Reviews// Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Another question is, “Is this worth my money?” Well, the answer to that one is easy – yes, it is worth it. This game does represent a bang for your pounds sterling (or Euro).

Remember, this is not a history of Metal Gear, it's an estimation of it for the potential purchaser.

Despite what you may have read elsewhere – most of which was bebogged in heavily laboured, flowery, hagiographic language – MGS4 is actually a playable video game. Sure, it makes you work hard and initially there is a great deal to get used to. You've got inventory, movement, stealth movement, weapons use and some trading and communications to get your head and fingers around. So, much like a good stealth combat game then? Well, yes, yes it is. Back to the needy idea. You really do have to play by its rules – nothing strange in that, what with it being a game – until you realise that these rules can be counter-intuitive.

Take the “I am making myself nearly invisible with this here octopus-like technique of turning my suit into the same colour (and I assume texture) as the surface I am cuddling up to so that the enemy (or are they?) walk past me, or in some cases straight through me but we'll get to that later....phew!” It's a right laugh, and quite effective – even more so when you crouch down as well. You would figure, or at least I did, that a highly trained and effective soldier would be able to use use a weapon from that crouched and octopied situation. I understand that a spaceship using a cloaking device would need to divert power away from the device to the weapons system (well, I had trouble with that as a design/budget issue as well, but let's move on) before firing. I can't, however, understand why Snake's suit requires him to stand up and turn off the suit before... using a knife?

This kind of thing is, however, part of the internal MG logic. When it comes to MG logic I'm prepared go with it. I'm also prepared not to be able to follow a wall all the way around if I am octopied. I'm also prepared to keep shooting the same people, again and again and again in order to maintain the notion that this isn't actually a maze game after all. I'm not sure I'd tell my younger brother (who has never played any MG before) that he should be prepared to, though.

But me, I'm actually quite good at suspending my disbelief. This brings me to the cut-scenes.

I am totally aware that the MG series – which introduced and honed stealth combat - has never shied away from cut-scenes. Hell, if you are going to get value for money and time expended then you are going to have to love those cut-scenes.

But to me, it appears that game makers are bored with game making or they are scared of it – or maybe everybody just wants to fill up discs with 'something'. Maybe actual game-making has explored all the angles it can. Maybe we're now in an era that will be marked by techniques for hiding that fact. Maybe the art in making video games playable rather than pompous was like the dream of punk rock, only ever fated to last for a year or so before we returned to the comfort of monstrous egos? Funny what you think about while waiting for a game to load... oh, don't get me started on that one. Let's stick with the cut-scenes.