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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a stealth action video game released on Playstation 3 on June 12, 2008, developed by Kojima Production and published by Konami. This is the fourth and final opus of the famous Metal Gear Solid saga. This episode takes place chronologically 9 years after the events of the first Metal Gear Solid and 5 years after Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

The player embodies an aging and diminished Solid Snake, suffering from premature maturing process. However, he will have to gather his forces and stop Liquid Ocelot, now leader of an organization of mercenaries known as PMC. This organization is involved in many guerrillas around the world. A new economy based on the war effort governs the world. All soldiers have an ID which allows them to use their weapons and improves their skills in combat. All this system is controlled by an artificial intelligence. Liquid's aim is to hack this system and remove the IA to take control over all the armies of the world. He desire then to rise against the authority of "Patriots" and finish what Big Boss began at Outer Haven.

We take control of Old Snake, in pursuit of Liquid around the world. The player will visit various battle fields, taking him in the Middle East, South America or Eastern Europe. In terms of gameplay Hideo Kojima preferred to break from previous episodes opting for a 3rd person view closest to the hero, like Splinter Cell, making the moves in the game more pleasant. Many interesting and original innovations were also added. As the Octocamo, a new jumpsuit taking the colour of the surface on which Snake stands. Press yourself against a wall, or lie down on the ground and the suit will take its color. Old Snake is also equipped with the Solid Eye, a device which is placed on his right eye which allows analyzing the battlefield in order to know the enemy positions. It also has infrared vision and a zoom. Throughout the adventure, players will also be accompanied by the Metal Gear Mk II, a small robot created by Otacon. The player can at any time take control of it and use it as a scout or to neutralize an enemy with an electric shock.

Old Snake will also have access to a vast range of weapons. In addition to picking up weapons on the battlefield, the player can buy many of them in the shop of Drebin, an arms dealer. He has a system that can remove the ID of the weapons making them usable by anyone. Snake can use tranquilizers pistols, assault rifles, sniper or even rocket launchers.

The battlefields are often the scene of clashes between the PMC and a faction of rebels. Snake can take advantage of those rivalries to optimize his infiltration. If he helps a faction then he can benefit from their support to move forward more effectively. Hideo Kojima have focused on the slogan "no place to hide", so the player must be cunning and cautious to avoid being seen, even if the enemy AI, although more clever than in the previous episodes, is far from being perfect.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots brings together a vast gallery of characters familiar to fans of the series, such as Otacon, Roy Campbell and many others. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots seems to have been made to satisfy the absolute fans, distilling numerous winks and references to the whole series. Long cut-scenes masterfully well-staged, made with the engine of the game, are also there to prove it. This opus connects each episode of the Metal Gear saga respecting and magnifying its mythology.

We could not have hoped for a more beautiful blaze of glory for the Metal Gear Solid saga. Hideo Kojima provides all the answers left in abeyance in the previous opuses. The scenario is carried out smoothly, the phases of gameplay have an incredible intensity and graphics are astonishing. Cult moments follow one after another throughout the game, such as the battles against the 4 members of Beauty and the Beast, 4 young pretty women traumatized by war who became real war machine. The game is not free of defects, we would have hoped a longest experience and some points, as IA of enemies, would have deserved to be more touched up. However Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the ultimate episode of the saga and may already be regarded as one of the greatest game of the Playstation 3.

Metal Gear Solid 4 reviews