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9.0

GameSpy: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Review - 4.5/5

GameSpy writes: "With the release of Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, the moment millions of fans have been waiting for is finally here. As the final chapter in the Solid Snake saga, the game was supposed to bring closure (and, perhaps more importantly, answers) to the series that was introduced over 20 years ago on the NES. It appears that Kojima and friends have succeeded in nearly every way, crafting a title that not only answers all of our questions, but make us care about Snake more than we ever thought we could. While it's not without its issues, Metal Gear Solid 4 is the best game on the PlayStation 3, as well as one of the finest titles we'll see this year.

Metal Gear Solid 4 takes place six years after the end of MGS2, and the world is a much different place than it was when we last saw Snake. The years have been particularly hard on our gruff hero, as he's suffering from an accelerated aging process due to the fact that's he a clone of Big Boss. Despite his creaking joints and insatiable desire for Metamucil, Old Snake (as he's now called) is sent back into the field to track down and kill Liquid Ocelot, the longtime series antagonist that was last seen escaping with Metal Gear Ray. This being a Metal Gear game, the lines between good and evil are blurred significantly, meaning there are plenty of double-crosses and espionage throughout the game."

Pros:
-Gorgeous visuals
-Excellent sound
-OctoCamo and Solid Eye are great gameplay additions
-Presentation (including the long cut-scenes) is top-notch
-Finally, some answers!

Cons:
-Drebin fundamentally changes the core MGS experience
-Metal Gear Online is hindered by a clunky interface and reliance on the PlayStation Network

Read Full Story >>
ps3.gamespy.com
Jim Crowslaw5789d ago

who's gamespy?

anyway Drebin is an addition to the core gameplay experience. Sheesh since when did evolution become a bad thing smh.

PSMonster215789d ago

Gamespy, your pathetic! MGO is great and the Drebin points are a great addition to the gameplay, it lets you play the game how you want to play it.

sonarus5789d ago

They didn't say mgo isn't great, its just that the whole konami id game id stuff is absolute BS. Any fan of metal gear will enjoy the online mode though so it is worth the stress of registration in the end.

Sidherich5788d ago (Edited 5788d ago )

Disclaimer: MGS4 was my first Metal Gear game and i liked it. So most things i say are based on comparison to other Stealth games (Thief, Splinter Cell) or games with Stealth elements (Deus Ex, Assassins Creed)

I felt that Drebin made the game more of a Shooter than a Stealth Game. The game rewards you immediately for taking dead guys's weapons with credits you can then use to buy ammo for the big guns (Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher, etc) and the weapons themselves. Additionally you get more Credits the more Stress you have. I know that you get credits at the end of the mission based on how well you did (number of alarms and number of kills). But those two give you only 20k Points max. I also never had to worry about ammunition since i could buy it in a nice menu that even paused the game for me. Plus i could switch out my entire weaponset midcombat too. So there was absolutely no need to plan ahead in terms of equipment choices. I always had like 50 different weapons in my backpack at all times and could then just switch them out whenever i want to.

I think i would have liked it more if there was a small time delay. Like you buy ammo and weapons from drebin and it would actually take time to deliver it to you. Like you have to hide for 30 seconds for your package to arrive. This way i could stand in the middle of the Street and shoot at everything with my grenade launcher and when i run out of ammo i just pause the game and buy more ammo. In a stealth game i shouldnt be able to do that.

But enough of the bad things. The game is an awesome shooter.
- Story is well done.
- It has a great "you are inside a warzone" athmosphere.
- Graphics wise the characters are extremely well done. A little Stiff in their facial animation but i guess thats the japanese way ^^. Background textures sometimes look bad especially in act 1. Overall the graphics are nice tho.
- Shooting is fun.
- Extremely interesting Boss Battles that makes you think outside of the box

Finished the game on Solid Normal. Overall i'd probably give it a subjective 80%-90% rating.

PS:

Was i the only who drowned in kneedeep water because i couldnt stand up from lying on the ground. Seemed like the game thought that the water surface was solid since it went into "air vent first person mode". From this mode it seems you cant stand up again. Only way out of it was to crawl out of the side. Happened in the first half of Act 2 in the place where there is a lake in the middle. Its i think just a small bug. Understandable in a project this big.

thesummerofgeorge5788d ago

I disagree, you had the choice to play it stealth or shooter, that's whayt I loved so much, made it much better than previous titles because of it. I think having the option made it much more realistic and engaging.

I think gamespy is reaching for fault to avoid giving a perfect score.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5788d ago
PSMonster215789d ago

Gamespy? What a garbage site!

FAQS5788d ago

Q: garbage?
A: of course...who in their perfect mind gave 4.5/5 to MGS4 the BEST GAME EVER!
Q: So you already played hah?
A: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
Q: and...?
A: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, JUST WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, JUST WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, IT'S WAY BETTER THAT I IMAGINE...SO F#CKING AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING.., ....EVERYTHING IS SO FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA NTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DECSRIBE THAT!....IT'S SO INTENSE THAT WE JUST CAN'T STOP PLAYING IT, IT'S HARD TO LEAVE THE GAME.......WHAT A NIGHT PLAYING THIS GAME.......
Q: wow man, is that so?
A: BEST GAME EVER, BEST GAME OF ALL TIMES! HIDEO KOJIMA (no place here to hideo...AHAHAHA, so crazy...) YOU ARE MY IDOL!

wangdiddy825789d ago

And i like drebin.. adds something different to the game

Condoleezza Rice5789d ago (Edited 5789d ago )

Another excellent score for Hideo Kojimas masterpiece!

*Goes back to refreshing the GameTrailers home page*

Edit:Just saw the R2 footage,graphically speaking-KillZone 2 is still console king,but damn,the gameplay in R2 looks very very impressive!

Jamaicangmr5789d ago

Actually 4.5 would be 9 not 9.5 which i believe it should get higher. Thats why i hate ratings out of 5.

Delriach5789d ago

That "con" for MGO really doesn't make sense.

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350°

PlayStation 3 Games That Desperately Need a PS5 Remaster

The PlayStation 3 may not have been the strongest generation for Sony, but there were still some diamonds in the rough that deserve a revisit as PS5 remasters.

Read Full Story >>
wealthofgeeks.com
OtterX42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

Even if they could just remaster and put on PSVR2, some would still look great as VR titles and could do a whole lot to bolster the headset w these exclusives! I'd imagine the investment of reworking these titles into VR would be way less than building new games from the ground up, and they could be amazing experiences, and VR often makes flat games feel fresh again. The Resistance and Killzone games are particularly what I want to see!!

Rude-ro42d ago

I played killzone 3 in 3d and it really changed the game per being immersive.
In vr, that would be even more awesome.

darthv7242d ago

Funny you mention that... my son wanted to play some PS3 games in 3d on my PS tv and he was blown away by how good KZ3 was. It really was a great addition to the game. Im surprised there have not been more 3d games from that era being ported to the PSVR/VR2.

_SilverHawk_42d ago

resistance 1-3, killzone 1-3, uncharted 1-3, uncharted golden abyss, folklore, socom 4 , motorstorm, twisted metal, MAG, heavenly sword

Cacabunga42d ago

Killzone 2+3
Sly Thieves in Time
Crack in Time
God of War Ascension
Motorstorm
Modnation racer
Infamous 1+2

Profchaos42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

Killzone trilogy in VR would be amazing bonus points if they offer shadow fall.

There was a psvr1 Killzone project that supermassive was working on at one stage which wasn't up to scratch and Sony brand it back in house I was hoping we would see that on psvr2 eventually.

Personally I'd love to see some more love or acknowledgement of psvr2 from Sony in general it was a expensive headset and Sony barely acknowledge it's existence

seanpitt2342d ago

The amount of work needed to remaster these games wouldn't be beneficial on a financial and business sense.. MGS4 would probably be the best bet as it would need the least amount of work!

Iceball200042d ago

YEAAASSSSS! I miss this franchise and wanna play it so bad again.

Father__Merrin42d ago

The time is perfect for a resistance fall of man game campaign coop multiplayer

InUrFoxHole42d ago

The resistance series is str8 trash to me. Socom 3 I would welcome. Or killzone MP.

Marcus Fenix42d ago

A Resistance reboot will be awesome

Michiel198942d ago

That's what Bungie should make, Ill keep saying it until it happens

1Victor42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

Resistance was ok but Warhawk and Starhawk was better and kept me coming back for almost a decade of fun and petty revenge on the loud mouth unskilled players 🤣
Edit I loved capture the flag dropping the pot on the flag carrier was extremely satisfying as well as transforming your plane in bot form and stumping them to death 😱

42d ago
Michiel198942d ago

Resistance was the best co-op fps I ever played after L4D2

Show all comments (51)
40°

One Last Smoke - The significance of Snake's cigarettes in Metal Gear Solid 4

An article looking at the symbolic meaning behind the cigarettes in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Read Full Story >>
metalgearinformer.com
530°

Hideo Kojima laments that Metal Gear Solid 4's digital battlefield 'is no longer science fiction'

Game creator Hideo Kojima is and probably will always be best-known for his creation and stewardship of the Metal Gear series at Konami, which since his departure has been more-or-less on permanent hiatus (don't mention Survive). In his almost three decades these games evolved to the point where they predicted certain problems of the information age (MGS 2), took aim at contemporary topics like Guantanamo Bay (MGS: Ground Zeroes), and ended on a profound sense of sadness about our species' inability to break the cycles of global conflict (MGS V).

It's not clear what sparked this reflection, but Kojima's been thinking about Metal Gear Solid 4, an entry that was (and unfortunately still remains) a PlayStation 3 exclusive. In that entry the player controls an aged Solid Snake in the year 2014, caught up in a civil war being fought between Private Military Companies (PMCs).

Dirty_Lemons352d ago

That was a great fucking game/ movie.

DarXyde352d ago

To this day, it's one of those games where I refuse to skip the cutscenes, no matter how many playthroughs I've done.

But if you ask me...MGS2 was bloody prophetic and has aged like fine wine. That game was blasted as the weakest entry, and yet it's so enduring. I replayed it some time last year and it was remarkable.

sadraiden352d ago

Heed not the lamentations of people that say that MGS2 is bad because of the Snake/Raiden bait and switch. Every MGS game has its own merits, and while most people consider 3 to be the best, they all shine equally in my opinion.

porkChop352d ago

@sad

I would generally agree but with the exception of MGSV. It had truly excellent gameplay/combat, but dull and largely empty open world(s), and a narrative that is literally only half finished.

I really wish Kojima hadn't tried to go open world with MGS. It just wasn't right for the series. But I get it. He didn't want to make MG anymore but he wasn't allowed to make anything else. So he had to experiment within that franchise. Still, it was the wrong direction.

Santouryuu352d ago

I have been thinking about this a lot, MGS2 being the weakest and getting blasted.
My conclusion, for some years now, it's my favorite game of the series.
Going from MGS1 to MGS2 was such a big leap, in graphics, mechanics, etc.
And now it's even more relevant for being 'bloody prophetic' as you stated.

Maybe dust of my vita and play it again...

porkChop352d ago

It's a shame we never got a remaster of MGS4. The original game only rendered at 1024x768, and it ran anywhere from like 20fps to 60fps depending on the area. A remaster could have very easily cleaned up the visuals and performance. It's such a great game. I just want to play it again but in its best possible state.

MIDGETonSTILTS17352d ago

I agree, but they did all sorts of tricks to make use of the ps3’s cell processor….they’d probably have to rebuild the game in order to make it run on another machine. And, if that involves remaking those cutscenes somehow, then itll never happen, unfortunately.

porkChop352d ago

Nah. There have been plenty of remasters of PS3 games and they've turned out fine. It can be done.

ANIALATOR136351d ago (Edited 351d ago )

You can get near enough 4k 60 with it on RPCS3 these days

FallenAngel1984352d ago

War... war never changes. Or does it? The war has changed ...did it? The answer is no! Unless it is yes! No, of course it is! Is war! Yes! No! Yes?

PitbullMonster351d ago

Ah a man of culture. Duty calls

cell989352d ago

He was always ahead with this series. MSG1 taught me about the importance of passing on our genes into future generations but in a responsible way, for they are bound to what we experienced in our lifetime. Sons of liberty taught me about global control and simulation runs to test society in a grand scale, the importance and dangers of control of information. MGS3 taught me about patriotism and how that can blind you into doing things you never would have otherwise, all for the sake of politicians who only see you as another pawn in their grand scheme of things. MSG4 taught me war is inevitable and always orchestrated because it's great for the economy. Soon simulation systems will start dictating who goes to war and why, all run through proxies. Privatization of military company are already here. We already started to see how a small group of elites dictates everything that happens. Nothing is done, nothing happens without strings being pulled.

Eidolon352d ago

You learned all this from MGS?

Tody_ZA352d ago

All that was literally the themes and core story of each game, so not surprising he learned that from MGS. Metal Gear Solid 2 in particular is so relevant today, it was more than a decade ahead of its time and a work of genius. Kojima saw what the digital future was going to become when it was in its infancy. Even MGS 5 despite being unfinished and less of a traditional Metal Gear Solid game with regards to story, had a fair bit to say about language and control over it that is relevant today.

It's a highly acclaimed series for a reason, and one of my favourite.

Eidolon352d ago

I've watched my brother play the MGS games, but I only beat MGS1 myself on the PSP in 2014, and MGSV in 2016. I took the themes and plots as lore, tbh.. trying to piece together the story of MGS rather than relating them to our current times.

Tody_ZA352d ago

It's definitely social commentary, Eidolon. You should read the "themes and analysis" section of the Wikipedia page for MGS2: Sons of Liberty for a start! Game was heavy on this.

Eidolon352d ago

I'll take a look, thanks. Actually might pick up MGS2 again (PS Vita), It's been years since I last played. Might start a new game tbh.

sadraiden352d ago

MGS2 literally predicted digital manipulation of information that we see today all the way back in 2001. MGS2 became Zucc's playbook.

Knushwood Butt352d ago

MGS taught me not to pee my pants.

cell989352d ago

Yes back in 1998 when I was 13. Throughout the years more information has been shown on this subject matters, but go back to early 2000s and information wasn't as prominent. Kojima was ahead of the game

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 352d ago
MaxiPower90352d ago

He was on the ball about many things. A true visionary.

sadraiden352d ago

If it wasn't for the retconning of how FOXDIE works, including clunky scenes with Naomi and Liquid, MGS4 would be a perfect game. There are so many gameplay options. It felt like us PS3 owners got something truly unique and special.

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