Today was the 20th anniversary celebration for Metal Gear. New stuff was shown, including Metal Gear Online (I signed up for the beta), Metal Gear Solid Mobile (looks lame), and new info on the Metal Gear PSP expansion, Portable Ops +. While that was all nice, the best thing was the presentation for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

First of all, Eva was revealed to be featured in this installment. Since this game takes place 50 years after Snake Eater, she looks a lot older. I wonder if her and Old Snake will be friends or enemies. Guess I'll have to wait to find out.

At the event, Kojima showed off 15 minutes of himself playing the game. Needless to say, I thought that it looked amazing. If I didn't, why would I be writing this blog? And although my opinion is quite biased because I am a fan of the series (and because I love Kojima's boogers), I think it looks cool any way you look at it. The camera is awesome- a fully controllable 3rd person camera, with over-the-shoulder or first-person aiming, will let people play the way that they want to. Everything looks extremely sharp, with awesome realistic effects such as depth-of-field (like the blur when you zoom in and out really fast) and the screen shaking with explosions. The sound is also top-notch, with bullets whizzing past your head and bombs that sound like they blew up right in your face.

Snake has a lot of cool new techniques, like rolling sideways, throwing things behind him, new CQC moves, and the ability to hide in dumpsters and barrels. His sneaking animation is new, with him crouching down when he walks so nobody sees him. His Octo-Cam is also an awesome new addition- its texture changes to match that of his surroundings so that he can blend in. His arsenal seemed to be the same as always, with his MKII, Mosin Nagant, AK-47, and RPG-7 ready to use. His knife was different, however, since it had the ability to stun enemies with an elctrical shock.

I did not like two aspects of Old Snake. First, the thin white circle that surrounds him is very annoying. I don't even know what it's used for, but it bothers me. Second, I dont like how Snake's crack sticks out so much. It looks like a black strap is going through it and making his cheeks stand out. Neither of these are too important, but they kind of took away from the experience for me.

This version of Metal Gear looks like it's going to be extremely fun to play. Since it's set in the middle of a war, you can choose which side you want to assist (if any). The battles look intense, with people getting killed and explosions going off all around you. One particularly crazy scene is when pterodactyl-esque flyers come in to bomb one of the armies. A building in the distance is hit by one of their bombs and it crumbles realistically, with huge amounts of dust flying in the air from it. With details like that, the battles in Guns of the Patriots are going to be like nothing the Metal Gear series has ever seen.

I am extremely pleased after seeing this gameplay video because it reinforces my theory that Metal Gear Solid 4 will be one of the first amazing games of this generation. Everything looks so good about it: awesome graphics, superb sound, tight controls, and a (hopefully) great story. Thinking about it just makes the wait for the beginning of next year that much harder.