Metal Gear Solid 4 Online

Posted on June 1st, 2008 at 10:28pm by Lime_Spider

With little than a month away from the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 us Europeans were given an extra special treat from the Japanese to show that some of them actually care about our patronage instead of them shafting us as they normally do. We were given free access to play Metal Gear Online! For most of us with a PS3 though, it was a chance to sample the new engine for

MGS4 and see what Kojima’s fuss has been about, given his thoughts on "the limitations of the PS3".

Upon first loading there was a lot of care to be taken that you had signed up, got a Konami account and a game account, plus a numerical only password. It’s all a little fiddly, but it can all be done through the PSN without too much hassle. Apart from a few niggly little issues with connections dropping (it’s still technically Beta) and the above, the game is actually pretty solid and like GTA IV adds something to the single player that you never even thought was missing.

Metal Gear Solid never really seemed the sort of game that needed multiplayer, let alone getting it to work as it does in the single player. Snake sneaks onto the battlefield, avoids conflicts and works stealthily. In most multiplayer the opposite is seen, with guns blazing, in some expression of macho’ism. MGO takes all this and throws it out the window, successfully converting the MGS4 experience to networked play.

You first construct an avatar that you will control in the field where a multitude of configurations are available. The actual choices you have are slightly limited, where there are only a few faces, outfits and other style choices available. Still though with some imagination you can created a character who personifies what you think looks good, and in my whole time playing I never saw a doppelganger.

Next you have the difficult decision of skills, although you can change them at any time never making your character cast in stone. All the favourites are here, such as CQC, weapons training, and the new SOP systems. Each comes with a description allowing you to customise them to your preferred playing style, and allow you to play with comfortable ease.

On offer in the Beta test were various game styles; Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture, Base and Sneaking, but most players were to be found in Sneaking. Though the full game will feature many more, the Beta only had

three maps, Bloodbath, Groznyi Grad and Midtown Maelstrom. Each map has it’s

own nuances and shows that a lot of thought has been placed on them, allowing casual gamers to get involved, but practice will reveal the map’s hidden strategic locations.

In the first play through it was funny watching people try and play Deathmatch as you would with Quake. It was chaos and one descended on another, killing and then being killed (as their health had been depleted). A few rounds later everyone was adapting their game styles or evolving, maybe even you could say regressing to the stealth play that made MGS so popular. Cover suddenly became more important, the size of your gun was only measured by how well you utilized it, head shots are needed as players are using body armour, and the camera suddenly became imperative for you to work out where people were.

Although Deathmatch is a good tutorial the team based play is really what MGO is all about. Putting yourself in Team Deathmatch was a great way to see the game in action. In MGS4 soldiers all use Nano machines and ID tagging (the SOP system), which is incorporated in the multiplayer in a variety of forms.

You can view other members of your team, monitor enemies that have attacked you or are attacking others, and other info that really opens the battlefield to you like a future soldier of technical arms will have. It was really liberating to watch how all the gameplay elements from the single player are amalgamated so well over the network, and that successful use of these is the only way to secure victory.

The final and probably most interesting modes I tried was Sneaking, and this is arguably the most interesting feature of the Beta. Sneaking involves two teams involved in conflict, but at the same time trying to find and defeat Snake. With even sided teams too then one person is Snake and the other is the Invisible Buddy, the robot seen in the trailers. The teams have to find Snake and defeat him, where as Snake must sneak up on them and steal their dog tags. It’s simple in principle, but much harder in practice. Snake has the camouflage suit at his disposal which is quite a beautiful thing to behold.

His ability to blend into anything really hampers the hunt, but his lack of body armour stops a straight gun fight being the best way to take on enemies.

In this Beta stage it did also allow for some interesting encounters. After being gunned down by one guy, a group of them all gathered round Snake’s corpse. You could almost here the shouts of "Come and look at this" from the players. Peace reigned as everyone was looking, until another enemy gunned them down, and then noticed Snake on the floor…

The graphics engine on initial inspection does seem a little old and not very next-gen, but after playing it for some time you begin to see many of the subtle features of it. The HDR lighting is brilliant and probably the best I have seen, really making you strategically think when to run into the light and dark. The textures are very well defined from any view, even close up, giving great detail. It is Snake’s suit that is hands down the best thing in the game, as he can almost completely disappear and only the keenest eye can see him when static. You’ll never forget the first time you see him, as panic and awe happen almost simultaneously. The only thing that detracts slightly is the fire, which after the joy of many, many games doing realistic fire, MGO’s engine has it looking decidedly fictitious, which is disappointing.

I would have loved to play the other game modes too, but the main problem I had with the game was the population. Sneaking was the most popular game being played, and then GTA IV came out, and the server populous went from 1000’s to about 250. This is indicative of an online game and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. The bane of many an online game is the lack of support from the community, and hopefully MGO won’t suffer in this way. The other problem with the Beta was that it would be common for you to be dropped from the servers, but again I suspect this is teething trouble.

MGO has all the hallmarks to be a very popular addition to the MGS universe, and come June we will see if online community embraces it’s new guise. I know I’ll be there supporting it!