The fourth installment of the original stealth action franchise brings the legendary hero’s saga to an end. As a fan who loves this series, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is my most anticipated game of the year and quite possibly, ever. I purchased a PlayStation 3 for this game. In fact, you could say I assembled my entire home entertainment system in preparation for Snake’s final mission. The expectations are high with the folks at Sony, Konami, loyal followers and critics alike anticipating nothing, but the best from Kojima Productions. I don’t know if it rocked the sales charts or silenced the critics, but I do know it spoke to me and delivered an extremely satisfying gaming experience.

Metal Gear Solid 4 waits for no one. In an age of hand holding tutorials and first class player integration, Kojima expects the player to be well versed with its controls, its ways and its rules. And I’m strictly talking about gameplay. Kojima expects gamers to read the manual, pester Otacon about features and learn things on their own. It’s archaic by comparison, but it’s a sign of how unwavering this game’s vision and focus is – it’s built for the fans.

The first act blares out loud and clear that this is not your typical Metal Gear Solid game. It’s not the Octocamo and its texture copying ability that made it so different – new features are to be expected. It’s the initial pacing and the fact that Old Snake got his hands on an AK102 assault rifle so very early. As a street battle of artillery, soldiers and armored personnel carriers serves as the backdrop, Old Snake is given the task of rendezvousing with the Mark II, Otacon’s remote controlled mini-Metal Gear equipped with cloaking and tasing abilities. Once met, the Mark II hands over the final piece of Old Snake’s arsenal, the Solid Eye, an invaluable multifaceted optical device capable of optical zoom and night vision. Then the action continues.

By bringing action to the forefront, I found it difficult to resist the charms of fighting along the local militia. I could completely ignore them if I so desired, but assisting them made my life easier as well. Before long, I’m face to face with the showman and arms launderer, Drebin. He gives Old Snake access to an exorbitant amount of customizable weapons (over 70) in exchange for Drebin points, the currency given when turning in extra equipment and weapons found on the field. With all those guns and a reason to shoot people, why wouldn’t I take a few PMCs out? The control scheme transformation MGS4 underwent made firefights a lot more feasible. Bringing back the free roaming camera of MGS3: Subsistence, locking in an over the shoulder vantage point and simply retooling the Metal Gear Solid control scheme made life a lot easier for Old Snake and myself. Goodbye to the days of trading complexity for function and welcome the era of simplicity and function.

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Tags: kojima, konami, metal gear, sony
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This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 2:00 pm and is filed under PS3 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.