Solid Snake has returned. The covert-operations hero of Metal Gear Solid has returned for the fourth and final release of the hit video-game franchise.
A PlayStation 3 exclusive, MGS4: Guns of the Patriots is a classic “stealth action” game with a list price of $59.99. The franchise began way back in the last century, 1987 to be exact. But, this time, a major new target has been added to Solid Snake’s mission — to increase sales of the PS3 console.
More Twists Than Lost
Initial responses around the Web have been enthusiastic, with some division as to whether the story line and other aspects have gotten clearer over the years.
Scott Taves, writing on MSNBC.com, advised that players first read a summary of past MGS plotlines, or revisit those earlier games, to get up to speed on the new version.
Even so, he said he dove in without heeding his own advice. “Despite having played through all the previous games,” he wrote, “I was soon scratching my head.” The new version, he wrote, has “more flashbacks, plot twists and resurrected characters than all the episodes of [the] Lost [TV series] combined.”
But he said he was too caught up in the presentation and the game play to stop. The plot involves Solid Snake’s mission to investigate the rise of Private Military Companies (PMCs), in spite of the fact that he is now the victim of a mysterious accelerated aging condition. In fact, the game calls him Old Snake.
That’s only the entry point. It seems the PMCs, which are larger than the U.S. Army, are enhanced by nanotechnology that if it fell into the wrong hands could make any enemy invincible. And then there are the enemies, such as Laughing Octopus and Screaming Mantis, and new weapons technology.
A Sneaking Suit can adapt Snake’s colors…