NZGamer: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Review

NZGamer writes: "Set in 2014, five years after the "Big Shell Incident" that took place in Metal Gear Solid 2, Guns of the Patriot is the first game in the long-running franchise to appear on the next-gen PS3 console. To say that Metal Gear has a cult following would be an understatement, considering the first title came out over 20 years ago. Despite this though, it is clear that the game is not suited to everyone's tastes. The long, over-indulgent cinematic cut-scenes combined with the sometimes inappropriate odd-ball humour has had many gamers scratching their heads in confusion. Regardless of your view point though, very few could question the artistic genius behind this latest instalment.

After a series of fairly lengthy but dramatic cinematics that set the scene in the Middle East, you are placed back in the boots of Snake. Except he is now known as Old Snake due to an unfortunate cellular degeneration disease that has afflicted him, causing him to age prematurely. Although despite Old Snake looking like a grand-daddy, he is still as agile and buff as ever. Apart from the occasional comedic sore back animation, he moves just like the original Snake, letting you crawl through holes, climb ledges and take diving rolls into cover. Thankfully the controls have also been updated for the PS3 version and are now much smoother and slicker than the previous titles."

[ngg12345]

Just wondering what kind of hearing problem this person has. That review made me lol because of that.

[darkshiz]

Below review = hits for these websites.

Pretty low scoring these days just for that reason.

[BulletToothtony]

i have been saying for a while that mgs series it's on a category of it's own, it doesn't need to be classified in any existing category..

The fact that it has it's own rhythm and it's own style it's what made it the game it became...

Hideo didn't have to go and copy any other game, and that's why this game became the best game i've ever experienced..

If this game would've been an fps with a cover system like gear of war (no offense to GeOW) the game would've been just ok.. but because it's totally different, it made the game quite amazing and unexpectedly great

[morganfell]

WTF? Who is submitting all of these worthless nzgamer stories? Teach him a lesson and start reporting this trash. Every single one of them. The writer is clearly an idiot. IGN says a 10. Game Informer - 10. The most reliable source, me says an 11 out of 10. Screw this nzgamer website. Time for the report hammer.

[ngg12345]

Okay gaming journalism is kind of dead to me... Now. I'm not going to bother reading some of these sites.
Eurogamer: halo 3:10, MGS4: 8
Edge: Halo 3: 10, MGS4: 8
GamesTM Halo 3: 9, MGS4:8
1up: halo 3: 10, MGS4:8.5
anyone seeing a pattern between the low scores for MGS4, and the high scores for halo 3. I do. I wouldn't call halo 3 the best game ever made either. Or top 20, unlike mgs4 right now. Until I hear an adequate response to this from the sites, and why they did this (I could understand if those 10's were for a game like Mass Effect, but not for halo 3), I'm going to be surprised.

[Breakfast]

...Halo is easy to play, and made for the mass market, everyone can have fun with it....

MGS4...to many little things that make Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid (the series), that people will like, or will not.

I rank Halo in my top 10, let alone top 20. And have yet to complete MGS...we'll see about that.

[ngg12345]

Then compare them. People are saying MGS4 is the greatest game ever made for many reasons, the graphics are some of the best, the story is probably the best, level design is flawless, multiple different gameplay variation, and great controls (unlike the other mgs games). I wasn't very fond of MGS franchise, because of the atrocious gameplay, but managed to play through most of them for the awesome storyline. This game improved the gameplay drastically. When Kojima said that he "enjoyed gears of war" I didn't know he was going to develop a gameplay system similar to it in controls, but improve it and make it part of a functional stealth game was remarkable.

Now compare it to halo 3. Which had the simpler, and generic storyline , which game graphics weren't up to par to cod4 and other games, maintain the same gameplay as its prodecessors, and have decent level design. Mass Effect, Bioshock, I could understand giving those scores, but halo 3 in order to give it those scores is rather difficult to understand. I would accept a 9, possibly, 9.5. But a masterpiece, and greatest game of all time? No.

Halo Combat Evolved is a remarkable game. It had by far the best level design out of all the halo franchises, the best graphics for a fps during that time, and redefined console controls for fps. That is understandable for top 20 games of all time, but halo 3. Not even top 100.

[Breakfast]

You left out multiplayer, my good man.

The main reason its up so high, for me, is that the game is sheer fun. Like i said, anyone can play it, and have fun.

Halo 1 did not have the best level design...it was all the same. But some levels, where very good....its just the way you remember it at the time...play it now, and say that it has the best level design, you cant.

I look at it this way. Which game would i have more fun with now, Halo 1, or Halo 3...bingo there's your answer. I dont rank the significance of the game on the industry, in the way i rank it on lists....which is why i wouldnt have games like pacman, pong, wolfenstein, and games of that nature on my lists. Ill be playing Halo 3, for a long time to come.

But see, this is all opinion....which is why its ok to give a certain game a lower score then normal...even though i dont agree with this guys review, it makes no sense....an 8 for sound, 7 for value?

[ngg12345]

I play halo 2 over halo 3 multiplayer, because of the multiplayer maps . The level designs are poor. Hang Em High should be mentioned because that level design is flawless. Blood Gulch as well. How many memorable level designs are there in halo 3. I would say in halo 3 the best level was the first, after that level it really went down the drain in Single Player campaign. Compared to halo CE there are tons of memeroable levels. Every level was amazing.

[Breakfast]

Im more of a shooting type of guy...if theres a tank and BR next to me, ill pick up the BR, and reap some havoc.

Ill choose construct, the pit, sandtrap, and avalanche, over most Halo 2 maps...i dont like blood gulch, i dont like valhalla.

In terms of the whole game...i dont see how you can say the previous installments are better....they both offer one thing...Halo 3 offers it all. With little things that brighten your day....like saved films, forge, meta scoring, 4 player co-op, and unlockables. Halo 3 is much more of a complete game.

I live now, not the past.

[ngg12345]

Halo 2 offers a superior level design, faster and more balanced waepons, among other things. I even would state halo 2 single player is better than halo 3 terrible single player. It really isn't a matter of opinion, when besides critics gave the game perfect score, while the consensus among halo fans, and other gamers is that halo 3 wasn't the best fps. The only reason why COD4 even sold so well, was not because it was the 'greatest fps ever (which is held by half life 2)' but because it was a console game in the same genre that was signifcantly superior to halo 3 in almost every way, and came out the same time. I would say halo 3 review scores is similar to GTA4 in that most people are now mocking the high scores. But that is what I've seen from all the sites when the game is reviewed 9.5 but have an average 8.9 user score. Both games were huge disappointments to me, unlike this game which was purely awesome.

[Breakfast]

...i dont understand you...how are the weapons more balanced? Halo 2 enforced dual wielding, which is why the BR was the best weapon in the game, a sh!t starting gun, a power weapons that had no limit, a melee that was decided on connection, a lot of auto aim, watered down needler, noob-combo, etc...you call that balanced weapons?

Halo 3 did not have a terrible single player...the game is freakn fun, everyone is funner to kill, the game is beatable on legendary, more weapons, more diverse levels, in terms of what youre doing and what youre driving, it was on a much larger scale then Halo 2.

CoD4 and Halo3 are completely different games...why do even compare them...just because they have guns and shoot?...lol....theyre on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, of the same genre. CoD4 is in the same boat as Halo 3...its fun to play. But, its still a completely different experience.

I respected your opinion in the beginning, but now your just jumping on the 'Hate Halo 3 bandwagon'. Your claims are baseless, and you make no sense.

Have you played Half Life 2 recently...its so dated...its a chore to actually beat the game...

[ngg12345]

they nerfed the assault rifle, they made the spartan laser a domineering and godly weapon, made the shotgun utterly useless, and the sniper rifle into this super weapon. Halo 2 weapons were all well balanced besides the sword. You never respected my opinion. COD4, and Halo 3 are fps. They are just different settings/stories but have almost the same exact weapons. They are similar, in the same way as uncharted is similar to geow.

[Breakfast]

Did they nerf it or balance it?

AR 6 shots and punch kills a guy...a clip will kill a guy.

Spartan Laser - necessary in vehicle maps...and Godly...LOL...a 5 second charge, long respawns...makes a gun godly?

Shotgun - utterly useless? Usually when people have a shotgun, they control the game....its considered a power weapon now, which it was never before....shot-punch kills all.

CoD 4 is not similar to Halo 3....CoD4 is about running and shooting. Its a quicker paced game, with a perks, and in-game benefits, no vehicles, and smaller claustrophobic maps.

Halo is large scale, and balanced from the beginning. Where the team and skill play a big a part....and if these guns are the same...then you can say the same for every single fps out there...

They are not similar like Gears and Uncharted....its more like FF and Fable. They have the same premise (rpg) but they are done in totally different ways.

And no...i respected your opinion...I debated your points unto why you think Halo 3 sucks....then you started to say crap that didnt make any sense. In which, i lost respect for your opinion.

[DontH8DPlayaH8DConsl]

Graphics 9.0
Gameplay 8.0
Sound 8.0
Value 7.0

judging by his scores he:
a)doesn't have any fingers but his thumbs and pinkies
b)He's deaf
c)didn't realize MGO brings the value up a tad
d)all the above

[Xiru]

Value 7.0? Sigh, where are they coming up with this stuff. The game is worth the price easily. Also there is a lot of replayability, not to mention the online. What a stupid score.

[juuken]

My jaw dropped when I saw that.
That was absolute bull.

[zigzag]

Is this dude deaf

[Tmac]

After completing the entire game, I'm gonna be truthful, anything under a 9 truly means whoever rating it is incompetent.

[zigzag]

I agree with Tmac even tough I'm not finish with the game

[shine1396]

it's a pretty good game...what I can't understand is why GTA was so universally loved and this one isn't....

edit: actually what I meant to say is that people in the reviews are calling it a tremendous achievement in gaming even those that are giving it eights still say how great the game is and then give it an eight, and that's why it doesn't make sense when you look back at games scoring eight and you see the game being compared to crazy taxi, WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007, and NFL street....it can only be a minimum nine in my opinion... the critic in me says that some of the boss fights were more immense in three but like I can see now why Kojima said this was for the fans...truly a fitting end. 9.7/10

[Silogon]

Who are these morons, a new site perhaps? 30 reviews in 3 min or something? Please, these idiots are jokes. They've posted 10 reviews in like 3 min time. Think I'll put as much faith in these douche horns as I would an armless man trying to disarm a bomb.

[highdro]

lol.....the game is out and it has sold over 1 million in day one and thoese people who bought the game including me is having a mind blowing time with does things that shout "SHOW ME YOUR RAGE" AND THAT DOG ROBOT THINGY, AND THOES ROBTOTS THAT ARE COWS LOL E.T.C review for this game coming out now do not matter because the game is alerday a hit and people including me love it and are having a sweet time playin it,.... >>>>> is it just me or the way the game changes from cut scense to game play not mind blowing, for the cutsecene graphics to be that good then the gameplay just blends in with out u notcing it is something i have not seen in another game. best graphics on a console to date, i dont hve a hd t.v but what i am seeing is truley mind blowing and the detalis of the legs not entring the walls instead the rest on it just like reall life..fu0k they are to many things to write all i havve to say is by the game if u dont hve it and if u dnt hve a ps3 by a ps3 because u dont know what next gen games should be like till u play MGS4 i am serious =I

[shine1396]

looks awesome on HD TV. but still nice to hear people having fun in SD as well...

[PoSTedUP]

i just got it today, its the best damn game i ever played, name one game that comes close to it. it kills uncharted, gears, ....all of thoes games that you thought were great. just the dynamics alone will crush any game. its a master piece and there should be more devs like konami. you can tell he pored his heart out into this game yo. its any real gamers dream come true for it genre. devs should be intimidated right now cause they just seen the game of the year, word to ground zero, its the greatest video game made to date. enjoy the EPIC game that konami made! peace and god bless.

[supergamer]

never heard of this website from that review it has no credibility. in other news gamespot,gameinformer, and IGN gave it a 10!

[season007]

many xbox biased site gave this a 9+ and some sites still give mgs 4 a 8ish score

I appreciate their effort in bringing the score down, but the most they can do is bring this game down from 9.8ish to 9.5ish, maybe some will still say o meh GTA IV got higher scores...but whatever

UNLESS i see something that is more mind-blowing than this within the next 5 months...i call this GOTY

[kashif]

i am playing MGS 4 ON Sd tv and its looking awesome .

[Marceles]

That whole cutscene of the picture above has to be in the top 10 of best cutscenes ever...so well done

[wangdiddy82]

But these reviewers are retards. If you dont like the game you dont like it. I understand that.. But MGS4 has the best damn sound in a game i ever heard.. Its like watching a michael bay movie or something.. What kind of surround sytem do they have? they need a new one.. Freaking xbots..

[Condoleezza Rice]

Anything less than a 9 after the IGN review will be laughed at.

*takes deep breath* lol at NZGamer!

[badz149]

when a lot of more other credible and popular sites gave MGS4 a 10 and even touted it as THE BEST GAME EVER MADE plus no complaints or what so ever from gamers who bought it whom were all satisfied and praising the game, they gave it an 8.5?? the funny thing was the gave it 8 for sound and 7 for value and that's just ridiculous!! it's like a deaf - ungrateful - retarded kid giving the score! MGS4 simply is THE BEST hands down in any category! graphic and sound are among the best up to date and it's the best story driven game ever made - everything in one package plus MGO executed perfectly on the PS3!

when GTAIV was out, gamers started complaining about so many things and glitches in the game and many will agree that it's definitely not a 10 in any way! what about MGS4? the only thing I've read was the enemy spawning endlessly at one occasion and that's it! this proves how much effort Kojima and his team have put in it and the inclusion of MGO just upped the experience to the whole new level of awesomeness! and that's in no way a 7!

then mass effect for pc a 9?? I never heard anybody saying or any site wrote ME as the best game ever made! yeah, it's clear now, NZGamer are retards!!

[UJUSTLOSTONE]

Or just trying to get hits on his site, or an Xbox fanboy.

I'm not going to lie, I haven't finished the game, but after the first act,I was like, ok, this is addictive I would give it a 9.7 or something along those lines....

But after the first boss, in Act two, I cannot stop playing and already I can see why its getting the 10's it deserves, this game is great, and I new it would be cuz I'm a fan. But I went in kind of hard on the game, and now I am finding myself more and more satisfied the more I play.

[gtgcoolkid]

Whats NZGamer and why is it wasting valuable space on N4G? Damn that's two questions.

[Durffen]

Not everybody likes Metal Gear games. Reviews are most often based on ones opinion of the game. The reviewer believes it's an 8.5 in his book. Is that illegal or something?

[Vecta]

yeah apparently on N4G it is...

The MGS series is a love or hate type game, even Kojima admitted that, yet fans of the series arent even able to accept someone elses opinion. Kind of sad.

[Agent VX]

It is very sad that silly fanboys are so narrow minded. But that is the nature of immaturity, they do kiddy things like type in Bold, or try hard to put down the reviewer as some sort of Sony hater.

And unfortunately, MGS 4 is a game that requires a certain appeal, as it isn’t a wide audience game. My brief time playing it, and it’s virtually the same MGS game from before, nothing revolutionary. Rather slow paced with brief times of action, and a rather annoying amount of very long cutscenes.

Unfortunately, there are a whole host of playstation fans in the world, so expect to be bombarded with goofy “defensive” responses to more negative articles against the PS3. MGS 4 is a very good game, but it isn’t that revolutionary game, nor awesome game that Sony fanboys were hoping it would be. And that bites them hard especially since they don’t have anymore games to hype up for a long while.

[DontH8DPlayaH8DConsl]

yes, they have their opinions but some things are a little odd. you might not like the gameplay but how can you possibly argue sound. I mean isn't supposed to be uncompressed lossless sound? What about value are they saying a 30 hour game with 20 hours of gameplay, and almost a whole extra game with metal gear online isn't worth the price....hmmm

if you told me 5+5=10 and I gave you a C+ grade you would have some questions too.

[kingOVsticks]

WHY WON'T THEY INCLUDE MGO! ITS PART OF THE EFFING GAME! Every single review that didn't include MGO needs to be re-reviewed other wise your not reviewing MGS4 just a portion IT'S ON THE SAME DAMN DISC FOR GOODNESS SAKES! Even the 10/10 should be re-reviewed so they can give it a 11/10. It is seriously not fair to konami or the potential buyers of mgs4 to not mention mgo.Especially if they're giving it low scores in value/replay value. Im not one of those PS3 fanoby extremest I have the wii and "had" and elite 360 and enjoyed the best games they had to offer(mario,bioshock,gears,mas s effect smash bros etc) but reading these reviews and their lack of negatives make me wonder if this "console war" really getting in way of giving a damn good game giving the recognition it deserves...Pathetic

[kazan]

Graphics 9 ??
Gameplay 8 ???? (hard for him)
Sound 8 ?????????
Value 7 ???????????

Rating: R18 ?????????? WTF dude its 15 learn to look at the box next timm
Difficulty: Hard ..then go and play your wii-fit

[alienhominid]

it actually is R18 here in New Zealand where NZGamer is based. next time check before you say something.

[guitarfanboy]

Graphics - The best I have ever seen.
Gameplay - The best I have ever played.
Sound - The best I have ever heard.
Value - See above.

[hay]

Graphics: 9? How come my every friend who seen this game said that it's the best visuals yet?
Sound is really great as long as you have good sound system. Maybe they used those 2W speakers integrated with monitors...
Gameplay: MGS4 hard? I was quite disappointed how this game was easy in comparison to previous MGS'. Also, there was this huge hype about 30 hours of story I ended up with 17... But starting from the beginning in a bit harder difficulty level.
Value: One of the best games I ever played, and I played a lot of them.
And to all those fanboys: I still love the game. It's MGS, it's Kojima, it's Snake. By the years they have made one of the greatest stories in gaming history.
It's a hardcore game made for fans, can't blame the guy for this score. Not everyone will love or appreciate it.

[juuken]

An 8.5.
...Are they serious?!
I would give this game a 20/10 if I was a reviewer. This game...made me forget that I have two new games, a 360 coming, and I have two more games I need to beat.

[Coke-a-Cola]

.

[Agent VX]

This is a fairly fair score for MGS 4. After about 7 hours of playing this game, I'm not very impressed. From all the praise I have heard, I am let down.

The controls are non responsive at times, the cutscreens ain't my cup of tea. Yes, they are funny but are way overdone. Did I buy a movie or a video game? The graphics are very good, but unfortunately the PS3 starts to chug where action gets intense. Gameplay can be rather boring, but I guess if you like linear stealth action games! Maybe I need to play more as I'm not so far into it, it hopefully will get better.

Overall, I would give this title around the same score (85%). MGS 4 is a very good game, but ain't mindblowing like some of the reviewers are saying. All these people that say it's 11/10 are nothing more that silly fanboys.

[SpenserTracy]

The graphics are not chugging, and the gameplay is so good that you cannot stop playing.

[SpenserTracy]

Im sorry to see these bad (fake) reviews. A friend of mine who was a big sceptic, and hated Sony for lying about the power of the PS3, totally changed his mind when he saw MGS4. This game is so impressive it blows away any competition. If you are a 360 fanboy don't fall for these bad reviews, they are not speaking the truth about this game. MGS4 is so good it's worth buying a PS3 for, just to get the experience of the awesome graphics power it has. If you cannot afford a PS3, borrow one. I don't think you want to miss out on this game. And if you don't think you will miss out, think again. I swear this is the best game I've played and in my opinion best ever made. Please try it to get your own opinion, you will not regret it, no matter if you hate PS3 you will love this game.

[Surfman]

why are you guys complaining about "NZGamer" score? This website fails lol. Whatever which score they gives, who cares. That game deserves a 10.

[clintos59]

Please go back and play your system if it is so good as the disagrees u are giving everyone who is right about these low reviews. For Gamespot, Ign and Gamepro, and Famitsu to give the game all perfect scores and say it has set the bar and is the best game this gen and is one of the greatest games of all time. That is more then enough evidence and strong reviews to make any game site who gives this game under a 9 rating look like idiots. MGS4 is GOTY for 2008 and if u dont like it well go cry justin timberlake a river for making that song and also ask him why u were stupid enough not to buy a ps3 and enjoy this masterpiece instead of being a b!tch about it.

[alienhominid]

everyone has their own opinion and this is the reviewers opinion. if you want to bash reviewers all the time why not try writing your own reviews. just because you found this game better or worse doesn't mean that everyone thinks the same.

[PirateThom]

Why would you bump a news article from 110 days ago?