MGS4: First impressions

• Pipomantis
• Friday, September 21, 2007 | 3:30 AM
• 22 comments

PS3

DISCLAIMER: Warning, this article is written by a real Metal Gear Solid fanboy, the kind of guy that can wait for seven hours under snow to get Hideo Kojima signing his NES copy of Metal Gear that he bought at a crazy high price. So he'll try to be as unbiased as possible, but it won't be easy.


It was here. It was waiting for me. Showing of with its 50 sparkling screens, it was defying me. "It" was the Metal Gear Solid 4 booth. This was the game I was expecting since... let's say... the end credit of Metal Gear Solid 3. In before anything, let's say it: the game will be huge for the Metal Gear saga fans. I just played for five minutes, but I was so INTO the game that it felt like 20 seconds.

So basically you play in the same environment than the Tokyo demo that Kojima made some weeks ago. Shivers. Graphically, it's plain Metal Gear. The game is not technically impressive (the textures are not bearing the close-ups so well), but there's a real aura concerning the artistic direction which helps to get into the game, although the animations are a bit stiff and the textures are not great.

About the handling, this is the same old routine, in spite of numerous changes. First big feature, it is now possible to walk while ducking ("was about time" will say the evil ones). So the game's flow is clearly better. The gamer that didn't have the occasion to taste MGS3 Subsistance will also be very surprised by the dynamic camera which adds a new dimension to the gameplay, without making the game too easy. The first person view allows the player to walk while pressing a rather complex buttons combination, but I doubt that many player will use this view for anything but sniping enemies.

Finally, I could check that the octo-camo use was fully automated, as well as you stick yourself to a wall or on the ground. If I am a little skeptical about the auto-use (I think that Metal Gear Solid 3 camo system was a lot more "strategic"), I must admit that it is quite impressive ingame since Snake can just mimic every game texture.

Now we also have the possibility of putting Snake on its back in order to hide behind safe places while having a very clear vision of the battlefield, and the possibility to toss grenades where you want. The move has many chances to be quite useful during charged guerrilla scenes. The enemy AI, once again, stays close to MG's standards. A little stupid and sometime hard to beat, the soldiers sometimes have illogic behavior which helps to be more and more careful. Still, it's a shame that no effort has been made on this flaw since Metal Gear Solid 2.

The big question about the game is about the difficulty. As he completely abandons the radar (what he started in MGS3 by the way), Hideo Kojima offers to the player a whole pack of new gadgets and moves downgrading the difficulty level to the player, who will have to deal with some stupid enemies. I must admit that I am afraid. If we were in a movie, there would be a zoom on my eyes and a few drops of sweat would be dripping on my forehead as well as I think about the game's challenge.

Well, just informing here, you know, I will play that game to death even if it's the crappiest game on Earth.