It has been roughly 6 and a half long years since the pivotal and sometimes downright confusing opus that was Metal Gear Solid 2 graced home consoles, and in that time, we’ve gone back to the past to rediscover the origins of the franchise (MGS3: Snake Eater), and even seen some portable ops added to the mix.

On June 12 2008, Konami finally released the long awaited Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for what is to be (if we are to believe Hideo Kojima) the series’ swan song. So how does the latest entry into the series fare? And can it be the system seller that Sony has been awaiting for the last 2 years.

Story

The Metal Gear franchise has been famous for extraordinarily convoluted storylines with non-stop twists and turns in the plot, that often times make no sense. Guns of the Patriots is no exception. However, in this latest iteration, it can sometimes become even more confusing as the writers struggle to tie up all the loose ends they’ve created in the last 20 years or so of Metal Gear games.

There are some brilliant plot points to be had and some very touching dialog at times. Unfortunately, the few great moments there are don’t make up for the incredibly cheesy dialog and spaghetti-like story line. Just when you think you’ve finally got a grasp on what’s going on, it’s like the writers couldn’t figure out what to do next and just drew a card to see where they should take the story. In the end, it all ties together, but a lot of it is a real stretch. But then again, this IS a Metal Gear Solid game, and this has come to be expected.

It must be said though that once you get through the game, even with some of the mind boggling twists and turns, you get a feeling of closure and satisfaction to a series that has been one of the most influential in the video game industry. You may even shed a tear or two.

Gameplay

It has often been said that a person either likes Metal Gear, or they don’t. This latest entry is no different. Those expecting new revolutionary game play will be sorely disappointed.

I must also point out that Guns of the Patriots is one of those games that is more interactive movie at times than video game. It has a habit of wrestling control from you before you embark on any significant activity, which at times is a problem because it will take you out of the “moment”. The other really annoying thing with these cinematics, is that the game will always switch your weapon to the either the default handgun or machine gun (depending on what’s going on). This means that once the cinematic is over (and most often than not, you are now in a fight for your life) one of your currently equipped weapons has been removed and replaced with the default armament that was featured. This forces the player to re-open the start menu and swap out weapons every single time there is a cinematic. This is simply atrocious, especially considering that the entire thing is done in game. They could have just as easily used the currently equipped weapons.

The brunt of the game play comprises many of the existing mechanics from previous Metal Gear games that have been tweaked to perfection, such as the Octocamo, which builds upon the camouflage system developed for Snake Eater. The other great feature of the game is the ability to play in a multitude of styles. Players are no longer bound to strict stealth game play and can go in guns blazing if that’s what they like.

Shooting has been much improved and the over the shoulder camera helps really give an overall view of the surroundings.

The psych element is new for this outing, but can pretty much be ignored for most of the game. The only thing it will do is make it more difficult to aim. This will become a problem if you rely heavily on precision-based weapons such as sniper rifles, but can easily be remedied by using one of a multitude of items to be found, or just waiting around and letting Snake calm down.

The only real problematic mechanic is the Close Quarters Combat (CQC) system. Depending on what weapon you have equipped, how close you are to the enemy or how the enemy is positioned, CQC can be incredibly hit or miss. There are moments when you do everything right, and it still won’t work like you want it to, which can become problematic at times in some of the later parts of the game.

Graphics

Graphically, Guns of the Patriots is a gem. The team at Konami has really managed to get a hold of the PS3′s complex architecture and make the best of it, something that very few developers have managed to do yet.

The game plays at a rock solid frame rate and the level of detail/variety of textures is staggering. It’s good to see someone taking advantage of all that space on the BluRay disc.

Particles, explosions, and various dust effects are incredibly well rendered with the proper lighting and high resolution one would expect from such a blockbuster title. Enemies are incredibly detailed and there can be a good number of them on-screen at the same time. Environments are beautiful and often very realistic, and the variety of different locals is greater than in all of the other games to date.

The only issues seen with the graphics was during the cinematics. The blurring algorithm used to create the focus of the camera often times comes through incredibly pixilated (at least this was the case on my 1080p television). Also, the edges of the characters face and hair will often have transparency issues, stemming from a bad alpha blend with the background. But these few items do nothing to take away from the beautiful graphics that Metal Gear Solid 4 has to offer.

If this is what Konami can do with its first major outing on the platform, it’ll be interesting what they will come up with in the future.

Sound

Metal Gear has always been one of those games that have a score fit for a movie and Guns of the Patriots is no exception. There are times when you will think you are watching a high budget movie. This is a game that is worth investing in a good home theatre system for.

Apart from the monumental soundtrack, the team at Konami also decided to throw in some bonuses for fans of the series. One of the items Snake has in his inventory is an iPod, which can be used in lieu of the in game score. Music for the iPod can be found throughout the game, or downloaded from the extras section and mainly consists of remixed music from prior titles (even those in the 80s). It’s a nice bit of fan service which adds another aspect of collection to the game.

The sound effects and voice acting are also superbly done (even with the b-movie dialog) and always feel like they belong. There are no “canned” sounds to be found here.

Final Verdict

Metal Gear Solid 4 is a phenomenal game that is easily one of the best to be found on the Playstation 3. Fans of the series are in for the best title to ever come out of the Metal Gear franchise. Those who are unfamiliar with it can still enjoy a very good interactive cinematic experience. Even those who did not enjoy previous outings in the series might find something to like here. This is a definite buy for anyone with a Playstation 3.

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