Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Game Review

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Game Review

METAL Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is set in a war-torn future where huge conglomerates, including those in the Middle East and South America, fight for supremacy using armies of hand-picked mercenaries. The game does a superb job of tying up the loose ends and there's so much going here it could have easily been spread over two games instead of being squashed into one. An amazing sequel to a great series. Personally I have not played any of the other games, yet I hear they're great. So this game is good for dedicated Snake fans and people who need to be introduced to this series. The gunplay is excellent, yet it does not take away from the stealth factor that dominates a well written game, that has you on the edge of your seat. The cut-scenes our long, making up a few hours of the game.

METAL Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots ends the saga about a reluctant super soldier who has spent two decades saving the world from destruction... and what an end it is. Solid Snake has kept gamers hiding, crawling and sneaking. It has taught us the importance of an empty cardboard box in tackling a technologically advanced army since it came out on the Playstation 1.

It was simple back then, Snake is a one-man army, genetically engineered and involved in a generation-spanning battle against terrorists wanting to use the Metal Gears for world domination. But four titles and three consoles later, Metal Gear Solid’s plot has evolved as much as the advancements in technology which drives the world under threat by a renegade army led by Solid’s brother, Liquid Snake.



METAL Gear Solid 4 is presented in the near future with Liquid resurfacing to take over the world and it is up to a much older Snake and his team (characters from previous title) to take him down. To really enjoy this game, it is best if you have some previous knowledge (though not essential) of the series as throughout the game there are references made to previous plots and characters as well as flashbacks that you can activate with the X button during cut-scenes.

So it is a good idea to get your hands on a PS1 and get a feel of what the saga is all about from there. Then continue with METAL Gear Solid 2 and 3 on the PS2. Rest assured, you won’t regret it. For anyone familiar with the game, playing METAL Gear Solid is more like watching a movie because of the lengthy cutscenes. In Guns of the Patriots, the “movies” are well acted with all of the original cast members returning to reprise their characters.

There is a good reason behind the cinematics. METAL Gear Solid 4 answers all the questions that have accumulated for about 20 years now while simultaneously injecting them with a huge dose of nanomachine-inhibiting adrenaline, making the whole series better as a result. METAL Gear Solid 4, in essence, is a game where stealth is recommended. But if going at it guns-a-blazing gives you your kick, then by all means. How you deal with the missions is entirely up to you.

With the OctaCamo, Snake’s new outfit, he can “disappear” into the environment and sneak up on unsuspecting soldiers. If you take the other approach, the introduction of Drebin, a gun launderer, will certainly keep your trigger-finger happy. The levels and boss fights are really huge as always, with five Acts to play through, each one broken down into smaller areas. Once you finish a game on one of the four difficulty modes, more guns and rewards open up which you can use on your next tour of duty.

METAL Gear Solid 4’s graphics and sound are just superb with the surround sound immersing you in the fire-fights with explosions, screams and whizzing bullets, and the more subtle sneaking areas, where you listen out for footsteps of approaching guards, taken into full effect.

METAL Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and Konami went all out on Guns of the Patriot, giving a befitting end to an epic saga. After all that you have read in this review, this is a game that needs to be experienced and cannot be expressed in words.