Finally, a true sequel to Metal Gear Solid 2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was a damn good prequel that shed light on some mysteries from both MGS1 and MGS2, but there was still too much stuff unresolved from MGS2. No. 1 on the list: What's the deal with Ocelot and his arm being Liquid Snake? Series creator Hideo Kojima promised that MGS2 and MGS3 would each be his last MGS game, but he promises that this is really is the last one. Seriously. Storywise, we know that Snake meets up with Otacon and Roy Campbell and is called to the Middle East to confront Liquid Ocelot once and for all.
Who's making it?
After teasing fans that he'd retired from the series after MGS3, Kojima and his team are once again taking care of Snake, who's aged rapidly due to imperfect cloning technology and is now "Old Snake." Also of note is the presence of codirector Shuyo Murata, who worked on the fantastic Zone of the Enders 2 and also did the Guy Savage minigame in MGS3 (you know, the creepy dream sequence). Since Kojima's team squeezed out an amazing-looking jungle for MGS3, we can be fairly confident that they'll do similarly awesome work on the PS3.
What's the big deal?
Er, well, it's the next Metal Gear Solid. Even with a choppy framerate, the trailer's still one of the best-looking things on the PS3 to date. Kojima declined to talk about gameplay much, and we figure that he'll wait until either Tokyo Game Show 2006 or even E3 2007 before showing real in-game stuff--the trailer he showed at E3 this year was focused on establishing the mood and setting of MGS4. For example, the dominant theme is the use of private military contractors (Outer Heaven turns out to be the largest PMC in the world) and the increasing control of the private sector in war. A lot of MGS3's story dealt with the nature of patriotism, and MGS4 presents a stark contrast to that: The PMCs are so powerful that conflict is now based on business and profit instead of nationality or patriotism.
One thing Kojima did show in the trailer was a new gameplay mechanic known as "Octo-Cam": When Snake leans against a wall or lies prone on the ground, his camouflage suit automatically changes color to conceal him with whatever he's touching. Kojima elaborates: "In MGS3, the camouflage was like a chameleon--you selected the color of your skin to match the background. But an octopus is able to change both its color and its texture--hence, Octo-Cam. In previous MGS games, you were always hiding behind something, but in MGS4, you're dropped in the middle of a war zone. There might not be a wall to hide behind, and the concept of MGS4 is 'no place to hide,' so with Octo-Cam, you can now _hide anywhere."
Also, Raiden appears in the trailer in a scene reminiscent of Gray Fox/Cyborg Ninja in MGS1, where Raiden, as a badass cyber ninja, takes out a large group of Metal Gears. Kojima comments: "Raiden is actually a popular character in Japan--but obviously, he wasn't very popular in Europe or the U.S. I don't think his character was well translated back in MGS2, so we didn't change his character; we've changed your perception of his character. By making him look cool but also unplayable, you watch him and you go, 'Ah, I want to play as Raiden!'"
Is there anything to worry about?
Not much--except for, well, the actual game itself. And the ever-present concern that a Metal Gear title's talk-to-game ratio will lean heavily toward the "talk" side.
