Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

By Oli Welsh Published 2 May, 2008

The beginning of the end.

It begins with... well, we can't tell you how Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots begins. We can't, and we won't. Can't, because we promised Konami we wouldn't; having generously granted us three days to play through the whole thing, the publisher is understandably paranoid about spoilers, with the game still six weeks from release. Won't, because we want you to feel exactly the same delicious, hair-raising mix of bemused awe and shock-of-the-new that we did when you turn it on for the first time. Metal Gear Solid 4, it is instantly apparent, is special. It's not like other games.

That's not quite true, of course. There are a handful of other games it is like: its three predecessors, and, to some extent, the PSP's Portable Ops. Like its gruff hero Solid Snake, the series has always preferred to work alone. It may have been tremendously influential in establishing stealth gameplay, but none have ever dared imitate its bizarre and occasionally awkward blend of cinema and videogames, sneaking and soap opera, conspiracy and sex, bombast and self-deprecation, self-referential silliness and deadly earnest seriousness.

You couldn't even if you tried. And on this occasion, in a heroic effort to draw a line for once and all under Snake's story and give the Metal Gear Solid series the grand finale it deserves, Hideo Kojima and his team really have outdone themselves. 'Extravagant' doesn't cover it. Nor do 'dramatic', 'spectacular', 'sentimental', 'surprising', 'long-winded', 'final', 'painstaking' or 'polished'. Guns of the Patriots is Metal Gear Solid in excelsis.

Anyone who's familiar with the series - and any less than a rabid fan - will know that this is a mixed blessing. You have to put up with a lot to appreciate the fruits of Kojima's very personal and stubborn brand of auteur genius. This was never more true than it is of Metal Gear Solid 4. You have to subvert or repress many of your natural gaming instincts to safely negotiate its coldly exacting gameplay, and you have to leave the pad untouched through hour after hour of exposition and sermonising in cut-scenes and codec conversations. The latter take up a quite staggering proportion of the game's length; think the infamous MGS2: Sons of Liberty, and you won't be far wrong.

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

Frog-fragging frolics.

However, that's not the whole story. These cinematic episodes take on a different character in MGS4. For starters, they're all - with the exception of some fried eggs - rendered in real time by the game engine, allowing for some extremely slick transitions as the camera slips down to Snake's shoulder and plunges you into the scene.

Only once you appreciate this do you understand what a great visual achievement the game is, because only in the cut-scenes do you get close enough to truly appreciate how flawless, gorgeous and magnetically charismatic the in-game character models are, how exquisitely animated and well-rooted in their world. Yes, some textures are surprisingly low-resolution; yes there are aliasing issues and flickering shadows. But overall, Guns of the Patriots is handsome, moody and achingly cool, a real swoon-inducing matinee idol of a game. There's some terrific music, too.

Cut-scenes are also spiced with a little light interactivity. We discussed the flashback button on X, which gives fuzzy memory-flashes of moments in Metal Gears past when prompted, in our last preview. At other times, L1 provides a quick snap to an alternative, or first-person camera perspective. At one point in the first level, a drop of blood lands on Snake's shoulder, he looks up, and L1 gives you a startling close-quarters look at a Gekko - MGS4's terrifying breed of bioengineered, lowing bipedal mechs - with a soldier's corpse in its feelers.

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

Meryl has a bullet earring. Oddly, we couldn't take our eyes off it.

Then there is the mission briefing that comes after the end of the game's first act. Taking place aboard Otacon's transport aircraft - effectively a base for the shy scientist and Snake, accompanied by child genius Sunny from MGS2 - this twenty-minute epic of plot exposition and subtle character development allows you to switch at will between a cinematic camera, the plane's CCTV circuit and a camera on board the Metal Gear Mk II, Otacon's remote-control robot alter ego. The Mk II can even be controlled, scooting around inside the cut-scene itself to find secrets or observe the tiny behavioural details of "off-camera" characters.

The mission briefing is a kind of interactive entertainment that only Hideo Kojima could have come up with. It's pointless and overlong but also a strangely spellbinding kind of downtime for player and writers alike, giving the game's characters time to breathe with some gentle comic interplay and moments of tenderness, and bridging the gap between cut-scene and game. You might end up frustrated with the amount of time you spend just watching Metal Gear Solid 4, but its cinematic side is so deeply embedded in the game this time that it makes for a much more coherent whole.

It's also smoother and easier to get along with - if not exactly more forgiving - when it's fully interactive. As we've mentioned before, Guns of the Patriots is the first MGS designed from the ground up for a free third-person camera and twin-stick controls, and we're happy to report that the sticky sluggishness we first experienced has been tuned out. This is now a crisp and satisfying game to manipulate, even using auto-aim, although you'll quickly abandon that for the over-the-shoulder aiming view, or the tight Call of Duty-style first-person view using the iron gun sights.

It's not a shooter and it never will be, but MGS4 serves up the best gunplay in the series by some distance, effectively shown off by a confrontation with Haven Troopers, also known as Frogs, in the first act. These genetically-modified female soldiers can jump vast distances and cling to walls, and are Liquid Snake's private guard (the act has Snake hunting down Liquid in a Middle Eastern city destroyed by war between a local militia and a military contractor).

They're fast and wily - though nothing like as intimidating as the astonishing, goosebump-raising Gekkos - and the running battle with them through a ruined hotel, Snake fighting alongside MGS1's Meryl Silverburgh and her Rat Patrol squad, makes for a memorable set-piece. However, it's giving nothing away to say that it's overshadowed many times over by some later episodes in the game.

MGS4's weapon trading system also goes a long way to improving the viability and survivability of pitched combat. A huge range of guns and ammo can be bought and sold through the arms trader Drebin, a peroxide lounge cat, part-time magician and wartime philosopher. He turns up at several points with his inexplicable pet monkey in an APC, but his services are available at any time from the pause menu, and many of the game's best armaments are here, such as the sniper tranq gun. He'll unlock coded enemy weapons for you, and you automatically sell him any spares you pick up, which, along with some performance-related end-of-mission bonuses, is how you fund your shopping sprees.

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

Everyone in MGS calls it CQC. We call it fisticuffs.

Guns of the Patriots' concessions to ease-of-use don't end there. The chameleon-like OctoCamo suit allows the game to include Metal Gear Solid 3's camouflage system but entirely automate it, bypassing that game's laborious menu browsing. It's a brilliant toy that will prove invaluable throughout the game. There are more traditional forms of disguise, too. Snake can change costume to a militia outfit - a hooded robe that bears a striking resemblance to that worn by a certain other master of evasion - which helps him infiltrate the militia's lair. Ultimately he will win enough of their trust to fight alongside them without this disguise.

The Solid Eye, Snake's high-tech eyepatch, is more of a mixed blessing. It unites night vision and scope with a radar-like threat detector in "normal" mode that you'll want to keep on permanently, but can't, due to its limited battery life. Oddly, we found we didn't use Snake's most instantly appealing new gadget - the Metal Gear Mk II itself - as much as we expected we would, though it is a useful scout and can even incapacitate guards.

The options are there - Metal Gear Solid 4, while hardly free-form or non-linear, almost overwhelms you with choice when it comes to the nitty-gritty detail of progress. The ease of use is there in the design, the controls, the display, the new gadgets and systems. The rarefied thrill of a new Kojima Productions game on new PlayStation hardware, every stage of it lavished with crazy ideas, post-modern jokes and sumptuous production values, is most definitely there.

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

Wish we could be a fly on the wall in this scene. Oh wait.

But don't get ideas. Guns of the Patriots is still best enjoyed as a glacially slow-paced stealth game, and still features plenty of bewildering elaboration that takes some time to reveal its logic, such as the new Stress and Psyche meters that affect Snake's performance in combat. As you follow the prematurely ageing Snake through the powerfully atmospheric Middle East stage towards an encounter with Liquid - and a glimpse of the Beauty & Beast team of assassins, you'll still be showered in more clumsy dialogue, arcane plotting and overwrought rhetoric than you'd like, or can even understand.

That's Metal Gear Solid for you. No-one ever suggested this one would be fundamentally different, and nor should it be; we should have the good grace to let Old Snake see his story through to its conclusion in his inimitable style. To know how satisfying that conclusion is overall, and how well the game stands up in the long run, you'll have to wait for our review. But we still won't tell you what happens in it, because that would spoil everything that's special about this most remarkable, highly unusual gaming event.

Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots is due out for PS3 on 12th June.

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 (150) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • JediMasterMalik #1 4 years ago

    Excellent. I want cut-scenes, and the method of interaction you describe sounds like lot's of fun.

  • Goodfella #2 4 years ago

    Sounds great. Roll on June 12th.

  • neil_likes_bums #3 4 years ago

    Not as good as a pizza, no way.

  • DFawkes #4 4 years ago

    I didn't want this in the slightest, but having played as Snake in the MGO beta I can't wait! Seeing how far you can push the Octocamo against the AI troops, stealth kills, watching battles rage around you... this looks good, and I lost faith in the series after MGS3.

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #5 4 years ago

    We cleverly forgot to add page 2 to this, but now have. The relevant people have been spoken to for several hours without interactivity as punishment.

  • BadBoyBonner #6 4 years ago

    Guess the guy with the Mohawk has size 15 feet as they seem a little big for the steps ;)

  • drumbaby #7 4 years ago

    So...would it be a good MGS game for total MGS virgins to leap in?

  • Widge #8 4 years ago

    I love cutscenes! So can't wait. Nothing I enjoyed more than sitting through the likes of Raziel's inner monologue from Soul Reaver, the lengthy Final Fantasies and whatnot. Much more fun than the apparently empty A to B devoid of reason Half Life 2 etc.

    Sorry, give me Halo over Half Life any day, at least you feel like you're part of some cinematic experience.

  • Widge #9 4 years ago

    It might be a bit intense to jump into, the promise of reliving old games in the cutscenes sounds great though. I still think the best game is the original, and the Gamecube remake was also fantastic.

    We'll see how this shapes up eh?

  • barrylyndon #10 4 years ago

    Cutscenes longer then ever? Killed my enthusiasm for this game stone dead. They ruined mgs3 for me and although I bet this game will deliver to fans I'm glad I wont have to rebuy a ps3 for this.

  • ps3owner #11 4 years ago

    if there are so many cut scenes why don't they just make a movie instead ?

  • monkie_king #12 4 years ago

    360 can do fried eggs in realtime!

  • miiiguel #13 4 years ago

    I like lenghty cut-scenes, every now and then. Lost Odyssey has a 20 minutes finale "cut-scene" (more like an Anime episode), and I loved it. Although I don't want another similar experience in the next couple of months.

  • superdelphinus #14 4 years ago

    will there be a hot coffee patch in this one too

  • mingster #15 4 years ago

    Thats what i thought why not just go the whole hog and do a MGS film in Hi_def.
    They could even stick it on bluray disc and provide it with the 'game'.
    Then skip all the lengthy cutscenes and produce a tight game with lots of gameplay and no sitting around waiting.

  • OnlyMe #16 4 years ago

    Regarding the sub-headline (not sure what it's called) - actually, MGS1 was really the beginning of the end, since he was already in retirement and was brought back for one last mission for obvious reasons explained in the game.

  • japstersam #17 4 years ago

    i always liked MGS but the only problem was if i sat down to play for a couple of hours, and had to go out after, i could play it for an hour and a half and then stumble across a cut scene that lasted SO long that i had to turn it off so i could go out.
    i love the cut scenes and i love MGS but that could be a bit annoying sometimes.
    maybe with cutscenes that long it would be nice to save mid-cutscene or mid-codec talk :D

  • Psiloc #18 4 years ago

    I remember MGS3 significantly cutting back on the cutscenes compared to MGS2. Meh, might just have enjoyed it more.

    The comparison to MGS2 definately worries me though. I remember timing the cut scene between the last moment of gameplay and the final boss, and it clocked in at over an hour. And absolutely nothing interesting is revealed in it. And I later learned that a huge scene was actually cut from it as well due to 9/11 and it taking place in New York.

    So yeah I'm now concerned. BTW did this game install? How long did it take?

  • monkie_king #19 4 years ago

    My problem with MGS cinematics isn't solely the length, it's how fantastically awful the writing and acting is. If they were short, or worth watching, that'd be fine, the problem is that they're neither.

  • Psiloc #20 4 years ago

    "My problem with MGS cinematics isn't solely the length, it's how fantastically awful the writing and acting is. If they were short, or worth watching, that'd be fine, the problem is that they're neither."

    I disagree with this, I think it has more to do with bad direction and editing.

  • zuljin #21 4 years ago

    12th of June! Bloody hell I didn't realise it was so close to release! I was bitterly dissapointed by MGS3, my first venture into the series, but after a preview like that I can't really let 4 pass by. Lets hope I'm bored of GTA IV by then...

  • DFawkes #22 4 years ago

    I stil love the MGS cutscenes. I know what I'm getting with a Metal gear game, a movie with playable sections. I'll just make sure i buy MGS4 with a big comfy new chair and enjoy the show :)

  • tonynibbles #23 4 years ago

    Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed.

    Made of w1n.

  • kangarootoo #24 4 years ago

    "The mission briefing is a kind of interactive entertainment that only Hideo Kojima could have come up with. It's pointless and overlong but also a strangely spellbinding kind of downtime for player and writers alike, giving the game's characters time to breathe with some gentle comic interplay and moments of tenderness, and bridging the gap between cut-scene and game."

    Well that is one way of putting it I suppose. Tbh honest though, all the times I have played the various MGS games of yesteryear, I have never once sat there during one of their interminable interludes thinking "thank god this is giving me time to breath, 'cos I was pooped". If I need a rest, I'll pause the game and go make a cuppa.

  • Hullfire #25 4 years ago

    Sounds.. terrible. Why can't they just make a bloody game rather than trying (and failing) to turn it into a bloody film. The awful dialogue and massively overlong cut scenes made me give up on MGS 2 and put me off even bothering with 3. It's a real shame, as there's a great game lurking somewhere under the needless bloat.

  • bad09 #26 4 years ago

    "I stil love the MGS cutscenes. I know what I'm getting with a Metal gear game, a movie with playable sections."

    +1. I moan about cut scenes and codec messages but I still love MGS, it's the main reason I got a PS3 and I can't wait for June (although I'm sure GTA will fill the void).

    I just wish my XBox MGS2: Substance was B/C I really want to play the second one again but don't want to spend on a PS2 version. In the next update (if one) MS, PRETTY PLEASE!!!!

  • JediMasterMalik #27 4 years ago

    Have they confirmed whether or not the cut-scenes are skippable?

  • kangarootoo #28 4 years ago

    "I disagree with this, I think it has more to do with bad direction and editing."

    I'm not quite clear. Do you mean you don't think the writing is poor? I personally think the acting is spot on for the style, in the same way as the acting iun FarCry was with on the money for the style of narrative.

    My own issue with MGS cutscenes is not so much the individual screen writing, its more a matter of the actual core plot and scene briefs being a load of fan-fiction style nonsense.

    Sorry, sorry everyone, I know that MGS has loads of fans and its just not my bag, I'm not right, I'm just different. I have enjoyed playing MGS games (except 3, that was a bit shite imo) and some of the mechanics were bar setting in their day. Its just that for me the story has always been rubbish. Its the bit of the game series that people rate most, but in my eyes its the worst feature. Horses for courses I suppose.

  • kangarootoo #29 4 years ago

    @zuljin

    MGS 3 is the worst of the bunch thus far I would say. You are much better off trying one of the earlier editions, or waiting for 4 I suppose, as it does look rather good (rubbish plot not withstanding ;) ).

  • miiiguel #30 4 years ago

    hey bad09, do the XBox originals still leave that "ugly trail" on the "games blade" ?
    Shit, I hate those b/w icons!

  • McFly55 #31 4 years ago

    I cant believe how many people hated MGS3! Loved it! Cant wait for this either, one of the main reasons i bought a ps3.

  • bad09 #32 4 years ago

    @ miiiguel

    Ugly Trail? Not sure what you mean mate.

  • miiiguel #33 4 years ago

    sorry, I kinda suck at english...

    I meant those b/w icons (some sort of xbox 180 "logo";).

    An "X" with a zeroed gamerscore...
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 12:05

  • bad09 #34 4 years ago

    @ miiiguel

    Ah I get what you mean! Yeah they still have that b/w Xbox icon. :)

  • schmilly #35 4 years ago

    My beef with the Metal Gear series' cutscenes is that the stories played out in them are rarely very interesting and the plot point developed in them is almost always completely indecipherable. They usually contain some pointless information about how Ocelot's left arm actually belongs to Snake's evil transvestite step-brother (or something). The same thing can be said about those interminable codec sequences, where just saving the game normally requires you to enter into a conversation about what Mei Ling eats for brunch. My point being: I wouldn't have a problem with the long cutscenes if they were actually interesting.

  • miiiguel #36 4 years ago

    It cluters my gaming history, hate it...

  • Widge #37 4 years ago

    Yeah, its fair enough for people not to be into this, I can see why people wouldn't like it, but for those who love it... its great. I find its like interactive 24 really.

    At no point did I sit through MGS2 and think "meh" while it was going on, although at one point I did think the 2nd half was mirroring the original game in areas, this turns out to be deliberate after all. Also didn't mind Raiden, liked the alternate perspective of Snake.

    I didn't like MGS3 in so far as the camoflage/endless menu action really got to me. The large sneaking arenas were great fun though.

    MGS1 was heavy on the old cut scenes itself though, practically each screen was a bit of cutscene action. Each boss encounter was a pre/post cutscene fest. I just loved it though... even some of the massive codec ones.

  • rhinoxious #38 4 years ago

    Is 12th of June a worldwide release then?

  • dan13l #39 4 years ago

    "coldly exacting gameply" FFS Eurogamer, and in particular Oli, it takes no time at all to use Word or something to check spelling. Here: http://www.spellcheck.net< /a> - try that one.

    /continues reading article...

    /finds "bioengineerd"

    /wonders what a Bio Engi Nerd is anyway...

    /finds "goes along way"

    /explodes
    Edited by 4 at 02/05/08 @ 12:19

  • thewolfiv #40 4 years ago

    as long as raiden is not playble i hate that character ruined MGs2 for me, can't wait for this, i'm just enjoying the beta at the mo...

  • CunningLinguist #41 4 years ago

    To all you guys who didn't like MGS3, care to elaborate on the reasons? I think it had a better story than 2, and it told you the story of Big Boss. All the bosses were memorable, you got to fight a young Revolver Ocelot after all, and the final boss fight was nothing less than spectacular (in terms of atmosphere and emotional discharge). Sure the game mechanics were annoying, Such as the randomness of CQC, but I judge a MGS game mostly by it's story. Yes, the first one is the best and little has changed in terms of game mechanics since, but don't be mean to MGS 3 just because it's in to do so. With MGS3 a lot of the loose ends of MGS2 were cleared up, at least that's the impression I got. You can never be too sure with MGS I'll admit that much :)

  • paulf #42 4 years ago

    if the story is strong enough then cutscenes are fine by me, never really minded them in mgs although they annoy me in other games (assassins creed in particular)

  • CitizenGeek #43 4 years ago

    Okay, I've only read the first paragraph, but I'm already insanely excited!!

  • Rash' #44 4 years ago

    I've always enjoyed the cutscene's in MGS. Yes the writing isn't great and the voice acting is hit and miss, but for cinematic flair it's spot on. I just hope they don't have trying boss battles like the one with The End in MGS3. I gave up. Yes probably through lack of patience, but I'm a busy man and need immediate gratification. Overall an excellent series, which I wish I could appreciate better. Can't wait for this.
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 12:38

  • SeesThroughAll #45 4 years ago

    I just hope they don't have trying boss battles like the one with The End in MGS3.

    Hide, save the game, and load it about a week later...

  • Widge #46 4 years ago

    Its not that I didn't like MGS3, thought it was a great laugh... the larger arenas presented to you were a great challenge to navigate through (especially with no blue cone of vision!), I just hated the endless menu action.

    Move a bit, change camo, move a bit, change camo... also found the endless search and capture of food a bit pointless.

  • syphaa #47 4 years ago

    Sounds so so good. Looking forward to it. Looks like I will be getting a PS3 then...damn it! :]

  • Skooch #48 4 years ago

    I actually felt a little uncomfortable reading that review; I'm sure it is a very good game but no need to cream your pants over it!

  • asphaltcowboy #49 4 years ago

    That sounds incredibly tedious :/

  • zuljin #50 4 years ago

    @CunningLinguist
    I personally didn't hate MGS3, I guess I was just dissapointed. It was my first go at the series, and I'm really not sure what I expected from the game. I knew nothing of the series, of the cutscenes and I don't think I even really knew what the gameplay was going to be like other than stealthy/shooter. I guess I may have been expecting something mildly more actioney, like splinter cell almost (sorry Frod).

  • monkie_king #51 4 years ago

    zuljin: it's ok, frod was the first to mention it.

  • CitizenGeek #52 4 years ago

    Wow, MGS4 sounds simply amazing! I wish I had a PS3 ...

  • kangarootoo #53 4 years ago

    @Skooch

    I felt the same way. It was a bit too apologist in nature for me too, with stuff like...

    "It's pointless and overlong but also a strangely spellbinding kind of downtime for player and writers alike"

    and

    "You have to subvert or repress many of your natural gaming instincts to safely negotiate its coldly exacting gameplay"

    One of my natural gaming instincts is to want to feel like I am having fun playing the game. Will I need to surpress that instinct so I can "safely negotiate" its gameplay?

  • penhalion #54 4 years ago

    Having played and completed MGS1, 2 and 3. Having played portable ops and now the online beta (which shares it's controls with the main game). What the heck is this reviewer talking about. It's like the whole GTA 4 fiasco. Hype, Hype and more hype followed by (for me anyway) a same as always boring mission fest. Go here, kill them, go there, deliver that, drive bonm in van! (yes they really did recycle that exact same mission!!).

    I've been fortunate enough to play this at various game developer events and it's not the amazing game your making it out to be, The action you've all seen in trailers are from cut scenes. The main game is STILL the slow stealth slog it always was. You can't do out and out battles because as any metal gear player knows, you just end up getting shot to pieces due to crap aiming and a non existent cover system.

    I know most of what I say will fall on deaf ears but, at least I can say I tried to warn everyone before the misleading reviews start appearing and the hype machine moves into full swing.

  • paulf #55 4 years ago

    @ penhalion - do you actually like any games? gta is always gonna be go here do that ('boring missions')- mgs is always gonna be stealth it up ('slow stealth slog') does that really matter though? you can boil down most games to similar mechanics, its the context that makes the game, and up to now both gta and mgs have created great context in which the gaming mechanics work

    Sure hype exists but sometimes great games are there too, Oli could be hyping the game or he could just be genuinely excited about it

  • kangarootoo #56 4 years ago

    "Oli could be hyping the game or he could just be genuinely excited about it"

    I'm sure it is both, which is fine.

  • bad09 #57 4 years ago

    "The main game is STILL the slow stealth slog it always was."

    No shock there seeing as MGS is about stealth anyway, or was I playing it wrong then?

  • JediMasterMalik #58 4 years ago

    @paulf - Certainly not any PS games ;)

  • Machiavel #59 4 years ago

    What's worse than over-long cutscenes for me? over-long cutscenes which you're meant to fiddle about with. :(

  • penhalion #60 4 years ago

    @Bad09

    My point is that if you know metal gear then it simply hasn't changed from what we knew 10 years ago. I guess I can't get excited about the same creep, make noise, drug or render unconcious any gard that comes to investigate. you can't directly fight the new metal gears

    Even this preview admits that to see any amazing graphics you need to be watching a cutscene i.e. the game looks great when the player isn't controlling it. A lot of people didn't take to MGS because it's a boring game to play. It preaches at you constantly about the horrors and futility of war. It does this while forcing you to fight one! Then finally at the end you know the main character simply takes the cowards way out and shoots himself.

    The culmination of the MGS games seems to be to tell the player that they made no difference at all in the end. It's depressing and pointless. I'm really going to love seeing how reviewers and hypers spin that one.

  • ligurmatic #61 4 years ago

    I'm certainly more tempted after reading that than I was before. I missed 3 out completely, having only briefly played the normal version with its bloody awful camera controls, but I might be up for this.

    On the downside, I return from Canada on the 11th, thus just missing the chance of getting it cheap.

    Edit: grammar.
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 13:36

  • pogothemonkey #62 4 years ago

    God, even longer cutscenes than 2? Count me out. Doesn't matter how great the environment is or how fancy the graphics are, if I've got to sit through hours of spouting it's not worth the effort. I'd rather watch telly, at least that way I know I'm not supposed to wake up and move the characters about a bit every half an hour or so.

  • bad09 #63 4 years ago

    @ penhalion

    But it has changed. Do you really think MGS4 is the same game as MGS1? Sure the core principle of the the gameplay is the same but that is the same with any game series. Would MGS4 be a MGS game without the MGS gameplay, no (I believe the same of the "fiasco" of GTA4).

    The fact is with these successful franchises we WANT the same gameplay, we want to experience the joys of certain games with a few improvements, a graphical leap and a different environment.

    You do not need to re-invent the wheel to make a perfect wheel, to suggest so is a tiny bit of snobbery.

  • ED209 #64 4 years ago

    a hooded robe that bears a striking resemblance to that worn by a certain other master of evasion

    Mandrake!

  • Kryger #65 4 years ago

    Eurogamer, please tell me if we will get the special edition "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Limited Edition"?

    And where? Who wants my money ;)

  • Bigglesworth #66 4 years ago

    I honestly don't understand what it is that the people who dislike the MGS cutscenes and story get out of the series. Can anyone explain?

  • theiceman #67 4 years ago

    Personally i loved MGS3. So i can't wait until i get my mitts on MGS4.


    /turns on ps3 and waits.....

  • bodypopper #68 4 years ago

    I agree, bugger the tedious cutscenes just make a movie if you must (though MGS would just be ridiculous as a live action flick).

  • miiiguel #69 4 years ago

    Anyway... I played MGS3 and enjoyed but it wasn't a ludic-life changing experience, but there are also people who rated Halo 3 1/10 so I'm not that weirdo. Might be just a bit, though.

  • penhalion #70 4 years ago

    @Arbiter

    I'm not going to argue with you as I find it more productive to simply ignore your idiotic ramblings. You've been exposed numerous times as a sony fanboy, whereas everyone has seen that I simply state my opinions and don't ram them down peoples throats or try to insult people because they disagree with me. That is all.

  • theiceman #71 4 years ago

    We are all weird miiguel. who but us would write about cutscenes?

    /puts on MGS2 and falls asleep

  • SeesThroughAll #72 4 years ago

    @penhalion:

    I played MGS3 and liked it a lot. MGS2 was also pretty entertaining, though not quite as much.

    The point with this franchise is, people either love it or hate it.

  • Kenshin001 #73 4 years ago

    There is a new video up that is a little strange. Anyone care to speculate? Looks like they are hinting at a MGS remake.

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=bo2l9-XJYms

  • theiceman #74 4 years ago

    MGS is the marmite of the gaming world: you either love it or hate it

  • penhalion #75 4 years ago

    @Bad09

    Back to talking to a sensible forum poster.

    You are correct in that we don't need to keep re-inventing the wheel. I'm not saying we should just that I'm getting fed up of the crud that seems to be going around about this game. You know it's crud, when even Kojima himself says he's disapointed in how it turned out in the end.

    I'll get this because as I've said, I've completed all the others and I guess I'm hoping there is a suprise in there and that he didn't really already show us the final ending. The final fight at the end of metal gear solid 3 when you get to find out how big boss got his name :) was a great moment and had me laughing at the cornyness of it.

    I think in the end those who don't like metal gear still will not like metal gear after 4 comes out and those like me who just need to get some completeness out of the series will still moan about it being overly preachy and a bit tedious in places.

  • Widge #76 4 years ago

    After playing MGO, the actual gameplay mechanic of Metal Gear HAS changed, it simply has, it doesn't feel like you are playing the previous iterations. I see where the comment comes from about resisting a typical FPS or even Drakes Fortune urge to belt into an area and get stuck in, doing this on the online game sees you cut off from your comrades and picked off at ease by the more stealthy types. Should we be expecting anything less though? It took a decent bit of planning on the first game to plot your course across the room, wait for the lift and to get in it, and then the following section I spent a good while plotting a course with my binoculars before progressing gingerly to avoid detection.

    The fundamental slow sneak of Metal Gear will always be Metal Gear, genuine disbelief at the way people have approached GTA4 for example and been SHOCKED to find that its a Grand Theft Auto game at the core. My word, was it Wii Fit in disguise we were hoping for?! Perhaps the unicycling gameplay slant that I've mused upon for Metal Gear IS needed after all.

    And lets perhaps draw a conclusion to what the game is presenting to us AFTER we buy it and finish it.

    also RE: the comment about the graphics only being good in the cutscenes, is this not as stated because you get the chance to sit back and appreciate them?

  • muscleblade #77 4 years ago

    @miiiguel

    "It cluters my gaming history, hate it... "

    So does having CSI on your gamercard imo. LOL

  • lambtron #78 4 years ago

    "MGS 3 is the worst of the bunch thus far I would say. You are much better off trying one of the earlier editions, or waiting for 4 I suppose, as it does look rather good (rubbish plot not withstanding ;) )"

    MGS 3 > MGS 2

    That is all.

  • bad09 #79 4 years ago

    @ penhalion

    I'm far from sensible :)

    "Kojima himself says he's disapointed in how it turned out in the end."

    I know he said that but he is slightly insane so I'm sure it will still be fantastic!

    "I think in the end those who don't like metal gear still will not like metal gear after 4 comes out and those like me who just need to get some completeness out of the series will still moan about it being overly preachy and a bit tedious in places."

    100% correct, but hey, at least we have something to debate in June!

  • penhalion #80 4 years ago

    @SeeThroughAll

    :) Just saw your comment about the battle with "The End" (original thought you meant the battle at the end).

    It was sheer luck. You either had to spot him immediately or get sniped to pieces. The trick was to stay perfectly still until he moved. You only got a few seconds to make the shot, while the old wheelchair bound bast was somehow legging it like the wind across the level!

    I must admit he was a class boss. You never really took him seriously until the fight. After all each time you saw him he was being wheeled about like a 90 year old corpse.

    Edit: old spelling gaffuffles
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 14:26

  • deaner #81 4 years ago

    I'm looking forward to this game a lot. I loved MGS and Snake Eater. Even Sons of Liberty kept me happily entertained for a while there... but as a fan of the series, I sincerely doubt that this will be the last we see of Metal Gear Solid.

    Hideo Kojima said in Edge this month that he'd be stepping down from the project, as he fancies doing something else and it is written ti tie-up every loose thread... but ultimately the fans call the shots as far as he's concerned. Even if he sits back as an Executive Producer, someone at the studio will probably make a new Metal Gear - if Guns of the Patriots does as well as expected.

    I'm half expecting a prequel or side-story spin-off series based on some secondary character from the franchise to start appearing around 2012. Meryl Gear Solid?

    Also, I'm bloody glad that they've kept the terrificly protracted and lengthy cutscenes! It's not MGS without them, and hey - they've added a Pause and Skip function to them - what more do you need?!

  • GitSomE_UK #82 4 years ago

    The more I read about this the more excited I get.

    I like the slower pace as it serves as a welcome change to the more traditional FPS.

    I love the cut scenes but most of all I love the attention to detail with the fire fights, squad dynamics, sounds, graphic details for the guns... all of it.

    MGO proved one thing that MGS4 will deliver by the bucket load and not only that it ships with MGO in all its glory.

    /goes into giddy overdrive

  • Widge #83 4 years ago

    The Kojima statement can be taken SO far out of context unless you read the interviews with him. Worth grabbing a copy of Edge for that.

  • Mindstorm #84 4 years ago

    About the old "why doesn't Kojima make movies instead of games" argument. Well, because here you get the cinematic experience and, surprise surprise, also a GAME, where you have a significant degree of control on what happens on the screen. For me is all added value....mmmh makes me think I should buy a ps3 sometimes in the future.

  • deaner #85 4 years ago

    I don't think Kojima is really disappointed about the game... read what he actually said:

    "When we first showed the game engine at TGS, the staff were really proud and happy. PS3 was a dream machine, and we were going to work on this and that - we had so many ideas! But when we actually started developing the game, we realised that there were a lot of restrictions and so it turned out how you see it today. The original version was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn't to say we didn't progress."

    So it's more like his imagination outstripped what was actually possible. And we know Koj is a modest man. So I wouldn't oversubscribe to more sensasionalistic interpretations you might see about the place.

  • deaner #86 4 years ago

    @Mindstorm

    They are making an MGS movie, aren't they?

    http://www.imdb. com/title/tt0808372/

  • Scythe #87 4 years ago

    @ penhalion
    The battle with The End has nothing to do with luck if you took the time to figure out how to fight him. You need either the infra-red goggles or the sound detector thing (can't remember the name for it) or for preference both. Then you need to creep around using the goggles to look for his heat signature and using the sound detector (he falls asleep so you can hear him snoring).

    Track him carefully using those techniques, when you find him stick him up and threaten him a few times (move the gun off and on him). He gives you his camo (almost 100% effective in that stage and stamina/health regeneration when in the sun) then flash-bangs you and runs off. Cause you now have his camo it's easy to move around undetected, just track him and shoot him with the trank-gun and when his stamina is zero he dies and you get his mosin-nagant tranq sniper rifle.

    Takes some time to do (especially the first part) but it IS supposed to be a stealth game. So you can take him out without getting shot once and by tracking his sniping spots ... not with luck but with skill. All it takes is a bit of thinking.
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 14:35

  • penhalion #88 4 years ago

    @Kenshin001

    It seems to be suggesting that you can play the original metal gear Shadow Mosses mission as a dream sequence within the game. There hasn't been any suggestion of how you trigger these sequences or if they are simply integrated into the main game.

    A very welcome suprise if it's true :)

  • Ryze #89 4 years ago

    Sounds interesting, but not essential

    /2 years...

  • chudders #90 4 years ago

    Previous experience of the Metal Gear series aside, who could play a character who looks like a gay dad at a bawdy nightclub?

    Seriously, he looks fucking ludicrous. The clip of him rolling around on the floor like he's trapped in clingfilm is equally hilarous.

    It's just SO camp.

  • penhalion #91 4 years ago

    @Scythe

    Where were you when I was playing that bit! :)

  • Ryze #92 4 years ago

    Sad because they've not mentioned any DVD controls for the anim...cutscenes.

    MGS2 wasted many of my gaming sessions just sitting there watching some weird shite that made no sense, but with your next objective spoken in one or two lines of dialogue, so that if you skip the cutscene you have to trial and error to find out what you're doing.

    Stupid - selling just to the hardcore with no life to live or with loads of time to entertain game's bullshit.

    next!

    Ninja Gaiden II - promote that instead, guys.
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 14:43

  • TONYgr #93 4 years ago

    with this preview im sold.a super mgs experience.maybe the ultimate.go hideo!

  • Scythe #94 4 years ago

    @ penhalion ... probably swearing loudly and throwing my controller ... before calmed down and applying a bit of lateral thinking.

    And thats what I like about the Metal Gear games, the thought put into it. Most people did just what you did, run around getting sniped trying to find him. But a bit of lateral thinking and it becomes a completely different boss battle. There are plenty situations like that in the games and that's what keeps me interested. Not to mention that (IMO) the ending of MGS3 was one of the most poignant gaming endings ever.

  • Artemus #95 4 years ago

    I reckon that new trailer (with the remade opening stage from MGS1) is actually showing a playable dream sequence from MGS4.

  • Brogan #96 4 years ago

    MGS games just proved to me really that i don't really want story in my games i just want context. I like some reson for doing what i'm doing but it it can stop around "figt you way through these bad guys and environment to collect new power/weapon to fight the next load baddies before get to the proper nasty cunt at the end. Story doesn't make a bad game good ever and then look at mario. Same story for the last 20 years, and not a every good one at that, still great games.

  • penhalion #97 4 years ago

    :) I seem to run sony fanboys up the wrong way it seems.

    Edit: I sould point out that the reason I don't reply to any jibes by RDexter, Arbiter etc. etc. is because I simply put them on ignore a long while back. Every time I spot a fanboy I hit the ignore button and I'd like to think they are sensible enough to put me on their own ignore lists too. It saves people embarassingly replying to an empty room as it were.
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 15:17

  • Widge #98 4 years ago

    I think its fair to not like the game, but in the same swing, its fair to like the game. We all have our reasons.

  • Apologie #99 4 years ago

    MGS4 and GTAIV... will fight in a league of they'r own for the game of the year title, nothing can even touch them. In the graphics department, from what i've seen, Killzone 2 will be the best. I can't wait for these beasts.
    Edited by 2 at 02/05/08 @ 15:40

  • CunningLinguist #100 4 years ago

    @zuljin

    Mate you started with the wrong one, that is all that I can say. MGS3 gives you a lot more if you played the previous ones. I think this is true for all MGS games, minus the original of course. Feeling and story wise I think MGS3 was probably the most rewarding MGS on the PS2. Although I think MGS gameplay mechanics work better in a MGS1/2 environment, thus making some of the jungle areas a bit difficult to navigate. I think subsistence solved most of this, but I'm not sure since I haven't tried it myself.

  • Madlax #101 4 years ago

    I,m surprised that there arent so many trolls bashing the game, they must reporting for duty somewhere else.

    I love it how trolls accuse others of been 'subjective', 'Biased' and 'fanboys'. when all these criteria actually describes them. watching a troll accusing others of been 'fanboys'....its just laughable.

    What do you people desire from a game ? i,m having a problem understanding this.

    -A good single-player experience ? A good Multi-player experience ?

    -Quality visual graphics ? Quality artistic look ?

    -A fun feeling ? A tragic feeling ?

    If you,r not into story driven games, then this may not be the game for you. the market is already filled with button-mashing 'no-brain need' games. you can always get one of those.

    If your the type of gamer who play games in order not to think, as opposed to gamers who play to think, then this may not be for you.









    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 16:16

  • espibara #102 4 years ago

    Hmmmmmmmmm

    The MGS make me feel strange.

    I love them one minute hate them the next but either way I've preordered already.

  • mcmonkeyplc #103 4 years ago

    If this is shit so help me god EG I will launch a nuclear barage at you!

  • kangarootoo #104 4 years ago

    "MGS2 wasted many of my gaming sessions just sitting there watching some weird shite that made no sense, but with your next objective spoken in one or two lines of dialogue, so that if you skip the cutscene you have to trial and error to find out what you're doing."

    That breaks one of my pet rules. Which is;

    I should always be able to skip cutscenes AND I should still know what I have to do after I have skipped the cutscene.

    At any time in a game I should be able to remind myself of my current objective. If a cutscene mentions that objective and gives it context, ace. But it should not be the only place the information is presented.

  • penhalion #105 4 years ago

    @Kangarootoo

    The saving grace and the only thing that allowed me to get through MGS 1, 2 and 3 was that after the cut scenes you got the 2 line brief. If I had to rely on the cut scene to tell me what to do I'd have given up. Not out of annoyance but, purely because I can admit that I wouldn't have had a clue what to do next. MGS1 on PS3 is a good example of that. When they go on about the germs and the virus and the war and stuff (I presumed they were on about fox die). I sat through that and thought "Huh!"

  • kangarootoo #106 4 years ago

    "I even quite liked Raiden,in fact it was only until I saw the venomous bandwagon of hate online from Snake-chasers before I realised there were so many people who like guns and macho stuff but also cry like babies when they don't get a game perfectly tailorred to them. They cry a lot."

    The people that ranted on about Raiden are just insecure kids, who find the subject of their own sexuality troubling and confusing due to the torrent of pubescent hormones coursing through their veins. The sort of kids that think "gay" is the best insult you can level at something, not least because it obviously confirms to everyone watching just how straight they really are themselves (which is of course the very most important thing in the life of your average 12 year old).

    A fair portion of the rest of the populace, consisting of rounded human beings with no major insecurity complexes to speak of, just wonder why they are making such a song and dance of it all.

    Here is a lesson for all kids who rant about Raiden. No one thought you were gay until you started rattling on so vehemently for hours on end about how you are so totally completely not gay and how you hate Raiden because he might be (because he has good hair, or something, I never quite understood it all myself). Then they wondered why you were making such an unsolicited fuss about it.

  • kangarootoo #107 4 years ago

    @penhalion

    Man, but the time I got to the end of MGS2 I had no bloody clue waht was going on, 'cos I'd been skipping cutscenes like an olympiad for the last 3rd of the game.

    Can't quite remember how I behaved whilst playing MGS1. I think I might have watched all the cutscenes, but got busy on the square button everytime one of those ridiculous radio conversations took place (my mind has gone blank on the proper name for them).

  • kangarootoo #108 4 years ago

    @warzin

    I wish. I don't really have any hair to speak of :'(

  • kangarootoo #109 4 years ago

    @Arbiter

    I'm sure its not a serious point, but Cartman is kind of written to make fun of excatly the kids I am describing. I love SouthPark, so don't think I don't get it or disapprove. Comedy is the best vehicle to take the edge off something and allow people to accept it (or to discuss un-pc views for that matter). Grumpy ranting on the web by MGS fans is not.

    I'm no saint mind. I was the same at 14 I'm sure, thats adolesence for you I suppose. Its just that eventually I realised that...

    1. It doesn't actually matter to me if someone is gay or not.
    2. Girls will fancy me more if I stop acting like it DOES matter.

  • Brogan #110 4 years ago

    "If you,r not into story driven games, then this may not be the game for you. the market is already filled with button-mashing 'no-brain need' games. you can always get one of those."

    Being spoon fed your enterainment is using your brain now? Must run off to watch hollyoaks and stock up on the smarts.

  • penhalion #111 4 years ago

    On the subject of stories in games. I for instance, was one of the people who complained that Doom 3 didn't have a story to make me want to kill stuff. I'm also a person who still praises the last level of Doom 3 for being out and out fun (why wasn't the rest of the game like that?).

    I love being drawn into a story and just experiencing it. I liked Advent Rising for instance and was disappointed that they didn't get to make the whole trilogy. Equally I sometimes just need to destroy stuff mindlessly. The Prince of Persia (original not remake or sands of time) had me captivated for weeks. You had an hour or something like that, to complete the game and every death lost you time. You had to have fast reactions and genuine skill at spotting a trap while legging it at full pelt towards a gap in the floor.

    I was going to make some point but, it's ended up just being that I miss games like that :-(

  • shogo10 #112 4 years ago

    Metal Gear is Metal Gear, it does its own thing and it is what its is. Cutscenes and all the dialogue have always been one of the methods of delivering its story and its been like that for a very long time. I'm looking forward to it because *I* know that for me it is a series thats enjoyable. The point is, if you never really liked the series before chances are that you may never like it (stop bitching about it, we get it, you hate cutscenes, you hate metal gear etc...). Also to people comparing metal gear's method of storytelling to that of half-life; there is room for all types of different storytelling methods within gaming. It does not need to be one or the other for every game.

  • Apologie #113 4 years ago

    Metal Gear Solid alway's presented the best plot and narrative ever seen in video games, there is a lot of drama and character exploration in what concerns moral, intentions, background, even life in general is aborded by a phylosofical/constructive prespective, war, frienship, ambitions, good and evil... it's amazing.

  • Amoebalove #114 4 years ago

    @Apologie:

    Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! You crazy bastard!!!!

  • Sevens #115 4 years ago

    Intelligent. Cinematic. Stylish. This should be one of the rare games that live up to the potential videogames have to offer. Not Gears of War, not Devil May Cry 4, not Ninja Gaiden (pretty much good games; horrible writing, all three of them)- this one has class, it is sophisticated, much like Sons of Liberty and Final Fantasy VII.

    "Sorry, give me Halo over Half Life any day, at least you feel like you're part of some cinematic experience."

    True, I think, although one could possibly argue about which one offers more depth.



    "Sad because they've not mentioned any DVD controls for the anim...cutscenes.

    MGS2 wasted many of my gaming sessions just sitting there watching some weird shite that made no sense, but with your next objective spoken in one or two lines of dialogue, so that if you skip the cutscene you have to trial and error to find out what you're doing.

    Stupid - selling just to the hardcore with no life to live or with loads of time to entertain game's bullshit. "

    Stupid - you are indeed.
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 19:00

  • miiguel #116 4 years ago

    /wonders how many of the people saying they hate MGS would suddenly have a change of heart if a 360 port was announced.

  • Widge #117 4 years ago

    I've not played Halo 3, but I liked the way Halo sucked you gradually into the war and desperate flight from Earth. Then having the slap bang awesomeness to flip the perspective on who the actual bad guys were by introducing the Flood to it. Also like Halo 2's flip between the Arbiter and Master Chief.... gave a bit of perspective to the 'enemy' to show that they weren't some generic one sided foe who are after good old mankind 'just because'. Always felt there was something pulling me on and on through the game, there was a reason for experiencing the story. I just need to finish the trilogy one day!

    IGN reviewed HL2 and said it had the usual, "the story is there if you want it" approach of HL1. Now I didn't play the original, I also thought the opening of HL2 was absolutely BARNSTORMING. Amazing. Up until the point where it becomes a series of a to b dashes across varying arenas to different groups of people telling me to go to another checkpoint. I loved the battling, fantastically worked out, stuff like the antlion summoning... but after a point I thought "I've been playing this til now... been quite some time, why am I here? and what am I doing apart from running from person to person". Apparently if you go off and read newspaper clippings and whatnot, you get filled in on the entire scope of the game (and having read the wiki, its a bit "oooh!" really)... but I missed the cinematic approach of Halo. So after a while I migrated to Day Of Defeat:Source, which was again awesome battling, but I had a small and distinct reason for being there which was to have a blast with the other people and capture flags!

    This is just in case anyone thinks why on earth would I favour Halo over HalfLife! Also explains why I love getting lost in MGS. Not playing to get from objective a to b, playing to experience the cinematics of it all, the tense sneaking, the set plays, the whole caboodle.

  • Knot #118 4 years ago

    Wow... alot of ill argumented hate for a game which helps keeping the story driven sp game genre alive.

    This'll be my reason to get a PS3. Less shooting, more slow sneaking ftw.
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 19:50

  • muscleblade #119 4 years ago

    @Apologie

    Gears of war 2 will beat all of those - expecially when it comes to the graphics. Trust me.

  • patchbox360 #120 4 years ago

    yeah mgs3 was kinda put me off the francise,the camera angle was horrendous - mgs1 however was great, it pulled me back into gaming just when I thought I was out - RIP to sameoldgen after i complete mgs4.... maybe gears2 too ..... wait, maybe a bit of sf4

  • miiiguel #121 4 years ago

    @ my groupie
    I didn't hear anyone saying "hate" but you. And I kinda like have groupies but careful with the "funny feelings", I'm scared of stalkers.

  • 8bitMofo #122 4 years ago

    Hated (maybe too strong word) MGS3. I also hated myself for not being able to get into it. Having to eat every 10 minutes, applying Antidote, Seruim, Disinfectant, Ointment, Bandages, Cold Medicine, Digestive Medicine...urgh, enough!
    I got alittle way past The Fury, but my attention just petered out.

    I guess I'll just watch lots of youtube videos getting all the storyline from MGS3 before starting MGS4.
    Edited by 2 at 02/05/08 @ 22:31

  • myke6699 #123 4 years ago

    i get it: people with 360 and not PS3 will mostly hate MGS4. And those with PS3 might probably like it. It is a visual an technical achievement but as to the gameplay and story-line is highly subjective. I haven't played any of the MGS series but have to say I am intrigued by it. I love the fact that it fills the whole bloody Blue Ray Disc so at least I'm getting a lof for the money.

  • miiiguel #124 4 years ago

    I have no such strong feelings for it. I'm kinda nihilist MGS-wise.

  • dahsif #125 4 years ago

    Sounds EPIC.
    E-fucking-PIC

  • JediMasterMalik #126 4 years ago

    lol

  • MrDurandPierre #127 4 years ago

    I thought the preview was actually somewhat negative or at least more skeptical than other previews. I mean the good stuff he writes about the game sounds gobsmackingly good, but he acknowledges that the game has flaws, is a slow burner, and that Kojima is actually getting worse at blending cutscenes and exposition with gameplay. I'd still like to play it a lot though. I mean Subsistence was one of my fave games on the PS2, but I had mixed reactions to it at first because the cutscenes dragged on really really long and were a pretty mixed bag. But replaying it on harder difficulties, skipping the cutscenes and chatter, proved to be some of the finest moments in gaming I've had in the last several years. I imagine MGS 4 will be much the same with some major pacing issues making the initial playthrough underwhelming, but will have excellent depth and replay value. Now if only there was some other reason to buy a PS3 I might actually consider it.

  • the_sas_man #128 4 years ago

    "Yes, some textures are surprisingly low-resolution; yes there are aliasing issues and flickering shadows."

    Cue Fanboys

  • Gaol #129 4 years ago

    This comments thread is tragic.

  • captainrentboy #130 4 years ago

    I've given each one of these games a go, but each one has failed to captivate me, I never feel the need to play them for more than a few hours, after that it's all a bit of a chore. I think I got to a bit in Number 3 where there was a man with Bees shooting out of him or something :/
    Basically the plot's a bit daft in my opinion, and as there's A LOT of plot being shoved on screen, I'm never really going to get into the series.
    But at the same time I can appreciate that the game is right up some folk's alley, and can't deny that it has it's fanbase, I'm not saying it's shite in any way, just that it's not my bag.
    So for the nobheads that say ''Ohh it would all be a different story if it was on the 360 too'' I can quite happily say, that for me it really wouldn't.

  • heartbeatPT #131 4 years ago

    Can't wait to put my hands on it.

  • Prodigy_BE #132 4 years ago

    For the record I genuinely hope that MGS4 gets ported (and ported well, not like the dog's breakfast that was MGS2 on Xbox) to PC and 360, because more than anything else I'd hope that MGS4 is huge financial success. Hopefully there's a big clue in Jade Raymond's appearance (Ubi doing/publishing the conversions?)

    I'm not a PS fanboy who'd be mad if "his" MGS should be ported to other platforms, but that'll be a lot of disk swapping on Xbox 360.
    And even more, if they built MGS4 especially for PS3, porting it to the 360 will probably suck. That's just Cell. Like the Emotion Engine (don't blame ME for the name, btw), its totally different compared to a normal processor. And it will give shitty games.

    And Ubisoft: they'd better focus on releasing games without bugs, lots of their games could use another few months of polish. So before taking on MGS (a series that I followed from NES to MSX to PSX, PS2 and PS3. The series is no holy grail (I've got very few of those, in my book), but they were all milestones (apart from MGS2, which I think was just only modestly good)

  • David_Snakes #133 4 years ago

    "My problem with MGS cinematics isn't solely the length, it's how fantastically awful the writing and acting is. If they were short, or worth watching, that'd be fine, the problem is that they're neither."

    The acting is alright (Volgin was WAY over-the-top), but yeah, the writing is atrocious.

  • lausai #134 4 years ago

    This, together with GTA 4, are the reasons why I bought a PS3. Bring it on, 12th June!

  • Yaz #135 4 years ago

    "And even more, if they built MGS4 especially for PS3, porting it to the 360 will probably suck. That's just Cell. Like the Emotion Engine (don't blame ME for the name, btw), its totally different compared to a normal processor. And it will give shitty games."

    Don't get caught up in the hype. ;)

  • JediMasterMalik #136 4 years ago

    You fanboys are really stupid, he didn't mean it in that way at all. He merly meant that when porting from such different architectures to a different machine, it takes a lot of work to get it working as well. It has nothing to do with the power of either machine. Apparently calling the Cell processer by it's name deserves some kind of fanboy backlash. "The processor that shall not be named." >_>

  • seedaripper #137 4 years ago

    jeez...ive just wasted over an hour reading all these comments (I know my fault) but listen lads (or indeed ladettes) just keep saying to yourselves ' Its only a game, Its only a game, It is ONLY a game'
    get my drift?
    p.s i'm getting the bastard for sure ;)

  • immateriaux #138 4 years ago

    It's an interesting demographic study in inception - gamers who cannot understand games where their finger isn't being pressed against a button every few micro-seconds and gamers into interactive spectacle and experience (or whatever). Which might suggest as though I'm belittling in some way the former but I'm not: the comment in the article that the cut scenes are a time out type thing interested me, some people would consider that was what the pause button is for but it appealed to me straight off, let the game itself set the pace, etc.

    This review has swung me around towards buying a PS3 in a few weeks - I get to play two of the years most interesting, perhaps best, releases that way, not just one.

  • keith123 #139 4 years ago

    Sounds ok but the "You might end up frustrated with the amount of time you spend just watching Metal Gear Solid 4" means we probably will. If ever there was a game to make a film out of this is it. Kojima sounds like he could put effort into it with a little help and tell a good story instead of us expecting us to watch a game.
    Hope it's good though, would like to see it finish on a high, I really enjoyed first MGS on PSone but found 2 and 3 to be completely boring myself.

  • Davemanz #140 4 years ago

    I guess I'm one of the few who really enjoys the cutscenes and plot. And who thinks the games have been improving with each release. The fact that combat is no longer maddeningly impossible (ever since MGS3's gloriously fun combat) means the game is a hell of a lot less frustrating and open-ended.

  • Widge #141 4 years ago

    Also the camoflage is improved by immense amounts in this iteration. Sneaking around near invisible with ease in MGO, taking out people in the middle of an online battle is a total relief compared to the menu hell of MGS3

  • bad09 #142 4 years ago

    @ Widge

    The camoflage in MGS4 is the one thing I'm not looking forward to. Lying on the ground or against a wall then "blending in" sounds really really dumb. I hope you will be able to turn it off or not use it!

  • Prodigy_BE #143 4 years ago

    "porting it to the 360 will probably suck. That's just Cell."

    Are you really so naive to believe 'teh cell' is the wonderchip it's been played up to be? We've seen proof that it isnt, over and over and over.

    The reason MGS wouldnt work on the 360 is that 360 owners wouldnt put up with the crap PS3 owners lap up (i.e. a complete lack of gameplay for cutscenes)

    Having worked for PlayStation in the past, let me fill you in on a little secret.
    The creation of the Emotion Engine and the Cell has more reasons than the average consumer knows.
    Sony doesn't even see the "its hard to develop for" as a big drawback, because that everyone who makes a Tripple A game on their hardware (using all the power in the chipset), will have a hard time porting it to other hardware. Call them arrogant all you want, but to Sony, that's a big plus. Just like MGS2 had its issues on the Xbox, a 360 port of MGS4 will be hard to do. Or Konami has to put its best programmers on it, which it never will because they are always working on new stuff, and MGS doesn't sell enough copies in Xbox to shift them over to a 360 port.

    Personally, I'd gladly see MGS4 going to 360. The more platforms, the more people can enjoy it. Just as stuff like Bioshock and stuiff should be on PS3 too. Share the wealth, is my motto.

  • Widge #144 4 years ago

    Really? I mean in the context of the menu system of MGS3, its fantastic! Obviously they want to continue with the camo system it seems, so I'd rather this than a menu. I remember from the gameplay demo off PSN, you actively have to activate it though, a press of the button or a shake of the sixaxis... so perhaps its a bit more of a manage decision than the lie down and wait of MGO.

  • bad09 #145 4 years ago

    @ Widge

    Yeah it's been improved but I just rather not have the active camo to be honest, it's just really stupid to me. I remember you activate it to look like the statue but did it need to be activated for the wall and floor blending? I'll have to have another look at the footage but I hope so, I'd much rather play through not using it at all as it did actually put me of when I saw that footage of Snake disappearing into the floor right next to an enemy.

  • Foat1 #146 4 years ago

    looks amazing

  • RazorObsession #147 4 years ago

    LOVED playing MGS. HATED watching MGS2. if this is more cutscene than game, they can fucking choke on dick for all i care.

  • holy_bazooka #148 4 years ago

    MGS3 is the most memorable, jaw-dropping game i ever played.
    is this one ever gonna be on the pc or are they gonna make me buy a ps3.

  • andywilkie35 #149 4 years ago

    i love mgs, so much so that i've taken the plunge and got me a ps3 ready for it

  • margo_p #150 1 year ago

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