Tuesday 24 Jun 2008

We’ve waited for ages for this game to be released. The PS3 has been slated as the console that gets all the dodgy ports and has not lived up to the hype. The console war has been tough for Sony thus far, but it seems “War Has Changed” – in Snakes words.

As soon as your PS3 sucks this disc in you’ll need to get ready for some of the best video gaming this industry has ever provided. What you have seen in previews is not even a drop in the ocean of what there is for you to experience in this game. I’m not going to discuss anything over and above the sections of what most would have seen in the previews, so NO SPOILERS.

First of all let’s clear things up – If you have never played MGS1, 2, 3 then you should not even consider buying this title. It would mean zip to you. It is an emotional ride from the word “go” but you need to know what has happened beforehand. The other option would be to search YouTube and watch videos depicting the previous storylines this far. I urge you to do that before playing this.

What we do know from the official previews so far is that Old Snake, Liquid Ocelot, Otagon, Colonel Cambell, Meryl, Naomi, Raiden and Vamp are all gonna be a part of the MGS4 story. We have several new characters introduced that I will leave to you to discover. If you played any of the previous titles those names should all jump out at you and you should also know that you have a serious ride coming your way when it comes to the plot.

As we all know this is set in the Middle East and Snake is yet again the man to save the world from Liquid Ocelot (for those yet to play this game, Liquid Ocelot is “Bowser” in Snake’s world, which is why you need to play the previous games to understand that theory). Liquid Ocelot reigns over the world’s five largest five PMC’s (Private Military Companies) and in the Middle East region it is embroiled in civil war between the current regime and local rebels. The soldiers in this day and age all have nano machines in their bodies that run them like puppets which Liquid Ocelot controls. Hell, if you had to pick up one of the soldiers guns you could not even use it, as even those are ID tagged to the user. There is a way to get around that, but hey, who am I to tell you how to do it.

Snake’s control method has been tampered with slightly but it makes it a little bit easier to control than before. To control Snake you use the left analog stick and to pan the camera to what you desire you use the right analog stick. To select an item press and hold the L2 button and scroll the item list with the D-Pad and release L2 to select it. Use the exact same procedure for the weapon selection but rather use R2. That is all very standard MGS methods so far, but the element they’ve perfected is action sections. Press and hold L1 and you are presented with a viewpoint similar to that of Resident Evil 4 where the camera shifts over your shoulder and your aim pops up helping you shoot the enemies with much more ease than previous MGSs. Also while holding the L1 button press “triangle” and you go into first person mode where you can actually move as you normally would in a first person game, albeit a bit slower.

There are so many new toys to play with in this that I’m is not quite sure where to start, but the one that stands out the most is the OctoCamo suit which Snake wears. Hideo got this idea from a real animal that is indeed an Octopus, which morphs itself in colour and shape (Here, watch this). This is an idea that works wonders in the MGS universe. If you played MGS3 and got tired of changing your clothes every four seconds then this is gonna make you one happy gamer. Stand up against a wall or lie on the floor and the colour changes accordingly. It even incorporates the shape or rather texture of whatever it is you’re blending with and works exceptionally well. This would not have been possible on previous generation consoles to this degree.

Secondly, we have something of a sub-character…even though it is really just an item in your inventory. The Metal Gear MKII, with its design based on Metal Gear Rex (the one you fought on the PlayStation 1 back in Shadow Moses Island), and seeing that Otagon built Rex and the MKII it makes quite a bit of sense. When equipping this little guy who is literally a 30 cm tall robot on wheels you have the opportunity to get right into the middle of the action-taking place and one-by-one dispose of the enemy. Yes, it has stealth built into it…better yet – you can shock the hell out of anyone without confronting them yourself! Obviously it also has several other uses like scouting before running off all guns blazing. Unfortunately it runs off a battery, which charges itself when not in use, so you can’t keep it running forever and a day. Over and above that it only has a 50m radius anyway.

Lastly (of what I’m discussing as there are others) is the Solid Eye. It’s a mechanical patch that is placed over Snakes eye that offers “infrared night vision” and “binocular mode” which are both vital throughout the game.

Everything else is intact with CQC making a welcome return and the options of hiding bodies (or youself) in a locker (or garbage bin in this case) are still there. You still alert enemies who in return contact headquarters to send more troops out to cap your ass. Make a loud sound and they’ll come charging in your direction. Hideo Kojima has kept with the basic fundamentals that have worked for this game over 20 years now. Don’t forget, it has been around since the NES days.

Graphically this game is something to witness. I can say with complete confidence that it is the best looking game I’ve ever seen running in my life. Bioshock and Uncharted Drakes Fortune can take some good lessons out of this game. You often forget after a cinematic sequence that it is ALL an in-game engine running. When the camera swoops down from a CG sequence behind your character you sit there for a while wondering if there is something wrong…“Did the game freeze? Oh, hang on… it’s actually in-game, I must start playing!” Yup, it’s that good and I can tell you that the bits that have been shown are nothing in comparison to what is to come (Oh, I so want to tell you all about it!).

Quite embarrassingly I have to admit that I literally shed a tear in a certain section of the game, as it just felt so moving. Harry Gregson-Williams needs to be given an award for the superb soundtrack. It has movie quality all over it. His use of pace is stunning and he plays the right strings at the right time to ensure that you grow even closer to those characters that you think you have known for ages. I stress again, if you have not played the previous three games, this paragraph is useless.

There has been word of 90-minute cinematics, which is a load of crap. The longest piece I witnessed was about half of that and it was so intense that the time flew by. One thing that I would wish for (if Hideo ever attempted a game like this again) is that one could pause the game as I often got interrupted via a phone call while playing and thus missed out on some of the awesome action.

There is really just so much to talk about and I’d love to go into depth about all my experiences in the game, but it would really spoil it for those still looking at playing it. The bosses are amazing and yet again there are many ways to approach them. Hideo, as per usual, has hidden oodles of humour in it that mostly makes sense if you played the MGSs before this and…for nostalgia freaks (like myself) there is an awesome moment in this game that sealed the deal for me and I find it exceptionally hard to find real flaws in it. I’ve not even touched on the online side of things, which I’ve had a good go at and seem quite interesting. This game is about the single player experience and I would personally like it to be remembered for that.

If this happens to be Hideo Kojima’s last piece of work in the Metal Gear franchise it is indeed a sad day for video games, but it will be a great way to bow out. This game is brilliant and I find it difficult to believe that any game in the near future will be able to touch this brilliance.

The saying, “The most beautiful game in the world” does not reflect to football no more, it’s MGS4.

Pros: Perfection.

Cons: Nothing.

Rating:
Contributor:	Dawid

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