(Page 3 of 3)
While
MGS4 covers a plethora of extremely serious situations and topics -- regardless of how long the cut scenes are -- it's hard to understand how someone could not be moved by the story. The concept of how war affects every aspect of civilization is more than hammered home, and Snake's many inner and outer struggles lead him down an extremely dark path. No matter how somber or intense situations become, or what emotional strings are tugged, there's plenty of comic relief to calm the nerves. From Akiba's tribulations with stomach and bowel issues during a frenzied firefight, to the antics of Drebin and Little Grey, to the numerous references and inside jokes to prior MGS titles, the game is paced quite well. Overall, after getting through a rough section in a level, or finally downing a troubling boss, I was more than glad to catch my breath with a laugh, a good helping of story elements, and closure on a number of MGS topics.
Metal Gear Online was almost released as a standalone game, and fortunately it came in this already meaty package. The hoops you have to jump through to play the online component are ridiculous, and the fact that Konami decided to go through their own proprietary service instead of going through Sony's lackluster online setup is frustrating, but there are actually reasons for why Kojima Productions did this. They learned from griefing and cheating on previous versions of
MGO that they had to do it themselves since the PlayStation 3 doesn't have a sealed-tight service like Xbox Live. But they still have a long way to go to make it a well-rounded system.
If you thought the Vamp-Raiden fight in the trailer was intense, you haven't seen anything yet.
In
Metal Gear Online you initially pick a number of skills that you want your character to excel at such as CQC, different rifle mastery, speed or knives. You can also unlock special skills over time, but unlike
COD4 it's confusing how to actually do this, and after a number of matches it doesn't seem like I've accomplished much. I tried figuring it out, but searching the online manual brought up a Web site -- instead of just doing something within the UI -- that didn't have much on the topic. Thanks. Many of
MGO's variants rely heavily on teams working together, so finding a match that contains players properly playing the game using tactics and headsets (can we get headsets-only lobbies, please?) will make your head spin. But get into a good group of matches, and
MGO can be a great time. Foiling an enemy's return of a GA-KO with a well-placed porn mag in Rescue Mission, or grabbing an elusive dog tag while playing as Snake in Sneaking mission, makes
MGO a very exhilarating and unique multiplayer experience.
In many ways
MGS4 is a celebration for fans of the series, but in no means would someone hate the experience if this was the only game in the series they played. Fortunately there's plenty of ways to get caught up -- with many free FAQs, "Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection," or "Metal Gear Saga" and "Metal Gear Saga 2." It's much like hitting up Netflix to get the last few seasons of a deep television or movie series. Players that have made the investment to get into the world of MGS will find little to be disappointed in
MGS4. MGS has always been known to offer a captivating and mind-bending story intertwined with a variety of stealth-action combat, and
MGS4 concludes the series well. Even though it's a bit sad that this is Solid Snake's final mission, it's good to see the old fart doesn't go down without a proper finale -- one that makes this game the best reason to own a PlayStation 3 to date.