About the game
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.
The text above is adapted from Wikipedia and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What critics said
Metacritic 94 out of 100 from 82 reviews (PS3). Individual reviews: 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.
Extra content
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.
- OctoCamo patterns: 12 additional OctoCamo patterns.
- MGS4 Integral podcasts: 12 podcasts (the Japanese version got 18 Guns of the HIDECHAN!Radio podcasts instead).
- iPod songs: 25 songs for Snake's in-game iPod. A twenty-sixth, Chair Race, was removed in 2011 for copyright reasons.
- 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.
Good to know
- 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.
Made by
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.
