Metal Gear Solid 4 Review
Its time to salute this old warrior and hero for his final mission. Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of the best games ever made. This may sound like an overstatement, but it isn't. This game delivers an epic journey of an old soldier Solid Snake, combining technically genius graphics and game play which has now finally been perfected. Metal Gear Solid 4 does not disappoint.
Lets start of with the story, if I can. The Metal Gear Solid franchise is known for its complex story and the forth installment does not disappoint. This game is very confusing and if you haven't played any Metal Gear games before you will be thrown into the deep. My personal advise would be to read up on some Metal Gear history and see who the main characters are and what the main events in the passed have been. This story starts of with a bang and you learn that your brother Liquid who is in the body of ocelot is back again and trying to unfold an evil plot of world domination.
The events follow on from Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty but also make you remember the events on Metal Gear Solid 1 and 3. This story takes you through levels of vast jungle to track foot prints, to ice plains and of course vast buildings. I will not tell you much more because I am 
afraid that I might wreck this amazing story that takes ruffly 18+ hours to complete depending on difficulty and skill level. Some people might be afraid they will not understand the plot, however do not think this. Yes the story is confusing and has many side story and subplots but the main story you will understand, then you can discuss with friends and find out more. This game is not to be over looked because of an over complex story.
You get a vast arsenal of weapons ranging from the standard stun knife and tranquilizer gun, to M4's and even rocket launchers. You also get a device to help you see enemies called Solid Eye. Then you get a companion early on in the game called the Metal Gear Mk.II which is a small robot which can scout on ahead and stun enemies which its whip.
The difficulty curve depends on a few things. Firstly if you haven't played any Metal Gear games before, of you have then most of the controls will feel similar and you will feel at home, if you haven't there is always a tutorial training mode to practice your skill. Then there is the difficulty you play it on, if you play on Liquid Easy it will be quiet a breeze, then there is Naked Normal which is designed for the Japanese market due to the America and European normal difficulty being to hard. The true normal difficulty is called Solid Normal and then there is Big Boss Hard and a final one which I wont mention due to my fear of someone saying SPOILER.
The graphics on this game are superb. All of the cut scenes are rendered in real time and look like a CG film. The game has a very smooth frame rate and holds up to close scrutiny from people who love to find glitches and problems. The sound design ones again is brilliant. The score is perfect for all of the cut scenes and for the tension in the game. Even when you first start the game the music is fantastic.
The AI has been improved a lot. When you get caught it is quiet hard to escape, especially how they look for you in boxes by kicking them over but your new Octocamo helps you escape. By laying down on the floor you blend into your surroundings and by holding down triangle you can play dead which makes it much hard for the enemies to stop you. The enemies are back and 
better than ever. The head honcho of Liquid controls vast armies of FROGS his elite fighting force and machines like Gecko's which gives the game the non stealth side to it. However it is said that you can play the game entirely by stealth, or use a combination of both. And of course there is a squad of super bosses which are your boss battles, this time they are called the BB's but you can find out what that stands for.
The story is heavy with cut scenes and with some lasting up to 90 minutes, however these longer cut scenes normally have moments where you take over and control Snake. Also at any time in a cut scene you can pause it by pressing start, so you can take a break and come back to it later. People say the cut scenes are too long but this game is meant for the epic story and the only way to tell a story is by cut scenes. If you are put off the game by the number or length of the cut scenes shame on you, because you are going to miss out on the best ending to any game ever made. Again you might think this is an over statement but after I finished it I was smiling and just remembering all of the fun I had and also I was disappointed it was over.
However, once this game is over you have the multiplayer to look forward to. This multiplayer is very fun, with five plus maps and an array of weapons at your disposal you can stun, sneak or just pull out your javelin rocket launcher and blow them up. There are five game modes however one of the best is called Sneak where one person is Snake and all the others are out to kill him but Snake is also trying to steal their dog tags by stunning them. This game mode can be very fun whether there are few or many people.
Overall Metal Gear Solid 4 delivers a fantastic ending to the saga and is a must buy for any PS3 owners. It is the best PS3 game out on the market right now and deserves the credit it is getting. The game is brilliant throughout and the ending to it concludes this series so well.
