A roundup of MGS 4 news from GamePro including online play.
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www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=124608Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots The demo was set in the same war-torn, middle-eastern locale of the E3 2006 announcement video, its crumbling walls and debris-strewn streets providing ample opportunity for the game to show off its visuals.
Those visuals were stunning. Wind ripped through the streets, blowing dust, paper, and Snake's white hair around with a realistic ferocity. Character and environmental models glimmered with the kind of detail we've come to expect from the PS3.
Lighting effects were stellar. Dynamically-cast shadows were soft, compounding, and almost unerringly realistic. In fact, the only complaint we had with the lighting at all was Snake's self-shadow effect, which was still stippled and blotchy despite the clean lines and startling accuracy of the environment's shade.
The camera is finally fully-controllable by the player instead of being locked within developer-defined cones of view. It stays relatively low to the ground and defaults behind Snake in a comfortable, third-person perspective.
Ranged shooting is almost always handled from an over-the-shoulder cam, which can be switched from side to side as needed. A reticule stays in the center of the screen when in over-the-shoulder mode, growing and shrinking as the player moves around.
On those occasions when the reticule falls on something that Snake can't himself see (for instance, when peeking around a corner in), a ghost reticule detaches from the main one and lands on whatever it is his gun is pointing at. Thus, you'll always be able to tell exactly what you'll hit when you shoot.
At any time, you can toggle into first-person mode, which retains the iron sights of previous games. If you want to, you can actually play the entire game as an FPS.
Snake can target lock onto an enemy, allowing him to run around and you to move the camera without breaking line of fire.
Melee combat is rich and versatile. Snake's knife is now electrified, making it a piece of cake to knock an enemy out from behind. Alternatively, you can grab a target around the neck and strangle him on the ground until he falls unconscious (while struggling and twitching, to boot), or hold one at gunpoint and pat him down for whatever he might be carrying.
Snake's movement is now far more realistic than ever before; he no longer moves with quite the same "pitter-patter" running, but glides more gracefully through areas (though, it should be noted, he still looks and feels like Snake). He can jump into diving rolls both in front and to either side of himself, can roll to the left and right when he's prone on the ground, and can even flip over and crawl on his back, keeping his arms free to shoot at passing enemies.
Every single animation of a human character in the game is motion-captured, and it shows -- there's a staggering amount of detail in idle animations, movement animations, melee combat, and pretty much everything Snake, his allies, and his enemies do throughout the game.
The HUD is, for the most part, minimalistic, although it draws very heavily on Metal Hear Solid 3's design. Items and weapons can be scrolled through and selected in much the same way as Snake Eater's inventory system, and the menus bare more than a passing resemblance to MGS3's interface. In place of a camo percentage gauge, a thin, floating, 3D circle now encompasses Snake when he's stationary, and fluctuates up and down EKG-style the more Snake is visible to his enemies. The circle doubles as a compass, as one side always has a small "N" floating over it, marking the way north.
When Snake is wearing his octocamo suit, you can press a button to have it shift to match the surrounding environment at any time. For special situations, you can elect to put an octocamo mask on through the camo menu (another holdover from MGS3) and fully color-match to your surroundings. In the demo, we watched as Snake walked up to a nude statue, put his mask on and shifted to the statue's coloration, and then stepped up onto its pedestal and pretended to be just another part of the sculpture (somewhat hilariously gripping the real statue's crotch with one outstretched hand in the process).
The disparate sides of the war Snake finds himself in are constantly doing battle, and their soldiers' fighting can provide you with some very helpful cover when you need it.
Snake's robotic friend, a gift from returning character Otacon, resembles a miniature Metal Gear mech with wheels for feet at the ends of its legs. You can take control of the drone and send it into dangerous areas, using an electric whip it carries to shock enemies and knock them unconscious.
While the controls are still being tweaked, you'll be able to customize them to suit your desires once the game is finally released. SIXAXIS functionality will be fully integrated, although exactly how is still up in the air (though you'll definitely be able to lean around corners by tilting the controller).
Overall, there look to be about equal measures of stealth and action in the game, although whether one player's experience will sync up another will probably depend upon their styles of play.
MGS4 should be out early in 2008, before the end of March. And no, it won't be available anywhere else other than the PS3.
Metal Gear Online Based on the exact same engine as Metal Gear Solid 4, Metal Gear Online uses an identical camera system, customizable control scheme, and even some of the same characters as its single-player cousin, despite being an entirely separate game.
Players will work in squads against enemy teams, sneaking and shooting their way through levels using the same stealth and action tricks available in MGS4 (except for the octocamo suit, which Snake apparently doesn't let out of his sight).
MGO has a much more visual HUD than MSG4, with health and consciousness meters, a MGS2-style radar map, and friendly unit designators spicing things up. Every few seconds, all friendly players within your field of view will flash with bright blue overlays -- even through walls -- across the entire map, allowing you to keep exacting tabs on what every one of your teammates is doing.
In a cool twist, you'll be able to hack into an enemy player's IFF network if you manage to sneak up behind them and grab them, allowing you to see all enemy player positions in flashing orange overlays. You won't have access to the hack for very long, but it'll be long enough to scan the entire battlefield and let your teammates know exactly where everyone is.
Rejoice and Cry The good news: Konami will soon be releasing two very interesting titles: a fully-3D Metal Gear game for mobile phones, called Metal Gear Mobile, and an animated graphic novel sequel for the PSP that bridges the story between Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots. The bad news: as of right now, they're only slated for release in Japan.
Is all lost? We spoke with Ryan Payton, Assistant Producer at Konami, and learned that there is definite work going into bringing Metal Gear Mobile and the animated graphic novel to American audiences, but whether that work will come to fruition remains unknown.
But fret not. Metal Gear Solid 4 is slated for a simultaneous, international release, so we'll get our hands on Snake's final adventure as soon as the Japanese do. Stay tuned with GamePro; we'll keep bringing you every scrap of information we can as MGS4 draws ever nearer.