The Metal Gear Solid series has been a long beloved franchise that Sony has had as one of its few remaining mainstay franchises for going on a decade now, and while being beloved for its gameplay by many fans of the series, it has also been a point of contention in the gaming world because of its long (some would say pretentious) cut scenes and aggravating CODEC briefings. Metal Gear Solid 4 will not change your mind if these two points have turned you off in the past, MGS4 wont solve these problems for you, but it does change up the gameplay in a very significant way for this series.

Hideo Kojima and his team have gone a long way to change things up, mainly the controls, to help players get more of a “pick-up-and-play” feel. There is still however a lot of depth and you will need to hold 2-3 button combinations to go into different modes. On the lower difficulties you will find great success using the Quake “run-and-gun” formula; however, on the harder difficulties you will run into sharper AI that will have no problems flanking you, taking cover, calling for backup and blowing you out of cover. Luckily the AI is not only good when in “aggro” mode, but is also fair when unaware of your position. You can sneak around, eliminate enemies with silenced weapons or your stun knife, break necks, and distract enemies with an assortment of techniques (deploying adult magazines, creating noise etc…). Snake’s new suit is a great part of this, and I also think a great piece of technology: remain still for a few minutes and you will blend into the environment, reducing the chances of being spotted by an enemy; much better than your old, soggy box.

In your arsenal you will have the MKII, your knife and a lot of guns. The MKII is a mini Metal Gear that has a camo capabilities, which you can use as a separate character to sneak up on enemies and give them a lashing to knock them out. The weapon system in MGS4 has also received a great upgrade, in previous Metal Gear Solid games you would have to search the different buildings and rooms for an assortment of weapons necessary to pass through different obstacles. In MGS4 you can pickup any gun in the game from any soldier you take out; one drawback however is that each weapon is linked to the soldiers that use them with their personal IDs. This problem will only plague you for the first portion of the game, because very early on you meet a very comedic weapons dealer who has no problems getting rid of those rotten IDs for a price, also from that point forward if you find weapons that you already have, you can still pick them up and sell them to the dealer for points, which count towards purchasing new weapons, upgrades, ammo and items. Your weapons are all upgradeable, but some are much more limited than others.

The game is set up through five acts, in five significantly different environments that all have very different objectives, weather conditions and enemies that all affect the gameplay. The first two levels are more non-linear, while the last three tend to direct you towards your goals with very linear design. Players will return to familiar locations from past games and all new locations that may or may not leave you wanting more. With that said I do take up issue with the third act of the game: I feel Kojima really slowed down the pacing of the game design in an aggravating way; however, he does end the last act with a very graphically impressive cut scene/battle scene. This act I felt was too long for the minimal amount of gameplay for the stretched out scenes and was the one low point in the game.

You will meet a few new characters in MGS4, some brought in for comic relief, a few which may leave you wondering why they’re even there, and a lot of returning characters, all crucial to the storyline. With all these characters you can expect a handful of boss battles. While a lot of the boss battles in the Metal Gear Solid series have been focused on the story rather then the gameplay, there are a couple in MGS4 that will surprise you with their ingenious design, and will leave you feeling extremely satisfied.

The stories in previous games have been a little odd, at some points while listening to long CODEC messages and watching some very cinematic cut scenes, I found myself thinking that Hideo Kojima could have had a very successful career as an anime director. In MGS4 the CODEC conversations have been been pretty much eliminated; however, there are quite a few cut scenes, long cut scenes, the longest of which runs for about 50 minutes. They have added some gameplay in the few mission briefings however, allowing you to cruise around in the MKII and collect items as you listen to the conversation. I find it hard to believe that a player who is new to the series could play MGS4 and understand any of the plot or references; with that said, however, I still believe they would enjoy it; players of MGS2 will understand most of it, while those who enjoyed all three titles will leave feeling the most satisfied.

The sound design in MGS4 is astounding, the sound team has managed to fill up all the remaining space on the Blu-ray (45-50GB) with uncompressed, 5.1 compatible audio. Just to note I originally played the game in 720p using Logitech 5.1 surround sound speakers, a fair system, and using this system I was in awe of the stunning visuals throughout the entire game, and the awesome sounds of battle, bullets flying by and great voice work. The cut scenes have a sense of style that is hard to be matched by the best Hollywood has to offer, with stunning animations, graphics and voice acting. Snake, voiced throughout the series by David Hayter, is literally a virtual actor, as are a lot of the other characters.

Metal Gear Solid 4, to me is now the pinnacle of video games as an art form, it combines the best of the best visuals and audio, with thrilling visual direction and a very interesting plot. The gameplay is the best you will find in this series, allowing you more options as a sneaking game than any other games in that genre as well as the option to play it in first person (not recommended). Hideo Kojima has created his masterpiece with MGS4, he claims to be done with the franchise, which in my opinion should not continue without him. He is one of the only men in the industry that can get away with some of his design choices, and some of the ones in this game may be misinterpreted. Throw in a complete multiplayer package with a large online community and you have the PS3’s first Halo or Mario-level blockbuster and a reason to pick up the big black George Foreman Grill.

By Evan Doran