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Metal Gear Solid IV — Guns of the Patriots

Tactical Espionage Action

Published by: Konami
Developed by: Kojima Productions
Genre: Third-Person Action
Number of Players: 1
Release Date:
US: June 12, 2008
Japan: June 12, 2008
Europe: June 12, 2008
Australia: June 12, 2008
MSRP: $59.99 USD
ESRB Content Descriptors: Blood, Crude Humor, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

A man’s feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world. -George Santayana

RISE UP!
And look at the ongoing wars between good and evil through Snake’s eyes. You will see desperation, determination, inspiration and overall patriotism.
I don’t know about you but, I am a big fan of the old coming and going Snake Series. The first ever Metal Gear Solid was good, had various glitches, and the graphics back in the days were worth the game.
As a new era begins for our hero Snake, so does it for us gamers, as Konami brings us to another great year with a world breaking in graphics technology with MGS 4 - Guns of the Patriots.

Overall Game Play:
I have gotten the time to go through most of the story line in MGS (PS3), and I have go to say this, Konami has done it again for our Patriotic Hero.
Snake is back in Action, six years into the future when the war between the Good and Evil has ranged far to supreme for the Naval / Army forces, thus, they have called in our great hero out of retirement just for one last mission, to find and assassinate once and for all Liquid Ocelot, the head of five of the largest PMCs in the world.
Old and Rusted maybe some of the words that we use when we are over the age limit and are constantly aging due to cellular degeneration, but, those they have no meaning to Solid Snake. His smoking, constant denial of recoveries from past missions, and environmental factors due to Age, are still keeping our hero going into the hands of Liquid Ocelot, and defeating him once again in his own backyard.

Another good part about this game is the game play (off course you would say what else? But, in the past some games have had much better storyline / cinematics than their game play) This game kills every other fighting, tactical, first person shooter, action, violence, humor, and any other desciptions you can find, game out there. From the second you begin the game, till the second you finish, you are going to extraordinary styles of combat, using much more advanced and well developed weapon systems, and the best part, the same old, yet somehow stronger, enemies who know you from the inside out.

My favorite part of the game is the shooting. As I said you use much more advanced weapon systems than usual, hence, you get more ammo, clear aiming at your enemies for head shots (even though sometimes they fail) and re-using the bets gun of them all, STUN! My brother and I had loads of fun just toying with our enemies, while, going through the storyline.

The game is not mostly based on its storyline & shooting as it has much more than that offer the players, & Snake Fans and for our sakes Konami has Outdone itself in this one folks.
As going through the story line or just regular fighting, you will see that each and every explosion you go through, each and every bullet you fire you get recoil. Yes! you heard it right, first game after a long time, which gives us the real things. Environmental effects pop up from no where during the game play as you can see pints of dirt coming up and residing on your screen, raindrops dropping through the sky and falling on your screen / camera, scraps of metal flying through the air and falling next to you during an explosion and Snake trying his best to live on and avoid those small environmental effects. The realism factors are outsmarted in this game as every new chapter of Snakes ongoing life is revealed to us.

Overall, I would say that the realism factor that we were looking for in this Series has been outdone and has reached beyond our expectations. The storyline is awesome indeed, and the Old Solid Snake is back in action with one of the greatest hits of the summer.

Ranking: 11 / 10 (simply because I love the MGS Franchise)
+ Story Line
+ Realism Factor
+ Same old Snake
+ New Tactics
+ / - Some Glitches….(kind of in the middle…the ones I found are the ones you can actually laugh while going through…but not that many..as I heard)
- … you tell me.

Graphics: (the reason to buy this game)
In the past, if you remember, the Last MGS 3 wasn’t really that heart breaking in graphics now was it? Well as this new chapter is born out of determination, you will see that the graphics level of this game has gone off the charts. Konami has pumped this bad boy game with enough smoothness that you can’t tell the difference between the graphics of your character (Snake) during gameplay and during Cinematics Sequence.

Then again lets say it once more, no game is perfect in game play, as the bits and pieces of the code are mostly lost in the production during the writing process.
Yet, somehow this game manages to get the best part of the graphics and provide the players with an amazing blend of real life 3D along with lots and lots of (Houdini Master) Visual Effects during the Cinematics Sequence.

The enemies you shoot, the smoke, the fire, the sweat, everything seems so real in this game and it is not a joke. It is all so real.
If you ever watch the movie Beowulf (which I haven’t, but there is always Internet), you will see that this game comes very close (during game play) to the actual CG Sequences of that film.

The joy of the game is the explosions, and the shooting. Every time you pull that trigger or push that button, you are being sucked into the Snake’s world where every damn thing in front of you is another helpful weapon to destroy the means of Liquid Ocelot.
But never forget folks, when going into an all out war, remember to pack some cartons of cigarettes, as you will need them…

Ranking: 10 / 10
+ Awesome In-Game Graphics
+ Lovely Cinematics
+ Real time 3D During Game Play
- I hate his new suit….
- .. list them if you can find some..

Music / Sound:
I am not that picky about the sound since all I care about is the shooting and blowing up stuff around me, but I have got to admit, some of the sound tracks in this game have gotten my utter attention (that is not what you get most of the time from me). One of the best songs of the MGS Series is the “Love Theme” which is “haunting and melodic with a tone that evokes loss and remembrance, this song feels rather appropriate for the sentiment of this title.”¹
The soundtrack delivers the breath taking and heart breaking times that Snake had to stand up and take control.
If you ever get a chance to play this game, make sure that you keep an EAR out for the sounds surrounding you, because you might not know when you might fall in love with some of the great soundtracks in this Multimedia Game. And no matter how hard you try to get rid of the voice of snake, it will haunt your head forever as a memory of the greatest patriot fighter you have ever seen…or in this matter of fact played as…

Ranking: 10 / 10
+ Awesome Voice - Overs
+ Great Soundtrack
+ Same old Classic Music
- … post..

Overall Ranking: 10.5 / 10 (Deserves 5 + 2 Stars)
A MUST BUY!!
Lets go over this again shall we? No game in the history can ever have a perfect overall score, because no matter how hard the editors and game makers try, there are things that happen which we cannot stop, like glitches that only take place on a few CD’s due to production. But this game no matter what glitch you find or what sequence you go through, just bursts out to you.
Konami has taken a huge step leap forward with their MGS Series, and I cannot wait for what they have in store for us as our hero Solid Snake is becoming Old, & Tired.

Remember to get yourself a cigarette or two before going out in the open for an all out war…

Written by: Zain Abidi