Old Snake (MGS 4 Reflections)

METAL GEAR SOLID 4 SPOILERS


I finished Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots a few days ago and wanted to let the experience soak in for a while before commenting. Like the best entertainment works, it stays on your mind well after completion. That might be more for the gameplay upgrades and knowledge that it's Solid Snake's last adventure (barring prequels or some wild explanation for his continuing survival) than necessarily being the hammer blow that was MGS 3 with its powerful ending for the Boss and Big Boss.

The Bosses

I enjoy the whole MGS series but looking back on Guns of the Patriots, I am surprised by how much referencing of the past was done. Every boss pays homage to previous games' characters to the point that some of the fights felt a little too much as though they were remixes of fights versus characters I'd played before instead of being something new. Raging Raven was my favorite of the four beasts and the only one that didn't immediately remind me of another installment's boss battle mechanics. Perhaps it's because she's so different from Vulcan Raven of MGS 1 in character design and attack style.

As for the other three beasts, the Laughing Octopus fight was more fun when it was the Fear (MGS 3), Crying Wolf (love that name) was a bigger version of the Sniper Wolf (MGS 1) battle, and Screaming Mantis was a rematch with Psycho Mantis. Plus, Snake gets his chance to shoot Vamp after Raiden had the fun in MGS 2. I'll admit Snake vs. Vamp's throwing knives was enjoyable, although it's all about cleaning up the second game's unfinished business. You even get to take care of business I didn't know was unfinished with the Metal Gear Rex vs. Ray battle that was a complete blast, especially since it seemed both were pretty trashed at the ends of their respective games.

The finale leaves us with Liquid vs. Snake in a hand-to-hand that should stand as the most brutal fight between two old guys you'll ever see. The cut scene preceding the bout would've been enough violence for most, but no, the player still gets to control Snake to get in more shots. The way the whole thing turns into a trip through Liquid/Ocelot's struggles with Snake over the series' course accompanied by the corresponding game's score is beautiful.

Wrap It All Up

SPOILERS (STILL)

Now the endings for these characters...some work and some are a bit of a head scratcher. The game tells you all along the way that Snake's death is coming, so the surprise is more how he arrives at his end. I'm still a little amazed he received the opportunity for a peaceful walk away from all the war and violence, but the character certainly earned it. His coming to terms with a certain someone at the graveyard dropped my jaw.

The, "Where did that come from?!" moments are provided by a few of the supporting players. Meryl's marriage...I guess it works, but part of me still isn't sold by the development. Overall though, the character's MGS 4 design and her stepping up as more of an experienced soldier had me thinking she'd be fun to play as in a future game (possibly adopting the Solid Snake codename to pay homage to him and keep the franchise's name going with Solid in the title).

As for the rest, Otacon mourns Naomi over the course of the story with some unfortunate crying along the lines of Spider-Man 3 level enough's enough. He's Snake's friend till the end though and he gets points for that and taking care of Sunny. Drebin filling in his own background and future plans was appreciated as well. His character was probably the most original addition to the MGS saga in part 4. And Jack/Raiden was pretty much a complete turnaround from the MGS 2 induced hate of his character. Yes, he borrowed heavily from Gray Fox's coolness with the cyborg ninja redesign (done in a new way I loved) , but his happy family reunion was also well done, particularly complemented by his son's comment about him being like a superhero.

Roll Credits

There's still much to be said about this game, but the key is that it pays off so much more for MGS veterans. Guns of the Patriots is a complete thrill on its own with many great qualities, but I'll remember it for being the best example I've seen of wrapping up a very complex series with so many storylines while simultaneously upgrading gameplay control of Snake to its best level yet. Hopefully, Hideo Kojima, Yoji Shinkawa, and company are already planning their next title.

Sneaking in Late

I grabbed a PS3 with the MGS 4 system bundle during its release week a few months back, but only now have I sat down with the epic game packed with my console. Life made it hard to dive into a long game and eager to play through something start to finish, I snagged Heavenly Sword. An enjoyable, quick play that let me see some of what the system can do gaming-wise when I wasn't taking in Blu-ray films' beauty.

MGS4 SPOILERS

Finally, I settled in to stealth action my way through Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. A series vet of the Solid generation at least (MGS 1-3), the trailers taunted my mind for months with how gorgeous the game looks while equally amazing changes to the controls were less hyped yet significant. It's much easier to accidentally slip into Rambo mode instead of running when spotted. I blew through the first half of the game's second act (South America) by continually getting discovered by PMC soldiers then fighting my way by. Previous games left you pretty much waiting to die when your presence was revealed. The resulting low ration count does suggest stealth is still the road to walk (as well as telling of my averager shooter skill).

Soon as I'm wondering where all the need for stealth went, reverting back to sneaking makes the rest of Act 2 a less nerve-racking (Where's the next ration already?!) experience. This is followed by a very CIA espionage movie feeling third act that drives home how different every act will be. Currently, I'm just digging into the unexpected return to Shadow Moses with deja vu all over the place. Amazing to see the old locations graphically polished to PS3 level as Snake comes down the hill in Alaska while MGS 1's end song, "The Best is Yet to Come, " plays. That's a superb gaming moment.

Cannot predict where it will all go exactly as I play roughly the last quarter of the game. Maybe it feels quick because I know this is Solid Snake's last game from what creator Hideo Kojima has said, but this installment is flying by compared with how long it took me to work through any of the previous titles.

"...just an old killer..."

Music from all directions

This past week had sort of an odd feel to it musically, anyway. Right now, I find myself listening to a Smashing Pumpkins song ("The Beginning is the End is the Beginning") thanks to the Watchmen trailer and then a Vashti Bunyan track ("Train Song") thanks to a Reebok NFL commercial with players crossing a desert wilderness of all things. Weird to find music new to me in those ways, but I'm enjoying both.

The Dark Knight

The giant fun pile of this week continues to be The Dark Knight as it has been since its release. I saw it for the third time in theaters today, and I enjoy the film more and more. The financial success has been amazing considering how dark the film is with a PG-13 toeing the line up to the edge of being an R. It's been encouraging that a franchise and character have been allowed to take a different direction than the standard lighter, all-audiences fare while also mixing genres. Seeing a superhero crime thriller combine the best of the comics with the best Christopher Nolan and his fellow writers can create has been one of my favorite all time movie experiences.

The Dark Knight doesn't nail every little thing I'd have liked, but any gripe I can come up with isn't major in light of everything the movie does well. I miss the scenes from Begins of Batman with the cape wrapped around him, but I love the improved costume design overall. Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart continue the perfect casting of the Nolan/Bale reboot. The Batpod, unlike the Tumbler which I warmed to slowly after seeing Begins, had me excited before seeing the movie and delivered with a terrific sense of speed and that beautiful confrontation versus the semi. It's impossible to pick a favorite scene with Batman in Hong Kong, so many Joker moments, Batman mourning as he finds the burnt coin, the human terminator look of Two-Face, Gordon's closing narration, and a list that goes on till you realize the whole movie is a ride that must be repeated to take everything in.

A couple moments that always got a great crowd reaction every time I saw the film:

1. "How about a magic trick?"
2. Batpod vs. Joker's semi - First everybody is wowed by the truck flip then they love when Batman puts his front tire up a building exterior to spin the pod back around. Makes me smile every time.

Such a memorable way to finish off the best summer of movies I can remember. Here's hoping the fall and winter have offerings to make the year as a whole something special.

Speed Racer (near the top in quality at least)

Of the three big summer movies I've seen so far, I'd rank their quality as follows:

1. Iron Man
2. Speed Racer
3. Indy 4

And it's pretty much a tie between those top two. Yeah, that's right. I enjoyed Speed Racer aka "the blockbuster no one's seeing" as much as Iron Man. The anime adaptation is dazzling aside from some odd choices to rough the content up to PG level instead of G. The entire cast works well for me with a fun plot actually tackled with some depth for an all ages film. Racing will never be as entertaining in reality as what this movie offers either. Forget watching drivers turn left for hours, because nothing compares to Speed and Racer X using jump jacks and screaming through the gorgeous tracks full of loops, jumps and drops.

As for Indy, it's too soon for spoilers but Indiana Jones 4 sadly left a lot to be desired from a franchise of that level. The cast all did a fine job with a script that didn't give them nearly enough to do. Not enough fights (barely any use of Indy's weapons either), a close to infamous Tarzan sequence for Shia LaBeouf, Mummy style insect scenes and especially a lame sci-fi quest all bring the film down. There is some very good fun to be had here, but the missed opportunity overshadows it. An Indiana Jones film can be much more than what we got.

Loaded Summer

As a film fan, this summer has to be the most interesting in quite a while. Iron Man has already kicked things off with a solid start, and now I'm planning on checking out Speed Racer before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Indy 4, short title fans) hits in a couple weeks. I absolutely love years with plenty of movies to see, and I'm looking at my personal count of films seen in '08 being well over a half dozen by summer's end.

Unless you're a film critic, most people only see a handful of films in theaters every year. I was no different with an average year providing around 5 or 6 movies to leave the house for until 2007 when that number went up to a dozen. There were also a couple that had to be tried on DVD because local theaters never got them. It was a blast to see that many films from various genres, although only half were ones I'd watch again or consider buying on DVD. The experience of averaging an intriguing new film or more a month to view was welcome and made me wonder both if that could happen again and if more of them could be higher quality.

This year started slowly with a pair of smaller films (Be Kind, Rewind and Leatherheads), but the list even only going through July is incredible with much more appealing blockbusters than recent summers. I took in Iron Man already and here's the rest of what I'll be checking out (or at least trying to in the case of smaller films):

Speed Racer
Son of Rambow (currently a victim of being crowded out by bigger films in my area)
Indy 4
The Incredible Hulk
Wall-E
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight

After all that, there's still the so-called Oscar season which had quite a lot to enjoy last time out. May just top my personal record for trips to the theater again, and I love it.

New York Comic Con

Finished browsing through the news avalanche from the NYCC on Newsarama, CBR, etc. and adaptations into movies and games were the most interesting stories. Marvel and DC are all about the big events right now, but more teases aren't really changing reading plans for me personally. Secret Invasion and Batman: RIP are reads (for now), Trinity will get a look for the Bagley art, and Final Crisis is a pass unless word of mouth changes my mind (dropped the last Crisis pretty early on).

The last couple events that I followed start to finish were rough. Civil War was worth it for the McNiven art covering for an okay story. Then I and plenty others were burned by Spider-Man: One More Day with nice pencils by Quesada but the story itself acting as a good jumping off point. Since then Amazing Spider-Man has become a title I check for the occasional penciller of interest, but the stories don't grab me.

The most interesting developments in the last few days were the announcement of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows for every gaming system (but c'mon, you want it for a current gen system) along with movie news. I missed the last movie game, but Ultimate Spider-Man is still one of my favorite comic games. The WoS trailer was pretty wild with Spider-Man looking to be in the middle of a big Marvel universe event instead of the solo tale these kinds of games are usually set in.

On the movie front are a bunch of descriptions of new trailers and/or scenes that aren't online yet for The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight. Not that I mind being unable to view them yet, since anymore I'm simply ready to see the movies and avoid being spoiled. The summer blockbuster season has already lined up around half a dozen films I want to see or am at least considering. Can't wait!