Deep story,great gameplay variety and realistic graphics make MGS4 one of the best games of this gen.

User Rating: 9 | Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Platinum) PS3
MGS4's story is so deep and drew me in so much and it has great gameplay and it had some of the most realistic graphics for it's time.

The story in MGS4 is how companies with huge armies are fighting for control of the world.Governments are fighting these companies with their own military forces and have even created human specially designed for warfare.The companies and governments have used nanos to enhance their soldiers abilities and endurance or to heal wounds very quickly or to stop the progression(but not cure)terminal illnesses such as cancer.

The main character named Snake has a disease which makes him age rapidly and the story will become deep and emotional because you'll learn about government conspiracies and the histories of different characters and how they're linked together.What makes the story emotional is seeing how some of the characters were created and used like they are just tools for warfare,and those characters will be searching for meaning for their existance.The fact that Snake is aging so rapidly makes the story emotional(especially if you've played MGS1,2,3 and became attached to Snake and you'll discover the reason why he's aging and I won't give away the reason,but I'll say it will make you think the government who creates humans for warfare are evil too and it's not black and white about who is the good or evil side in the story.The story also has romance and you'll see how the characters find it difficult to maintain a normal married life and raise children when they're controlled so much by the military and are used as tools by the military.

The gameplay lets you play the game as a stealth game,run and shoot,cover shooter style game.If you want to use stealth tactics you can cut the throat of enemies to kill them without making a sound and you'll have to hide their body from patrolling enemies.You can also use a traquilizer which doesn't make loud gunshots or have bullets landing on the ground to attack enemies.You can control a mini robot to scout an area,shock enemies to clear a path(but it does make Snake feel a bit overpowered).

If you want to do the 'run and gun' style,you'll do it in 3rd person perspective(similar to the shooting mechanics in the old Resident Evil games).If you want to use cover and pick off the enemies one at a time,you can do so and the cover mechanics work very well.However,when enemies are aware of your presense,they will keep calling for reinforcements,so if you shoot your way through an area,it's important to keep moving(if you're using cover and trying to pick the enemies off one at a time,you'll need to do so quickly because more reinforcements will eventually show up).That's part of what makes the gameplay fun,because it gives the gameplay a sense of urgency and tension.

Some areas have heavily armored robots named Gekko that can kill you quite quickly and you'll want to move past these things undetected.

You can snipe enemies and there will be times you can use a turret on top of a building spray bullets at many enemies who are advancing and there's rail shooting segments when you're on vehicles.There's also a segment when you'll be using a mech suit and you'll have to combat other mech suits.There's a segment you'll have to make a badly injured Snake crawl to safety and this segment will require some button mashing and it makes you feel like you're Snake trying to push your own body to safety.There's also strict infiltration type missions where you can't be detected and there's some brutal hand to hand combat too.

The cutscenes in this game can be quite long,some of them last for over 30 minutes.The cutscenes and cinematics are very detailed and you'll see detailed skin tone and detail clothing and realistic environments.

The atmosphere of the game is great.I like how the sky in the Middle East has a yellowish color and it looks beautiful amongst the ruins.The forest environments have tall grass and swamps to hide under.You'll see detailed European style city environments.The snowstorm that makes it hard for you to see adds realism.For more variety,there's military bases as well.

Raiden's new appearance is disturbing because he has cybernetic arms.I like the detail and style of his armor because it looks light and covers most of his body(including his jaw).

One of the boss battles looks brutal because you'll see blood splattering everywhere.

Sometimes,a creepy woman will show up and stalk you and in the snowstorm area you won't be able to see her until she's right in front of you and it scared me.

The voice acting,music,sound effect are all top quality.I still remember the music for the segment when Snake's travelling through the snowstorm and his body is weakening and aging and the music made that moment very emotional and the music sounded beauitful but sad at the same time.

Overall,this is one of the best games from this gen.