Even with a few technical oddities and inherently silly aspects, Solid Snake’s swan song, “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots,” is one of the most technically impressive video games ever made — and probably the best PlayStation 3 title currently available. If you have a penchant for excessively lengthy cinematics and cutscenes (at least a feature-length movie’s worth), all the better.
Like the 20-year-old franchise, protagonist Solid Snake has aged and the failing state of his mortal coil is one of the central notions of the game. Thankfully, so is getting back to the basic fun of skulking amidst the bad guys one minute and working them over the next with old-school, return-to-roots “tactical espionage action.”
The franchise has wandered harshly from the unique and clever gameplay conventions the first title created, adding too much absurdity and hokum for all but die-hard fans. But “Guns of the Patriots” is flat-out playable for anyone, while the story is still goofily philosophical and overblown enough to fit the time-honored “Metal Gear” bill.
Set a mere six years in the future, the game plops you right into the middle of a raging conflict between private military corporation troops and a local rebellion. Pitting one side against the other for your own gain is as crucial as it is entertaining. Cranking off a few well-placed rounds and then watching the fools wail on each other in a grand case of mistaken identity helps you get around without attracting unwanted attention.
But be warned: sparking such conflicts directly (and realistically) affects the price of available weapons and ammo.
Basic gameplay remains largely unchanged, but it is slightly improved. Combat with guns can take place from either a third-or first-person perspective, both equally useful depending on which weapon you’re using and in which circumstance. The camera now tends to center on key elements instead of leaving them up in the corner of the screen.
The game’s online multiplayer mode feels totally tacked on, but it does allow 16 players to go at it on five maps of conventional game types. This should be enough to hold most gamers over until Konami coughs up more downloadable multiplayer content slated for later this year.
Meanwhile, you’ve still got a game that’s frankly stunning in its sheer technical brilliance, good looks, lengthy-but-awesome cinematics and some halfway-coherent answers to many of the franchise’s long-running plot holes, dangling back stories and general dramatic mysteries.
The game’s famed designer, Hideo Kojima, has said that this is the last “Metal Gear” game, and he schools everybody by showing how an epically long-running game series should end: with a bang.
‘Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots’
Konami; PlayStation 3; $59.99
