Konami has taken the "game" out of "video game".
You know, I've thought about encouraging you, the “reader”, to actually sit down and read this entire review before passing judgment, but I won't do that. Why should I? After all, any die hard Playstation or Metal Gear Solid fanboy checking out this review has probably already judged it based on the numerical representation I've used as a score. Such people most likely won't even bother to consider - much less: read - any of the points I make, so I'll just say, “screw that altogether”, and not waste my time on trying to convince closed minds that make no attempt to be open. I know that anyone who is going into this review with an open and subjective overview, will be able to appreciate what I have to say, since what I have to say comes from a serious, independent gamers' perspective who's allegiance and loyalties lie with no company, title or genre. I realize that most of what I will be saying here will sound quite negative, but I assure you that there are positive traits to be acredited to Metal Gear Solid 4 as well. Unfortunately for me, these are much fewer in number, and the negative traits are what stick in my memory after completing the game two times. So with that in mind, be prepared to hear a completely different take on what is often reputed as being a masterpiece.
In my humble opinion the term “masterpiece” is not applicable when referring to Metal Gear Solid 4. Instead, I'd prefer to go with the term, “unjustifiably hyped”. Without a doubt, Metal Gear Solid 4 takes the role of the most disappointing game that I've played in the past five years. That is not to say it is the worst game I've played in these years, but it is definitely the biggest game in which I had assumed would be spectacular, that in the end really let me down the most. I suppose the greatest frustration isn't so much the lack of substance in the game itself (although that is a major concern), but being posed with the question, “what in the hell is everyone else seeing here, that I am not?”.
If I had to use a single word to label Metal Gear Solid 4, I'd have to go with “pretentious”. To me, that words hits the nail on the head so hard it drives the nail completely through. Everything about the game screams of seeming to believe, in and of itself, that it is amazing, unique, and – even more disturbingly - “cool”. But, no matter how powerful my magnifying glass is, I am not seeing it. In fact, in my opinion, it is in this self-proclaimed excellence that really leads to the downfall. Everything about Metal Gear Solid 4 tries so hard to be “cool” , but it comes off as so very transparent, cliché, and forced. Packed within Metal Gear Solid 4 is swirl of predictable and cheesy dialog, cliché love elements, ridiculously corny terminology to make everything sound cooler than it is (nano-this, nano-that, microfilm this, double agents that, “laundering weapons”), lots of acronyms (SOP, CQC, PMC, APU), and lots of really “cool” characters who will frequently strike a pose for the camera. Oh yeah, and basically everything else you'd expect from your generic, run of the mill anime, including all those Matrix-esque effects and gimmicks. At one point, a character is seen to be holding back a ship literally millions of times larger than him, to stop it from advancing. I think I can safely say, this was the most unrealistic thing I've ever seen in a video game – EVER. Yeah, I know, it's probably the sort of thing people who drool over corny poses would eat up, but I just couldn't stop laughing in frustration and anger. Did I mention characters love to strike dramatic poses for the camera, and that Metal Gear Solid 4 is constantly trying so hard to be cool?!
So what is Metal Gear Solid 4, and what is it all about? Well, the odds are that if you've been playing games for a while now, you've more than likely come across one of the earlier Metal Gear Solid games at some stage. If you haven't played anything from the Metal Gear universe, I will try to bring you up to speed.
Simply put, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a stealth oriented “game”, that occasionally allows you to interact with it, whereby you sneak past a bunch of brain dead soldiers, to get from a long cut scene at point A, to an even longer cut scene at point B. It should be clearly noted that the majority of the time you are not even playing the game, but suffering through the countless lengthy cut scene sequences – many lasting over an hour at a time. Because of these absurdly atrocious, unmotivating, and tedious cut scenes, I never managed to feel “sucked in” during the whole course of the game. When you are fortunate enough to put the game controller to use, you do absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, as the entire game consists of moving along, monotonously, from here to there. You never have specific goals or tasks that put your mind, patience or skill to the test, and your only real underlying objective is to get from one place to another. Since Snake is now an old fart, or at least resembles one in all the physical senses, movement is slow-paced, which comes as both a surprise and a disappointment. Granted, you are encouraged to sneak your way through, the laughable AI makes it just as easy to blast through with blazing guns at whatever pace Snake's sluggish speed will take you. Occasionally you will run into creative boss battles, but these do very little to compensate for the game's confining and repetitive nature.
There was once a time when I would have been one of the masses who stood by the belief that the Metal Gear Solid series defines stealth action. In fact, I recall saying just that just hours before playing Metal Gear Solid 4. However, today, I couldn't come to terms with saying such a thing. I could, however, say that once upon a time the Metal Gear Solid series defined stealth action, but sadly that doesn't seem to be the case today. With so many other quality games entering the genre today (Splinter Cell, and Assassin's Creed – to name a couple), Metal Gear Solid is really showing how little it is willing to evolve, and learn from its peers.
The premise behind Metal Gear Solid 4 is simple enough – some time in the future, the world is ravaged by constant war, and you, while taking the role of “Solid Snake”, are caught in the middle of all this. Easy enough to identify with, perhaps. Sadly, the deeper I delve into the guts and organs of the story in Metal Gear Solid 4, the more I regret it! At best, it's inconsistent, unrealistic, predictable, weak, and confusing.
Oh, and before I go on too much further in this review, I should make this absolutely clear here and now: if you haven't thoroughly played any of the earlier Metal Gear Solid games, don't even bother approaching this one! Don't think for a second it will make the slightest bit of sense to you unless you are completely caught up with the series! That's a major no-no. Ideally, you shouldn't have to play all the previous installments in a series to enjoy a single game, but unfortunately, that couldn't be more the case with Metal Gear Solid 4. You see, if there's just one of the earlier games you haven't played, large portions of the story will make absolutely no sense at all to you. Myself? I've only played through Metal Gear Solid 1, and, even then, it was the Japanese version. Needless to say, the story in Metal Gear Solid 4 doesn't make a lick of sense to me. Even when I think I have all the pieces, when I try to arrange the puzzle, things don't fit together and seem really inconsistent. I know that to many people the story behind the Metal Gear Solid series is part of its soul, but if you ask me, it's pretty soulless.
I've said it countless times before, and I will say it again: an overly confusing plot does not necessarily equate a quality, deep story. There seems to be a major misconception, which confuses poor story telling with quality story telling. “Well, gee, I'm so confused when I think about all the details, so it must be really deep and good!”. Nonsense! It just doesn't make any sense. Don't ever confuse that with quality story telling.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the story telling in Metal Gear Solid 4 is how incredibly preachy and long winded Konami managed to make the cut scenes. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Konami has taken the “game” out of “video game”! Metal Gear Solid 4 consists of roughly 25% game-play, while the rest of the time you are sitting and watching really long, preachy scenes that seem to drag on forever. By no means am I joking or exaggerating either, people! I have a clock just above my television setup, so I kept a pretty good eye on how long I was left holding the controller with nothing to do. There were numerous sequences of cut scenes that lasted well over an hour straight. That is, literally hours at a time that I was not playing, or interacting in any way, with the “game”, but dosing off as I'd shout “get on with it!”, or “who the hell cares?!”. Various cut scene sequences even allow you to save your gave, sometimes multiple times, throughout their duration. While this is a welcome addition since you are likely to need a break, it also is a pretty clear indication that the the developers acknowledge these sequences of cut scenes are overly excessive.
Therein lies another source of agitation towards both the story and the script in Metal Gear Solid 4. It is extremely preachy, and often speaks to you like you're a child. Other times, it is presenting philosophy as fact, and does so in a way that it makes it out as if what it is saying is the undeniable truth. While I do agree with many of the messages presented in Metal Gear Solid 4, I do not agree with the way that they have taken opinions regarding politics and human nature, and reshaped them into being irrefutable truths. If you ask me, that's just more of the same old propaganda being preached against.
Anyhow, as I've said, about a quarter of the time, you are fortunate enough to actually play the “game”, and it can be a bit of fun. Since it takes place some time in the “near future”, you've got a lot of gadgets to make your life easier. There are loads of different guns you can choose from, to help cater to your specific fighting style. Unfortunately, most of the other equipment you acquire is cooler in theory than in execution. Why? Because I found much of what you pick up is not only unnecessary, but actually easier and quicker to do without. Of course, some items are essential, such as restoration items that replenish your health or psyche, but even then many of them are completely deprecated as soon as you get the syringe. One use of the syringe and your psyche meter, which governs your stability, is instantly replenished. You can use it all you want too, so many of the other items you've been hording (compresses for example) are completely useless as soon as you get the syringe (which, even more surprisingly is acquired early on).
Without a doubt, the coolest item in the entire game is surrounding you at all times; your outfit. It's called, “OctoCam”, and it's a real time camouflage suit that automatically samples the the texture you are on or pressed up against, and takes on its respective appearance to ensure you are always well hidden. Granted, you do need to lay or sit still for a second or two for it to change, the fact that it is otherwise automatic, makes it a very welcomed, and quite effective, tool. I do, however, have a minor complaint (surprised?) regarding the OctoCam suit, but fortunately it is only theoretical and not technical. What I couldn't get out of my head was the fact that this magical, logic-defying suit somehow makes you virtually invisible altogether. What I mean is, I can understand you'd still be quite hidden if you were wearing a suit with the same texture as your surroundings, but you still are a three dimensional object following the physical laws of nature, and therefor casting an obvious shadow. There were countless times that soldiers stood literally inches away from me as I laid on the ground, and they didn't seem to notice the huge grass colored body casting shadows right in front of them. Texture and appearance is one thing, but as long as you are a three dimensional object casting shadows, it's a bit hard not to notice.
It's not just the OctoCam that flagrantly shows off the shoddy AI either. Now, while I have been hearing boisterous claims about the most amazing AI being found in Metal Gear Solid 4, I gotta tell you, I'm not seeing it. In fact, I found the AI to be rather poor. Aside from the fact that AI can't differentiate between large, body shaped grass casting huge shadows, there are a number of other complaints I think ought to be addressed. For example, there were numerous occasions in which the AI didn't even react when I had just introduced a bullet to the head of some of their buddies right next to them, yet while I remained unseen. Now, I don't know about you, but if my comrades right next to me started dropping like flies, I'd react in some way, shape or form. Further, in contrast to the ineptitude of some situations, it's also a bit perplexing that in the heat of a battlefield, as soon as you fire a shot at a soldier, the entire army's whole purpose, regardless of where they are, is to take solely you down, while all along completely forgetting the fact that a war is going on and that they have other enemies. I just can't buy that sort of behavior, because it resembles exactly what you'd see in a video game, and what you'd never see in real life. Come on, guys! And then, there is my Gekko story...
Towards the end of the game, you need to wait for your robotic companion, the Mk.II, to open a door as you distract a Gekko. My first attempt at this was a miserable failure, in which I had wasted 20 or so rockets trying to destroy it. Eventually, I was snuffed out due to my incredibly weak strategy. So I gave it another shot, and boy was I in for a laugh! I stood ever-so-slightly positioned behind cover and fired a single bullet at the Gekko as it turned to look at the Mk.II. Instantly, an exclamation point appeared above its head and it turned around looking for me. I never moved, and didn't even budge from my position. As the Gekko decided – for some strange reason – simply to forget about it, and turned back to look at the Mk.II, I did the same thing. Lather, rinse and repeat. I never moved, and in the end I didn't end up using more than 10-20 bullets during the whole scene, by simply waiting it out- how very lame.
Visually speaking, Metal Gear Solid 4 was a bit of a turn off for me from the instant I had it up and running. Okay, maybe I was impressed with the smoke effects during the installation screen, but after the game got rolling it was never a feast. To begin with, the world is filled with low resolution textures, which often look bland and unsuited to such a major title. I tried to give Metal Gear Solid 4 the benefit of the doubt and talked myself into believing it was only the textures I was seeing early on, but sure enough, as I went through the game I saw no improvement. The cookie-cut environments are also generic and lacking the level of detail countless other titles today possess. I would have expected objects to be thrown around, pipes and wires to be uniquely placed this way and that. Perhaps even papers scattered all over desks, and items thrown askew? No such luck! Everything is neatly organized, and the objects you do encounter in the environments are low-poly and generically boring to boot. Aside from an occasional piece of paper flying around, or a rat running around (which feels like such a forced and transparent attempt at compensating for the otherwise complete lack of detail), the environments are dead, unrealistic and completely lack the sense of realism that we expect from games today. Cars look blocky, buildings look blocky, debris looks blocky, boxes and trash cans look blocky, and anything else you will see just doesn't cut it by today's standards. I am absolutely baffled that these obviously substandard graphics seem to be tolerated, and in fact praised, just because of the name associated with the game. I could easily name 50 games across the PS3 and Xbox 360 that look much more visually appealing (Call of Duty 4, Gears of War, Unreal Tournament 3, Condemned 2, Uncharted, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Lost Odyssey, and the list goes on and on – sorry if I didn't list your favorite! - ...).
I'm not trying to say that I loved the graphics in any, or all, of the games I've mentioned above, but I am saying that all of these, as well as countless others, are much better overall than Metal Gear Solid 4. Heck, there are even many small and unpopular titles which I felt impressed me visually far more than Metal Gear Solid 4 did. I mean - come on, just because cut scenes look alright and faces look good, doesn't mean I'm just going to ignore the fact that Meryl's hair looks horrid, the lip-synchronization is mediocre, blood effects are weak, hands and legs look like LEGOs, and that the world they have me actually playing it looks like an alpha or beta build!
As I was just saying, occasionally I thought that some of the characters' faces looked good, but that was about as far as it ever went. The character models themselves are generally low-poly, and even blocky when it comes to the less popular characters. Sure, sometimes the characters look good in the cut scenes, but by no means on a different scale than many other PS3 and Xbox 360 games. The first time I saw the tear effects I thought, “that's pretty sweet”, but after seeing it some five more times throughout the game, I got angry at how often they were overusing the same damn effect, and how incredibly identical the tears were every single time! They'd fall the same way, like clockwork, and it really lost its touch being overly used throughout the game. One really nice effect was the snow effect towards the end of the game. The way the snow appeared as it collected on Snake's outfit looked very realistic. Unfortunately, one really impressive touch does little to make up for the countless number of other shortcomings.
Much like the visuals, I wasn't all that impressed with the aural aspects of Metal Gear Solid 4 either. I know a lot of you die hard Metal Gear Solid fanboys will cry out for me to be hung, but at the risk of upsetting all of your sensitivities, I don't see what is so special or unique about the music in Metal Gear Solid 4. Sure, occasionally, it was pretty good, and it did try to set the pace of the game, but not once did I ever feel like it was excellent or even perfectly matched the tone of the game. Yeah, I know, Japanese techno is all super-cool and all, but the music of a game is supposed to not only sound good, but suit the pace of the game – not set it. That's how it felt much of the time with the music; so very labored. It's one thing for the music's pace to accompany the tone you are experiencing, but to have that tone completely molded by the sounds is a weak collaboration of bringing together your senses. All in all, the music is fairly generic, with occasional highs, but more often than not, purely monotonous.
Yet another labored element of the audio presentation is Snake's unbelievable voice. Now, I don't mean it is “unbelievable” in a good way; I literally mean that I can't believe it is real. It simply feels so forced. I know Snake is supposed to be feeling the symptoms of his aging, due to his condition, but I shouldn't be left feeling that the voice actor is trying so hard to make the voice sound more dramatic. That didn't work for me. If anything, it came off as really corny, and stressed to an unforgivable degree. Fortunately, most of the other voice overs are pretty good, but not all that rememberable either. Let's be honest: video games today really excel in many areas that were completely lacking just a decade ago. So while the voice over work may have been outstanding by the standards of a decade ago, today it was pretty standard stuff.
The biggest source of annoyance for me, regarding how things sound at least, is the horrible script. If you're one for clichés, predictable dialog, and overly dramatic one-liners, then this is the game for you. I'm not. I find such things lacking in substance and repulsively uninteresting. Metal Gear Solid 4 is good example of why I choose not to watch newer flicks and television shows. Oddly enough, Konami believes paralleling the hogwash of Hollywood is a positive thing, so much so that they admittingly brag about it on the game's case! Now, that's a turn off to me. Being able to guess the lines that are going to be said, without even putting any thought into it, isn't a positive thing. It's weak! It's also a good indication that your writers could benefit from some creative brainstorming, as opposed to spewing out whatever garbage they think sounds “cool”. And no, I don't find corny melodramatic one-liners as all that appealing either; I think they are lame and unoriginal.
On the bright side, the sound is uncompressed and boasts a whole new level of clarity. What does this mean for most people? Absolutely nothing. If you're like me, you don't even have a surround system hooked up. Granted, I am in the process of finding a system I like for my gaming setup, the reality is that many of us are not even equipped with the technology to notice the difference. It's great that the support is there, but I'm left feeling that they could have better spent their resources (and disc usage) focusing on something everyone can benefit from, as opposed to something that even those who have capable setups may not notice the negligible difference. What I can say is that I do have a really nice (and brand new) HD television set, which boasts an awesome internal sound system (the Sony 40W4210, for those curious). Unfortunately, I don't notice the slightest difference in sound quality when playing Metal Gear Solid 4, or playing any of my other PS3 or Xbox 360 games. Maybe I just need to wait until I have the real deal - a 5.1 surround setup, that is - before I will notice any improvement. I'd like to think that, but sadly, I doubt the difference would be dramatic enough to notice a difference.
Another cool, and personal, touch is the ability to use an in-game IPOD to listen to your own music. How well exactly this works, I couldn't tell you because I do not have any music saved on my PS3. Nonetheless, the concept of the feature is a good idea. Throughout the game you will also find tunes spread around, allowing you to listen to classic music from the Metal Gear Solid series. I know that when I go to war, I'll be thinking about collecting free music instead of worrying about staying alive.
Speaking of the IPOD, as a diligent observer I feel it is my sad duty to report the obvious and frequent product placement throughout the world of Metal Gear Solid 4. Sure, the IPOD option is a nice little feature, allowing you to listen to different music while you play, but it didn't need to be called an “IPOD”, and carry along all the advertisement associated with it. Apple in general must have spent good money on marketing through the title, since all of the computers in Metal Gear Solid 4 are Macs and MacBooks. Being one of the staple Playstation titles that Metal Gear Solid is, Sony has managed to throw in a bunch of “PS3-power!” propaganda as well. At one point Otocan stops you to say that it's time to “swap discs”, and then laughs because you no longer need to since, you are on a PS3 system using a Bluray disc (“and dual layer too”). I'm willing to wager most people found it to be funny; I, however, found it to be corny, and a pretty weak method of marketing pride within game. Talk about a nice way to kill the immersive feeling of being absorbed into the game, by making the player consciously aware you're playing one! At another point in the game, Metal Gear Solid 1 villain, Psycho Mantis comments on your skills improving, or “rather your hardware”. We know, we know... The Playstation 3 is, and always will be, the coolest gaming console of all time, now please spare us the rhetoric. I'm sure this is the sorta thing that would crack up all the die hard Playstation fan boys, but as I've said, I'm not a patriot to any company. This sort of rubbish really kills the feeling you're supposed to be experiencing from the game. You might disagree, but that's how I see it.
If you put the cliché story, predictable dialog, lengthy cut scenes, and the shoddy environments aside, my biggest gripe is the extent that Konami has gone to exploit your nostalgic feelings. Now, I'm all for reminiscing with those inner feelings you have about games that you loved playing when you were growing up. And I'm also all for throwing in little reminders here and there tugging at those pleasant gaming moments. I am not, however, into a game who's basis revolves around exploiting those nostalgic feelings. Such is the case with Metal Gear Solid 4. You aren't just reminded of what happened before – it's constantly shoved in your face, as if to make the story all that more legendary and powerful. Again, I gotta say, that's really weak. It's constant, it's frequent, and it's to an unprecedented degree. As I've said before, if you've never played the other Metal Gear Solid games run as fast as you can, far, far away! Every few minutes, it's remember this, hearing a voice of that, another flash back there. I was a bit disgusted and angry at how much Konami has used the gamers' nostalgic feelings to exploit a more dramatic response. It's not that I mind when games rekindle those feelings – in fact, I love it – it's because without these constant references to the earlier events outside of Metal Gear Solid 4, the game itself is incredibly dry, bland and boring. Only because of these constant memories of the earlier events in the saga does this game hold any value whatsoever. I'm willing to bet that anyone who has been through the whole series is going to love it for same reasons I don't, and anyone who hasn't been there will hate it for the same reasons I do. Sure, “hate” is an awful strong word, and I'd even be hesitant to use it to describe my feelings towards Metal Gear Solid 4. However, I will say that I hate how Konami has relied on nostalgia value as its basis for creating a game, instead of focusing on ensuring that the game we are playing now will be remembered ten years from now.
So, as you can see, I have an awful lot of criticism to express over this game. In many ways I feel that gamers were cheated by Konami, and tricked into believing Metal Gear Solid 4 is more powerful than it is, simply by assuming that your memories of the earlier events will take over you, and shrowd the fact that the events of the game you are now playing go nowhere. Or maybe, I am just not a part of Konami's target audience – you decide. One thing I can say for certain is that the countless clichés, and constant attempts at being spectacular, are probably what lead to me believing the complete opposite in the end. Before I forget, I thought I'd also point out how much Hideo Kojima is into himself! There are countless references to him throughout the game, and even in the credits the “voice of god” is acredited to one, “Hideo Kojima” (gag me!). Maybe it's just me, but he should consider putting a lot more time into justifying his excellence, and a lot less time gloating about his ego. Before Metal Gear Solid 4 came out, I was under the impression I was a fan of the series, but apparently I have been proved wrong. Metal Gear Solid 4 simply does not have enough substance in it to make it worthwhile to a curious, new gamer to the series. The game may have been made by people who all act as if what they are doing is amazing (as this is clearly reflected in the end product), and your average schmoe might end up believing it themselves, but I like to think that I'm clever enough to see through such nonsense. Konami had a great foundation on its hands to build something mesmorizing for everyone, but instead they squandered it in exchange for building a game that is nothing more than an exploitation of nostalgia. With that being said, if you're a huge fan of the series, who will blindly turn their head from any fumbles, then you will love this game no matter what. If you're anyone else, I strongly urge you to look somewhere – anywhere – else.
Overall Score: 6
Gameplay: (5) Less than a third of gameplay, accompanied by lengthy, preachy cut scenes. Awkward AI, accompanied by generic stealth action that has shown no sign of improvement.
Graphics: (7) Mediocre lip sync, weak blood effects, low resolution textures, low-poly environments lacking detail. On the bright side, character faces look good during cut scenes.
Sound: (7) Generic music with occasional highs. Unfortunately, the music tries to single-handidly set the tone of the game, instead of accompany it. Predictable dialog filled with cliches and one-liners, coupled with average voice acting.
Lasting Appeal: (5) Hard to get sucked in when you aren't playing most of the time. The concept of 10 minutes of gameplay and hour long cut scenes gets real old, real fast.
