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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008) (VG)

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54 out of 57 people found the following comment useful :-
A groundbreaking end to a fantastic series, 14 June 2008

Author: Marijn from Netherlands

Metal Gear Solid 4 is a fantastic experience that combines the medium of game and film in a never before seen way. It tops its predecessors in audio/visual quality as well as in story telling and dialogue, making the whole experience not only more intense and captivating, but also more accessible to a broader audience. It is impossible to compare Metal Gear Solid 4 to any game out to date, and it will surely take a long, long time until anything as good as this comes along again - if it ever happens.

Even more so than the previous Metal Gear Solid games, this last installment rises above its medium, and becomes more than just a game. People have debated over the question whether games can be considered as "art", and while this is all in the eye of the beholder, Metal Gear Solid 4 comes as close to art as any game before. In my view, Metal Gear Solid 4 isn't just art, but it's also one of the finest pieces of art I've ever encountered. It's a masterpiece, a complex and layered experience that will move you on so many levels, in so many ways, and even manages to be unique, new and refreshing. And isn't that what art is all about?

Metal Gear Solid 4 has its minor issues, and surely not everyone will be happy with the directions the story takes. But it is impossible to discard all the fantastic moments this game has to offer because of these (minor) issues.

Metal Gear Solid 4 will forever mark gaming history. It's sad to see the series come to an end, but what an end it is. Thank you mister Kojima, for more than twenty years of incredible and groundbreaking entertainment.

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18 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Is the "can video games be considered art" debate coming to an end?, 24 June 2008

Author: (tyranid_slayer) from United Kingdom

Well it's here Solid Snake ha came back to us after a very lengthy break.

First of all, i have played some metal gear solid games, and vaugly know the story. But for the games release i re-played the previous games.

I'm still half way through playing metal gear but hope it wont end any time soon.

This game is almost beyond words.

When some games try to add a cinematic feel to it they normally fail or don't get the tone right etc. But this game is truly cinematic, the (very lengthy but beautifully done) cutscenes are very well done with some great dialouge and direction. Plus in the game the sound of bullets,bombs and buildings turning into debris truly capture the feel of the game.

The graphics are truly superb the best graphics i've seen in a game since uncharted.

Gameplay. Well the stealth action is still there. But the use of the otocamo is a great feature and works very well. Plus extra kudos go to the characters health. You have three meters in the game; the health meter, psyche meter and stress meter. This works amazingly, if snakes psyche is low then it will affect how quick he heals and if his stress is high it affects his psyche and his game performance. I remember at one point i'd let snakes stress reach quite high and suddenly he stopped moving and threw up. This amazaed me that they put so much thought into how realistic they were going to make this game.

Then there's enemy AI. the AI is unbelievably smart, the smartest enemies since rainbow six vegas. When your stealthing if you move loudly and make a sound then the enemy becomes aware of your presence or if they see the aiming laser from your gun. Also the dead enemies react well with the environment and so does snake. At one point an enemy threw a grenade at me and my body flew through the air and landed sitting up against a box, then my otocamo blended in with the object i was sitting against and the enemies were none the wiser.

Online play. Well once you get past the hassle of making two more accounts to play then the online play is very rewarding. You see the game everyone plays is call of duty 4 and thats it. Yes i loved call of duty for it's cinematic feel and great graphics and very good online play, but i'd become so tired of hearing about call of duty all the time and MGS4 has really stuck it to call of duty.

So. Can this game be considered art? In my opinion, yes, definitely. Not since shadow of the colossus have i loved a game so much and considered it as a piece of art but MGS4 peirces the border of video game and art.

overall:10/10 or if i could:20/10 Finally an exclusive the playstation can be proud of!

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
The Best Series In Gaming Goes Out With A Bang, 12 June 2008

Author: brianbnv00677 from Puerto Rico

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I was able to play MGS4:GOTP before its release and my god is it amazing.Hideo Kojima concludes the series with one of the greatest video-games of all-time.The game is divided into 5 acts.Middle Asia,South America,Eastern Europe,Shadow Moses,and Outer Heaven.The cinematics although sometimes long are the best gaming has to offer.The 69 weapons in the game are all good;and the customization is just overwhelming.You'll be playing it again and again just to try more guns and custimizations.MGS4 has everything going well for it;the graphics,the sound,the animation,the game-play,and especially the story.The boss battles are some of the most dynamic ever in a video-game.The ending,will be a shocker to some,a disappointment to others,and to others it will be good or even great.I can't spoil anything more;that's for you to discover.This is the reason to buy a PS3.If you don't have one go get one just for this game.The ones that have a PS3 have to buy this game even if they're not a fan of the series.MGS4 is not the end of Metal Gear;but it sure is the end of Solid Snake.I give it a 10/10.Best Game I've Ever Played!!!!

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
The Perfect Metal Gear Experience, 16 June 2008

Author: ruddaga from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Possible Spoilers.. I wont try to... but.. :P When i played the first metal gear game i was BLOWN away by the story. It was fantastic, engaging and the characters were all deep and interesting. The control scheme took some getting used to, but before long i was snapping necks/avoiding with the best of them.

Then i cranked MGS2. The games graphics and song grabbed me straight from the start. And although it took some getting used to not being snake, it was an improvement of the first game. Although getting used to the controls was still a bit clunky, you dealt with it cos each bit you made it through unlocked more story. The third one i avoided playing for AGES just cos i didn't like this whole idea of cameo and eating snakes etc.. But when i read who you played as.. I was curious so i cranked it up. Fell in love again with the characters (except Ocelot as a kid.. i mean come on...) But once again.. Controls were still a bit dodge.. To see people coming was always an annoying mix of toggling between views and crawling around.

And lets face it.. In all 3 games previous to 4 the combat had never been the strong suit. So how does 4 compare.

Like... WOW.. Thats all i can say. The title screen ended and i was like "Oh my god.. NO!! HE CANT!! NO!" Then i jumped into the game. After the intro where you can flick through different channels to see the state the world is in.. The game starts.. Graphics - Awesome.. But we all knew that. He hops out of the truck.. And WOW.. THIRD PERSON... Wait.. What? I can see around me.. WHAT THE HELL?!?! And oh my god.. Does this series benefit from the new control scheme.. You now can sneak, fight, run and hide like the snake you've always wanted to be.

At the inclusion of the Octo-Cameo.. I kind of figured at first, lame attempt to mimic the third one without actually changing the stuff in the screen.. Then i realized.. Wait a minute.. This is awesome.. Instead of mucking around in a menu screen for 10 minutes altering my cameo %, lay/push against the wall for 1 second.. bam.. instant cameo. It actually works (even though i know it sounds lame..( really well. Combat is now actually.. (how to put this..) well lets just say you feel like you can actually take on people now (even though you shouldn't be.. SNEAK DAMN YOU!). There's a few other things like the mark 2/3 (which i personally didn't use that much..), The snake eye (really useful binocular/night-vision/radar thing that looks more complicated then it is, learn to use it straight away). A crap load of guns to purchase and find as well... In terms of game play.. This is snake at his best. Anyone whose played and loved one of the others mgs games.. Will simply get goosebumps crawling through the jungle bit stopping at every change of ground to cameo yourself in.

The story? Im of two sides here.. I mean.. It definitely finishes EVERY loose mgs plot that the other games left open (and i mean EVERY..) and the story is epic and grand (although ill admit the music didn't have the same effect on me as the last three games.. gimme the sons of liberty song any day.. doo doo doooooo)But hideo could've easily split the story he put in this one over the course of two games and put in more stuff.. But thats just a fan boy whining cos its over. The ending was predictable to me and if you don't see it coming.. Then shame lol. But yeah.. I cant complain.. Cos i played the game nearly 11 hours straight to finish it up and 8 hours straight when i bought it. I suggest playing it on big boss or at least solid snake. But don't worry about value, you play through again.

So yeah.. Ignoring the gripe i had with the music and nagging "fill the story with EVERY character from the series.." it is definitely the ultimate MGS experience to play. And this will be the game that sells all the ps3s. So yeah... People that don't like this game cant really be called mgs fans, cos even ignoring the story (which is hard to do in this game..) and forgettable music of this particular title.. The game play and graphics are so damn hot you'd be mad to miss it. Also it wouldve been nice if you could choose to install the 20 gigs the game requires.. rather then having to re install it every time.

Enjoy your rest Snake. You've earned it.

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A worthy closure, but yes, a closure., 10 August 2008

Author: Bjarne Andreas Skoveng (Skoveng77@everyday.com) from Norway

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Let me start with the worst first; YES, I HATE THE FACT THAT HIDEO KOJIMA THIS TIME MEANT IT WENT HE SAID THAT HE'S DONE WITH MGS! YES, I HATE THAT SNAKE IS NOT GOING TO BE THE MAIN CHARACTER IN FUTURE MGS GAMES! YES, I HATE THAT MOST OF THE CHARACTERS I LEARNED TO KNOW AND LOVE (Naomi, Vamp, Ocelot) DIED! AND YES, I HATED THAT GREY LITTLE MONKEY-THING THAT DREBIN ALWAYS DRAGGED AROUND WITH HIM!!! Now some more lighter things, but still negative; There was no Demo Theatre, which is really sad considering that the FMVs in MGS4 is absolutely astonishing. If there is any plans of doing a follow-up (like Substance for MGS2 and Subsistence for MGS3), I hope they will include at least that. Furthermore, I didn't care much for the over-linear storyline. From previous MG-games, I've been spoiled to have the freedom to (sometimes) travel all the way back to the start point, and recover items, equipments and weapons I didn't acquire from the start. In MGS4, the story takes place in different places (Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe, Alaska, Pacific Ocean), which makes it very hard to re-trail your own movements to improve your performance. It also give me the feeling that the game is really pushing you forward to complete the story and be done with it, which is also a bit of a bother since the story isn't really that long. Experienced gamers would complete it in just 3-6 hours. Now, finally, the good stuff; There is finally a real explanation to who/what the Patriots are/were! And the revealing of this is so spectacular, so intriguing, such a work of genius that I was really amazed! And the fact that graphic, sound, music and game play, with all its new resources in control and layout, is by no means any disturbance or annoyance. My most blissful moment in the game was when I realized that you could buy and customize weapons, and that just about every weapon in the game are actually real ones. They exist in real life! How cool is THAT? I quite enjoyed the return of several characters such as Naomi, Meryl, Vamp and Raiden (I know I have said in the past that I hate Raiden, but that was because he stole Snake's place in MGS2. Raiden as the NexGen Cy-Ninja is truly an amazing sight and it fits him) because MGS3: Snake Eater and MGS:Portable Ops (Plus), no matter how great they were, took our minds away from the event from our own day and age (well, sort of. Usually the MG/MGS-games was set about 5-10 years into the future from their original release dates). After MGS2, there was a sort of void whereas the progress of the story halted to a complete stop for the fans. But I call this a masterpiece of deception. While the fans are all hung up on how a CIA-agent named Naked Snake became Big Boss, the world's greatest soldier of modern times, along the way creating the prologue of what would become the Patriots, things happened. Snake's body started to break down, Raiden went MIA, EVA hid in Europe, Ocelot at an unidentified location, Rose gave birth to her and Raiden's son, Meryl advanced in the military ranks and found out about her real relation to Roy Campbell, Snake and Otacon took Olga's daughter, which they named Sunny, into their care after Raiden had saved her from some group believed to be the Patriots, Naomi was broken out of military arrest by Ocelot, Liquid finally possessed Ocelot completely, and Snake grew a 'stache. And just like before, Harry Gregson-Williams put his heart and soul into his work when he once again delivered a musical soundtrack that took a good, hard grip of the player's emotion and shook it. Long. And hard. As a prolonged MGS-player, I took great enjoyment in the Shadow Moses level as it was filled with all sorts of nostalgic moments. And personally, I have always wondered what happened to that place after the place was evacuated and shut down in the early 2000s. It was suppose to have been abandoned, right? Well, we were wrong, weren't we!? When I as Snake set foot on that Helipad, and heard the nostalgic voice memories of Snake saying "A Hind D? Coronel, what's a Russian gunship doing here?", I took an overview of the place. It was crumbled down due to 9 years of harsh weather and no maintenance, and as usual, the weather was not welcoming. Truly a sad sight. But still, I was happy. I was home again. Oh yes, I was indeed at home. I also want to mention that due to the lack of a Demo Theatre and the really hurtful realization that Snake indeed will not come back, I would say that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is so definitely the closure we have been waiting for all these years. And the game hints towards future releases. I could not be more satisfied. I take my hat off to Kojima-san, David (Snake AND MR. Hayter), and the Shalashaska for their long and hard work and sacrifices they have made along the way to this point. Stand proud, men. A world of fans salute you.

* (I wrote this review in US Enlish because I'm so sick and tired of the correction program telling me that I misspell words when I type 's' instead of 'z'. Don't blame me for this disrespectful spelling, blame America and the staff at IMDb.com.)

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Truly a fantastic game, 8 July 2008

Author: jpx400 from Sweden

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

After 21 years of great games, Hideo Kojima manages to surpass himself and create a terrific ending to the Metal Gear series.

MGS4 takes place in 2014, 5 years after the Manhattan Incident (MGS2). Since then, the restriction of military intervention on foreign soil has been eased, creating the need for a number of private military companies, PMCs, fighting proxy wars. The five largest PMC:s are owned by Liquid Ocelot (Revolver Ocelot with the mind of Liquid Snake) who is planning to start a war against the Patriots, a mysterious organization which has secretly been controlling the USA since the 1970s. Solid Snake, who is experiencing rapid aging similar to Werner's syndrome, is deployed by Campbell, who now works with the UN in a PMC regulation committee, into the Middle East to assassinate Liquid and save the US once again.

The game is a worthy ending to the series. A lot of glitches have been removed, the game is no longer played from overhead perspective and the cut scenes are better merged with the game and feel almost like movie scenes.

The only thing that I didn't like about the game was the fact that there was no cut scene theater available, like in MGS3. I still think it deserves a full 10, though.

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Solid Snake Bows Out in Style, 23 June 2008

Author: the_super_saiyajin_prince from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

-May Contain Spoilers!- In 1997, Hideo Kojima brought a new style of game to the Sony PlayStation. With that, brought one of PlayStation's most legendary heroes, Solid Snake. MGS was a revolution in the gaming world, MGS2 and MGS The Twin Snakes (GameCubes remake of MGS1) brought even more to the plate. With MGS3, although playing as Naked Snake/Big Boss and not Solid, it was hard to imagine just how much better things could get especially with one of the greatest Metal Gear fights of all time (vs The End).

There was always destined to be a PS3 addition to the series, and MGS4 received more hype than ever, the difference being this game actually lives up to the hype for 95%. There are a few flaws...let's get those out of the way...

Graphics - Now don't get me wrong, they are really quite fantastic, but like Kojima himself I think many were still disappointed at some points.

Cinematics - The cut scenes are really really long and the story telling is heavy at times, although worth watching the first time round just to see how everything gets tied up and such.

Cameras - Very occasionally the camera angles are iffy.

There have been other complaints like it's not "sneaky" enough, which is rubbish. You have two perfectly viable options in getting stuck in or sneaking around perfectly hidden with the help of the rather spiffy Octocamo.

Weapons are a plenty, with some 70 (if you include the online bonus of 1911 and a few unlock-ables). The majority are customisable with at least one item, but over all you can get suppressors, fore-grips, grenade-launchers, under-barrel shotguns, laser sights, dot sights, flash lights and scopes. In addition to all this you get the standard grenades of various kinds, including new sleeping gas satchels and mines and of course...every randy soldier needs PlayBoy.

The story is amazing, and it pretty much captures you completely or it did me anyway. As always, death scenes and sad scenes are emotionally charged and many have said being brought close to tears, especially at the end with Hal & Sunny, and when Snake and Big Boss finally reconcile. Though the story would be half of what it is without it's stunning sound track. The main theme remains with various tweaks and to help out they've brought in tracks from all 3 of the other games for various moments. Is there a new Metal Gear? No, just Geckos to deal with...and you *do* get an awesome battle where you control Metal Gear Rex vs Liquid in a Metal Gear Ray.

Generally there aren't many *new* characters, but it doesn't matter with the quality put into the existing characters. Those that are new involve two team-mates of Meryl's Rat Patrol 01 team, Sunny (Olga's daughter) and Drebin...and his monkey...who acts as MGS4's "Merchant" (similar to Resident Evil 4). Returning characters (other than Hal, Snake and Liquid of course) include Raiden, Rose, Roy Campbell, Naomi Hunter, Vamp and EVA/Big Mama.

I can't comment on MG Online though, as I've not had the access to play it but the comments seem to be positive from others.

This is a game to pick up for sure, well worth the cash and a truly fantastic way to end Snake's story, not to mention bringing an end to the stories of The Patriots, Liquid Ocelot, Vamp/Naomi, Raiden/Rose, Meryl/Johnny and of course Big Boss & Big Mama. The final battle is a huge amount of fun too, even after 6 or 7 times.

--- "This is good, isn't it?" - Big Boss's dying words to Snake.

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2 out of 143 people found the following comment useful :-
wasn't great, 13 June 2008

Author: Matthew Andrewsky

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

wasn't that great i honestly didn't like it i liked 2 a lot more on the ps2 because it was honestly more better in terms of story and plot in this version its just hard to follow and really doesn't do its job grand theft auto had a much better story and it was funny too honestly its a better game in total except for the guns you can have in mgs4 which are cool especially fps mode which is why mgs 1 sucked because you could not do fps mode honestly it would have been better if they added big boss at the start so people would know he was alive and he could team up with snake at the start but what ever its kojimas game honestly this would be better as a movie with mebbe brendan fraiser as solid snake it all depends really if you like mgs then i suppose you can rent this but i honestly didn't think it was that great

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