Calling to the night. Metal Gear Saga.
I just am at a loss for words to convey my feelings for this game. Ive watched movies such as The Shawshank Redemption which impacted me greatly emotionally and made me sit back and think What did I just watch?, What did those characters represent?, What did the director want me to take from this?. Ive read books, listened to music, which all conveyed the same powerful and thought provoking images that have lasted with me ever since.
Never did I think a game would do the same for me until I finished the story of this one, old, battle worn snake.
Im a Metal Gear newcomer, having only previously played MGS2 for about 30 minutes on my neighbors PS2 years ago. I didnt have any interest in the series and really didnt understand the big hype around it and MGS4. It was those trailers shown of the game that caught my attention. The trailers that shows a broken old man struggling across a battlefield to finally make amends for the actions of his past. A past he had no control over from the beginning.
Some people argue that the Metal Gear story is convoluted and far fetched due to rather extreme abilities and situations that occur within the history of the series. I too believed the same, until after playing subsequent acts of MGS4 that I finally got it: This isnt supposed to be a real life game, it is Kojimas take on the world we live in, the what ifs of tomorrow and truly gives us an in-depth look into his thoughts on what war really is, the soul of war, peace, love, hate, life, death, afterlife...
Through all of the previous games players have controlled Solid Snake and taken orders without question. Soldier. There is no such thing as free thinking or personal choice. A solider must obey orders given to him or her by their superiors in darkness, an ever extending branch of ideologies, and politics. No where is this more evident than in the 4th installment where its revealed that Snake himself a spy of spies, soldier of soldiers himself was in the dark about what his previous missions were really about and the forces behind those commands.
It is here that Snake utters the line: Im no hero, never was. Im just an old killer, hired to do some wet work. To who was he a hero? Who were the people congratulating him for his sacrifices? Snake understands at the moment what it means to be a soldier, to not have control over your own destiny...to not create your own destiny, but to rather sacrifice for the ambitions of others. In the end, he was nothing more than a tool. Created via cloning to mimic Big Boss and become another weapon, his fate it seems, was sealed from the moment the forces around him laid out the path of his existence in the lab all those years ago. To be a killer and enforce their laws to further their goals. There was no running away or challenging of his fate, he was brought up and trained to be an enforcer of the law of others, the key in the lock.
Suffering from accelerated aging, contaminated with FOXDIE, and an overpowering threat in the form of Liquid Snake, The Patriots and all the factions in between, Snakes fate is sealed. He continues to smoke in ever increasing amounts as test after test reveals that his life has, and was created and dated to expire at a set time. No longer was it about him just surviving all the forces out to extinguish him, but rather to finally create his own orders and commands. As Liquid attempted to seize control of the world itself, Snake aspired to finally seize control of his own destiny. If he was to die anyway, hed put every last bit of his soul into the fight. As he put it himself: Survival...is just survival There has to be a purpose to the life given to you a reason to exist...the same reason The Patriots therefore placed their will on.
To change. Like a Snake.
While the story itself is very well thought out in terms of tying up loose ends and forcing players to sit back after finishing the title and digest all that theyve seen. The game play has been criticized as being cumbersome and or clunky. I went into this game expecting the worst and horribly complicated controls, but within 1 hour of playing Id already mastered CQC(Close Quarter Combat) and able to engage in stealth as well as fire fights when the need arose.
The simplicity of the controls and the wide range of choices given to the player to accomplish their task almost makes it feel like a different game every time you play, no longer are you relegated to once control scheme to move ahead. A simple press of the L1 button allows Snake to draw his weapon, using the right analog stick allows him to direct fire and tapping or holding R1 fires the equipped weapon. I was apprehensible about it at first and was literally scared and spent most of my time crawling on the ground while avoiding conflict altogether as it can get very hectic at times. But within the hour I had mastered the controls and was able to move from point A to B silently and without being detected, holding enemy forces up to steal ammo, weapons, and other items. All of this was made even simpler by the OctoCamo, a device which automatically copied the surroundings Snake was near to in order to hide himself for detection.
It made me smile. I really felt like an experienced soldier.
Pushing onward I ended up in another continent and once again was thrust into the thick of battle against my will, and Snakes. Forced to fight a traumatized innocent vicitim of war who utilized a robotic suit similar to Snakes OctoCamo which also allowed her to blend in with the surroundings made for a very startling and on your toes battle. Upon her defeat I(Snake) received a call from a man named Drebin who pursued the art of weapon laundering as just another means to make money in the war economy of the game. Following a short dialogue between Snake and Drebin, he explained to Snake about the tragedies of the womans past and thanked Snake for having freed her of the terrors in her mind.
I pushed forward and in a surprise call met up with Raiden. An ally of Snakes whod gone missing since the last game. He offered me advice on locating the kidnapped Naomi Hunter who had been taken by the PMC shortly before the aforementioned battle between Snake and Laughing Octopus.
Follow the tracks.
And so I did. I fired up my night vision via the Solid Eye system which allowed Snake to view data on targets, locate items easier and much more. I wandered around for about an hour following the tracks in the dirt that branched off every once in a while. And then I heard it. Naomi was calling for me in a nearby cabin. I was gleeful and congratulated myself for finding her so fast, to my utter shock and amusement, it was not Naomi calling me, but rather a taped message designed to lure me into the cabin where I was ambushed by a few enemy troops. Making short work of them I regained my original location and wondered why the steps stopped there. I got a call from Raiden. Dont just look at the footprints, but also the size, depth, shape. Think. Are they consistent with her weight?, size? In my rush to find her, Id totally overlooked the fact that the shoe size had changed drastically at a fork in the road before.
And I laughed.
The game was filled with all these little things and so much more that I and others have yet to still discover, of that I am sure. Its not just the fact that the game is filled with rich dialogue and detailed cut scenes that move the story onward, but the little things that really make it seem like youre watching a movie or some grand story taking place. In most other games you can quickly break away from the immersion after a while as you begin to repeat the same tasks with an ever static environment.
Guns of the Patriots feels alive. Its a game that truly pushed the term organic game play as situations can change on the dime and segments that really force you to think or have extreme patience to succeed push you to your limits. There are times where its pitch black, others where it is bright, grass, water, snow, fire, cold, heat. And most importantly of all, these are just set pieces, they all affect your game play and Snake.
There are times where Id feel bad for him and for example give him some instant hot noodles to warm him up, or use a med pac to relive his aches and pains. You really connect with the character and at times it goes beyond just looking at him and the others as 3D figures, but rather living breathing people. When he coughed and dryly asked for a smoke, I felt tears in my eyes, when he was beaten and bruised I felt vengeful, when he was healthy and happy I felt happy as well.
For a time the uncanny valley effect has been said to lead to the halt of graphics in games and or create unsettling games. But MGS4 has proven that its not just about computing power that makes a game attractive, but also EMOTIONS and the ability to create an attachment between players and the characters that inhabit that virtual world. Its a game that grows with you and doesnt just guide you along.
No graphics could make me feel such a wide variation of emotions as I and Snake both went down this long road. If Kojima and his team can continue to make such powerful and landscape changing games such as these, I dont care what they make. People may argue about story, graphics, sound and so forth for years to come, we may compare games across the board in sales or flash. But this is truly a breakout game for the industry. Nowhere else have such emotions been recreated and so masterfully as with Metal gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots.
The best is yet to come indeed.
