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PS3 | Action | Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Boxart for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 226 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 5.00
  • SOUND: 5.00
  • CONTROL: 5.00
  • FUN FACTOR 5.00
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.4
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 5.0
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Hands-On: New hands-on with Metal Gear Solid 4 (page 2 of 4)

Hands-On by Sid Shuman | 04/02/2008 | 19:23:02 PM PST

Snake can modify any gun to equip a wide variety of laser sights, scopes, grenade launchers, and much more.

Snake can modify any gun to equip a wide variety of laser sights, scopes, grenade launchers, and much more.

Taming Snake

Metal Gear Solid 4 is much easier to control than its predecessors. If you like Gears of War and Halo 3, you'll find plenty to love here!

Controller Legend

Square: Activate auto-aim
Circle: Reload weapon
X: Crouch; hold to crawl
Triangle: Wall press; aim down sights (while aiming)

L1: Aim weapon (over-the-shoulder view)
L2: Hold to select items
R1: Fire weapon; CQC attacks
R2: Hold to select weapons

Left Stick: Move Snake; press gently to creep
Right Stick: Move camera, aim weapon

Pit Viper

Perhaps the greatest joy of playing Metal Gear Solid 4 lies in its simple, intuitive control scheme. Snake may be getting older, but his abilities haven't diminished one bit. You may know about his Octo-cam suit, which allows him to automatically blend in with surrounding walls and floors. More impressive is his suite of new ground-based stealth abilities. "The inchworm" allows Snake to slowly creep past hotspots while playing dead, and is activated by gently nudging the analog stick while Snake lies prone. Snake can also aim and fire guns while lying down, or roll over to assume a back-down position -- handy for tossing grenades over-the-shoulder at unwitting enemies -- with a quick tap of the Triangle button. It's impressive to see such a wide range of abilities represented through such simple controller inputs -- the learning curve here is very gentle.

"Impressive, Snake"

Playing a nearly complete build of Metal Gear Solid 4 running on the PlayStation 3 was a revelatory experience. The graphics looked sensational, the sound effects and music sounded magnificently epic, and the interface felt sleek and simple. In short, it's becoming increasingly clear that Metal Gear Solid 4 will be the rare game to live up to its own massive hype. We feel confident that MGS4 is the game PlayStation 3 owners (and Metal Gear fans) have been waiting years to play. Visit OMGMetalGear.com for late-breaking updates on MGS4, and check back next month for more of what is quickly shaping up to be a top game for 2008. We couldn't be more excited!

Tried and true, Snake can still lean from cover. Take note of the close-quarters combat (CQC) gun and knife stance from Metal Gear Solid 3.

Tried and true, Snake can still lean from cover. Take note of the close-quarters combat (CQC) gun and knife stance from Metal Gear Solid 3.

A grim moment in the Middle-Eastern act as Snake encounters a triage area for wounded militants.

A grim moment in the Middle-Eastern act as Snake encounters a triage area for wounded militants.

PMC vehicles will inflict heavy casulties on the militias, if you don't lend a hand. Note Snake hiding on the right side of the image.

PMC vehicles will inflict heavy casulties on the militias, if you don't lend a hand. Note Snake hiding on the right side of the image.

Performing the

Performing the "inchworm" is as easy as lying down (hold X) and gently moving the analog stick towards your goal. Most soldiers won't notice you.


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