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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
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Locked inside his room for the last three days, we shoved a keyboard at Dylan as soon as he emerged and made him answer one question: “What’s MGS4 like? Oh, and did you need to eat?”
BY DYLAN BURNS
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 t’s been a rough ride, readers. The Metal Gear saga has taken six games, a story that spans 20 years and so many twists and turns you could almost write a thesis on Metal Gear mythology. Yup, it’s been a roller coaster experience of highs and lows, plot twists and betrayals – and more than anything Hideo Kojima’s penchant for overly-verbose and drawn-out cut scenes.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of those rare titles, a game that screams quality yet still manages to divide gamers right down the middle. On one side of the fence sits the gamer who forgives the high percentage of cut scenes and who accepts Metal Gear games for what they are: totally self-indulgent cinematic entertainment. On the other side sits the kind of gamer who hates the interruptions of each cut scene with a passion, rolling their eyes as Snake craps on about the grip he has on a particular gun for the seventh time. And then, sitting atop the fence, you have the gamer that loves Metal Gear games despite the extravagant plot devices and larger than life characters, but doesn’t quite get as ‘into’ the story side of things as some people do.
Wherever you sit, there’s no denying the quality of the series. Hideo Kojima is obviously a perfectionist, as every single frame that you witness is expertly crafted and presented with the highest production standards possible. This rings oh so true for MGS4, which has the rather bittersweet honour of tying up Snake’s story for good.
PRESS START
The game starts out with Snake being called into action as a UN inspector. But there’s something different about our hero; this Snake has more wrinkles than a Ray Martin fan club. MGS4 is not, as many speculated, set years on from the other games – Snake has simply aged a lot faster than normal, and as the game progresses you will learn of the reasons behind his accelerated ageing.
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