Birthday Blast


War and white hairs go well together.

As I kinda mentioned earlier, I'll be spending the lion's share of my birthday break and weekend with Solid Snake, AKA Old Snake. The game, the latest and apparently GREATEST yet for the Sony Playstation 3, is titled Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It is, quite frankly, one of the reasons I got the console for. The latest of this much-beloved franchise (which is the pillar of the 'Stealth-Action' genre of games) is also the last chapter of the adventures of ol' Snake, due to various reasons including the fact that he seems to be suffering from a case of Werner's Syndrome, afflicting him with rapid aging. But if Snake's gonna go down, he's not going away quietly with an I.V. plugged into his arm in a hospital bed. Nah, he's strapping on the latest in stealth technology suits and hi-tech boom-sticks and James Bond-tech and heading into the most chaos-ridden war zones all over the world... all in the purpose of hunting down and eliminating the one bad guy out to destroy the world.

To say that MGS4 is a beautiful game would be an understatement- the game's in-game graphics look as good as CG cinematics, and the detail, intricacy and design of pretty much everything you see, hear and experience is a cinematic experience. The gameplay is smoother, more playable and accessible than ever, melding both the traditional stealthy sneaking with balls-out shooting action depending on the player's desire. And as for the story... well, it all ends here, and everything you've been wondering about in Metal Gear- like how the hell is Liquid Snake still alive in a severed hand, who the heck are The Patriots or why is MGS2 hero Raiden now sporting a new cyborg body will be explained, in-game or in the multitude of amazing cutscenes.

Easily one of the most anticipated games ever (it's been in development for YEARS), it's finally here, and it's fitting I guess that I received it at this time.

What a damn freakin' cool birthday gift!

So I guess I'll end it here for now. For a more detailed review of this opus of a game, check out my game blog at The Lone Gamer. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go stealthily save the world... with a bad back, at that!