Title: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (MGS4)
Genre: Stealth Action
Developer: Kojima Productions
Release: 12th June 2008
Platform: Playstation 3 (PS3)

The Good - Outstanding visual and audio presentation. - New Way of playing with the third person camera. - Excellent stealth and action mechanics. - Range of customizable weapons, camouflages and outfits for Snake.

The Bad - Storytelling can sometimes become confusing. (Unless you are familiar with the franchise)

Hideo Kojima once again has delivered a truly mind-blowing sequel to one of the best game series ever created. Metal Gear Solid 4 (MGS4) entitled "Guns of the Patriots" continues Solid Snakes fight against his brother, Liquid Snake who has finally consumed the mind of his host, Revolver Ocelot and becomes Liquid Ocelot. After 'The Big Shell Incident' five years earlier, the world's economy is dependent on war, with the increasing numbers of PMC (Private Military Company) groups, wars between religious groups and similar are becoming more and more dangerous. Each PMC solider is injected with nanomachines which enhances and suppresses skills and feelings on the battlefield. These nanomachines are all controlled by a network of systems called Sons of the Patriots (SOP). Liquid Ocelot is preparing to hijack the system, Snake is requested by his former commanding officer Roy Campbell to hunt down Liquid and assassinate him before he can achieve his goal.

Set in 2014 Solid Snake, now known as 'Old' Snake must embark on a new journey that will lead him around the world to new places and back to some old ones, in order to stop his identical brother Liquid. Liquid plans to hijack the network known as Sons of the Patriots (SOP), which controls the thoughts, feelings and skills of PMC soldiers or anyone who has been injected with nanomachines can also, potentially be controlled by Liquid. Liquids main goal is to destroy the systems which are used and controlled by the Patriots (once a group of 12 men unknown in their origin, they over look and decide all of the major decisions that are announced by world leaders, but as Snake found out at the end of MGS2 the Patriots had been dead for over 100 years, a very accurate and advanced network of AI Systems replaced them) so that he could use SOP to help in his plan to dominate the world. Snake accepts the request given to him by Roy Campbell to track Liquid and assassinate him. The main aim of the game is to play through the levels without alerting the enemy and achieving your objective for the section you are completing using cunning and stealth, but in this an all new look to the MGS series a third person perspective or OTS (Over-The-Shoulder) is used instead of the traditional birds-eye type view that is usually incorporated into the MGS games, which changes the way the game plays completely, fire fights are more of a heart-pounding experience than they ever have been before. Rather than the simple stand and shoot, the enemy dynamics will react to how you fight, for example while you're in cover gunning down enemies a small squad may circle round and try to flank you or find a better vantage point to attack you from. The enemies won't just stand, shoot and hope that their bullets hit their target, they will use cover in the environment around them, which tends to be any cover that is available to you, the player, as well.

Most of the game is just playing through the main storyline (singleplayer), which has 5 levels/Stages which Snake must navigate through in order to finally stop and defeat Liquid. As not to spoil the game I'm going give examples of some of the goals and objectives Snake must complete to precede to the through the game. Stage 1, set in the Middle East Snake arrives in the middle of a war between the local militia and PMC troops. Snake's first objective is to get in contact with his trusty friend Otacon to receive his equipment for the mission, as Snake has infiltrated the battlefield by posing as a member of the militia he has no equipment except for his stun knife. After the gameplay starts Snake is still in disguise proceeds through the chaos of the battlefield to reach the other side, as you move through the chaos of the PMC and militia and are approaching the exit to this area, the huge walking computer that is the GEKKO, an armoured, unmanned walker armed with two .50 Cal mounted machine guns. Controlled by a very advanced computer brain they are one of the most formidable enemies Snake will face. You must try to find a way to move around these beasts either with or without getting spotted, obviously being spotted is going to be difficult considering you only have limited equipment and cover. This small section is basically to allow the player to get used to character movement and basic actions (e.g. snap to walls). Also this being the one of the shortest sections within the game, and being the opening section, the opening credits are displayed during the extremely long and boring cutscenes (if you are as hardcore a fan as me, some may find interesting to watch). Overall an average opening section to and MGS game: basic actions tutorial, no equipment, perhaps 1 or 2 enemies and the opening credits.

With each difficultly setting (Easy, Normal, Hard, Extreme) the game becomes a new challenge, depending on which difficultly you play will affect the enemies e.g. Number of soldiers, the intensity of the patrols Snake can encounter, but by playing on other difficulties more rewards and rankings become available, e.g. Stealth gadget, basically lets Snake become invisible while you have it equipped. Your rank for finishing the game (usually with certain conditions) is decided by different types of emblem e.g. Assassins emblem - Beat the game with 50+ knife kills, 50+ CQC holds, and 25 or less alerts.

A new multiplayer feature to the MGS series is the introduction of the newly developed Metal Gear Online (MGO), it was only a matter of time before Konami realised the popularity of online play, games like Ghost Recon and SOCOM take up the majority of the third person online genre so Konami came up with their own plans for the online community, MGO was born. MGO opens the world of MGS4 and puts it online with up to 16 players in a bunch of different game types ranging from the traditional deathmatch and team deathmatch to other more advanced game modes that are exclusive to MGO such as the sneaking mission mode where one player is elected Snake while the others are enemy soldiers. Snake's objective is to collect 3 dog tags by searching bodies, by doing this Snake wins the match. The other players, the enemy soldiers are trying to stop Snake from completing his objective by ether killing him a set amount of times or keeping the tags away from Snake for the set amount of time. The controls for all of this are relatively simple, L3 to move the character, R3 controls the camera and most of the other controls are self explanatory, the same as you would expect from any other game of the genre (e.g. Ghost Recon, SOCOM). My personal opinion of this game type isn't the greatest, with one player as Snake and with another 9-15 as the enemy soldiers. Unless the player is extremely skilled at the game then it is very rare that Snake wins the round. Personally I find this game type to be every boring, as most of the time, Snake or the enemy soldiers are just wondering around aimlessly, and if this game type continues for 10 minutes then that a long time to just be simply wondering around.

Now for some visuals, MGS has always pleased fans with its visuals and graphics and this time around Konami have gone above and beyond, you'll think that you're watching a movie. MGS4 is one of the most visually stunning games ever created and after being in production for nearly 4 years I should hope so. Firstly the environments, considered to be photo realistic, the buildings and environmental objects within the game world are very much real e.g. dumpsters, barrels, vehicles and the buildings around the stages. The theme isn't continuous throughout the game, but within each of the five stages different themes are portrayed, e.g. stage one, Middle Eastern desert village/small town, guerrilla warfare and modern day. The building, ground/terrain and object textures continuity with each other gels extremely well. Each level, depending on location of the level (Desert, Urban etc.). All of the building textures match the environments, e.g. desert environment, yellow/khaki coloured buildings and objects.

Along with the type of weapons ('Black-Market', 'Military Grade' etc.), militia and PMC soldiers the theme is entirely independent from other stages. The shading and toning in the stages is also relevant to the theme/s e.g. Khakis/Khaki from the buildings and walls to the clothes and armour of the soldiers, all of the colours are in-sync with the contrast of the level (Colour etc.). Enemy soldiers are wearing a camouflage relative to the environment, this shows more tactical awareness and makes it seem as though the AI is more advanced and more realistic.

The models are one of the most pleasing visuals in the game, whether you're looking at Soft-body models such as Snake, Militia and PMC, hard-body models such as vehicles and weapons or the styling of environment you're always going to be stunned at the careful detail and 'craftsmanship' that has been put into them e.g. Snake's sneaking/muscle suit, the detail in his combat gear and the muscle effect of the suit is exquisite. Along with this comes the lighting and other visual effects e.g. water.

The lighting within each level is top-notch, each shadow from a soldier, each ray of sunlight shining through some foliage and the flash from a torch attachment on a weapon, the effect is pin-point and pretty much exactly as it would be in real time dynamic lighting. Other effects in the game such as water and wind direction (mainly stage two) are just mind blowing, the realism of the waterfalls and the effect of the wind on trees, grass and bushes, each one just as amazing as the next. These effects play a vital role in the way the finished product plays out, and how it feels when you play it. All the weathering effects make the game feel more realistic, gives the game more atmosphere making it more dramatic during game play. For example, a small confined space will look dark, damp and cold, and when you fire a few rounds off the echo heard from the gun and the muzzle flash creates a very tense and highly strung atmosphere very quickly. This makes the transition from a dark, dank, silent passage way to an echoing battle ground have even more impact.

Now for the HUD, one of the most important parts within a game is the heads up display (HUD) the player is in contact with it throughout the majority of the gameplay so if the HUD is unattractive or to complicated then the player is going to find it ether to difficult or to much bother to play and are therefore going to end up being bored and disappointed with the game (which we all know MGS has never been any of these). The HUD in MGS4 is the usual, two small semi-transparent windows in both of the bottom corners of the screen, left showing current item equipped and the right showing current weapon equipped. The life/psyche gauge which is in the top left and the radar (when the Solid Eye item is equipped) which is in the top right. This is the regular setup for most MGS games throughout the series and has always seemed to fit the bill when it came to developing the next sequel. Small changes throughout the series such as colour and visual styling e.g. MGS1 used a very simple square radar showing all walls and pathways in the environment. Where as MGS4 uses a round radar that only shows what seems to resemble the heart beats of nearby animals and people, no walls or doorways are shown in any way.

Personally I give this game a 10/10 on visual and graphical content, another solid 10/10 on gameplay and a 9/10 on story, the reason for this is that the game although offers outstanding visuals and gameplay, the story can sometimes confuse the player, especially if he/she is a first time noob to MGS. Overall MGS4 is a must have for all you MGS fans out there and of course anyone who appreciates games where a few pulls of a trigger, throwing of a few grenades or stealthy subtle approach is favoured. A visually stunning, fast paced, action adventure that completely blows its predecessors out of the water.