First Impressions – Metal Gear Solid 4
I’m 8 hours into the latest Metal Gear Solid game so far. I’ve seen war. I’ve seen robots. I’ve seen men hiding in barrels and boxes. I’ve seen male nudity. I’ve seen things that make no sense. I’ve sat through extremely long conversations. Yep, this is Metal Gear alright…
Snake’s latest, and presumably last, game is finally here. 8 hours into it, and I’m not sure yet quite what to make of it. It resides somewhere between the series roots and today’s modern day action games. Think of MGS1 crossed with Call of Duty 4 and you’ll have an inkling of what to expect. Divided into multiple acts, Act 1 comprises all of the footage we’ve been exposed to since the game was first shown off. Snake is thrown into some Middle Eastern city that is in the throes of a war. His immediate goal is to oust Liquid Ocelot, but that goal only serves as Snake’s gateway drug into a more complicated story that involves war, humanity, government control, conspiracy theories… you know, typical heady MGS stuff.
The gameplay is fairly enjoyable. It is at once easier to play than past MGS games, yet slightly more complicated than other similar games. The controls don’t allow Splinter Cell style sneaking precision, or Call of Duty shooting accuracy. It sits oddly between those two extremes, doing neither function particularly well, but just well enough to get by. What it doesn’t do so well is be equally appealing to both types of audiences. It becomes clear early on that sneaking through the shadows is the “old way” of progressing. Running and gunning is much easier and efficient. Guard spot you? Just shoot him in the head before he raises the alarm. Alarm go off? Just stand your ground and gun everyone down who comes around the corner until the alarm goes away. Action game fans will probably be annoyed by the stealth contrivances, while stealth fans will probably be turned off by all of the action.
It’s really odd that the old “!” system is even in the game at all. For the length of time I’ve spent with the game, Snake is usually on a battlefield, stuck between two warring factions (one of which is friendly to you unless you intentionally make them your enemy, which doesn’t seem to have any benefit). You can try to sneak past the fighting, or just get right out in the open and get involved. What makes it really strange is that if the other faction sees you, they have the “!” reaction, prompting a 99 second alarm. Why do they care that you’re in the fight? It’s not like they would know who Snake is. You’re just one out of dozens of people firing off machine guns.
Despite the identity crisis the game has, I’m having fun with it. I never felt that the MGS games were particularly good at stealth gameplay anyway, so the fact that I can almost totally ignore that aspect makes this one much more enjoyable. Further adding to the enjoyment, or oversimplification to detractors, is that weapons and ammo are extremely plentiful. At any time, you can pause the game and access an arms seller. Need a silencer? Laser sight? Ammo? Grenades? You can buy these items and have them instantly whenever you want them. There’s no need to conserve ammo in this game or try to play it safe.
A few negatives do stand out so far. The cinematics are a bit long, but they’re well animated. What’s even longer, and not nearly as interesting to watch, are the very long conversations Snake has with the other characters. Often, you’ll be in the middle of a hellacious battle, only to have someone pull up a vehicle and then have a casual, slow paced, wordy conversation as though Snake were sitting in the middle of a park on a calm day. The codec conversations are equally lengthy. The conversations are funny at times, and even poke fun at games and the MGS series itself, but just as much information could be conveyed in half the time. It’s hard to go through a 15 minute conversation and not drift off before it ends.
The other major negative is the graphics. I’ve seen the online reviews point out every single time how great the graphics are and how the game is really pushing the PS3 to its limits. Really??? This is the best the system can do? These are great graphics? I’m just not seeing it. The graphics are very reminiscent of MGS2 and 3 on the PS2. It seems like MGS4 is using the same graphics engine, only slightly improved. In screenshots, the game looks beautiful. On a big, high def tv, it doesn’t hold up to other recent games. It’s not an ugly game, it’s just oddly plain looking given how high profile it is. It’s a game that’s meant to be viewed from a distance. There’s even a message in the game that says you should play in a well lit room as far from the tv as possible. Seems like that’s meant to be a joke, but given the state of the graphics, maybe Konami means it.
Supposedly there are some gameplay twists before I reach the end. And supposedly the cutscenes get longer and longer while the gameplay portions get shorter and shorter. Hopefully I’ll still have a positive impression of it by the time it’s done. It seems good enough so far that multiple play-throughs on harder difficulties seems likely. There’s the multiplayer portion to explore as well, though I’m not holding my breath for that to be a compelling experience. All in all, it’s a good game. It’s not good enough to warrant buying a PS3 for, but it’s a worthy addition to any PS3 owner’s library.
