In the near future, the nations of the world rely upon private military companies to fight their battles for them. When renegade super-soldier Liquid Ocelot emerges as the head of a potent coalition of mercenary powers, an aging Solid Snake returns to save the world one last time. When the nations of the world rely upon private military companies to fight their battles for them, renegade Liquid Ocelot emerges as the head of a potent coalition of mercenary powers. Solid Snake returns to save the world once again. "Big Boss here. Solid Snake! Fall back! The mission is a failure! Return immediately. This is a direct order. Turn the power off on your MSX console at once!" Metal Gear Solid 4 represents everything a good video game should be. Edgy, funny, clever, smart, and brilliant. It would be possible to grant this game an 11 if need be. It's just that good.<br/><br/>Let's clarify this right now. THIS GAME IS NOT FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NOT PLAYED A METAL GEAR GAME BEFORE. IT IS ALSO NOT FOR ANYONE WHO CAN'T SIT STILL FOR A FEW MINUTES TO WATCH A CUTSCENE! I can not stress that enough. People are willing to give the game a 0 just because they can't be quiet and listen to a great story being shown to them and appreciate it. For Metal Gear fans who have not played the previous titles, it is highly recommended that you do so. You can get a used copy of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence with the very first two Metal Gears on the second disk.<br/><br/>But now, let's get on with the review.<br/><br/>After playing Metal Gear Solid and the latter sequel and prequel, the story seemed to be relatively the same to their previous encounters. The overhead camera, the strange crouch-then-crawl mechanic, and the hostage rescues of EVERY Metal Gear. I was surprised to see in metal Gear Solid 4 that there was not a single objective that had to deal with hostages, or even Metal Gear. Mr. Hideo Kojima has crafted a Metal Gear for a new age. The game plays like you always knew a Metal Gear game could play. Also stripped away are the somewhat awkward gun controls, and the "talking-head" moments of the Codec. The Codec is the greatest part. Metal Gear's story is told entirely throughout beautifully rendered cut scenes instead of the monochromatic green heads of the Codec.<br/><br/>Snake's Mission? Find Liquid. No Metal Gear, rather the Patriots. You don't even have to play the entire game using stealth. The user friendly interface of the game creates a wide range of possible choices in how the player reaches their overall goal; and that's the mark of an expert video game. Go ahead, try it in different ways. It opens up a whole string of replay value. Play through without being seen, or without killing anyone.<br/><br/>Overall story is absolutely amazing. For anyone who has played a Metal Gear, it does a tremendous job of answering the big questions. People like Raiden (MGS2), EVA (MGS3), and Naomi Hunter (MGS1) are all given their fair treatment, as well as an innumerable amount of others.- The Patriots most of all. After playing the second game, I, like many of you, were left with more questions than answers, but Kojima does a fabulous job of answering all of them. You'll even find out what La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo means.<br/><br/>Voicework is top notch. After ten years of Snake, Mr. David Hayter can still bring surprises to the table. Hayter brings the right mix of emotion to the table during the latter half of the game. Voice work of the secondary characters is also incredibly well done, even better than some current Hollywood offerings.<br/><br/>Metal Gear does suffer some issues. The constant loading during some intense parts of the story can detract from the overall experience. Loading is not a problem after every act though (For people who don't understand that, the game erases the last act and installs the new one, and so forth, so the game doesn't take up a lot of space). Some may criticize Metal Gear Online, but it is really more of a complement to the game. Metal Gear Solids 1 and 2 did not have them, and they were still great games.<br/><br/>Overall, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a heart lifting odyssey of discovery. All the questions are answered, in the most sentimental and gorgeous of ways. This is on of the rare forms of video game art. It is not comparable to any other game I've experienced in my lifetime. I ask you to turn yourself over to the experience.<br/><br/>We salute you, Solid Snake. You've finally earned your rest. Well it's here Solid Snake ha came back to us after a very lengthy break.<br/><br/>First of all, i have played some metal gear solid games, and vaugly know the story. But for the games release i re-played the previous games.<br/><br/>I'm still half way through playing metal gear but hope it wont end any time soon.<br/><br/>This game is almost beyond words.<br/><br/>When some games try to add a cinematic feel to it they normally fail or don't get the tone right etc. But this game is truly cinematic, the (very lengthy but beautifully done) cutscenes are very well done with some great dialouge and direction. Plus in the game the sound of bullets,bombs and buildings turning into debris truly capture the feel of the game.<br/><br/>The graphics are truly superb the best graphics i've seen in a game since uncharted.<br/><br/>Gameplay. Well the stealth action is still there. But the use of the otocamo is a great feature and works very well. Plus extra kudos go to the characters health. You have three meters in the game; the health meter, psyche meter and stress meter. This works amazingly, if snakes psyche is low then it will affect how quick he heals and if his stress is high it affects his psyche and his game performance. I remember at one point i'd let snakes stress reach quite high and suddenly he stopped moving and threw up. This amazaed me that they put so much thought into how realistic they were going to make this game.<br/><br/>Then there's enemy AI. the AI is unbelievably smart, the smartest enemies since rainbow six vegas. When your stealthing if you move loudly and make a sound then the enemy becomes aware of your presence or if they see the aiming laser from your gun. Also the dead enemies react well with the environment and so does snake. At one point an enemy threw a grenade at me and my body flew through the air and landed sitting up against a box, then my otocamo blended in with the object i was sitting against and the enemies were none the wiser.<br/><br/>Online play. Well once you get past the hassle of making two more accounts to play then the online play is very rewarding. You see the game everyone plays is call of duty 4 and thats it. Yes i loved call of duty for it's cinematic feel and great graphics and very good online play, but i'd become so tired of hearing about call of duty all the time and MGS4 has really stuck it to call of duty.<br/><br/>So. Can this game be considered art? In my opinion, yes, definitely. Not since shadow of the colossus have i loved a game so much and considered it as a piece of art but MGS4 peirces the border of video game and art.<br/><br/>overall:10/10 or if i could:20/10 Finally an exclusive the playstation can be proud of!
Laquybal replied
353 weeks ago