Fox's Review: Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

[Fusion]

It all began with Solid Snake fighting Big Boss who planned to use Metal Gear to create a new world order.  This battle went through Big Boss' own fortress all the way to Zanzibar Land, where Big Boss met his end.  Then, Snake learned of a group of terrorists who were planning to use nukes unless Big Boss' corpse was sent to them for unknown reasons.  Their objective ultimately failed, and their leader, Liquid Snake, fell.  Then, Snake was killed and labeled a terrorist when he sank a tanker that held an Anti-Metal Gear named 'RAY'.  After this, Snake resurfaced on the Big Shell to aid Raiden in destroying GW, and the first questions were revealed about the patriots as well as a few enigmatic characters and a third Snake named 'Solidus'.  To top it off, Ocelot seems to have been possessed by Liquid...  And now we're here.  It's the verge of D-Day, as Snake's new orders are simple: Kill Ocelot.  What he doesn't know is that much more will happen than just his mission, and a prophecy told in Portable Ops may become reality.  But how does it stand up as an evolution to the series?  We all know this game is the answer to MGS2's questions.

(Graphics 10/10)
Alright, I've gotta hand it to Kojima Productions.  They really went our of their way to make sure that this game look as great as possible with the PS3's power.  The lighting is nothing shy of what you'd see in a movie, and if you added appropriate motion blur, you'd forget that it was a cutscene from a game.  Every character is detailed in their own way, from the convincingly aged look Snake has all the way to the youth of Sunny, there is not a detail that was skipped.  Even the weapon models look fantastic, and the OctoCamo is even able to make itself look like it physically resembles that surface, as do various enemies.  That in itself is a feat of both technology and a feat of graphic capability.  The game looks great, that is all there needs to be said.  Everything's detailed, shines fairly well and even the digital look of the A.I appear okay.  Even though there's mass amounts of product placement, at least they're represented with accuracy.

(Sound 8/10)
I wasn't a fan of MGS2's or MGS3's soundtrack, but MGS4 picked up the ball in enjoyable sound as well as believable character dialogue and such.  Though there's a bit of disappointment: Hayter uses his Big Boss voice and not his Solid Snake voice.  This just means that if you didn't like the voice of Naked Snake, you're not gonna get any enjoyment out of his work this time around.  The Colonel's voice is stuck on MGS2 A.I mode, with all the monotone going on, another disappointment.  Raiden's voice, or his actor, should've changed a bit.  He sounds like he's too young for what his voice should be and that he's really, desperately trying to sound proper with the character.  Another interesting note is that Ocelot once again voices Ocelot, unlike in MGS2 where his voice mysteriously changed into Liquid's voice, there's no such thing of that here.  Meryl's voice is as kind of sharp as ever, hasn't really changed from MGS1.

The weapons sound like weapons, blah blah blah.  Metal Gear Saga, which I expected to be a damn big compilation of the entire MGS series' themes, just ended up being an arranged version of Big Boss' theme.  Kind of a disappointment, since a lot of fans really wanted the old MGS theme back, and I think for this game, it honestly would've worked considering every other sendoff there is.


(Gameplay 6/10)
If you've played MGS3: Subsistence, then you know the camera system is like in this game, almost everything is done in the third person, excluding the usual as well as special instances.  Quite a few old quirks return and a few new things are also established in the process.  One of the new features is the Drebin Shop, where you can acquire DP (Drebin Points) from picking up weapons that you already have, and also unlock so you can use them.  It's a new and rather needed feature, since it was disappointing that you couldn't get the FA-MAS right off the bat in MGS1.  You can purchase weapons, ammo, grenades, items, and the like from his shop.  The codec also returns, but it sees the least amount of use ever.

Now, with so much you can do in game, there are a few minor things I wish would've stuck.  For instance, the combat system is nearly a direct copy from MGS3, so Snake uses CQC and not a cool punch-kick combo.  A disappointment, because it's just not the same.  I want to knock everybody in the field out using unusual methods, and Snake's grunting so loud that you'd think the soldiers would hear him so freakin' easily.  Not to mention that a lot of the gameplay elements and requirements from the previous games are also pretty much missing, you could go the entire game without using camo once.  You don't need half of the things you get to beat the game.


(Story 3/10) *section in super-white for spoiler-y ness.*

Hideo Kojima, what are you on?  This plot is the worst unleashed yet, because it completely throws out everything we learned from MGS2, establishes a pixie dust and abuses Deus Ex Machina to hell and back.   Vamp's reason for living after being crushed?  Nanomachines.  Reason that Raiden's still alive?  Nanomachines.  The reason why Snake has health problems?  Nanomachines.  The reason why there's a bunch of proxy wars?  Nanomachines.  The reason Naomi didn't die of cancer?  Fucking Nanomachines.  What the hell, Kojima!?  We were led to believe that MGS2 had a freakin' vampire in it.  Now you're telling us that Nanomachines are the solution to everything?  Let's blame Snake's aging on the Nanomachines, while we're at it.  Big Mama, A.K.A Eva dies, and Big Boss shows up at the end out of nowhere in the biggest fucktarded plot twist of the centry just to say something to Snake and then die after he kills a Catatonic Major Zero.  SIGINT?  DARPA Chief Donald Anderson.  Big Boss?  Ex-Patriot.  Ocelot?  Ex-Patriot.

I've had enough of the Patriots.  Speaking of which, whatever happened to the Original patriots being people who have been dead for about 100 years?  They're suddenly the MGS3 crew?  And why did Raiden go Ninja?  I thought he had it all sorted out.  Nope, they gave him the short end of the stick and even then he gets his whole body back and lives with Rosemary and his son.  Yes, the thing reproduced SOMEHOW.  Vamp dies, the unimportant bosses die, and Ocelot dies of FOXDIE.  Let's not forget Big Boss was part of the "Snatcher" project.

As far as Cutscenes go, there's no shortage of them.  There's enough Cutscenes in the game to make MGS3 look like a very short game.  The only problem with this is that there are so many cutscenes that it's no wonder why gameplay sections are few and far between: The cutscenes got all the work.  Motion capture for them is amazing, but I can't help but think they're also a bit on the fanservice-y side, catering to the fans who wanted more Ninjas, more boobs and less Snake kicking ass.  Let's not forget the ultimate upset: Big Boss shows up at the end of the game for no truly important reason.  Zero wasn't able to control the patriots any more, and the System was effectively dismantled anyway.  Big Boss had no reason to even exist at that point.  But he killed Major Zero and then died right in front of Snake.  Hell, why didn't Snake die then as well?  It would've fit with Ocelot's own last words.  Kojima dropped the ball with the story.

It doesn't help that the majority of the game's plot we already know through trailers.  What are you gonna do next, Kojima?  Tie this into a Snatcher sequel?  What's next?  "Metal Gear Snatcher"?  You should've ended it when the last we saw of Snake was him putting his gun in his mouth.


Overall (6/10):

Only the fans of the series should get this title, otherwise, it's not good for much because even though there's a downloadable database with the info you'd need to play, reading is not anybody's style and experience always tells a different story.  This game is pure fanservice.

[Fusion]

Uh, the reason Snake had health problems was because his genes were crafted that way. He was meant to be a soldier, not a normal human being. They snipped off years of his life for that. I wouldnt generally call the nanomachines health problems since his old age is what cripples him. As naomi said, it was by his sheer will that he was still even living.

The convulsions he has are a result of Ocelot's screwing around with SOP, not Snake's own failing body that randomly has half-heart attacks.  So yeah, Nanomachines play some part in it.  Add to that the effect of the syringes are inconsistent.  So in Act 2, Naomi and the rest take the Syringes to... Protect them?  From the SOP genocide.  Naomi's use in particular is contradicted when she uses the Syringe to kill herself in Act 4.  Add to that, the Syringe does what Ocelot did to the Soldiers: Supresses the Nanomachines.  So what's up there?  Was it a specific kind of Syringe?  Were they not affected?  Did they reduce their dosage?  How did Naomi not die in Act 2 when she used the Syringe if they were what was keeping her alive the entire time!?

You can't say that it's Snake's age if a Nanomachine Supressor Syringe is enough to get him back on his feet from a convulsion.