Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots :: Tactical Espionage Action

MGS4 is an experience that can only be judged based on its predecessors (dating all the way back to 1988) and the MGS story as a whole. Since I don't have that, I won't review it. Instead, here's a list of some nice things that Metal Gear Solid 4 does that makes it not a sucky game!

- Short, brief loading screens: Although its a minor issue, loading screens can become exceedingly tedious in some games today (Assassin's Creed and Oblivion being two culprits), especially games where you must go through them constantly. MGS4 on the other hand, has relatively few loading screens (for the most part) and they all range from 5-10 seconds, which is great considering how admirable the game looks. Another nice thing they did with the loading screens was have the music carry over from the previous scene. This adds a nice flow during action scenes, that prevents the momentum from dropping.
- Gameplay Gimmick explanation: Previously mentioned in the Assassin's Creed review, that game uses the story element of "reliving your ancestor's memory in a computer" to explain how they highlight interactable objects in the background, something which many games (can and should) do. MGS4 doesn't have to rely on some kind of story gimmick--instead, it uses the concept of the Solid Eye, a device hooked up to the player that identifies weapons and items on the battlefield. The player must use the Solid Eye to find items, but it can run out of batteries, returning you to your normal vision. This is just one way that you can explain these "gameplay gimmicks," and a better way to do it than Assassin's Creed.
- Game Over Screens are given a narrative spin by having Oticon scream "Snake? Snake...?! SNAAAAAAAKE!" and flashing images of your life. This reminds the player of the larger narrative at hand, and what the consequences of dying are, rather than just quick-loading them back again with a black screen. The current game over is made much more effective because of this choice.
- Locked weapons are conveniently handled in the game. Instead of not allowing, or even not revealing powerful weapons like RPGs early in the game, the game shows them and allows you to pick them up. BUT--You can't use them because they are locked with a kind of nano-machine ID, which you can only unlock by talking to Drebin later. This allows the game to use high-powered weapons early, without letting the player get the best weapons in the game too quickly. Good design choice.
- Gameplay doesn't rely on the same few mechanics; there's tons of variation and variety in-between the missions, so you're always doing something different than before. You start off with the standard Sneak/Shoot approaches, and then you continue to get more options to that scenario, including: flashbangs, grenades, claymore mines, tranquilizer pistols, silenced guns, m249s, grenade launchers, etc. Then you have different mission goals that range from: Get through the level by killing or evading your enemies-->Try to navigate the way out of a broken building-->Track a missing person by their footsteps trail-->Tail an informant back to his hideout without being seen-->Participate in a car chase by riding shotgun-->and the list goes on.
- Character sympathization: I almost forgot what it was like to actually care about characters in video games. Solid Snake is actually a nice character to play, because you can sympothize with him in a variety of ways. His life is cut short by a premature aging process, so he is a generation older than all his friends. This process will eventually kill him off, leaving him to carry out his remaining days trying to fight to save the world. And then he gets kicked around, beat up, breaks his back, and walks around liked a tired corpse, muttering about cigarettes and whatnot.
- Music: Lastly, the music in this game is quite excellent. That is all.

So, Metal Gear Solid does some nice things. As a whole, it works together well, but it's a tailored experience. If you want this kind of experience in a game, this is the best kind you can get, from perhaps one of the most experienced and dedicated teams in the video game industry. However, this experience isn't for everyone, compared to a game like Portal.

Two thumbs up! Watch it!

Metal Gear Solid 4isms

1.
MGS4 takes place in some weird, alternate universe where all the major good guys and bad guys in the world are either relatives of each other, old friends, or frequently meet up every year. (Also known as an Anime)
2.
To prove how realistic and movie-like this game is, the game uses the camera to collect water and snow particles on every ensuing shot-change. It doesn't matter that water collects on the screen every time a car rounds the corner. Keep doing it!
3.
The game will start the longest, 60 minute cut-scene at the most inappropriate time for the player, such as when they must leave because they are late for school or it's half past midnight and you have to get up at 6:30 the next morning.
4.
The most dramatic scene in the game involves a lonely 40-year old computer technician hugging his Apple laptop and crying.
5.
Snake: So what about the PCMs?
Oticon: Liquid is trying to use GW to undermine PB's overriding code! Snake! We have to stop him!
Snake: But GW has control over the nukes. There's no way JD can do that!
Oticon: So that's why he has to use the Mark II. That's why he has to use Rex!
Snake: But why does he need JD to use Rex when he can have GW?
Colonel: Excellent question, gentlemen.

Assassin's Creedisms

1. Every male, 40-ish-year old person in the Holy land has at least two sons, both of which are apparently cowardly and need to learn from your brave example.
2. Educated scholars are allowed to pass any guard posts, and enter any high-security area in every city, as long as they bow their heads and act humbly.
3. Stacks of hay are conveniently placed at the edge of every elevated tower, perchance a daring climber fall to his otherwise unwieldy demise.
4. After losing their assailant, guards and soldiers will stumble about blindly, ignoring the only possible hiding spot in front of them, which is usually a stack of hay, a bench, or a curtained room. After not checking the hiding spot (because there's no way you could be in there!), they all immediately turn around at the same moment and walk away.
5. Assassins are unable to swim, probably due to the 5 layers of clothing they wear, and thus, they will die after being emerged in water for more than 3 seconds.
6. Fellow guards will watch in horror, unable to intervene, as you stab their comrades in a combo-switch, awesome kill where you shove the sword straight into the guy's chest. They just have to watch you finish it, because it's too awesome.
7. When Assassin's INC decided they would install a headquarters in every major city in the Holy land, they decided to prefab every entrance so that it would look exactly the same in every city with zero differences.

Oblivionisms

1. Characters in Cyrodiil are a very friendly ol' bunch. They will often come up to each other and greet one another with the phrases, "Well met," and "Hello," then proceed to talk about how vile Mud Crabs are, or another topic of equal conversational value, then end the conversation with a simple "Goodbye" and walk away.
2. In the land of Cyrodiil, insulting a character is totally A-Okay, just as long as you butter them up afterwards and tell them a joke. All will be forgiven and forgotten.
3. All of the caverns in Cyrodiil are made of the same 5 sets of tile pieces, intricately put together in different orders. By opening and blocking different paths, it creates the illusion of a new cave.
4. About 400 years ago, the emperor decided to build approximately fifty forts scattered around random locations in the land, then all at once abruptly abandoned them to decay, only after installing special death traps and dumping treasure chests of loot in conveniently placed locations and dead-ends.
5. There is a 95% chance that the terrain you are walking on is actually above an underground passage, whether this be from a Fort Ruin, a cavern, an Ayleid ruin, a Labyrinth, somebody's Hideout, or some other odd place.
6. When walking along a main road to another city, there is a:
a. 15% chance you will encounter a dangerous wild-life animal, such as a bear, lion, or wolf.
b. 25% chance you will run into a bloodthirsty bandit who wishes to kill you for entering his or her terrain.
c. 10% chance you will run into a goblin, or another monster of equal fighting value.
d. 10% chance you will run into a Highway Man, who wants you to pay up, but you can just out-run him up to the next city.
7. Every shopkeeper in every city offers the finest wares at the lowest prices in all of Cyrodiil.
8. When you ask for help in the epic battle (equivalent to Helm's Deep) from each city and they say 'yes,' this really means them each sending two soldiers while the fate of the world is in their hands.
9. Due to the nature of melee combat and inaccurate archers in Cyrodiil, you can pretty much run through the entire game without killing anyone, as long as you are either:
a) Fast - Achieved through spells or enchantments.
b) Invisible - Also achieved through spells or enchantments.
Best Side-Quest: Knights of the Nine - It's better than the main quest.
Best Accessory: Skeleton Key - You will never break another lock pick again.
Most Boring Guild: Fighter's Guild - Repetitive contracts and tons of loading screens.
Best Spell: Invisibility - You will never have to fight anyone, ever again. (Runner up: Feather - it allows you to carry another sofa back to your house!)
Most Annoying Enemy: Anybody who can summon a monster - This doubles your pain as you have to fight two baddies at a time. (Runner up: The velociraptor - when you try to block its attacks, it still damages you and shakes your screen, and when you try to slash it, it slashes back harder.)
Best Combat Tactic: Shoving the enemy off a high ledge (preferably into a pit of lava at the bottom) - Very useful in the planes of Oblivion!

Full Metal Alchemisms

For Episodes 1-40
1. If Ed has a goal to get to "City X," he will get side-tracked for about four episodes fighting newly introduced bad guys while subtly introducing vague plot elements.
2. If another character starts talking about the past for one second, prepare to be thrown into a flashback for about 2-8 minutes.
3. Most, if not all flashbacks are set in a heavy down pour of rain.
4. Ed basically has two moods: Vengefully Angry (75%), or light-heartedly comical (15%), and trace amounts of ten other moods.
5. Before explaining the previous villains, more villains are introduced without any background.

6. Characters will shout out the names of others as they enter the room like they never expected them to appear within 95 light years of their current location.

Example:

Alfonso: Winrey!

Ed: Teacher!

Alfonso: Brother!
Ed: Colonel!

Colonel: Furher!

Winrey: Ed!

And that constitutes about 20% of the dialog in an episode.
7. When the strong arm alchemist appears, there is a 33% chance that he will preform a feat handed down through his bloodline.
8. When Colonel Happy Father appears, there is a 45% chance that he will show a picture of his daughter to someone.
9. There is 42% chance of there being at least one, "ED IS SHORT LOL" joke in an episode.

Elements of an FPS

Elements of an FPS (as presentend in numerous "good" shooters such as Bioshock and Half-Life)


The "Safe-Impress the player" Introduction
Start off the game with the player in an impressive enviroment making them amazed at what they just saw. (e.g. the train ride in Half-Life 2 and the opening of City 17, or the reveal of Rapture in Bioshock) You can show danger in this part, but you can't let the player die, otherwise he would get angry and quit the game. (So, that's why I was a little bored in Bioshock. Even though they scared me with enemies on the outside, I knew they couldn't touch me because that would violate the safety rule. Boringness ensues.)

Suggestion: I know I can't die in the beginning because dying that early would be unfair to the player. That removes all sense of suspense and danger. How about keeping the reality of danger there, but make it easy to escape it. For example, after the resonance cascade in Half-Life 1, everything was destroyed. Head-crabs would pop out of nowhere which WOULD ATTACK you, hurting you. But they did hardly any damage and you could outrun them fast. It's better to have that, than just to have nothing and voices screaming at you in the shadows.


Show the Enemy
This is a very simple trick popularized by Half-Life 1. Before confronting the player with a potentially scary or dangerous enemy, first show the player the enemy from a distance where the player is safe, and has a chance to observe the enemy. This is done in the Bioshock Demo multiple times and in Half-Life for most of the enemies. In Half-Life 1, when introducing a new stronger enemy type, they had the enemy contained in a glass pod. To proceed through the game, you had to break the pod, but you had as long as you wanted to to observe the enemy before attacking him.
The seemingly only exception to this rule is when you want to surprise or scare the player with a zombie-like enemy who will leap out of nowhere leaving the player shocked at this new enemy.
(Once again, I wasn't afraid of the giant monster enemies in Bioshock because I knew they were letting me observe them in a controlled enviroment. Safety and lack of supsense ensued.)

Scripted Sequences

A pipe breaks next to you as you walk by; a plane flies by overhead and explodes in mid-air; a wall suddenly explodes and hordes of monsters come through; these are all scripted sequences that will catch the player off-guard (usually) and increase the atmosphere and tension. The only thing they serve is the "cool" factor and they usually trigger when they player walks onto a certain tile. Rarely do they provide any signfigance to the gameplay. There were several moments like this in Bioshock and I was like, "That's great, it looks kind of cool, but I know it has nothing to do with anything."

Scripted sequences are fun when you actually have an impact on them. In the Bioshock demo, there was an enemy below me pounding on a door, trying to get the occupant to open it. I wanted to see what would happen so I didn't shoot him. Nothing actually happened. I think it would be cool if different things happened if you shot him or not, but that wasn't the case here.

The Real Meaning of Internet Acronyms

LOL = I am smiling at what just happened--No, I did not laugh.

ROFL = I actually laughed instead of smiled.

BRB = I'm going away for a bit, so don't get mad when I don't respond.

HAHA... = I'm too cool to type "LOL." (or, if used extensively = rofl)

IMO (In My Opinion) = You may or may not agree with what I am about to say, so if you attack me with your sword, my shield will be this little phrase.

AFAIK (As Far As I Know) = I really have no idea what I'm talking about.

GG (Good Game) = Sign of sportsmanship (when you lost), or sign of rudeness (when you won). Both meanings are overruled if you are playing for fun.

The Ranks of Gaming

#1 - "n00b"
This player just played the game for the first time and really has no idea what to do. Many of the more experienced players may mock him or criticize him for doing foolish things, and in turn, the "n00b" may leave the game. In other cases, he will continue to play and improve to the second level rank. Most players either never move past this stage, or move past it within a month.
Constitutes 8% of the population.

# 2 - ("n00b") In Training
Now begins the long hard journey of discovering the game's mechanics, how it works, and how to play it. There is no easy road to doing this. Each game functions differently, and has different ways to play it. The player-in-training must learn all the basic tasks of the game in this stage. This player may occasionally do something laudable in the game, but for the most part, he will only get in the way and be a nuisance. This stage usually lasts between one and six months.
Constitutes 17% of the population.

# 3 - Soldier (Classes 1-3)
By this time, the player will have played the game enough to understand all the basic mechanics and the most-played maps. There will be worse players than him, and better players, but he still has much to learn. Most players will venture past this stage in their training, but unfortunately, some players never learn to adapt thus making them stay at this level of skill. Reaching this stage from a n00b may require 3-10 months.
This player can be depended on only some of the time in a game.
Constitutes 41% of the population.

# 4 - Veteran
This player usually has played the game for at least a year to get to his current skill level. He will usually be in the better half of the players on the server, and will occasionally rise to get the best score. He can be depended on 80% of the time to get the job done. He is a good boost to your team.
Constitutes 25% of the population.

# 5 - "pr0"
This player has learned virtually 95+% of all the skills and tactics in the game. He knows nearly all the best strategies and every corner of every map. He can usually adapt to new maps 5x faster than everyone else. This player is almost always in the top 3 players on whatever team he joins. This player usually has between 1-5 years of experience in the game.
Constitues 9% of the population.

If you play enough games, you can usually skip the n00b stage and go straight the training stage. Some skills and tactics are universal, no matter what game you're playing.

The Top 10 Things to have in a FPS

# 1 - Bullet Time
Almost every single new FPS has some kind of bullet time feature where time slows down and you can shoot ten enemies at once. It increases the game's awesome factor by a power of 2.
Awesomeness of a game = [(Features + Bullet time)²] * [Graphics]

# 2 - HDR Lighting
This is a new fad. It's like back when 3D was invented, and if you had a 2D game, that meant it was ugly, even though the 2D graphics looked 5x better. You just have to have this in your game today.
Graphical Score = [(Textures + Rendering) * Animation] + (HDR Lighting)³

# 3 - Vehicles
If you can drive around or fly around in a game, then the game is cooler... for some reason.
Fun level of a game = (Weapons / Artificial Intelligence) + [(Puzzles)*(Combat)] + (Vehicles/Combat)

# 4 - The Weapon List
The weapon list for every FPS goes something like this:
Melee Weapon: Could be a wrench, crowbar, knife, sword, etc.
The Pistol : Any normal pistol will suffice. You just have to have one.
The Assault Rifle: This will be the all purpose gun for most of the game.
The Shotgun : If you don't have a shotgun in your FPS game, then it will probably be bad.
The Machine Gun: Sometimes it's in there, sometimes it's not.
The Rocket-Launcher: Most games have this, but sometimes it's out of context, so it's scrapped.

Weapon's Score = [(# of Weapons in game)*(How good the weapons are) / Length of Game] + Special Weapon

# 5 - The Special Factor
Sometimes an FPS comes out of nowhere claiming it's better than all the rest because of
FACTOR X!
X= Gravity Gun.
X= Vehicles.
X= Pretty graphics.
X= Innovative weapons.
X= That one feature in Prey where you can become an eagle and walk out of your body... or something.
[(Special Factor) / (How bad the rest of the game is)] = (How good the special factor is).

# 6 - Jumping Puzzles
Jumping puzzles have slowly diminished over the past years. I can see why too.
Call of Duty would've been twice as good if they included a jumping puzzle in Stalingrad to get up onto the top floor of the apartment. You would have to jump with your partner through a series of broken rooms until getting to the top where you could finally snipe the enemy. If you fell once, you would die. Also, the enemy would be shooting at you through the open windows on the side while you continue to jump on groups of furniture, crates, and broken walls.
Jumping Puzzles = (Fun) / (Frustration)²

# 7 - Crates
It is impossible to have a First Person Shooter without crates. A FPS without out crates is like defying the laws of gravity. How else would you fill up empty rooms? Where else would you hide obscure packs of ammo and health? And what else could you use for your jumping puzzles?
# of Crates in a game = [(# of Urban Areas in Game) * (Length of Game)] * [How many ammo packs you need to stash]

# 8 - Keycards
There will always be locked doors in FPSs. Something has to open those doors. And that something has to be hidden at the end of an unnavigable maze that has dozens of baddies guarding it. Fun.
Somehow this is dying out with jumping puzzles.

# of Keycards in a game = [How bad a game is] * [How many locations in the game]

# 9 - Two Different Enemies
It's not fun enough to attack your enemy. It's twice as much fun to have two different enemies, so then you have a 3-way hate triangle. Then, you can watch your two enemies shoot each other over and over from a distance instead of playing the game. It's so much more fun.

if (combat == repetitive) {
then: enemy[zombies].EnterScenario=true;
}

# 10 - Bad Voice Acting + Dialogue

It's a new fad. Take corny dialogue, and then have it read and acted out terribly.

if ((story == Subpar) && (Production_Values == low)) {

then: Bad_Dialogue.Enabled=true;

}

if (Bad_Dialogue.Enabled == true) {

then: (80%) BadVoiceActing.Enabled=true;

}

24 Plot Guide

The 10 Step Plot Guide to 24
1) The beginning of the season introduces the characters and the threat. Threat: (Bombs, asassinations, viruses, nuclear missiles, kidnapped people, or any other random terrorist threat) Jack will decide to neutralize it because he always promised to quit CTU the season before.
2) At least 3 new characters join the cast. At least 1 will be a mole.
2-A) Have at least 2-4 side-stories going on that have nothing to do with the main plot, or slowly have something to do with the plot.
3) To find the threat, Jack must chase after his first suspect and then interrogate him afterwards.
4) Repeat # 3 until it leads to the first target or group of suspects. Commence action sequence. Jack almost captures the lead bad guy, but then the bad guy gets away.
5) Update the threat or change the threat by this time.
6) Have a shocking twist for the first 1/3 of the season. Kill off ____, Destroy location _____, and/or _____ is a mole.
7) Repeat steps # 2-A through # 6 for the next part of the season. Change the threat, have some action scenes, introduce new moles, have a shocking political scandal, and reveal a higher level bad guy who was in charge of the current bad guy.
8) The last 3rd of the season will have the final threat and the final bad guys going down for a showdown. More shocking interrogation scenes and kill off more of the main cast.
9) The final showdown will be full of action. It will seem like the problem is solved with 40 minutes left in the show, when suddenly there is a shocking TWIST. Then right before the show ends, there is another twist if the first twist was not satisfying enough.
10) Cut to next season. Add/change the characters, bad guys, objectives, and Jack's current predicament. Repeat the ten steps over and over for 5 seasons.

Viewers will increase every season, guranteed.

24isms

1) Tables only exist in the interrogation room for Jack Bauer to hurl them so he can scare his victim(s).
2) Jack Bauer cannot die. He is invincible. Or when he does die, it is the final season of 24. This kills about 50% of the supense in the show since you know he can never die.
3) Characters from the previous seasons cannot be moles. It is impossible. This eliminates 40% of the twists in the show.
4) New characters who join the cast have a 33% chance of being a mole. Usually you can tell who it is.
5) Jack Bauer never needs assault rifles/machine guns/grenades/heavy weaponry. He can kill all his targets with a single pistol and unlimited ammo.
6) That's all I can think of. There should be much more though.


There are lots of old ones and such about the "24 hours time scheme" but those have already been said hundreds of times. E.g. eating, sleeping, going to the bathroom. Yeah, so I'm not gonna talk about those 'cause they're not worth repeating... at all.

Prisonbreak... I don't know if it's better than 24, but it sure is different. So, that difference does give a breath of fresh air after watching 24 for 5 straight seasons.

Lost > 24 and Prisonbreak