Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)
26 June 2008
4 Comments
Just played through MGS4. What a time we live in. What did I think? Well, lemme tell ya…
I’ll try not to spoil anything, but it’s hard not to, so read at your own risk. MSG4 truly has some of the most amazing graphics I’ve seen. It’s quite interesting to see this game and GTA4 (Grand Theft Auto 4) come out almost back to back. I can see the strengths and weaknesses of each of the design teams. MGS4 seems to get the details in human hair much better, while GTA4 seems better at modeling the mouth. All considered, I’d actually give the nod in graphics to GTA4, believe it or not. GTA4 has a grittier feel and the use of blur and lighting give a more realistic feel. But that doesn’t make GTA4 a better game. In fact I haven’t even completed the story mode of GTA4. Let’s just say that I played through GTA3 with such high intensity and such a strong appetite, that I was fully satisfied. However, GTA4 simply seemed a better GTA3, which I was already satisfied with. Given that, I didn’t have the appetite to play through it completely (yet).
Not true for MSG4. I couldn’t stop playing it, and not surprisingly, I’m already playing through it again. This is something I find in common with Hideo Kojima games. He makes them so that they are playable over and over. I’m still trying to figure out why, but I think part of it is the amazing boss fights. Metal Gear Solid 4 has some truly awesome boss fights. I’d say my favourite is the fight with Crying Wolf in a blizzard on Shadow Moses Island. Damn the Shadow Moses Island act made me sentimental of MGS. It was 10 years ago I played that game, and I was in college. So I have some damn good memories attached to that game, and to relive it in a sense through this new game in 2008 is nice. But that’s a different feeling than excited, or amazed. In a way, it was a nostalgic moment rather than a leap forward with both feet screaming “better to burn out than fade away!” which I would have preferred. But that’s just me. Maybe you won’t be nostalgic like me.
Everything about MSG4’s presentation is polished and cutting edge, it’s true. But I’ll admit that I wish the game had about 3-4 more hours of gameplay in the story and a couple more bosses. If it had that, it might match the legendary level of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which is the truest MGS masterpiece I’ve seen from Kojima. Metal Gear Solid 3 has everything I want in a game, including the best boss fights in a game ever. If you played the game, then you know how badass it was sniper vs. sniper fighting with “the End” for the first time. You also know how sweet your female mentor, The Boss, was. She was the most badass female archenemy of all time. And the memorable final battle with her at the finale of Snake Eater was the pure money shot of a orgasmic game. It just doesn’t get better, not that MGS4 doesn’t try.
There are some really slick moments in MGS4, and since I haven’t played the online mode yet, perhaps there is another whole dimension to this game I haven’t seen yet. One comment I’d like to humbly make to Hideo Kojima is that he and Fumito Ueda need to collaborate. Fumito Ueda is a very different game maker - his games have little dialogue and little story, kind of like the movie Conan the Barbarian, but wonderfully immersive worlds and gameplay. Kojima on the other hand, has wonderfully immersive gameplay and mechanics, but the most overwhelming amount of storyline I’ve ever seen or heard. I simply cannot follow the story of any of the Metal Gear Solid games. Even if you feel you understand the premise of Metal Gear Solid (PS), by the next game, your understanding is turned on it’s head and what you thought you knew is wrong. And every game added to the series, all your previous knowledge is worthless. It’s like some nightmare revisionist history. I’m not even sure why I should bother following. I’ll just cling to my controller and sneaking skills and put the bosses to bed over and over and enjoy the gameplay.
MGS4 has hours of video. It’s amazing just how much story this guy can conjure up. I could imagine a game with a beautifully simple storyline like Ico, and the epic moments of a Kojima game. Imagine. But I digress from my daydream…
I must admit that I was disappointed with the fact that you couldn’t have Mei Ling coo in your ear throughout this adventure. Damn Mei Ling has big hands! Tell me I’m wrong. The fact that Snake was old and is knocking at death’s door in the game actually brought some good stress into the game. It reminds me of Shinobi (PS2) where you must slay enemies to satiate your demon sword which possesses you with the life force to animate your body. Games with the sense of “final mission” bring a dramatic suspense that is sometimes difficult to create. Great technique.
There is an amazing amount of weapons in MGS4. By the end of the game you could literally be an international arms dealer. I think for the online version of the game, this is great, but for the story mode, isn’t there something to say about a game where it’s just you and your one Mk.23 with the silencer and your wits? I admire games which make you work super super hard for that simple weapon that most game spoon feed you. MGS made it much harder to make ends meet. MGS4 is an orgy of weapons.
I think MGS4, all in all, has what it takes to become a classic part of the MGS library. It isn’t the strongest entry in the series in my opinion, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. MGS3 takes the crown. MGS takes the silver. MGS4 take the bronze.
Still, I’d strongly recommend buying the game. Enjoy!
Links:
MGS4 Documentary:
Part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id-oorRqXpE&feature=related
Part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIvi6P0BKvU&feature=related
Part3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsOYIEL3L30&feature=related
Part4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwU5aNkcGsU&feature=related
Part5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXeaqW17jw4&feature=related
Part6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzOwTkXYf0A&feature=related
Part7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpMPHPalHmQ&feature=related
Part8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9izazCEYzk&feature=related
Part9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrIs9gCDDho&feature=related
Part10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnGjQouUXfM&feature=related
great review!
And I’ll agree the Crying Wolf fight was great, but if you’ve lived through the series, how could the final fist fight not get the mention? Of course you had to know it was coming, but the change in the music, energy bars, and even their stances made that inevitable confrontation unfold to surprise me. At that point (It was, oh, 1 am and I had been playing since the start of the Shadow Moses act) I was so wrapped up in the moment that I didn’t even think “oh, I wonder what song will play for the next part?”
Props for mentioning The Boss. I rate her as the top female video game character of all time. You can’t call her an ‘archenemy’ though. She may have been the antagonist, but it was her mission to defect, and amazing as she was, she was loyal to the end. And you mentioned the fight with her, were you worried you would have to make Solid/Old Snake pull the trigger on himself, much like the player had Naked Snake finish off The Boss?
Your detriments to it are fair. The storyline is convoluted, but give Kojima credit for tying up every loose thread, The last couple of acts go by quick too. There’s one good way to extend the Shadow Moses act though, and one i missed on my first play through. Codec Otacon repeatedly in each new room. He and Snake will reminisce about the MGS1 experience, even breaking their serious attitudes for a minute to joke about things like “Snake, you took down a tank! on foot!”. Oh, and I didn’t notice Mei Ling’s gorilla hands, but it did jump out that she’s been spending too much time on the mainland, her accent’s almost gone!
Last, although I never played Shinobi it reminded me of a game series on the PS1 worth mentioning because it share the same sword-stealing-life-posssessing-you-feed-it-to-power-you idea. It’s actually two series under the “Legacy of Kain” banner. In the first you’re Kain, a vampire warrior who become King vampire with the help of the soul reaver, a weapon that, well, sucks of blood and holds souls. In the second series it’s a thousand years or so after, And Kain has all but eliminated humans. Now you play as Raziel, a soldier of Kain struck down because he evolved vampire powers before his master. I won’t ruin the big twist but, after four or so games, the series merge, and Kain, wielding the reaver in it’s physical form, faces off with Raziel, who now holds the weapon in a spiritual form. Good set of games, not “Zelda” or “Metroid” in gameplay, but it had some interesting storylines that I always appreciated.
Keep up the good work Cameron. I’m going to read your other posts on here (tell whoever’s in charge to get that ‘archive’ link working’)
1 July 2008 at 9:42 pm