Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Snake is looking solid in the "official" E3 trailer of his first PlayStation 3 adventure; plus, Hideo Kojima's insights

One of the most anticipated games of the show was, of course, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for PlayStation 3. Gamers got a peek of the title at Sony's press conference on Monday, but it was actually a shortened version of a full trailer that debuted at Konami's press event yesterday.

As awesome as the trailer was, it was just that -- a trailer, with no actual footage of gameplay.

In essence, a well-edited computer-generated cinematic sequence, it finds an aged Solid Snake with six months to live (this is not a result of the "curse" that Naomi Hunter put on him at the end of Metal Gear Solid, but rather part of Snake's genetic code). Taking place five to six years after the Sons of Liberty incident, Snake is recruited to stop Liquid Ocelot, who has commandeered a special type of weapon. Imagine if you will, Metal Gear Rex's head atop two almost organic legs, and you have an idea of what these so-called PCMs are like. Incredibly fast and strong, they are fitted with a variety of weapons, including cables that can ensnare fleeing enemies and reel them in.

The trailer also revealed some of the game's supporting characters, such as Ocelot, Naomi Hunter, Colonel Campbell, Otacon, and Merly Silverburgh (who seems to be assembling her own Fox Hound Team). The biggest surprise is Raiden, though, who finished the trailer by destroying several PCMs in a row with a samurai sword (which was quite an impressive feat, considering that Solid Snake was nearly destroyed when two units cornered the stealthy soldier). Metal Gear creator is famous for listening to fans of the series, and he must have taken complaints that Raiden was too much of a sissy in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty; here, he was a formidable badass along the lines of Grey Fox. In a conversation with Hideo Kojima, the Metal Gear creator said that the Raiden upgrade was intentional, as the character wasn't in favor in Sons of Liberty. "Raiden here is the opposite of the way he was in Metal Gear Solid 2," Kojima says. "We want you to love him."

Snake has new camouflage. At one point, Snake was able to disguise himself as a pile of rubble to escape pursuing PCMs. Snake's new sneaking suit allows him to blend into any surroundings and will function in a similar fashion to the face paint/uniform cammo of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. However, this camouflage goes one step beyond by also copying the texture of the surroundings that are being mimicked, and this will undoubtedly play a major role in the stealth mechanic. The new sneaking suit is dubbed "Octacam," which is a reference to the character Decoy Octopus from the first Metal Gear Solid game on the PlayStation.

As for using the motion-sensing capabilities of the PlayStation 3 controller, Kojima says Sony's press conference on Monday was the first time that he heard about that functionality, but added that it will be used in the game in some fashion.

Predictably, the trailer left you drooling for more, and one can only hope that the final product will be as exciting to play as this trailer was to watch. According to Kojima, there were plans to include screenshots of actual gameplay in the Konami press kit, but they were ommited due to "controversies" within Kojima Productions about game's play engine, which he hinted to be brand-new and not a re-touching of the one used in previous games. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is slated for a 2007 release.

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