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Review by Siraris
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Most reviews of games concentrate on providing a spoiler free, unbiased look at a game, with the intent purpose of informing individuals about whether or not they should buy a game. While this type of review is tried and tested, it limits the view of the game based on the simple fact that the reviewer is not allowed to really discuss the game in detail. I am going to try something new by reviewing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots from the opposite end of the spectrum. If you haven't finished the game yet, I suggest you do not read any further than this. If you have finished the game, read on, and hopefully this spurs some excellent discussion about one of the best games I've played in a long time.
I went into the (hopefully) final game in the Metal Gear Solid series with a healthy mix of anticipation, trepidation, and a bit of a heavy heart. I don't like it when things come to an end, especially when it's something that I really enjoy. I always wait as long as I can to catch the series finale of a favorite TV show, or leave the last bite of a favorite meal until it risks being stolen by someone else at the table. I had the same problem with MGS4, and actually found myself not wanting to turn on my PS3 very often in order to try and prolong the inevitable.
As Snake toiled his way down the microwave lined hallway, I knew deep down inside that this was the end. Even though all I had to do was hold the analog stick forward, I found myself teetering at the precipice of breaking down in tears. Who would have thought that a video game could invoke such emotion, especially watching a collection of 3D polygons and texture data crawl down a hallway. Yet, with every millimeter of sneaking suit that burned away, and every rip of the tendrils underneath, I felt wave after wave of the pins and needles sensation throughout my whole body. This was the end of the legacy of one of the most beloved video game heroes of our generation. In fact, had he died at the end of that tunnel, I would have been completely satisfied with this game. After the battle with Liquid (I mean Ocelot), I had was sure that this was finally the end. Snake had kept himself alive through sheer will to get to that point, to beat his brother into oblivion, so he could die knowing that he completed his mission once and for all.
As the image of Meryl in her pearly white wedding gown filled the screen, I couldn't get the image of the last time I would ever see Snake again as he was standing atop Outer Haven, beaten beyond the point any other man could possibly survive. It warmed my heart to know that he completed his mission so that the rest of the world could be a safer place. He was gone now, finally able to be at peace after living a life of sheer loneliness, and torture. When Sunny asked Otakon where Snake was, and his voiced cracked for a minute, I thought back over all the wonderful moments I had with Snake; the first time entering Shadow Moses, my first time fighting Psycho Mantis, watching him walking down the bridge in New York and leaping over the edge, fighting against Vamp for the first time. I even thought back to a few days previous when I returned to Shadow Moses with tears in my eyes, seeing Eva again as Big Momma, and watching Raiden transform from one of the most hated characters in a game, to one of the most loved (and most badass).
As the screen eventually faded to black, I expected the credits to roll, capping a triumphant and fulfilling end to one of my favorite series. I was greeted with Snake at the grave yard, visiting the grave of the people who walked before him. I didn't think Kojima would actually show him ending his life, but I was kind of glad that he did. I know that when I die, I don't want to be alone, and it warmed my heart a bit that I could be there with Snake at his end. We had been through so much together over the past 10 years, it was fitting that I would be there at the end just like I was at the beginning. As he drew his gun, a flash of worry crossed my mind that I would have to pull the trigger, something I didn't know if I was strong enough to do. I waited with baited breath as Snake inserted the muzzle into his mouth, and watched in awe as no sign of fear or hesitation could be found in his body. This was a man who was totally and completely comfortable with the end. The camera panned away, the shot rang out, and it was over... or was it?
Metal Gear Solid 4 was everything I expected from a next generation game, and more. Whether it was the over the top production values, the spot on voice acting, the minute details found in almost every nook in cranny of the game, I was content in every way with the meal I was served. I have never seen a character suffer as much as Solid Snake did, in any other form of media before. I very rarely care about the characters in a movie, as much as I did the characters in this game. The raw emotion that it invoked inside me when Naomi popped up on the boat as Big Bosses body sunk in the river behind her (I literally yelled out 'You Bitch!'), or when Liquid took over the nanomachines of every US soldier in the vicinity, and you watched as hundreds of men writhed on the ground completely unable to defend themselves. This game embodies to me what the next generation experience is all about; the blurring of the line between games and movies.
While the cut scenes may be longer than most other games, the story would be much worse for the wear without them. There were a few points during the game where I thought that a cut scene was unnecessary, and probably only was there because Kojima wanted complete creative control over what was portrayed to the user, but on the whole, I didnt' find many of the cut scenes to be overtly long, windy, or in any way uninteresting. In fact, the only scene that really stood out to me as being a bit too long was meeting Big Momma, and I was so enthralled by the wealth of information that she had to share with you, that I didn't even care how long it was. I think the only part that could have been trimmed was the ending, and showed that Kojima seemed to be struggling with how to end his magnum opus, more on that later.
Even though it's been over a week since I completed the game, I can not shake the feeling that this was one of the deepest games I have ever played. Someone complained to me the other day about the fact that you are given 30 different grenades to use, yet you only really need 1 or 2 to get through the game. I think that while this may be off putting to some, it is more of a testament to the depth of what this game has to offer. You literally could go at any situation in any number of ways, allowing you to choose how you want play the game, as opposed to having to fit into a mold of how the developer wants you to play the game, and you having to replicate it. In any number of combat situations you have numerous guns that you can use, you have the MK II, you have stun guns, stun grenades, smoke grenades, rebels to help distract PMC's, or you don't have to engage anyone at all. This speaks volumes to how finely tuned and crafted Metal Gear Solid 4 is, and it also makes the game extremely accessible to anyone who wants to take a crack at it. The thing that floors, though, is that at its core, the game is still a sneaking mission. So, if you choose to run and gun through the game with the help of the Cisqo-esque Drebin, you can, while at the same time, someone else can complete the entire game without firing a single shot. When some games struggle to offer one compelling way to complete a game, Metal Gear Solid 4 offers many, and this is quite a feat of gameplay.
It's very hard for me to find any chinks in the armor of Metal Gear Solid 4. When I found myself jumping into Rex, and heading out of Shadow Moses after Liquid, I was truly worried that I would roll my eyes at this tacked on robo mini-game. Yet, as I stood over the mangled husk of Metal Gear Ray, I couldn't help but feel that everything about the battle was fantastic fun (I could even imagine the mechanics working well in a full fledged mech game). I thought that Kojima may leave out too many details, leaving questions unanswered and even more to be pondered, and yet he tied together over 10 years of sometimes convoluted plot into a neat little package; quite a feat when many other games struggle with only a few hours of standard fare plot. In the end, the only glaring problem that this title faced was that the creator himself could not pull the trigger.
I have tried on countless occasions to figure out why Solid Snake did not die at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4. My first inclination was that it came down to Konami forcing Kojima's hand into leaving the franchise open for another title, which is a possibility but could easily be pulled off with Snake buried 6 feet under. There is plenty of interesting story that could involve Big Boss, or any of the other Patriots, just like MGS3 did, so why keep Snake alive? What it comes down to is that Kojima couldn't kill his baby, and had the rest of MGS4 not been so strong, this could have risked ruining the game.
Not only was it the right course for Snake to die at the end of Guns of the Patriots, it utterly broke the story when Big Boss came sauntering out of nowhere, rambling on and on about Zero and the Patriots. Shockingly, the story actually made pretty perfect sense to me up until that point. Unfortunately, Big Boss throws in all sorts of fun information that was about as unecessary as Johnny Akibas irritable bowel syndrome. Eva knew that the body in the van was Solidus'? Liquid Ocelot was really just Ocelot with some hypnosis applied? Naomi was in contact with Big Boss, and told him everything? This entire exchange left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, one that will not be easily washed away. I can totally understand not wanting to let go of something that you have poured your heart and soul into for the better part of your life, but this was not having trouble letting go, this was having trouble letting go and almost purposefully sabotaging the story just for the sake of it.
In the end, the strengths of this game, and the games that come before it, outweigh any damage done by the unnecessary "debriefing". If I eliminate those last few minutes from my memory, and look at the game as having ended when the gun went off, I am left with nothing but joy about how Metal Gear Solid, as a whole, played out. The thing that worries me, is that this not only signifies the end of the era of Metal Gear Solid, but also an era of the type of game that it embodied. Will we be left with games that, in the words of one very unpopular reviewer, encapsulate shorter cut scenes and superior shooting? Will Metal Gear Solid 4 be the swan call for the over the top Japanese titles of yore? Regardless of what the future holds, I will always hold Metal Gear Solid 4, and the franchise as a whole, very close to my heart.
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