Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

1. Evaluation Shane Costello CIS 487 Dr. Maxim 9-22-08

2. Basic Information • Title – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots • Company – Konami • Director – Hideo Kojima • Type of Game – Stealth Action • Price – $59.99 • Hardware/Space Requirements – Playstation 3/At least 4600 MB

3. Game Summary • Overview – Solid Snake is asked by his old friend Colonel Campbell to eliminate Liquid Snake once and for all because Liquid is trying to hijack the Sons of the Patriots (SOP) system and have control of soliders worldwide

4. Game Summary Continued • Story – Chronologically there are six games before MGS4. The year is 2014, 5 years following MGS2, and global war has become a business with Private Military Companies (PMC’s). Liquid Ocelot (Liquid Snake inhabiting Revolver Ocelot’s body) owns the five largest PMC’s, which rival the United State’s military.

5. Game Summary Continued • Story Continued – Nanotechnology is common in this time and all soldiers have them in their bodies to enhance battle skills as well as force loyalty. Liquid plans to hijack this system to control all soldiers. Snake and others set out to stop him. The game takes place in the Middle East, South America, Easter Europe, Shadow Moses Island, and Outer Haven (Liquid’s Headquarters)

6. Game Summary Continued • Player’s Role – Veteran Soldier/Infiltrator whose mission is to assassinate Liquid Ocelot and, later on in the mission, to rescue Naomi Hunter (a former friend) from Liquid • Installation – The game must install on the PS3 at first play (it’s all automatic). Also, at each “chapter” in the game (there are 5 total) a 3 minute installation screen appears.

7. Game Summary Continued • User Interface/Gameplay controls • Easy and intuitive • Movement/aiming with the analog stick • Browse items/weapons with shoulder buttons • Fire with shoulder buttons • Actions with gamepad buttons (triangle, square, etc)

8. Game Summary Continued • User Interface Continued

9. Game Summary Continued • User Interface Continued

10. Game Summary Continued • Gameplay • Snake must sneak around PMC troops • Should only engage when necessary (except for boss fights) • If spotted, an “Alert phase” will ensue in which troops will search for Snake until the Alert phase timer runs out • Snake can “buy” new weapons with Drebin Points (Drebin is an illegal arms dealer Snake meets during the story) • Drebin points are earned by trading in PMC troops’ ID tagged weapons to Drebin

11. Game Summary Continued • Scoring – Drebin points are the closest thing to scoring. When the game is completed stats are displayed such as completion time, number of alerts, continues used, etc. Note that completing the game in a certain time or without being spotted may allow the player to receive special weapons/items for the next play-through

12. Game Summary Continued • Artwork – The creators of the Metal Gear series of games typically have worked very hard making the game look as real as possible, and MGS4 is no exception

13. Game Summary Continued • Artwork Continued

14. Game Summary Continued • Artwork Continued

15. Game Summary Continued • Artwork Continued

16. Game Summary Continued • Sound and Music – The sound effects are, as always, very realistic. The game does include Metal Gear’s signature “!” sound when Snake is spotted. The music is very professional and, as always, works very well with the game. The music was composed by the same man that has composed the music since MGS2, Harry-Gregson Williams

17. Game Summary Continued • Special Features • The game allows photos to be taken and viewed • Bonus items can be obtained through game time completions and not being spotted • The game also features a separate game called Metal Gear Online (MGO). Controls are the same, but a new character is created for the online play and includes several different game modes

18. Game Summary Continued • Special Features Continued • MGO

19. Game Summary Continued • Manual – The manual is actually very helpful and gives instructions in the form of a short comic • Bugs – No found bugs yet

20. Game Review • Good Aspects of Game • Addicting, action-packed, and sometimes comical storyline • Intuitive and fun gameplay • Challenging to try and sneak by warzones • Customize and collect a realistic and vast variety of weapons

21. Game Review • Bad Aspects of Game • Some would complain about the length and frequency of the cutscenes • First run through of game took 19.5 hours, second run through (skipping all cutscenes and radio conversations) took 5 hours • If the cutscenes are skipped (without ever have watching them before) the player would most likely be very confused as to what is happening in the story • The story itself can be confusing…

22. Game Review • Comparison • Much more popular than Splinter Cell, but Splinter Cell is more of an Americanized type of stealth-action game while the Metal Gear games are more of a Japanese-Anime style of game • Splinter Cell is more about the gameplay while MGS4 is more about the story, however neither series is deficient in the opposing attributes as well • What makes MGS4 a better stealth-action game is that there is so much history to the story and the developers are very experienced with this type of game

23. Game Review • Appropriate Audience • Due to the complexity of the storyline and the violence/language I would agree with the ESRB rating of Mature • This game would definitely appeal to previous fans of the Metal Gear series, as well as online gamers (for MGO), shooter fans, and even RPG gamers • Design Mistakes • None that I could find or research about

24. Summary • Strengths • Fun and challenging gameplay • Addicting storyline • Online play • Weaknesses • Long cutscenes (some might say) • Confusing story (some might say)

25. Summary • Is the game worth purchasing? • Definitely • How could the game be improved? • Incase the player doesn’t want to watch the cutscenes but still wants to know what is happening in the story, maybe have a “summary” page of information that the player can scan through before or during a mission