Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot

Sep 20, 2007

"Otacon is broadcasting from a ship called the Nomad." It's a little detail, but we're the only US outlet that Konami's Ryan Payton reveals it to. We're in a quiet hotel room just off of the Makuhari Messe, site of the Tokyo Game Show, with a rumble-equipped DualShock 3 in our hands. And we're about to play Metal Gear Solid 4.

CQC? Who Do You Think You Are, Big Boss?

Before setting us loose with the DualShock and Solid Snake, Payton gives us a rundown on the new control scheme. "A lot has changed," he grins, "a whole lot." Metal Gear Solid 4 actually controls like a modern game, having finally shed the antiquitated control and camera schemes of Metal Gear Solid.

The most telling and immediate change is the moveable camera, but we've seen that in plenty of videos; we played an early version of it in Subsistence, the re-release of Snake Eater. Firing a weapon is now tied to R1, and in the Western-friendly "engagement" mode, L1 brings the camera up into a Resident Evil 4-style over-the-shoulder view. The Square button switches between engagement mode and lock-on mode, where closing with an enemy makes him the center of your world. R2 and L2 bring up your weapon and item menus, instantly familiar scrolling selections of ammo, eye patches and weapons. For the first time in a Metal Gear game there are also secondary fires to select from, like grenade launchers on an M4 or the shock attack from the knife. R2 will also activate those.

Tapping R3 swaps the shoulder you're resting your gun against. A single button press brings you into first-person mode. Fortunately, this is no longer controlled by Sixaxis motion control -- not that we'd played the version that was, it just didn't seem like a solid plan. The Square button still brings Snake down into a crouch; holding down the button brings him into a crawling position. In another sign of how much Metal Gear has changed, moving forward while crouched lets you run forward in a low crouch, instead of sending you crawling forward. It's obvious in retrospect, but a change that we're happy to see in place.

In all modes, Triangle is the context-sensitive button. It's easy to see this when you're standing behind a captured guard and the image of the Triangle button appears next to an iconic illustration showing a throat slitting, or when you sidle to a wall and the icon appears next to an image of clinging to it. But when you're on the ground, you can hold Triangle to "play possum," although no context-warning button will pop up. After a few minutes, we were used to being able to just reach to the Triangle button anytime we needed to do something not explicitly mapped to the other face buttons.

There's not much value to revamped controls without gameplay to match them. Indeed, fellow editor Gerald Villoria had a great time playing Metal Gear Online, tearing it up with the engagement-style shooting system. As for us, we played through a huge chunk of a single-player level, so we're certain that the gameplay is going to be water-tight.

SNAAAKEEE

Perhaps most importantly, the game's pacing is a bit faster than ever before. That's partially because the crouch-run ability has whole level sections designed around it, allowing you to remain behind cover that's just above your head when you crouch run. It's also because the lessons learned from Metal Gear Solid 3 have been broken down like every play from a winning game, giving Kojima Productions a stunning playbook for level and encounter design.

We played through the same level that Hideo Kojima did at the 20th anniversary gameplay demonstration of the game, although we started a bit earlier and continued a bit further. PMC troops drifted through the battlefield picking off militia soldiers, while militia soldiers tried to find a hard point and defend it. Our HUD presented the information we needed cleanly: a constantly updated camo percentage in the upper-right (along with a simple red dot indicating the direction of our goal); our current weapon in the lower-right; our current item in the lower-left; and a set of gauges in the upper-left. There, we saw the name of our character (hinting at other playable characters than "Old Snake"), our psych gauge and our stress percentage.

Psych represents the gradual wearing down that the battlefield can have, and as it lowers Snake's overall concentration gets worse and worse. In-game effects include a shakier gun as your psych goes lower and lower, as well as passing out when it hits zero. It's a "next-gen stamina" gauge. Getting away from battle and combat can raise the gauge; so can checking out pictures from a men's magazine (although each picture is only good for so long before you get bored with it). Payton promised more magazines than the lad's rags and gaming pubs that we've seen before, but we only got to flip through the high-def bikini shots we've seen in previous trailers.

Stress is a percentage score, and as that goes up to 30 or 40 percent, Snake can enter a combat high where his accuracy goes up and he takes far less damage. After that, though, his psych gauge will plummet (much like stepping into the new gas satchel charges effects). It's a neat way to indicate the constant stress and potential chances for glory in war.

Every sequel has to beat its predecessors almost as much as its actual competition. After our hands-on, it's clear that this is heads and tails above what previous MGS games have offered in gameplay. The controls, as well as the new feedback systems like the psyche gauge, are part of that. But so is the gameplay itself.

Vamp... He Must Be Immortal...

Since bodies litter the battlefield, even when enemies found Snake, if he managed to play possum out of a hunting area, they'd still pass his "body" by. The city's ruined walls and burnt-out second stories gave us plenty of chances to sneak by line of sight. But, given total freedom to explore the Middle Eastern battlefield, we found that our most effective cover wasn't mortar or stone, but war itself.

Simply enough, when the PMC and militia troops are fighting each other, they aren't very likely to notice a secret agent creeping along the ground. They also are less likely to notice the Metal Gear Mk. II, which we first turned invisible with the X button and then used to whip-electrocute numerous soldiers to unconsciousness. But the chaos, the bullets, and the overall madness of war are Snake's allies in a way they've never been before, despite his status as an ultimate warrior.

Discussion of aiding the PMCs keeps circulating, but there's only one reason to do so. Aid the militias, including by giving their soldiers rations after a won battle, and you'll find yourself rewarded with weapons (such as a petrolbomb) and ammo. But if you aid the militias too much with a mission too far from completed, you'll find yourself with no ongoing warfare to distract potential hunters.

Creeping through the city with only small arms and our knife, we were forced to avoid the PMC Strykers and soldiers, watching as the PMC soldiers killed militia men and forced the militia into a single hard point, pinned down by Stryker fire. Aftera meetup with Otacon, we snuck past the vicious street fight by taking a simple side route; the PMCs were too busy engaging the militia to maintain an effective perimeter. A few Lancer missiles later, and the Strykers were dealt with, leaving the remaining PMC force weak enough for the militia to mop up -- and leaving Snake free to enter the milita HQ and meet FOXHOUND.

One outstanding piece of interface that helped make our sneaking past the two small armies was the threat ring, the wavering white ring we've seen around Snake in the videos. White indicates a lack of being spotted, while red indicates a threat coming from a specific direction. The shape of the ring's line also changes based on the location and distance of enemies, growing up as enemies approach you. It's a very slick way to represent danger three-dimensionally.

There's a lot -- a lot -- more to see in Metal Gear Solid 4. We got to play with the Solid Eye System's zoom, infrared, and data-rich modes, but we didn't get to see how its performance was changed by Snake's state of mind, as the game's TGS pamphlet mentioned it will be. And, of course, there's still the plot -- will it be another MGS3, or another MGS2? When it comes down to it, with gameplay that feels this good moments after picking it up, we almost don't care. This is the first MGS that's felt perfect, and it was a joy to play and a sorrow to return the controller to Payton.