Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Overview

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a 2008 action-adventure stealth game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami for the PlayStation 3. It was directed, written and designed by series creator Hideo Kojima. It is the sixth mainline Metal Gear game and a narrative sequel to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. It is set five years after that game and follows a rapidly aging Solid Snake, now called Old Snake, on one last mission to assassinate Liquid Ocelot before he takes control of the Sons of the Patriots, an AI system that runs the world's private military companies.

The over-the-top camera of earlier games is replaced by a streamlined over-the-shoulder view, with an optional first person view. New to the series is the Psyche Meter. Stress from heat, smells and being hunted drains Snake's Psyche, which makes aiming harder and can make him faint. The OctoCamo suit copies the surface it touches, the Solid Eye shows items and enemies, and the Metal Gear Mk. II robot follows Snake and can be remote controlled. Weapons are bought from the arms dealer Drebin with Drebin Points, and the game can be finished without killing anyone.

The story runs through five Acts, starting in the Middle East and going on to South America, Eastern Europe, Shadow Moses in Alaska and finally Outer Haven. It is set in 2014 in a world where private military companies outnumber national armies, soldiers carry nanomachines, and the Patriots secretly steer global affairs.

Development began because of fan demand for a sequel to Sons of Liberty. Kojima had said he would step away from directing after Metal Gear Solid 3, and at first a different director was named, but he ended up directing the game himself. The game was announced at E3 2005 and released on 12 June 2008. It is an exclusive for the PlayStation 3. Kojima said the data was too large for DVD, and the game ships on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray Disc. The score was led by Harry Gregson-Williams and Nobuko Toda, with the ending theme Here's to You sung by Lisbeth Scott.

There were a Limited Edition at GameStop in the US and EB Games in Canada, a PS3 80 GB bundle at US$499 on release day, and a Greatest Hits re-release on 15 June 2009. In August 2012 a patch added trophies and a full install to the hard drive, which removed the installs between acts. The game came with a Starter Pack for Metal Gear Online 2, which closed on 13 June 2012.

It received universal acclaim from critics, with praise for gameplay, graphics, characters and emotional weight, and criticism for a convoluted plot and long cutscenes. Metacritic lists it at 94 out of 100. It won Game of the Year from several outlets, shipped over 3 million units on its first day and reached six million by 2014. In Japan it boosted PS3 sales sharply in its launch week.

Official trailer

Metal Gear Solid 4 - LAUNCH TRAILER, KefkaProduction. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) Full Playthrough (No Commentary), Rellings. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action-adventure, Stealth

Developer

Kojima Productions

Publisher

Konami

Composers

Harry Gregson-Williams, Nobuko Toda, Shuichi Kobori, Kazuma Jinnouchi

Designers

Hideo Kojima

Writers

Hideo Kojima, Shuyo Murata

Producers

Hideo Kojima, Kenichiro Imaizumi, Kazuki Muraoka, Yoshikazu Matsuhana

Directors

Hideo Kojima

Artist

Yoji Shinkawa

Platforms

PlayStation 3

Series

Metal Gear (sixth mainline game; sequel to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty)

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

up to 16 (Metal Gear Online 2, closed 2012)

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Subscription history

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Trophies

Trophies34

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

5

Silver

9

Bronze

19

Total

34

Points

1305

Playthroughs for platinum

8

Other versions

PowerPyx says the Master Collection list matches PS3 plus one extra trophy for reading the screenplay book. The PS3 list also has hidden trophies.

Missable trophies

• Most trophies are technically missable, but 8 runs give repeat chances

Grind

• Sounds of the Battlefield: all 40 Emblems for one iPod song, rated the hardest trophy
• One run on Boss Extreme; the rest can be on Liquid Easy

• The Legendary Hero Obtained all trophies. Platinum 4.02% of players
• Liquid Sun Cleared Act 1 (Middle East). Bronze 59.16% of players
• Solid Sun Cleared Act 2 (South America). Bronze 50.33% of players
• Third Sun Cleared Act 3 (Eastern Europe). Bronze 45.99% of players
• Twin Suns Cleared Act 4 (Shadow Moses). Bronze 42.23% of players
• Old Sun Cleared Act 5 (Outer Haven). Bronze 39.02% of players
• You enjoy all the killing, that's why. Killed many enemies in one area, and vomited. Bronze 28.32% of players
• Laughing Octopus Doll Defeated Laughing Octopus by non-lethal means, and obtained the Laughing Octopus Doll. Bronze 20.08% of players
• Frog Soldier Doll Escaped the Haven Troopers in the Middle East by non-lethal means, and obtained the Frog Soldier Doll. Bronze 23.95% of players
• Raging Raven Doll Defeated Raging Raven by non-lethal means, and obtained the Raging Raven Doll. Bronze 19.37% of players
• Crying Wolf Doll Defeated Crying Wolf by non-lethal means, and obtained the Crying Wolf Doll. Bronze 22.03% of players
• Screaming Mantis Doll Defeated Screaming Mantis by non-lethal means, and obtained the Screaming Mantis Doll. Bronze 20.45% of players
• Divine Wind Caused a "divine wind" using the Tanegashima. Silver 10.33% of players
• Handle with Caution Broke off the most important part of a statue. Bronze 29.79% of players
• Hands Up! Held an enemy soldier at gunpoint and performed a body check. Bronze 37.51% of players
• Flashback Mania Viewed all flashbacks. Gold 6.56% of players
• SUNLIGHT! Obtained the Solar Gun. Silver 14.79% of players
• Sounds of the Battlefield Obtained all iPod® tracks (excluding tracks obtained via password). Gold 4.11% of players
• I Just Don't Fear Death Ended ALERT status while wearing the Corpse Camo. Silver 7.25% of players
• I am THE expert on weapons Obtained all weapons (excluding weapons obtained via password). Gold 7.25% of players
• Infinite ammo. Obtained the Bandana. Gold 11.09% of players
• Stealth Camouflage Obtained the Stealth Camouflage. Gold 10.02% of players
• Ghost Photography Addict Snapped at least 5 shots of ghosts on Shadow Moses Island. Silver 13.6% of players
• FaceCamo Addict Obtained 10 or more types of FaceCamo (excluding types obtained via password). Silver 19.4% of players
• Can you feel my power now!!!? Took control of an enemy soldier's body using the Mantis Doll or Sorrow Doll. Silver 19.74% of players
• Emotion Control Controlled an enemy soldier's emotions using an Emotive Magazine. Bronze 14.13% of players
• Hurt me more! Shocked an enemy soldier using Mk. II/III. Bronze 35.77% of players
• Drum Can Addict Knocked an enemy soldier flying using a Drum Can. Bronze 26.71% of players
• Crop Circle Found a crop circle and heard a mysterious voice. Silver 35.27% of players
• Are you an Otaku too? Viewed all model posters. Silver 10.45% of players
• You're pretty good. Got kissed by Ocelot during the final battle. Silver 18.43% of players
• That Tune Is His Mind Control Music Played Oishii Two-han Seikatsu and made one of the BB Corps dance. Bronze 19.09% of players
• Overhead view: just like old times... Used overhead view on Shadow Moses Island. Bronze 17.89% of players
• LIQUID! Piloted Metal Gear REX and screamed at your enemy. Bronze 17.07% of players

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 26.6 GB

Update patch498 MB

Version 02.00, the latest Sony hosts.

Mandatory

Yes

These are the patches Sony still hosts for this disc ID. The game's real history can be longer.

DLC

The game received 49 free add-ons through the PlayStation Network in 2008 and 2009. They were in-game downloads and were never sold on the PlayStation Store.

Items

Name	Adds	Price	Obtainable today
OctoCamo patterns	12 additional OctoCamo patterns.	Free
MGS4 Integral podcasts	12 podcasts (the Japanese version got 18 Guns of the HIDECHAN!Radio podcasts instead).	Free
iPod songs	25 songs for Snake's in-game iPod. A twenty-sixth, Chair Race, was removed in 2011 for copyright reasons.	Free
Metal Gear Online 2 expansion packs	More maps and playable characters (Mei Ling, Meryl, Akiba, Liquid Ocelot, Raiden and Vamp) for Metal Gear Online 2.		no

Playable today

Playable offline todayPartly

The story plays in full; Metal Gear Online closed in 2012.

Online

Online servers runningNo

Plays offlinePartly

The story mode needs no online service. Metal Gear Online 2, the online mode that came with the game, was shut down on 13 June 2012.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Metal Gear Online 2	closed	2012-06-13

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale	Reviews
Metacritic	PS3	94	100	82

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	10	10
GameSpot	10	10
Game Informer	10	10
Famitsu	40	40
GamePro	5	5
Computer and Video Games	9.5	10
GameTrailers	9.3	10
Eurogamer	8	10
Edge	8	10

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Hideo Kojima
Producer	Hideo Kojima
Producer	Kenichiro Imaizumi
Producer	Kazuki Muraoka
Producer	Yoshikazu Matsuhana
Designer	Hideo Kojima
Writer	Hideo Kojima
Writer	Shuyo Murata
Programmer	Yuji Korekado
Artist	Yoji Shinkawa
Composer	Harry Gregson-Williams
Composer	Nobuko Toda
Composer	Shuichi Kobori
Composer	Kazuma Jinnouchi

Notes for collectors

• Trophies were not in the game at launch. A patch on 6 August 2012 added them and also allowed a full install to the hard drive, which removes the installs between acts.
• A Greatest Hits box printed in November 2010 advertised trophy support by mistake. The mention was removed from later printings.
• Konami and Ubisoft put an unlockable Altair costume from Assassin's Creed in the game.
• Konami limited pre-release reviews, which led to a public dispute with a few outlets before launch.
• The 49 free add-ons were never on the PlayStation Store. Konami announced that the in-game download service would end on 31 July 2014, and a workaround appeared in January 2015.
• A downloadable version arrived on the PlayStation Store at the end of 2014.
• The Limited Edition was a GameStop exclusive in the US and an EB Games exclusive in Canada.

Credits

Publisher

Konami

Developer

Kojima Productions

Director

Hideo Kojima

Released

2008-06-12

Age rating

ESRB M

Disc ID

BLUS30109

Region

US

Time to beat

about 18 hours

Copies in the shop

• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3) CA$14.99