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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

Preview: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Page 2 of 5)

Preview by Vicious Sid & Mr. Marbles | 01/26/2007 | 13:50:33 PM PST

By now, it's no secret that Snake's physical condition is in bad shape. But making a young stud into an old fart wasn't purely for thematic or aesthetic reasons. Kojima is particularly interested in exploring Snake's deteriorating condition from the perspective of the player. "He's old," Kojima says, "and not as sharp as he was before." That's not to say that Snake doesn't have a few new stealth tricks.

Aside from the OctoCam suit (see sidebar), we saw our hero feign death, wriggle across a raging battlefield, and toss a grenade to wipe out a squad of troops. In fact, many of Snake's new abilities involve him lying on the ground - a highly unusual strategy for a badass action hero. But then that's Kojima's intention. "I want the players to synchronize with Snake's emotions. He's kind of old, he's going to die soon. He has to pretend he's dead, or crawl on the ground...something no typical hero would do. It's taboo."

Even with the expanded range of actions, series veterans should feel right at home with the basic control scheme. Most of Snake's old moves will return, such as hiding inside objects or tapping on surfaces to misdirect guards. But his signature back-to-the-wall stealth pose is gone, making room for more a fluid, seamless system that will allow him to sneak quick peaks while behind cover.

Kojima is heartbroken by the PS3 controller's lack of rumbling ("I already said to [Sony Computer Entertainment president] Mr. Kutaragi that I want the rumble feature back"), but he's already scheming up ways to incorporate the controller's new motion-sensing abilities. How, exactly? Kojima won't say. Our guess: the Sixaxis's tilt sensor will be used to lean around corners, or possibly for aiming in first-person mode. It's also possible it will tie into Snake's ground-based maneuvers, but that's little more than conjecture.

This sniper shot certainly won't be rumbling...

This sniper shot certainly won't be rumbling...


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