  • killest #21 4 years ago

    .....that even diehard fans will need their memories jogging....

    But i dont get why DieHard fans would even care about MGS4... Yipee Kayay Mother *******!!!!!!!

    /gets coat

  • Kryon #22 4 years ago

    Homoerotic Gear Solid.

  • syphaa #23 4 years ago

    FOXHOUND FTW! This is gonna own, can't wait for it! Spose I had better get myself a PS3 then...only reason I will be getting one though thats for sure.

  • dr_swin #24 4 years ago

    mgs 1 was genius, fresh and original. Since then it has disappeared up its own arse and forgotten that it is a videogame. If I want to watch a film I will go to the cinema or hire a dvd.

  • paulf #25 4 years ago

    just might be the game that makes me buy a ps3

  • DUFFMAN5 #26 4 years ago

    I'm just not sure....I thought this would be the game that sold the PS3 to me, but.......

  • Miths #27 4 years ago

    Is it just me or are the screenshot/photo galleries on several (if not all - haven't checked) recent articles messed up? I click a picture and get another one in the gallery viewer.

    I'm using Opera 9.25, just in case it's a browser issue with the new site design.

  • FooAtari #28 4 years ago

    mgs 1 was genius, fresh and original. Since then it has disappeared up its own arse and forgotten that it is a videogame. If I want to watch a film I will go to the cinema or hire a dvd.
    Yeah I agree. I really enjoyed the first game. Then came MGS 2... Haven't played an MGS game since playing half an hour of 2 and putting the pad down in disgust

  • asphaltcowboy #29 4 years ago

    Hmmm, never been a fan (Splinter Cell is far superior in my mind), but who knows, perhaps this is the one to sway me? The fact it has a flashback button is probably a curse and a blessing, particularly for the new player!

  • miiiguel #30 4 years ago

    Looks passé. Like the Playstation brand. Let it go...

  • penhalion #31 4 years ago

    @wired

    You're in the minority mate. Most of us buy games as interactive entertainment i.e. the cut scene needs to be in engine and not take you out of the action in any way. At worse they should last a minute tops.

    Metal gear 2 had such convoluted cuts that most people probably simply abandoned it and moved on to something that actually allowed them to join in on the action!

  • asphaltcowboy #32 4 years ago

    @headbog: What are you talking about? I thought it was all quite restrained in here...

  • dirigiblebill #33 4 years ago

    My love for this will depend on whether it permits the sort of non-linear lunacy occasionally possible in MGS3. The divided-city premise suggests as much, though it looks like the action is still, at heart, only really freeform within rigidly defined level bounds. Kojima doesn't seem to be able to get his head round open-ended play areas.

    /hopes for Metal Dynasty Gear Solid Warriors

  • mash the x button #34 4 years ago

    Never finished the first one....

  • steoc4 #35 4 years ago

    How come its so common to hate on MGS2 these days? The game has an average of 96% on Metacritic, I loved it, and so did everyone I knew who played it at the time.

    It seems the more time passes since playing it, the more distorted people's memories are becoming and suddenly everyone believes it was crap... I think its a myth thats being reinforced by the fact the series has become synonymous with Playstation and there's so many 360 owners convincing themselves and eachother that it's not that good really and they don't need to play it.

  • Luvbeers #36 4 years ago

    there's so many 360 owners convincing themselves and eachother that it's not that good really and they don't need to play it.

    It's true. MGS4 is the only game that 360 owners might be interested in. I don't think anyone would shell out for a new console for just one game. So we are hoping that it is less than par. Needless to say the sales will be poor nonetheless.

  • jonchoo #37 4 years ago

    @penhalion,

    Stats please. I didn't find MGS2's cutscenes to be any different than the one MGS1 had, but maybe it is just me that I like my games to have stories rather than just pointlessly shooting aliens or unlocking achievements to show off some gamer related stats.

    Or perhaps all the hate MGS2 is still getting are because of how insecure some gamers truly are...

  • dirigiblebill #38 4 years ago

    It seems the more time passes since playing it, the more distorted people's memories are becoming and suddenly everyone believes it was crap.

    People also tend to forget that Kojima's plots/cutscenes are actually, you know, pretty damn watchable- thoroughly weird and overblown, but consistently imaginative.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/08 @ 11:20

  • Kenshin001 #39 4 years ago

    I've already pre-ordered this. Could turn out crap I guess but from what I've heard and seen it looks like it could be one of the definitive games of 2008. Not to mention the closing chapter in an epic game franchise. Can't wait.

  • dudefella #40 4 years ago

    Blessed it is then, for I love nothing more than absorbing, epic (and somewhat silly) stories.

  • JediMasterMalik #41 4 years ago

    First I've heard of targetting issues from all I've read, hope they fix it by release. Either way I'll be getting this straight away, I love MGS, and this sounds like it could be the best one yet.

  • consignia #42 4 years ago

    I agree with Arbiter. MGS2 was quite an achievement for the time, indeed, I still think it's one of the best looking games.

    There are also quite a few complaints about the plot, but it was quite straight forward until the final act (basically from when Raiden is relieved of his clothes). It seemed that they wanted to build on the popular plot twists from MGS, but made a real hash of it by trying to make them more convulted and unguessable. They seemed to learn their lesson by MGS3, where most of the plots twists are kept to an agreeable level, and don't spoil the enjoyment.

    Hopefully, they'll continue the trend in MGS4, and it'll be just as well realised.

  • dr_swin #43 4 years ago

    i have no console axe to grind as I have them all and appreciate each for their strengths. I think the gameplay in MGS in essentially fun. it's just that the cutscenes are too damn long, and dont get me started on codecs... i have always found the controls counter intuitive as well. (tries to shoot guard and ends up getting onto his hands and knees instead - then commando crawling).

  • Gaol #44 4 years ago

    I'm not sure I like the fact that codec conversations are skippable - this implies they are still in a 'cutscene with no scene' format. I had assumed they would be at a point where you could continue playing with them still audible, maybe withe the graphic still visible as part of the hud.

  • old_skool #45 4 years ago

    I still think MGS1 was the best, far better than 2. 1 was original, story was superb, it evoked real emotion especially that scene where whatisgirl gets shot. I still got the NTSC and PAL version of the game.

    /edit grammer, spelling
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/08 @ 13:01

  • BobsUncle #46 4 years ago

    If it now has a skip button you could bypass 95% of the game.

    Bonus!

  • Apologie #47 4 years ago

    I alway's liked the MGS series and have played every installment... MGS4 will be one of the best games ever, not a doubt about it.

  • Diomedes117 #48 4 years ago

    It just doesn't look all that interesting...
    And with a flashback button, very long cutscenes, bad controls...
    I prefer Halo 3!!!

  • wowami #49 4 years ago

    More Gaming Snooze

  • Nallen #50 4 years ago

    What the hell is so wrong with MGS2? Apart from the fact you can complete it in like 4 hours.

    I found it far more engaging than MGS3. But then, I never had the time to invest in 3 that I did in 2, and didn't actually finish it.

  • Krelle #51 4 years ago

    Id like to start a campaign for MORE lengthy cut scenes in games. If you enjoy to put the controller down, and just watch once in a while, sign here plox.

  • daver #52 4 years ago

    Is the Xbox MGS3 ; Subsistence worth getting to play on the 360? Or are the controls borked like the other one?

    EDIT: doesn't look like they released it! Anyone know otherwise?
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/08 @ 15:39

  • dirigiblebill #53 4 years ago

    There's an Xbox MGS3?

  • symbiote #54 4 years ago

    I'm glad MGS is old fashioned and stuck in it's ways. I mean really, what's the alternative? Being more 'generic' and in keeping with what people take for granted? Old is the new new, after all.

  • Muddtallica #55 4 years ago

    I've never quite understood why MGS2 gets so spat upon nowadays, especially in relation to MGS3. Certainly, plot-wise, there's no comparison; MGS3's Cold War origin story was involving, surprising and rather moving at the end, placing the whole Metal Gear story into a coherent context that even made the baffling, overreaching MGS2 story seem to make a bit more sense.

    In gameplay terms, though, there's no doubt in my mind that 2 was the series's highpoint, taking the stealth concepts introduced in the first game and really bringing them to life with superior AI and little tweaks (rolling, leaning, hiding in lockers) that truly made all the difference in the world. 3, on the other hand, felt like a step too far, stretching that refined yet fundamentally simple engine to breaking point with a fiddly reliance on menus, over-large environments that the camera couldn't cope with and an alert mode that was near unplayable in its difficulty; I feel sure I'm missing something here, but the only things I could think of to do after being spotted in MGS3 was to run back and forth between areas or cower in a nook until the five-minute timer ran down, or else just die in a blaze of bullets by the often limitless reinforcement troops. Hardly graceful, or fun.

    4 should be top, though, especially if it is a return to more traditional MGS gameplay, as reported. I love these characters and am fascinated to see how Kojima plans to continue this narrative after the freakshow bizarrity of 2's ending; even if it does go off on one again, though, MGs games still guarantee enough great setpieces, shock twists and genuinely funny humour to make it worth the trip.

  • dirigiblebill #56 4 years ago

    You're confusing 'commercial success' with 'critical success', methinks. MGS as a franchise has a more or less indisputable claim to the latter, and a respectable claim to the former (this is the series which helped put the PS1 and PS2 on the map, after all).

  • The-Bodybuilder #57 4 years ago

    >"and the controls and camera can't really cope with the action. Aiming is maddeningly imprecise, lock-on has a mind of its own, and the camera moves with a vague inertia which works nicely for taking in the view, but not for flicking around a battlefield quickly. It's messy, frankly, and the game feels much better when playing with the painstaking, inch-at-a-time precision you had to in previous instalments."

    NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

  • The-Bodybuilder #58 4 years ago

    >"maybe it is just me that I like my games to have stories"

    Maybe it's just me, but I like my games to have stories with coherence.
    Why are some people defensive about MGS2 that they feel anyone that hates it are secret 360 fanboys? You do know the metal gear series has existed for a looooong time now?

    I can bet that 90% of people that hated MGS2 loved MGS.

  • Madafunkola #59 4 years ago

    Now - I never got into the MGS games. Started playing the first one and probably got distracted by some flashy lights and never picked it back up. IYHO's - will I be able to pick up this game as a relative noob and still enjoy it, regardless of flash backs. Will I understand "HOW-TO-PLAY-THE-GAME"? I think some sequels can alienate newcomers by presuming everyone knows how to play it already (FFMCMXII)...

  • Apologie #60 4 years ago

    Hideo Kojima, Shuyo Murata and Yoji Shinkawa will make sure that MGS4 will deliver all the goods we are waiting for, and more... the game will be awesome, Detailed textures (the streets are broken from the fighting and Snake has never looked as detailed); a first-person, Sixaxis mode; exploding vans; and much more... i can't wait.

  • TRUTH #61 4 years ago

    Q:Take away all the hype since MGS 1...Are MGS 2 & 3 really that great ?

    A: No!...there good/decent at best!

  • Apologie #62 4 years ago

    PlayStation 3 owners are a loyal bunch. There’s no doubt that despite its technological superiority (yes, it really is more powerful than the Xbox 360), it’s lagged behind the competition on the games front – especially on the exclusive games front.
    This year, that’s all set to turn around, with a bunch of big exclusives in the pipeline. And without doubt, one of the biggest is the long-awaited, much-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4. We’ve seen many tantalizing glimpses of what lies ahead in the various trailers and game show demonstrations
    Snake’s ‘Octo-Cam’. This new stealth suit takes the camouflage system introduced in MGS3 a step further and allows Snake to mimic both the colour and texture of his surrounds by pressing up against a wall or floor, or even by remaining stationary, as demonstrated by his ability to hide among statues by taking on their colour and texture.
    The controls in particular have been streamlined. L1 is used to aim and R1 to fire; R1 also initiates a CQC (Close Quarters Combat) move if an enemy is in hand-to-hand range. Every weapon in the game, from knives to machineguns, have CQC moves and advanced players will be able to pull off combos and special moves, including the dreaded crotch grab.
    Weapons are customizable, meaning you can add flashlights, grenade launchers and the like to Snake’s guns. Indeed, there’s a predictably large array of guns, grenades, mines, missile launchers and the like to play with.
    The camera is an evolution of MGS3: Subsistence’s third-person perspective and the game can also be played entirely from a first-person view if desired. Instead of radar or sonar Snake now has the ‘Threat Ring’, a circle that uses different waveforms to indicate the type and direction of inbound threats.
    Snake has one other way of keeping tabs on the battlefield around him: the Solid Eye. This eyepatch device offers three vision modes: thermal imaging, equipment detector (to reveal enemies’ weapons) and zoom.
    He also has two new meters: Stress and Psyche. These monitor Snake’s mental health and they can both help (when Snake enters a ‘Combat High’, gaining increased accuracy and taking less damage) and hinder (when Snake suffers from stress his accuracy is reduced, but it can be restored by finding and examining a girlie magazine…).
    In some sections of the game you’ll take control of Otacon’s Metal Gear Mk II, a miniature robot (powered by the Cell processor!) that can deliver small quantities of supplies, engage a stealth mode and even use its reserves of electricity to stun organic opponents.
    This is a significant addition to Snake’s stealth arsenal. All the ingredients are in place – characters, setting, stealth, guns, gadgets and Kojima’s freaked-out approach to storytelling – for another classic Metal Gear Solid experience.

    Quite simply, it’s going to be an agonizing wait to somewhere in Q2, 2008…


    Edited by 1 at 22/01/08 @ 18:27

  • Drpwnage #63 4 years ago

    I think the Marmite analogy is spot on. Personally I had enough of MGS about half way through the first game and have not been back since. The Thief series always delivered superior stealth thrills for me.

    *Yawn* at Apologies usual bollocks.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/08 @ 18:42

  • Kryon #64 4 years ago

    Hey Apolol, could you please cut & paste the normal list of upcoming PS3 titles for us all? You seem to have forgotten it in your last post.

  • Apologie #65 4 years ago

    seriously why do you guy's alway's feel the need to minimize the importance of some games, especially if they are Ps3 exclusives???? it's just silly..., even more if the game in subject is unquestionably good (like MGS4).
    I know in the end... that secretly all of thouse who feel that special need to critisize such a good game (basically X360 fanboy's), are praying for the last installment (MGS4) to become multiplatform, too bad it wont... get a life guy's, that, or a Ps3 ;)

    by the way... now that i mentioned X360 fanboys, read these article guy's... it's intresting http://ww w.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_...

    i alway's had these idea... what kind of product have a feature that tells you when it's dead???? :) they knew it from the begining.
    Edited by 4 at 22/01/08 @ 19:04

  • JYM60 #66 4 years ago

    Didn't expect to see loads of people putting the boot into the MGS series.

    Except I absolutely did

    People just don't get MGS or Kojima. Their loss.

  • JediMasterMalik #67 4 years ago

    It's a shame really that people can't look at this game as a game in itself, the team seem to have gone to a lot of trouble to try and improve the game in ways which have been criticised, for example the control scheme and the forwarding of cut-scenes. Especially as the main people who these changes are aimed at are the ones who aren't willing to give the game a chance. Die-hard MGS fans will get it regardless, as will PS3 owners who simply want a great new game. I just think people should give the game a chance.

  • Drpwnage #68 4 years ago

    @ People just don't get MGS or Kojima. Their loss.

    It's not about 'getting it', the Marmite comment from Oli was correct. Personally I hope it reviews well, I will be tempted to give it try provided it doesn't require an encyclopedic knowledge of the Blah blah storyline of the previous games to 'get it'.

  • Lukus #69 4 years ago

    A well written, informative preview.

  • TRUTH #70 4 years ago

    It's official APOLOGIE is the biggest PS arse licker in the world...Sony use him to advertise PS3, as he's sad enough to do it for nothing.

    MGS the stealth has always been on the weak side. If they spot you - just shoot them or hide for a couple of minutes.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/08 @ 21:44

  • monty2k #71 4 years ago

    Am I the only one who hopes that MGS4 is a bit bizarre and off the wall?

    Although MGS2 did go off quite spectacularly after you landed in Arsenal Gear's "Rectum", it had some great headfuck moments like when campbell tells you to stop playing, switch off your PS2 and get a life. For me that was a great break in the 4th wall and has only been beaten by some of the insanity effects in Eternal Darkness.

    Actually thinking about it, another great moment in MGS1 was when psycho mantis read your memory card (in both the PS1 and gamecube versions) or when you got told to put the controller on your arm to administer an injection. There weren't any moments like that in MGS3 or MGS: Portable Ops and that kind of made me sad...

  • captain-future #72 4 years ago

    Take the RED flashback button, not the blue one!

  • captain-future #73 4 years ago

    @MGS2's reputation... it took me four long years until I got Hideo Kojima's hilarious joke named Raiden... what game even stays that long in memory that you can actually laugh about yourself while you so much hated that Raiden-guy?

  • tonynibbles #74 4 years ago

    Loved all the MGS games to date, and feel they all stand up to their consistently high review scores. MGS3 and its online counterpart are simply awesome, whilst the PSPs Portable Ops is for me the best PSP game there is.

    MGS4 will be incredible.

  • JYM60 #75 4 years ago

    @Drpwnage

    Yes it is a marmite game in a way. Do all the marmite haters troll the marmite forums with their petty shite?

    Some seriously sad stuff in this thread. If you don't 'get' the story and think it ruins the game fine, buy halo, but please shut the fuck up while doing so.

    cheers.

  • tapper #76 4 years ago

    I just recently started play this series.

    The first one was great. The second one was also really good but I think the ending did it a real disservice. I'm playing the third one now - even though I think it's a good game it doesn't feel very Metal Gear-ish. I think it strays to far from the formula, but I'm not too far in so I guess I'll continue, maybe it'll pick up.

  • QPRHOOPS81 #77 4 years ago

    The first one is probally the best game ive ever played. I even enjoyed the ending which rarely happens in games. The second one seemed like a clone of the first with better graphics but lost abit of the soul. With the third i have it but have to admit i didnt get very far at all. With all people saying how great it is and that it gets better think ill give it another try.

  • DrDamn #78 4 years ago

    @FarticusMaximus
    Not sure I agree it is a niche game. It doesn't fit so nicely into one of the core genres but it does sell well and it is an important title. PS2 MGS2 sold ~5.5 million copies and MGS3 sold ~4 million. That isn't niche sales. I think it's an important title for the Japanese market too where more "niche" games can be bigger sellers.

    Gameplay-wise I tend to agree though. I found the controls in the series shonky and cutscenes overdone.
    Edited by 1 at 23/01/08 @ 11:11

  • zuljin #79 4 years ago

    @farticusmaximus
    "A boring, cutscene-heavy, awkward-to-control game demands, and gets, no respect from me. As previously mentioned, MGS is marmite, it's not mainstream and it never will be."

    I have no idea under what you define "mainstream" or even why it matters. MGS 1, 2 and 3 sold around the 16million mark. Theres a hell of a lot of people out there that absolutely love the series.

  • PEANUTXXI #80 4 years ago

    Loved MGS 1. MGS 2 wasn't too bad apart from that really weird ending sequence and I never really got through MGS3.

    Game sounds really promising so will definitely be worth a bash.

  • Gibroon #81 4 years ago

    The whole pushing up against a wall is a pain in the arse. I would far prefer the usual standard these days of pressing a button to stick to a wall or cover. Too many times I've been kicked off cover with a slightly too heavy push on the analogue stick. It is just too damn fiddly at times.

  • J.C #82 4 years ago

    I think it looks shit tbh.

  • GitSomE_UK #83 4 years ago

    Loved MGS2 especially the cut scenes I thought they were very well done. Loved MGS - Twin Snakes on the Game Cube. Loved portable ops and MG Acid. Loved MGS3 and the way they told the back story.

    I can't wait for this.

    /Getting giddy with excitement

  • VMerken #84 4 years ago

    Blessed.

    My original intention of getting this and the console remains. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick up cheap copies of Uncharted and Devil May Cry 4 by then, perhaps Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Folklore, too.
    Edited by 1 at 24/01/08 @ 23:49