Multiplayer stealth at its finest and one of the PS3's stellar online titles.
Pros: Addictive, Great use of MGS 4 engine, Great character customisation options
Cons: Requires Expansion packs for best experience.
While the main draw for anyone interested in the Metal Gear series these days is likely to be the decidedly epic single player mode of MGS4: Guns of the Patriots, The new version of Metal Gear online manages to incorporate many of the features that make the MGS4 engine so fun to play with into a competitive multiplayer experience with great effect.
After eventually getting yourself a Konami ID and account sorted out you will be able to create your online character. Give them a name, choose their gender and choose from a range of voices, facial features and pieces of clothing and accessories. Unfortunately you are only allowed one character slot to use on MGO unless you pay for additional character slots, however there are a lot of items you can buy to customise your characters appearance, that once obtained you can mix and match whenever you decide to do so. These items are bought from the Reward shop using RWD Points. Reward points are obtained by playing through RWD matches, and you are awarded different amounts of RWD points dependant on whether or not you are part of the winning team in team based game types or your position in free for all game types, additional to these you are awarded for taking part in full rounds and games.
The game modes in MGO offer lots of options to test out different play styles. You get the usual fair of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag variants to the more interesting modes of Race mission where you and your team battle it out to deliver the 'flag' to the required number of checkpoints across a map before your opposing team do. Additional game modes include base mission, rescue mission (1 flag CTF where one team attacks and another defends). The most interesting game modes however are Team sneaking and Sneaking mission, as they incorporate the great stealth gameplay elements that complimented the action throughout MGS4's campaign so well. While it may take inexperienced players a while to get over the learning curve in Team Sneaking, it is one of the best game modes in MGO and really showcases what the game has to offer.
The Graphics and sound in MGO are pretty much on par with MGS4 and no one can deny that that is a very good thing. The maps are visually diverse, from the dust covered streets of Coppertown Conflict to the dense undergrowth and caves of Forest Firefight and the Frosty Hangars of Groznyj Grad, the latter two paying homage to parts of the MGS3 campaign.
Anyone with a PS3 should check this game out if they have any fleeting interest in stealth action or shooting games, and if you already own MGS4 then this comes free with it. Be patient enough with the creation of your Konami registration and you will be rewarded with an amazing online gaming experience.