Metal Gear Solid IV, Game of the Year?

YES IT IS!!! Ok so many people may not agree and I am sure it won't win most "Game of the Year" awards but hands down in my opinion there is no debate. Metal Gear Solid IV is so good I cannot even begin to rant without my head wanting to explode into a million pieces.

I got 2 new games and finished one, I finished Eternal Sonata which by the way was alot of fun and I picked up Little Big Planet and Valkyria Chronicles. I have played Little Big Planet a bunch 2 player with my girlfriend and it is a blast, hopefully I will start playing Valkyria Chronicles tonight I have been pumped for this game for months.

Finally and the most important news of all.... OBAMA WON! In your face McCain fools! Mwahahahaha! Yes! finally I don't have to be ashamed of my president (knock on wood) I have high hopes for Obama and I sincerley think he can accomplish them. Unfortunatly with voting it is always the lesser of two evils I would much rather had voted for Nader but he wouldn't have won so I would rather just make a differance.

- Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots -

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Kojima Productions

Release: June 2008

Metal Gear Solid 4 is the last in the line of the Metal Gear Solid series and therefore it must close the story. Due to this you may want to play through the first three before looking into the fourth or you will miss a great amount of detail and will spoil a lot for yourself. So before you go any further decide if you want to know details or the story in the fourth game before playing through the first three you have been warned haha.

Solid Snake now aging rapidly is contacted by his old colonel Campbell. Now retired Campbell has a special mission only Snake could complete and at the mention of "Liquid" Snake he was very interested. Wars now are pretty much controlled and performed by PMBs which are hired mercenary companies. All of which who are hooked into a computer system that monitors their vitals, increases combat efficiency, and can suppress any emotion. Snakes mission is to head to the Middle East in a war zone and track down the location of Liquid who has been sighted in the area.

Liquid who is in control of nearly all the PMBs is orchestrating large scale proxy wars with a hidden motive. These proxy wars keep the world in constant need of soldiers and constantly in a state of chaos. Liquid aka "Liquid Ocelot" is controlling revolver ocelots body through the transplanted arm that was graphed onto his body. While trying to find a way to track down Liquid, Snake prepares his "last mission" while in search for a way to stop the rapid aging. Many look down of the storyline of the MGS series, personally I cannot fathom this and see it in the exact opposite way. One of the best continuous storylines in gaming in my honest opinion especially for games outside the genre of RPGs, it is the only game in the espionage action and FPS genres that actually has a storyline worth paying attention to.

Now there are many who will disagree or argue with my opinion on it's storyline so I will keep it quick. The storyline of the MGS series is of amazing detail giving an in-depth view of almost everything in relation to the games. Being in a genre that in my perspective has no storylines worth noticing exceeds my expectations by far while still keeping the best gameplay of the genre in my opinion as well.

Now for people who aren't die hard MGS fans the most important part is gameplay and since gameplay doesn't give spoilers well here we go. Taking Metal Gear Solid 3's gameplay and expanding on it 10 fold they created what I like to call gaming perfection. The new stealth system that uses "Octo-Camo" works similar to the camouflage of MGS3 but more similar to a chameleon. You can also move a lot more fluently while in a camouflaged state showing off Snakes espionage skill. With the many different ways to attack or disarm your opponents it makes the game much more unique and entertaining to play through.

Unlike most of the other stealth/espionage titles MGS allows you to play fairly aggressive at times and gives you some breathtaking one on one boss fights. This allows you to develop your own play way from aggressive to stealthy although of course to complete the game you will have to use both. Besides other storyline bosses the main bosses without giving away anything is the Beauty and the Beast core. These are women who are twisted by deep seeded emotions to take on a more primal animal form and then fitted with the technology and the skill to make them the perfect killing machines. The boss fights vary in types from stealth fights, sniper duels, chasing battles, or aggressive battles giving you some amazing battles and a great variety of them.

Graphically I found MGS4 to be just as astonishing as its fantastic story and gameplay. With great quality each character and environment looks realistic to a level I have never seen before and I never knew was possible. Pushing the PS3 graphics to a level no game has yet it has no equal on the consoles in my opinion. An important feature they spent a lot of time on developing was the online play, although I didn't play a lot of it was impressively done and surprisingly entertaining. I hope that in the future I can try it more and I would suggest you at least to try it out.

The music of MGS4 was well done with a large variety of music developed to set the mood for the plot. Although good as it was I think MGS3's was a little better but I have exceedingly high expectations for this game even when it comes to music. The sound quality was great setting up complex environments full of characters, explosions, and gunfire creating a virtual battleground with unparalleled realism.

Possibly my favorite game in a long time MGS4 did not disappoint; it has great gameplay, an amazing storyline, amazing graphics, and a lot of replay value. The look and feel of the game is truly showed by the genius of Hideo Kojima and realized in his ambitions. I would rate Metal Gear Solid IV a perfect 10 out of 10 and suggest everyone who enjoys games to play it. The combination of great graphics, gameplay, and storyline proves that MGS4 is a masterpiece and excelling in all categories it is truly a jack of all trades.