Its time to salute this old warrior and hero for his final mission.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of the best games ever made. This may sound
like an overstatement, but it isn't. This game delivers an epic journey
of an old soldier Solid Snake, combining technically genius graphics
and game play which has now finally been perfected. Metal Gear Solid 4
does not disappoint.
Lets
start of with the story, if I can. The Metal Gear Solid franchise is
known for its complex story and the forth installment does not
disappoint. This game is very confusing and if you haven't played any
Metal Gear games before you will be thrown into the deep. My personal
advise would be to read up on some Metal Gear history and see who the
main characters are and what the main events in the passed have been.
This story starts of with a bang and you learn that your brother Liquid
who is in the body of ocelot is back again and trying to unfold an evil
plot of world domination.
The events follow on from Metal
Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty but also make you remember the events on
Metal Gear Solid 1 and 3. This story takes you through levels of vast
jungle to track foot prints, to ice plains and of course vast
buildings. I will not tell you much more because I am 
afraid
that I might wreck this amazing story that takes ruffly 18+ hours to
complete depending on difficulty and skill level. Some people might be
afraid they will not understand the plot, however do not think this.
Yes the story is confusing and has many side story and subplots but the
main story you will understand, then you can discuss with friends and
find out more. This game is not to be over looked because of an over
complex story.
You get a vast arsenal of weapons ranging
from the standard stun knife and tranquilizer gun, to M4's and even
rocket launchers. You also get a device to help you see enemies called
Solid Eye. Then you get a companion early on in the game called the
Metal Gear Mk.II which is a small robot which can scout on ahead and
stun enemies which its whip.
The
difficulty curve depends on a few things. Firstly if you haven't played
any Metal Gear games before, of you have then most of the controls will
feel similar and you will feel at home, if you haven't there is always
a tutorial training mode to practice your skill. Then there is the
difficulty you play it on, if you play on Liquid Easy it will be quiet
a breeze, then there is Naked Normal which is designed for the Japanese
market due to the America and European normal difficulty being to hard.
The true normal difficulty is called Solid Normal and then there is Big
Boss Hard and a final one which I wont mention due to my fear of
someone saying SPOILER.
The graphics on this game are
superb. All of the cut scenes are rendered in real time and look like a
CG film. The game has a very smooth frame rate and holds up to close
scrutiny from people who love to find glitches and problems. The sound
design ones again is brilliant. The score is perfect for all of the cut
scenes and for the tension in the game. Even when you first start the
game the music is fantastic.
The AI has been improved a lot.
When you get caught it is quiet hard to escape, especially how they
look for you in boxes by kicking them over but your new Octocamo helps
you escape. By laying down on the floor you blend into your
surroundings and by holding down triangle you can play dead which makes
it much hard for the enemies to stop you. The enemies are back and 
better
than ever. The head honcho of Liquid controls vast armies of FROGS his
elite fighting force and machines like Gecko's which gives the game the
non stealth side to it. However it is said that you can play the game
entirely by stealth, or use a combination of both. And of course there
is a squad of super bosses which are your boss battles, this time they
are called the BB's but you can find out what that stands for.
The
story is heavy with cut scenes and with some lasting up to 90 minutes,
however these longer cut scenes normally have moments where you take
over and control Snake. Also at any time in a cut scene you can pause
it by pressing start, so you can take a break and come back to it
later. People say the cut scenes are too long but this game is meant
for the epic story and the only way to tell a story is by cut scenes.
If you are put off the game by the number or length of the cut scenes
shame on you, because you are going to miss out on the best ending to
any game ever made. Again you might think this is an over statement but
after I finished it I was smiling and just remembering all of the fun I
had and also I was disappointed it was over.
However,
once this game is over you have the multiplayer to look forward to.
This multiplayer is very fun, with five plus maps and an array of
weapons at your disposal you can stun, sneak or just pull out your
javelin rocket launcher and blow them up. There are five game modes
however one of the best is called Sneak where one person is Snake and
all the others are out to kill him but Snake is also trying to steal
their dog tags by stunning them. This game mode can be very fun whether
there are few or many people.
Overall Metal Gear Solid 4
delivers a fantastic ending to the saga and is a must buy for any PS3
owners. It is the best PS3 game out on the market right now and
deserves the credit it is getting. The game is brilliant throughout and
the ending to it concludes this series so well.
