I finally beat: Metal Gear Solid 4 – Guns of the Patriots

“Old Soldiers don’t die, they develop nanomachine virii, rapid aging disease, get shot, eletricuted, blown up, strangled, set on fire, and then…”

And then they do it again.  Well, that’s what I’ll be doing once Metal Gear Solid 4 gets trophy support.  Guns and equipment carry from New Game to New Game+.  It’ll be quite fun unlocking the last few guns I didn’t find or buy the first time around, and using the late game weaponry in the early levels.  There are more guns in MGS4, with more options, with greater firepower, than Army of Two.  Or most any other game.  And this is a game where the entire play-through, minus boss fights, can be beaten without killing a single person.

I beat this game awhile ago.  It was the beginning of the long silence of gaming related posts on this blog.  This was due to the fact that I beat the whole game in about a week when I got it.  Each time I would sit down, I’d have to decide between writing about MGS4, or just playing it some more.  Writing about it would have been a 10-15 minute break.  A break I never took.

Convoluted story, over-acted cinematics, and interrupted gameplay can’t ruin the excellent gameplay.  As much stealth or action as you’d like.  And that’s assuming you haven’t grown endeared towards the Metal Gear Solid cast over the last 10 years.  Any fan of the series will enjoy the ‘negatives’ above due to the huge amount of fan service.  Many make return apperances, and Solid Snake himself returns to the screen as the main character.  Codec conversations are actually at an all time low.  Most don’t interrupt gameplay, and just narrate over the current actions on screen.  There are only two people to call, which is actually dissapointing since the optional conversations in MGS3 were often hilarious and entertaining.

The controls have been reworked to be similar to Splinter Cell or the redone Metal Gear Solid 3 Re-release controls.  They work well, and it’s fun to run, hide, CQC, and shoot your way through the levels.  Left Button pulls up your gun, Right Button shoots.  Without Left Button, Right Button controls CQC/Melee. Though, I could not find the Break Neck button that MGS1-3 had.  That always gave the game a bit of hard-core action movie feel.  The squad-based AI of the enemies and new manuvers Snake has at his disposal, however, are still incredibly fun to play with.

Some of the boss fights don’t feel quite as epic, but that’s because MGS1’s have always been a hard act to follow.  Great graphics and sound round out the package.

Overall, MGS4 is a great game.  It isn’t quite as good if you haven’t played MGS1 and MGS2, however, since the story is so fan-service based.  Playing or watching MGS3 cinematics is also extremely beneficial.  If you aren’t a fan of the series, the game won’t sway you.  However, if you simply haven’t played them (or just kinda played them), you should give the MGS1,2 another go.

The plot can’t really be discussed here.  But, while it has some problems here and there, it is suitably a big-budget action movie.  It sets up some great set peice battles and is fun to watch.

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Or just skip straight to 4 and MST3k the story.  The gameplay is there regardless of the plot.