Metal Gear Solid 4 is the fourth major game in the Metal Gear Solid series developed by Hideo Kojima. It ties up all of the loose plot points of the previous games while bringing back a number of characters from the earlier games in the series such as Colonel Campbell, Naomi Hunter, Otacon, Meryl Silverburgh, Mei Ling and many more. The game’s main antagonist is Liquid Ocelot. Most of the story and the relationship is explained through cut-scenes with a considerable length. Due to the series extensive history, knowledge of the prior games is recommended to fully understand the story.
As the story begins Solid Snake, now looking like an old man due to accelerated aging, is being deployed in the Middle East on a mission to stop Liquid Ocelot. The game is set in 2014, five years after the Big Shell Incident of Metal Gear Solid 2. Liquid aims to take control of the Sons of the Patriots, the nanomachine system used to enhance the capabilities of the mercenaries of different factions. By this he plans to assemble an army. The game is divided into five acts followed by an epilogue and a briefing. The various missions bring Old Snake to more than one location, including the Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe and a few more that can surprise the players familiar with the franchise.
In this game all of the actions of the previous game have been included along with some new ones such as the ability to roll on your back and fire and the ability to hide in bins scattered around the environment. Similar to the Subsistence re-release of MGS3, the player has full control of the camera rotation on one analogue stick while walking with the other. Shooting is now enhanced to support a new shoulder camera not seen in the franchise before, much similar to that of Resident Evil 4 which will help you to easily counter-attack the enemy without having to fire randomly or switching to 1st-person perspective. The Close Quarters Combat system has been redesigned and players are now able to interrogate guards for information or supplies. The earlier camouflage system has been replaced with Octocamo that allows Snake to blend into the environment. The stamina meter from Snake Eater has been replaced by a stress meter. Based on the fighting and the climate conditions it can offer additional accuracy and reduces sustained damage. The other meter, Psyche, reduces accuracy and can be replenished by reading an adult magazine, eating or drinking.
Snake has access to the largest arsenal of weapons ever made available in a Metal Gear game, with a large array of pistols, rifles and explosives, along with the ability to mod the weapons adding scopes, suppressors, lights and other equipment to create custom weapons.
Other gadgets in the game including the Solid Eye, which is an electronic eye patch that can be used as binoculars, night vision goggles or just a device for displaying information about enemies and items scattered around the levels. There is also the Metal Gear Mk. II, which is a small robot that can be used to scout levels and electrocute enemies knocking them out for a period of time.
The game also features a complex multiplayer mode, simply entitled Metal Gear Online. Aside from the usual suspects of multiplayer shooter modes, such as “deathmatch” and “capture the flag”, there are some original modes that are based on the stealth aspects of the single player games. “Sneaking Mission” mostly plays out like a standard team deathmatch, with the exception that one player is assigned to control Snake, who is equipped with his radar and Octocamo. Snake’s goal is to tranquilise his enemies in order to acquire their dog tags, without getting spotted. If there are enough players in the game, one player will also control Metal Gear Mk.II to assist Snake. “Team Sneaking” is basically “Capture the flag”, in which the attacking team is equipped with stealth camouflage and non-lethal weapons. The defending team can only see the attacking team’s shadows and weapons.
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