• 25Jul 07

  My Thoughts on the MGS4 Demonstration

  

  Finally, gameplay footage was shown of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and i'm impressed, really impressed.
  
  This blog will be written kind of different to your usual blog, i'm going to go through the footage, keep pausing it and writing down what's happened and giving my thoughts on the event that's just happened.
  
  Hideo said at the beggining that the stealth element hasn't been took away from MGS4, that's a great thing because many people were concerned MGS4 would just be an action-game and from early trailers, you can't blame them for thinking that.
  
  The location of the demo is very different to your usual MGS games, sure MGS3 had a huge forest but this put's you in an all-out war which will be interesting to experience.
  
  As soon as the demo starts off, we got a nice view of the location's surroundings; torn-down buildings, conrete pillars, and some houses in the distance, and also the way Snake's bandana and hair moves with the wind is impressive, from that moment I knew that MGS4 would be a graphical masterpiece.
  
  Kojima states that Militia from Country B are in a war with Country A, Country A have "hired" PMC soldiers to help with this war. Yay, a little more of the story revealed.
  
  Then, Snake uses his "Solid Eye" to spot some PMC soldiers, this is a moment where I got excited when it comes to the stealth element in the game....Snake stands on a statue plateu and pretends to be a statue using his brand new camoflauge technology, that's a really good stealth feature. The way Snake stands is a little weird though. The PMC soldiers just walk straight past him
  
  I'm glad to see camoflauge has come back to MGS from MGS3, although this isn't exactly the same camo as MGS3, this "Octocam" allows Snake to do much more advanced camoflauge and I think will be a great way to sneak out your enemies.
  
  Snake then goes to execute the soldiers, Kojima states that you'll be able to use a lowered posture to sneak around which you couldn't do in previous MGS games. Very cool.
  
  Another very cool feature is that if you press against a wall, Snake's suit will copy the texture of the surface for you to blend in, this game get's better every second. Now, he's about to take out the first PMC soldier..
  
  Using the "blending into the surface" move, Snake hides and waits for the soldier to go past and uses a new CQC technique to knock out the soldier and take his gun. CQC is great
  
  He then takes out the next PMC soldier but before he does, he rolls to the left behind a wall, you've never been able to do rolls like this in other MGS games. He then takes him out using a Tranquilizer gun. I'm so excited about the new features in MGS4, this game's gonna be pure godlyness in a game.
  
  Snake then takes out two PMC soldiers using a sniper-rifle, i've got a feeling this demo is from a mid-point of the game because Snake has quite a lot of guns at his disposal.
  
  Then Snake uses a knife which can actually stun enemies, not stab them. Which is sort of weird but a good feature to the game.
  
  This next bit made me laugh, Snake spots two PMC soldiers so he get's in a drum can and actually rolls himself through the soldiers, a nice way to knock out your enemies The drum can seems more stronger than the cardboard box in previous MGS games which is a good thing. Cardboard vs metal? Who's going to win?
  
  After Snake rolls through the enemies, he is then sick because he feels dizzy from the rolling. This adds an element of realism in the game, which is good in my opinion.
  
  Snake then picks up a "adult" magazine to try and cure his sickness, it can also be used to distract enemies. Like other MGS games. It's a popular item and i'm glad it's back, it's fun to use on enemy soldiers.
  
  Hideo then shows Snake in a "over-the-shoulder" view, kinda like the one in Gears of War/Drake's Unfortune, this has never been in previous MGS games and is another new feature that will be in MGS4. Also, you can go into FPS mode if you want, it's an optional feature and Hideo says if you like, you can play the entire game in FPS mode. Personally, I don't think any MGS game should be played in FPS, it takes away the feel of the "experience" if you ask me. I'll only use FPS mode only when I really have to. It uses SIXAXIS aswell, which is a good thing I guess.
  
  Snake then uses Octocam to blend into a wall, scouts out the area above which has 2 PMC soldiers lurking around, heading toward's Snake's location, so he hides in a big trash-can behind him. Kojima explains that hiding in such a thing will attract an awful smell and enemies will detect that smell and realise your there, so Snake quickly takes out both soldiers with a Tranquilizer from inside the trash-can. So, you can open the trash-can whilst your inside to look around, which is good.
  
  Kojima then says if you shake the SIXAXIS pad, the Octocam will ware off if you don't want to have that certain camo on at that time.
  
  The demo then goes into a cut-scene. Incredible visuals. Here, Otacon joins up with Snake in the form of Metal Gear MK .II, a little robot-thing, it looks like it will be useful in the game.
  
  Snake then sees Milita soldiers from Country B run past in the distance, remember that Country A and B are at war. Being a stealth game, Snake decides to go into a run-down building so he doesn't get detected. You can see PMC soldiers fighting against the Militia soldiers on the outside of the building. Snake quickly runs behind a van to get cover, no one has spotted him yet. He's just watching the fight. In the distance, you see a building collapse to the ground due to overwhelming power from Country A. Snake uses the Solid Eye again to take a look around. Knowing that the Militia soldiers are at a huge advantage, Snake decides to help them out. So far, this game looks amazing, the gameplay looks like a lot of fun and with the many ways you can play this game, i'm sure we can experiment with a lot of the features MGS4 has to offer.
  
  A moment later, Snake uses the MK. II for the first time, in Snake's hands there is a PS3 controller which is used to control MK. II, you can use the SIXAXIS to manipulate MK. II. Looks like Konami have took some advantage of the SIXAXIS controller. Good on them.
  
  Then, the MK. II proceeds forward and stuns an enemy. That's the only attack it has by the looks of it, I don't think MK. II is meant to be used for attacking stuff. Still a useful thing to have.
  
  As Snake proceeds forward, he realises that someone is shooting him from behind atop of a roof, Snake quickly rolls onto the floor, looks back and takes him down using some form of a machine gun. Also, as Snake lays down, you can go into "over-the-shoulder" mode which is useful for aiming at long distances and stuff. As the soldiers are being shot, they come flying down onto the floor. Very nice.
  
  There are also other soldiers trying to shoot at Snake in the far-distance so he throws a grenade whilst laying down behind a small wall, now that's a cool feature that we've never seen. The guy who's playing the demo has good accuracy aswell. There's a target line aswell which helps you aim at your enemy.
  
  What's really cool is that now your helping Militia out, they won't try to attack you at all. Infact, one soldier thanks Snake for the help. While Snake progresses, you can see explosions, gunfire and general fire everywhere, this shows off some of the nice visuals in this game.
  
  Snake then spots an "armored care" in the distance(as Hideo put it) so he shoots a drum next to it in an attempt to dispose of it but that only damages it(btw, the armored care is a Tank), so then Snake uses the powerful RPG to take it out. Really cool.
  
  Now, someone is shooting at Snake from a building so he put's on some Thermal Goggles to spot him. Don't know about you but i've always thought Thermal Goggles were really great. Snake uses the RPG againt to take out the soldier, and then Snake realises there's a soldier behind some sandbags so he simply throws a grenade and that soldier is pretty much dead. I'm enjoying the explosions, there awesome
  
  Snake sees a group of four PMC soldiers so decides to get his P90 gun out to quickly take them out, the player who's playing this demo takes advantage of the FPS mode to take them out easier. But, i'm going to use the over-the-shoulder view in those kind of situations, I really don't want to use FPS tactics in a MGS game.
  
  Whilst the soldiers are tying to shoot you, you can see the dust bounce of the ground as the bullets go by, that's a nice little visual-element.
  
  After taking out the soldiers, two more start attacking Snake from above, he get's out the RPG again to take them out. This will be the point where I actually use the FPS mode; when i'm trying to use the RPG to kill enemies above me, it'll give me good accuracy. Apart from that, I don't see myself using the FPS mode much(as you can see, I have mixed feelings towards FPS mode in MGS4).
  
  Snake then get's thanked by some Militia soldiers for helping. Then, Hideo makes a little joke on how Snake's back starts hurting and the demonstration ends.
  
  The logo for MGS4 comes up and Kojima says "You'll be infiltrating battlefields and experiencing the tension of sneaking through a total warzone". This gives of the obvious impression that even though this game is about huge wars and stuff, you'll still be using stealth a LOT of the time. Which is a great thing since it's MGS.
  
  
  WOW, that's a lot of writing and I thank you for actually reading it. From the demonstration, i've learnt that there will be a LOT of new features and different ways to fight off your enemy and actually become friends with other soldiers out there, there were no glitches or anything in the demo so it looks to be a perfect game. Overall, I enjoyed the demonstration a lot, it showed off some really cool elements in MGS including both stealth and action. The Octocam is going to be extremely useful in a lot of situations.
  
  This game is going to be amazing, there's no denying it.
  
  -a_grunge_fan-
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  • Posted Jul 25, 2007 4:40 am GMT
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 18Jul 07

  CAPCOM - Nintendo Entertainment System...

  Hello there, summer's coming up and I have nothing better to do until some major PS3 games are released and I have to wait until I get an Xbox360 so I thought to myself; Hmmm, what shall I do all this summer?

  I've come to the conclusion that I will attempt to finish all the NES games created by legendary gaming company CAPCOM. I'll start off with maybe the Megaman games, Strider and then Snow Brothers, they were great NES games if I remember correctly. As you can see, there weren't many games released for the NES by CAPCOM so i'll try and get through them all and hopefully manage to finish them.

  Anyway, so just thought i'd speak my mind.

  Thanks for lookin' in!

  -a_grunge_fan-

  • Posted Jul 18, 2007 3:10 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg

See Previous Blog Posts »