MGS4 stealth camo details

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 June, 2006

Tilt controls? Kojima's last MGS?

The stealth camouflage shown off in Metal Gear Solid 4's E3 trailer will play a key role, says Hideo Kojima - and what's more this will be his last game in charge.

MGS4 may even make use of the PlayStation 3's tilt sensor controller. "Perhaps you could use it for the FP view, or to shake down guards for items (like in the past MGS games), but nothing is decided," the game's creator says.

Speaking to US mag PSM2, Kojima said that the "active camouflage system" that allows Snake to blend quickly into his surroundings is known as "Octo-cam" - a fusion of Octopus and Camouflage. Sounds like Hideo.

Just as an Octopus can change colour, pattern and shape to hide among bumpy and unusual surroundings, MGS4's Snake will be able to melt into the background - a graphical effect Kojima, ever the helpful soldier in these next-gen battles, says is only possible on PS3.

Apparently the suit will adapt providing you stay still, and you'll have to keep your wits about you because with scenery destruction high on the agenda, scenarios will be quite dynamic - if something blows up as you're trying to blend in with it, you'll have to quickly lie down to merge with the floor.

However, while environments will be destructive, they won't be fully so. "We want the entire scenery to be interactive, but even on the PS3 there are limits," Kojima noted. "In some buildings you can destroy everything, but in other rooms only certain scenery - it should be easy to tell them apart." For example, PSM2 notes, in the E3 trailer the Metal Gear destroys the stairs, but the main platforms remain intact.

On top of that, Snake will employ a range of new moves - including one, yet to be revealed, which was inspired by Kojima's own military training. Maybe he's going to waffle people to death.

Meanwhile, there's the question of Kojima's own future. Having abortively attempted to leave the series prior to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Kojima's making the same sort of noises again - claiming this is his "last Metal Gear game". "The series belongs to Konami and the fans, but I have the liberty to stop," he's quoted as saying.

Still, the trailers suggest he aims to go out with a bang - just as Snake may do.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 6 years ago

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  • #1 6 years ago

    Active Camouflage, hmm, now where have I heard that term in a game before.

    The MGS games have never really inspired my, but that's just me I guess.

  • afray #2 6 years ago

    If it changes cammo for you instead of you having to do it every five seconds then it's a step in the right direction!

  • JediMasterMalik #3 6 years ago

    Yeh the texture of the suit adapts to the environment. Much cooler than the other stealth suits.

    @JP - You talking about Halo? The original MGS I beleive had active camouflage. (though it worked differently)

  • Aysir #4 6 years ago

    "Active Camouflage, hmm, now where have I heard that term in a game before. "

    Halo. Though MGS has always used the tech, its usually been referred to as Stealth Camouflage. My guess is it will go back to being called that in the game.

  • El_MUERkO #5 6 years ago

    Only on the PS3? I find that hard to believe, still it'll be good.

  • Poorandugly #6 6 years ago

    "even on the PS3 there are limits," Kojima noted.

    That one cracked me up :-P

  • Inspirius #7 6 years ago

    So does this mean that Snake can squirt a cloud of ink when he needs to escape?

  • stuarty_2003 #8 6 years ago

    Waffle people to death as a result of military training?! Lol.

    In a similar vein, Army Officers are vague about specifics.


    EDIT: was in not called "active camo" in the multiplayer part of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory as well?
    Edited by stuarty_2003 at 06/06/06 @ 09:40

  • Xensor #9 6 years ago

    @Fluffy and El

    Well of course only the PS3 could possibly cope with the rigours of making something disappear! I mean come on, we've already seen the real-time weapon switching for massive damage, now we get real-time camoflage for massive hiding! PS3 ftw!!

    OT - Actually what impressed me most by the Genji (apart from the hugely impressive dozen or so units on screen at once and the historically accurate crab) was the fixed camera position! The way you can't see anything apart from whatever wanders into the field of view is truely next-gen! The whole "Where's the boss? oh he's not on screen yet" bit really sold it to me!. I predict once this masterpiece is released there'll be real-time disc throwing for maximum breakage :p

    /Is late to the mud-slinging party
    /doesn't care
    /still wants a PS3

  • Zero_ #10 6 years ago

    "Still, the trailers suggest he aims to go out with a bang - just as Snake may do."

    Noooo! HIDEO, don't kill yourself like that, just off a building or something, just not the gun-in-mouth method.

  • Skooch #11 6 years ago

    Octo-cam?
    Using motion sensor to 'shake-down' enemies?

    Sounds a bit tacky to me. Although, I'll admit I'll still be interested to see this title when it is released after all this extensive promo.

  • captain-future #12 6 years ago

    "will be his last game in charge"

    Konami will chain him to the franchise forever... or a MGS sequel finally sucks.

  • Xerx3s #13 6 years ago

    FluffyTucker, you should know by know that you CANNOT hide for realtime weapon change. ;)

  • Skooch #14 6 years ago

    "Only the PS3 can do the active camouflage can it, I see. I can't even be bothered to ridicule that statement"

    @ FluffyTucker - Well, it's kinda true, the PS3 is the only console that can do active camo on MGS4 as it's the only platform the title is being released on. ;-)

    Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiddddddge Racer!

  • Daryoon #15 6 years ago

    So here's this giant walking tank...

  • smoothpete #16 6 years ago

    Hmm, the tilt controls sound gimmicky. We shall see. Also Fluffytucker, whutchootalkin'bout fool??! The 360 has many great games! ;)

  • The-Bodybuilder #17 6 years ago

    >"So here's this giant walking tank..."

    I heard the next metal gear tank will be modelled on a crab, "Metal Gear Crab".

  • JediMasterMalik #18 6 years ago

    Alot of the MGS games could be considered, by people who haven't played it properly, to be gimmicks. He uses interesting methods of story telling whioch may well seem gimmicky. The thing is though, Kojima makes them work well.

  • lambtron #19 6 years ago

    Apart from in MGS2. His head dissapeared up his arse for that one.

  • JediMasterMalik #20 6 years ago

    I don't get what people hate about MGS2. I really enjoyed it, Raiden really wasn't THAT bad. It still had the MGS feel to it though.

  • Darkedge #21 6 years ago

    active camo I remember from Ghost in the shell (you know there is a world apart from video games guys..)

    lets hope MGS4 is good - we won't know until you can play it anyway

  • Knot #22 6 years ago

    Yeah, the 'only possible on PS3' comment is indeed marketing babble.

    Atm, imo Gears of War does look better than MGS4. On the other hand ; it's framerate
    and characters animations look like 15 or 20 frames p/sec.

    Imho ; Kojima Productions is taking quite some risks with their PS3 exclusive business model. I can understand that they need many manhours to specialize on coding for one console, but having a good ports would strengthen his production team.

    But anyway, this is old news. I knew from E3 that the Octocamo would a nice gameplay device.

    I want to know about MGS4's main gameplay asap. I guess we'll have to wait until TGS to get a chance at the first gameplay tidbits.

  • JediMasterMalik #23 6 years ago

    That camo was completely different. It didn't change to the backgroud texture.

  • Chtulie #24 6 years ago

    I'm sure konami will keep on producing MGS games without the restrictions of the pace and need to reinvent the series with each incarnation of Kojima.

  • SeesThroughAll #25 6 years ago

    Hehe, Psycho Mantis would know for sure if you really dropped the controller or not.

  • yonno #26 6 years ago

    i thought MGS 3 was his last game in the series

  • Aysir #27 6 years ago

    Kojima's comment about the active Camo effect only being possible on PS3 might be being taken the wrong way. After all there is no direct quote and if that is what he said, it sounds more like he's saying as a leap from the PS2 where it wasn't possible. I don't think he's having a dig at the 360 here.

    "active camo I remember from Ghost in the shell (you know there is a world apart from video games guys..) "
    True but Jamesphilp said 'where have I head that term in a game'.

    "i thought MGS 3 was his last game in the series"
    MGS2 was meant to be his last. The whole theme of passing on information in genes was meant to act as a metephor for him handing over the reins to a new bunch. It didn't happen. MGS3 was then meant to be his last and now MGS4 is his last. I reckon he's gonna kill Snake just so he doesn't have to do anymore Metal Gear. But maybe it's a good thing he doens't hand over MGS, look at ACID, that was done by a different bunch and that was pretty annoying.
    Edited by Aysir at 06/06/06 @ 14:29

  • darkmistx #28 6 years ago

    Yeah, wouldn't surprise if the quote is being deliberately being taken out of context to get the fanboys riled up again.

  • NoCodeNed2 #29 6 years ago

    Yep, I reckon it's another clever little fan of the fanboy flames from EG.

    Seems a little odd that the single most contentious thing in there is totally unquoted?

  • tengu #30 6 years ago

    "Kojima's comment about the active Camo effect only being possible on PS3 might be being taken the wrong way. After all there is no direct quote and if that is what he said, it sounds more like he's saying as a leap from the PS2 where it wasn't possible. I don't think he's having a dig at the 360 here."

    That was actually my first thought on reading it too.

  • Xensor #31 6 years ago

    @Darkedge

    /obsessive pedant mode... GO!

    It was actually called Thermoptic Camouflage :) Oh and you had to be naked for it to work properly :p

  • Walshicus #32 6 years ago

    Re: FluffyTucker
    Kameo, PGR3, CoD2, Burnout Revenge, BFMC, DoA4, Oblivion, Fight Night 3, Rockstar Table Tennis, GRAW, Condemned, 2KSports Line, Geometry Wars!

    Just out of interest, was Eurogamer's stupid review of Kameo ever explained?

  • Xerx3s #33 6 years ago

    It was actually called Thermoptic Camouflage :) Oh and you had to be naked for it to work properly :p

    Wrong, the world moved on since GitS. Ppl can wander around in their clothers now. Invisible. Instead of being naked. hmm.

    Anyway, go watch GitS: SAC 1st GiG, SAC 2nd GiG & GitS2. ;)

  • tengu #34 6 years ago

    "Just out of interest, was Eurogamer's stupid review of Kameo ever explained?"

    Yeah, it was a bad game.

    Bit harsh on CoD2 there Fluffy, it was actually pretty great I thought.
    Edited by tengu at 06/06/06 @ 17:23

  • JediMasterMalik #35 6 years ago

    Yeh I liked COD2 for PC. It was fun, if a bit simple.

  • Xensor #36 6 years ago

    Wrong, the world moved on since GitS. Ppl can wander around in their clothers now. Invisible. Instead of being naked. hmm.

    Anyway, go watch GitS: SAC 1st GiG, SAC 2nd GiG & GitS2. ;)

    /activates "head-in-sand" defence

    Admittedly i aint seen those yet but i don't have to to know the original was the best :) And besides i'm far too busy with my hectic life to watch such nonsense!

    /F5


    /F5, F5


    /fires up bitcomet

  • Freek #37 6 years ago

    She was naked in Gits becuase her skin had the camo built in, being a cyborg and all that.
    Other people just used a cape.
    Edited by Freek at 06/06/06 @ 18:53

  • Walshicus #38 6 years ago

    It really wasn't, Tengu. At HD at least, it was pretty awesome. Enchanting was how my ex described it. Either way, EG's 50% score was far below what everyone else thought at the time, or even now. It just seemed the reviewer did that really pathetic trick of giving out a stupid score to increase site visits. Hell, even Edge rated it 7/10 and they're notorious for their low scores as much as they are for their snobbery.


    Edit: Oh, and fluffer that's a bit weird you're getting framerate issues there. Works fine for me on those titles you mentioned. Are you running your console at 50Hz? I hear sometimes that causes issues. What about your HDD cache? - you can get rid of Oblivion slowdown by clearing it. Sometimes Oblivion fragmented its cache, though I hear that's being fixed in the patch. Perhaps you should get your box looked at - say what you like about Microsoft, their support is absolutely first rate.
    Edited by Walshicus at 06/06/06 @ 19:48

  • tengu #39 6 years ago

    "It really wasn't, Tengu. At HD at least, it was pretty awesome."

    I played a bit of it in HD and it still played the same as it did in SD. Good for you if you enjoyed it, but I didn't really get much out of it. I've just seen too many adventure/platform games that have been far better to really rate it any higher than 'average' myself.

  • Hughes. #40 6 years ago

    "Hideo Kojima - and what's more this will be his last game in charge."

    That joke isn't funny anymore.

    Ahh shitters! starting with song lyrics, I'll be saying "Hello viewers!" next.

    Anyway, Hasn't been saying this for about three games now?