Metal Gear Solid 4

Sission: Muceeded?

There comes a point, sometime in your Metal Gear Solid 4 experience, when you realise that you're not just playing a normal game. Well, sometimes you're not playing it at all, but that's a different point. No, there comes a time- and its different for everyone, I think- that Solid Snake's swansong does the nigh-impossible and transcends gaming, and just becomes something else. It's an achievement remarkably few games have ever reached, but MGS4, even with its occasional rough edge and annoyance, is clearly there.

The game casts you as Solid Snake once more- or rather, Old Snake, as he is referred here- eschewing the trend of MGS2 and MGS3 to cast you as different associated characters. The ‘Old Snake' moniker is especially appropriate here; in the 5 years between this game and the events of MGS2, the FOXDIE virus has begun to mutate, causing accelerated ageing in our grizzled hero. Picking up where MGS2 left off, the game opens with Snake and Otacon on the trail of Liquid Ocelot, who has now assembled a large Private Military Company (PMC) around him, and is planning to use the System, a technology which controls the nanomachines implanted in every soldier, to overthrow current governments and establish his own state, a safe haven for soldiers, in the vein of Big Boss's Outer Heaven from the original Metal Gear.

And so, Snake goes in, once again backed up by Otacon, and this time accompanied by a host of new gadgets, including the rather snazzy OctoCam- which adapts to take on the appearance of anything that Snake stays near for a couple of seconds- and, most notably, the Metal Gear Mk II, a little mini robot capable of cloaking itself and acting as a visual codec.

Right from the outset, though, you can tell there's something different about this one. The Middle Eastern warzone you are thrust into feels very different from the quieter, fortified positions you'll be used to from earlier titles. Here, groups of rebel soldiers clash with members of Liquid's PMCs in the war-torn streets, and it's up to you to make your way past them and toward Liquid himself, helping the rebels out along the way if you wish, or just sneaking past unnoticed.

Right away you'll notice one of the series' big sticking points- the controls- have been completely revamped. Snake is much easier to control and moves much more fluidly now, and the over the shoulder camera works much better as it gives you a great amount of peripheral vision - vital to the type of game MGS4 is. That's not to say the controls aren't without their faults, though- the cover system is more fiddly than ever, requiring you to press Triangle whilst facing a wall in order to flatten Snake against it, and the standing / crouching / prone toggle with the X button can be sticky and unresponsive. Fortunately, other areas have improved, and you'll find readying a weapon with L1 and firing with R1 straightforward enough, although I can't help but wish that these had been mapped to the L2 and R2 triggers instead. Rather, L2 and R2 access your weapons and items inventories, and a quick tap of either quickly equips or unequips the current item. Unfortunately, given the analogue control, these can feel a little unresponsive.  Frustratingly, you can only have a limited number of items in your L2 and R2 selections at any given time, and you'll need to go to the options screen if you want to change your available equipment. Quite why this is the case remains a mystery, since Snake is still carrying the same items around with him whether you equip them or not...

Something else you'll notice playing through the first act is the greater degree of freedom offered. That doesn't mean that you can roam anywhere you like- the environments are still fairly constrained and funnel you along mostly linear paths- but your ways through these sections are much more open. Do you sneak past everything, timing your movements carefully to avoid being spotted? Do you use the Tranquiliser gun to knock out any guards in your way and dash past quickly? Do you go in guns blazing on the side of the rebels, let them hail you as a hero as you burst through the PMC barricades? Or do you just go on a killing rampage? The options are there, and the game doesn't penalise you for choosing your own way of dealing with things, which is pretty refreshing and allows for replayability.

This section also introduces another key theme of the game- nostalgia. In many ways, MGS4 might be a fanboy's dream- within your first few hours of play you'll have encountered MGS1 love interest Meryl Silverburgh, now commanding her own UN team, along with series comic relief Johnny Sasaki. Other nostalgic reunions occur throughout the game- none more so than when you re-visit the Shadow Moses facility from Metal Gear Solid, and are treated to a playable interlude of an emulated MGS1, low resolution and wobbly polygons included. The game even uses these instances to poke fun at itself and its nature as a videogame- a fight with a psychic boss, Screaming Mantis, who uses her mental powers against you, might prompt you to try connecting your controller to another port as you might have done in the original MGS one the PS1. Doing so just results in a codec call from Otacon informing you that this won't work any more because it's a wireless controller. Witty genius, but never taking the idea too far.

No sooner have you just started to become accustomed to the warzone, however, than the game throws something else at you. The second act is reminiscent of MGS3, with its jungle environments, though you can expect to have a much freer reign here, too. Act 3 sees you in the urban streets of Eastern Europe, shadowing a member of a rebel group headed by Big Mama, whilst avoiding patrolling PMC troops enforcing a curfew. MGS4 likes to keep you on your toes, never stretching one idea out for too long- although in some cases, you might well wish for it.

You see, the real thing is, that the gameplay is so damn good in MGS4 - regardless of which act of the game you are playing- that you just all too aware that there isn't much of it. The last Act, in particular, is horrifically stunted, consisting of a single firefight against a group of enemies followed by two boss battles, each section punctuated by some of the games many and lengthy cutscenes.

Yes, cutscenes, I'm afraid, are par for the course with the Metal Gear series, and MGS4 is no exception.  There are around 9 hours of cutscenes in the game in total- including mission briefings between Acts and the hour long ending- which sounds impressive, until you learn that, depending on your play style, the game might take less time than that to complete. That's not to say the cutscenes aren't good though. On the contrary, they are some of the finest written, acted, directed and performed sequences I've ever seen, and not just in a videogame. The storyline, complex as it is, is full of emotional gravitas and is delivered exquisitely. Though many will recoil at the thought of sitting through so many unplayable sections, they can be skipped, though to do so would be denying their purpose utterly, and denying much of the appeal of the game. Complex as it might be at times, the storyline is simply that good that they are integral to the experience, even if you are left wondering, at times, why Konami didn't just opt to make a film instead.

Other Metal Gear hallmarks are also in place, from the Codec sequences -now blissfully shortened and accompanied by talking-head video displays- to absolutely shedloads of secrets and unlockables to uncover. Boss battles are notably toned down from previous instalments- only 6 of them take place in the entire game, in fact, and most of them are fairly easy, but they are nonetheless memorable experiences. A new inclusion is arms dealer Drebin, who will buy duplicate firearms off you in exhcnage for points, which can be used to purchase other weapons and ammunition for existing weapons from his store. This integrates really nicely into the game, since you don't need to wait for them to be delivered or lug extra guns around until you can sell them; everything is assumed to take place through your Metal Gear Mk II companion and Drebin's monkey sidekick, Little Gray. Fortunately, this doesn't disrupt the hallmark gameplay, either- rather it just makes it that bit easier for you to stick with the weapons you prefer, whether you like the ultimate stopping power of the P90 or the silent brilliance of the tranquiliser gun.

Visually and audibly the game barely puts a foot wrong, either. Visuals are crisp and sharp, full of lusciously detailed characters and fluid animations, with character models that are capable of showing intricacies of emotion previously unheard of- even surpassing those of MistWalker's Lost Odyssey- and some breathtaking vistas that are brimming with artistic delight. A few textures here and there suffer a little, but you probably won't notice them too much, and they certainly don't detract from the experience. The soundtrack is every bit as accomplished, full of orchestral swells and quiet dips, matched by possibly the finest voice acting to grace a game, with all but one of the previous cast reprising their roles. David Hayter's gruff voice is suitably gravelly as Old Snake, and sterling performances from Patrick Zimmerman and Jennifer Hale are also notable. Not that the other actors are any slouches either, though, each putting in arguably their finest performances to date.

Written by :

James Hall