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| Metal Gear Solid 4 Reader Q&A You've got MGS4 questions, and we have the answers. by Jeff Haynes April 4, 2008 - It's easily one of the most anticipated games of 2008, and a title guaranteed to sell PS3s with its incredible visuals. Metal Gear Solid 4 is the culmination of a 20 year old franchise, bringing the adventures of Solid Snake to a fitting close. But along with that ending comes a flood of questions, some of which weren't answered in our previous hands-on coverage. Some of these included: What can players expect from Kojima Productions come June 12th? How deep is the game, and how easy is it to control? To put some of these questions to rest, we decided to put together this Q&A from you, the readers. We read through all of the submissions carefully, and while we would have loved to have included every one of them, we are still bound by certain restrictions and can't divulge everything. What's more, we don't want to spoil the game, so we put together everything that we could answer below. Read on to see if your question was answered! What resolution does MGS4 run at, and what kind of audio does it support? Metal Gear Solid 4 has been certified for Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, and the game appeared to run at 720p. 7.1 surround sound has not been confirmed yet, and whether the game will run at 1080p or not is still a closely guarded secret. How does the game control? Is there a way to change the control sequence to what it used to be in previous games? Controls for Metal Gear Solid 4 work extremely well, providing responsive gameplay. If you have played Snake Eater or Subsistence, you're pretty well accustomed to some basic controls, such as using L1 to aim, L2 and R2 to select items and weapons, and X to change your stances between standing, crouching and crawling. However, most of the complex button presses have been eliminated, making actions much more intuitive. For example, it's much easier to aim and fire a guns. Smaller movements are tied to analog sticks, so light pushes forward on the Left analog stick will make Snake inchworm forward if he's crawling. Pushing to the left or the right will make him rolls along the ground, and the number of times is tied directly to how long you hold the stick in that direction. Controls do appear to be customizable, however, so you should be able to find a scheme that works for you. I remember reading some articles in the past where Kojima stated you could play the entire game like an FPS. Did you attempt that? It is possible to play entire sections (and ostensibly the entire game) solely within the first person viewpoint. This is much easier to do once you receive the Solid Eye item from Otacon and the Mark II, which allows you to easily pick out threats and allies from a distance. It's doubtful that you would want to do so, because there's a lot of detail you'd miss, along with it making stealth much more difficult. How's the weapon variety? Was the statement in another preview about 70+ weapons correct? If so, did that stretch to modifications like underbarrel grenade launchers and underbarrel shotguns? First, as stated in the hands-on article, weapon variety is quite large, with Snake having access to a variety of handguns, rifles, automatic weapons and explosives like grenades. Each weapon is rated in one of six categories that affect items such as its damage, range and power. There are easily more than 70 weapons and items that are included in MGS4. Accessories that can be added, such as laser sights, flashlights, or underbarrel shotguns, grenade launchers and pistol grips that expand the amount of customization that you can experience in the game. How are the visuals? Are there any screen tearing or frame rate drop issues? What about the animation -- did everything seem fluid? Animation of everything, from Snake to the actions of the PMCs to the evasion of Gekkos and FROG soldiers are incredibly fluid and slick. For the most part, what we've seen ran at a stable 60 frames a second. There were only a few instances in which the framerate dipped for a second or two, but that was typically caused by large onscreen explosions coupled with screen effects (such as dirt being kicked up on the camera lens). As for visual fidelity, the trailers that have been released for the game are just a brief indication of what the game truly looks like. The title looks much sharper than trailers or screenshots show. Please elaborate on the 'Drebin Points System.' If you can, give us a brief explanation. Was it tedious or did it improve gameplay? As illustrated in the hands-on article, every weapon that Snake finds within the game is locked. These items are immediately converted into Drebin Points, which can be spent to unlock weapons that you've found in your exploration of the environment, purchasing extra ammunition for your guns, or accessories to improve specific weapons. Collecting these points is simple: Snake (or the Mark II, if you prefer) simply needs to move over the weapon to collect and convert it into points. These points can immediately be spent, or saved to take advantage of Drebin's sales during "sale days," specific days established where everything in his store is half off the standard price. You aren't constrained by this system at all – in fact, if you'd rather avoid collecting weapons from fallen soldiers as you go through the game, you can do this; the lone trade off will be that you'll receive much fewer Drebin Points to spend. However, even if you try to restrict yourself from gathering Drebin Points via weaponry, you can still collect Drebin Points by observing and interacting with cutscenes. The Drebin System works very well, and really winds up tapping a "gotta collect them all" gene deep within any player. Any CGI cutscenes? Or are they all in-engine? All cutscenes are in-engine presentations of story points. However, they are interactive because of the L1 and X button presses that will crop up here and there during a plot point that allows you to trigger new angles or flashbacks on previous scenes from the Metal Gear franchise. As previously stated, these will also add to your Drebin Point total. Is the grey-abstract Middle Eastern area the only color scheme we can expect or will the game be more vibrant? There is definitely a vibrant set of colors based on the environment you find yourself in. Even the Middle Eastern section has much more color than the gray abstract areas seen in images and trailers. How is the DualShock 3 feedback for the game? DualShock 3 feedback works well within Metal Gear Solid 4, with the controller pulsing for everything from gunshots to explosions. One element where the feedback stood out was during low psyche or high stress situations, where the controller would simulate the heartbeat of Snake. There are some sections where it could be stronger, but that will most likely be adjusted by the time the game is released. What difficulty have the previews been shown on? What difficulties will be in the final game? There are four initial difficulty levels available in Metal Gear Solid 4: Liquid Easy, Naked Normal, Solid Normal and Big Boss Hard. Naked Normal was the default difficulty of the game. Preview coverage of the game that has recently hit the Internet from the MGS4 Boot Camp in Nasu were all played on the Solid Normal difficulty setting. Is the CQC Counter from Portable Ops in the game? If by CQC Counter you mean melee attacks by a guard before they call for help or proceed to riddle Snake's body with bullets, yes, it is included in the game. Can the player change the HUD as they wish? Images in previews have shown a mix of displays. Yes, players can change or adjust elements of the HUD. This has also been confirmed on the most recent Kojima Productions podcast where they mentioned that there are at least 20 separate color schemes that can be used for the HUD itself. Is MGS4 action focused or does it still retain an emphasis on stealth tactics like the previous games? Is it now a run and gun fest or is a certain amount of skill required to evade troops in order to clear each area? Metal Gear Solid 4 emphasizes both action and stealth equally. Players have the ability to decide just how they want to play the game, just as they always have in previous Metal Gear games. If they choose, they can run through, slaughtering any guards and PMC troops that cross their path. Players can try to melt into the shadows, skillfully evading detection as best as possible. Or players can perform a combination of the two. The choice is truly up to the individual controlling Snake. How big do the battles between the PMC and Militia get? Battles between the PMC and Militia soldiers can range from a few militia men trying to take back an entrenched position to a large battlefield where both sides are calling in reinforcements, sniping enemies out in the open and tossing grenades at rival squads. Because the battlefield will change based on how accurate both sides are, players can go to the same location twice and see completely different field conditions based on how the battle's going at that moment. How deep is CQC? MGS3 has about five moves. How many more does MGS4 have? There are more than five CQC moves in MGS3, but MGS4 adds a few new moves as well. The first is the ability to automatically incapacitate and disarm a soldier. Another is a chokehold, which Snake can apply to a soldier on the ground to silently knock him out. A third move is patting down a soldier after you've held him up, allowing you to get equipment from the scared soldier. Players can also grab an enemy soldier's testicles, knocking him out from the pain. Is MGS4 funny? Does it include all the little odd MGS-style humour elements, like rare codec conversations (such as the one with Naked Snake & SIGINT about the box)? Without spoiling any facets of the story, the trademark humor during certain sequences of the game definitely returns. There's a level of self-deprecating humor, particularly from Snake, but there are also in-jokes for Metal Gear Solid fans. If we're able to, we'll keep trying to update this Q&A with additional content, so keep checking back for more info. |
| QUOTE (UrbanCombat @ Apr 5 2008, 09:36 AM) |
| Yep, the game is sounding better and better, I think the use of Drebin Points and modding weapons will be alot more fun. I doubt there is actually 70 different weapons, probably about 35 not including all the modding. |
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| As for visual fidelity, the trailers that have been released for the game are just a brief indication of what the game truly looks like. |
| QUOTE (rayofdoom @ Apr 5 2008, 11:32 AM) |
| like in Rainbow6 VEGAS like in army of two too. you buy the mods from Drebin.. |