It's hard to introduce somebody to Metal Gear these days. I've tried, and if you're restrained to any time span under ten minutes then you're going to struggle. Not many games date back to the NES, and those that do rarely have an ongoing storyline that's more complex than most films. Metal Gear Solid has always been, on the surface, about saving the world without going in guns blazing. However, beneath that exterior is an insanely complex and arguably convoluted plot that twists and turns without mercy. If you can keep up with it then on you're in for the greatest storyline in videogame history to date, and if you fall off, well, you'll at least get to watch some incredible choreography and experience some excellent gameplay. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots looks to end one of videogaming's greatest sagas with a bang - and it delivers more than ever before.

Before release, all that gamers were able to glimpse was an elderly Solid Snake, now code-named Old Snake due to the rapid ageing caused by his cloned genes, infiltrating the Middle East in the middle of an all out warzone. Nine years after the original Metal Gear Solid events in Alaska, where it was unveiled that Solid and Liquid Snake were clones of a holy figure named Big Boss, and five years after the Big Shell Incident of Metal Gear Solid 2 that saw the death of the third, perfect, clone, Solidus, the world of war has changed. Private military contractors fight battles filled with nanochromes that monitor their entire body. War is controlled, weapons are ID tagged and everything is perfectly laid out. This is the basis of your adventure as you infiltrate the dry terrain to take down Ocelot, who is completely controlled by Liquid Snake at this point and no longer has any free will whatsoever.

During MGS3, the prequel to every previous Metal Gear title, we not only learned a lot about Big Boss, but about the Patriots and Ocelot, who in my opinion rose up to become the greatest videogame antagonist ever created, with an insane amount of depth given to his character. Picking up MGS4 after all the revealing events of that game is an absolute treat; everything fits, it makes sense, and if you never played an MGS game then you should be forbidden to play this fourth and arguably final installment! The amount of throwbacks, references, flashback scenes and plot twists that culminate from the events of the previous titles is mind-boggling, making for an experience that sends shivers down your spine on numerous occasions and could very well bring a tear to your eye (especially if you played the PSOne original, as this game has the greatest moment in sequel history that will leave longtime fans in awe; just wait for Act 4.)

Unfortunately I can't give any details about the story without spoiling it, but trust me when I say that Hideo Kojima and crew have crafted the greatest storyline in gaming, not only in terms of the story itself, but in how it has all unfolded in front of us. One sentence can be uttered in this game that will blow players of MGS1 and MGS3 away. It is a truly impressive achievement in game design and one that I doubt will ever be topped.

The storyline is only one part of this series, however, and in most cases it isn't the part that has brought players back each time. The stealth action in MGS has always progressed without drastically straying from its roots, and this title is no exception. It will instantly feel familiar to fans, and while a few new moves and gadgets are featured, it's the environment in which you use everything that has changed the most. Utilizing a third person view and completely ditching the preset camera angles of the past (in this initial release, at least), the game plays out more like modern shooters, albeit with much more confusing controls!

Snake can duck and crawl, as well as roll into different positions or even play dead, fairly easily. Leaning on walls, shimmying on ledges, and crawling through air ducts are all simple tasks to execute, but the combat controls are a bit harder to grasp. Tapping L2 or R2 equips your last selected item or weapon, respectively, and squeezing them brings up the menus to select which one you'd like to equip. You can only have so many options listed, so you'll have to go into the start menu and set up the weapons and gadgets that you'd like to use most frequently. Tapping R1unleashes a physical attack, while squeezing it locks a foe into a chokehold. To fire you'll need to hold L1 and go into the over the shoulder aiming mode, then squeeze R1 to actually pull the trigger. A first person view can also be activated, by pressing triangle while holding L1. Square activates and deactivates the auto-aim assist, while circle reloads your weapon. Finally, clicking the right thumbstick while aiming allows you to switch which side Snake fires from, giving you better control of every situation. This system takes a lot of adjustment as it is drastically different from other shooters these days, but it works really well once you get the hang of it, and it actually feels really nice, with plenty of 'add-on' actions to complement the existing ones, such as rolling onto your back from a prone position. It can be a pain to fiddle with the controls and aim precisely in do-or-die situations, but fortunately the game pauses when switching items or weapons and a quick press of the select button always brings up the control layout. MGS vets will have no problem with the system, but newcomers will likely struggle pretty badly for a while.

The AI has been beefed up, as expected, so you'll have to use your wits to get around them - although they still miss some really dumb giveaways. However, they also pick up the slightest sounds, footprints, or trails you leave and they try harder than ever to make sure you don't get away, even checking the small nooks and crannies where you might be lurking. As always with the series, you can decide if you'd rather go in and eliminate all the threats, simply knock them out, or try to bypass them all together. The beauty of the gameplay in MGS has always been the option to approach every situation in your own way - and that's never been truer than it is in MGS4. Another admirable trait is that while your foes may not always make the best decisions, they are always fluid. I've never once seen a foe glitch out or react to my actions in an unexpected or unrealistic way. This is easily one of the most thoroughly play-tested games I've experienced for a while and it always works exactly as it should.

With the military contractors battling it out in the Middle East, Snake has to infiltrate the warzone without picking sides. This means that while you sneak around and watch two forces go at each other, you can impact the tide of the battle through your own actions against either side. Shoot a soldier while out of sight and he'll assume he's being attacked by the opposing force and start firing back, or you can decide which team would give you an advantage in regards to reaching your destination and turn the tide of the battle in their favor. The basic premise of sneaking through an all-out war is a great idea, one that was shown briefly in Splinter Cell but has been perfected here.

However, that's all in Act 1. MGS has once again pulled a fast one on the fans, and though not one as drastic as MGS2, it is a bit surprising. Without spoiling much, I will say that the Middle East setting is the backdrop of Act 1. Needless to say, the game features more than one act, and for the first time in the Metal Gear Solid series (excluding the Tanker section of MGS2), the series does not take place in one giant setting but in a variety of locations that at some points takes the series in completely new directions and other points takes it back to its roots. This variety of locales is surprising, but it keeps the game moving at such a pace that you'll easily blow through it without even realizing (if you weren't doing that already simply to watch the amazing cut scenes!)

As usual, the cinematic cut scenes help pace the game very well. Just when you finish a particularly challenging section and you feel you need a break, a ten-minute cinematic is presented with such brilliant cinematography and direction that you'll be tempted to give up watching movies altogether! The action scenes are truly epic and will keep you on the edge of your seat, and while the emotional moments are a tad overdramatic, with the history of this game you can't help but be swept along with it, especially given the superb soundtrack that backs every moment. If you're playing MGS4 for the gameplay and have no desire to watch the story (for shame) then be prepared to get frustrated, as there is an insane number of cinematic scenes that sometimes last as long as the levels themselves at times - and I loved every second of them.

Digressing yet again, the gameplay does have some great new features. Snake's outfit now has an automatic detection system that instantly matches the surface that his body is pressed against, eliminating the need to stumble through the menu just to get a bit of extra coverage in a bush. Another great improvement is the way in which you can take out your foes. Utilizing the first person viewpoint that's activated with a press of the L1 button, Snake can instantly take out enemies after being knocked onto his back without becoming stuck in a getting-up animation. You can lean over ledges and shoot unsuspecting foes below, or you can just use the Metal Gear Mk. II to scout ahead and electrocute a confused soldier. Snake's new suit brings some other new tools to the fray as well; though the radar has been scrapped, Snake's new toy - the Snake Eye - provides detailed information about the enemies ahead, any items on the ground and the heat signatures of everything around you. It's quite a bit of fun looking at the dots on the heat sensor and trying to determine if it's a soldier or simply a rat, something that really adds to the experience since you can't simply play by watching the radar as you could in the original MGS - especially when bombs are going off everywhere and causing it to read temperatures off the charts!

With Snake's increased age and weaker body comes a new meter to keep an eye on, other than his health. Snake's mental state can easily degrade if he's put under too much stress, causing his healing to slow and his vision to blur. If Snake is too stressed then he loses focus and you'll need to slow down and let him rest a bit, maybe giving him a bit of food or moving into a shady, out of the way area. It really is an ingenious concept that not many people considered when they initially saw an older Snake; he is not the soldier he once was and this is reflected in the gameplay, but not to an annoying extent.

Someone who is just the same as always however is Otacon, a fan favorite since his debut in MGS, who returns to help Snake on his mission in the form of a miniature Metal Gear mech that he controls from a remote location. This device stays in stealth throughout the game and follows Snake without being seen, giving him backup when needed or just a bit of advice; however, you can take control of this device to scout out the terrain ahead, deactivate switches, or just have some stealth fun without endangering Snake (too much). You can easily play the game without really using the mech at all, but we all know that having extra options for added variety is what makes games great.

With that in mind, there are plenty of other abilities that are easy to pass up, such as places to hide or different weapons and tools that you can use if you so desire. Most of these gadgets and weapons come from one of three places. The first is obviously collecting them from the battlefield and your surroundings, but the second is the MGS series' hidden gem of abilities. Pull a gun to a soldier who is unaware of your presence and he will, hopefully, put his arms up in surrender, giving up some nice swag into the bargain. If he doesn't then you have plenty of options; you could choke him, throw him to the ground, slit his throat, or walk around and pad him down to search for more goodies. Other interactions exist that aren't made apparent right away, such as the ability to quickly disarm a soldier by double tapping the attack trigger when going for a chokehold. I'll leave the rest to be discovered, but rest assured there are enough ways to take out the opposition that playing the same scene more than once is a joy instead of a chore. Luckily MGS is balanced enough that the easy difficulty will be perfect for players who are unfamiliar with the series, while the harder ones will challenge the vets.

The third way to obtain your weapons is through a new character who acts as a black market arms dealer during a time when all guns are ID tagged and only work for their owners. Available from the menu and seemingly always right around the corner, this character can unlock the ID-tagged guns you collect from soldiers, and will also buy excess guns from you in exchange for credits, which can then be used on new weapons from his store, ammunition, grenades or add-ons for your existing weapons. Each gun can be equipped with a large variety of extra gadgets, such as scopes, laser-sights, stability grips and even shotgun and grenade launcher attachments. Not only can you customize Snake to match your needs but now you can basically stick with one gun throughout the entire game and build upon it to match your needs instead of constantly swapping out to a different weapon for a new situation. It's a logical step for the series and a welcome one considering that the setting makes it impossible to include many of Snake Eater's new features, such as the real-time body healing and gathering food in the wild. They will be missed, but they just don't have a place in the futuristic setting of MGS4. However, one downside of the new weapon shop is that it's quite easy to always have what you need, whereas in past games it was a bit of a challenge to conserve certain ammo or weapons for big battles. Sometimes it could be fun running out of ammo and suddenly having to use your wits to come up with a new solution.

Perhaps the only other downside of the title is the loading times. Not only does the game require installation between each Act, but it's still riddled with load times! None are too absurd, but just the idea of loading new sections in one act seems a bit much when you have a game like GTA with a huge open world that's available at all times. Perhaps there is too much going on behind the scenes that prevent seamless transitions, but regardless it does start to interrupt the flow of the gameplay in a few sections.

Outside of this minor issue, the presentation and graphics elements of MGS4 are absolutely outstanding. The backdrops for each act vary drastically and completely change the feel of the game, from the dusty, shattered cities in the Middle East to an eerie downtown city in Eastern Europe past curfew that's just seen a heavy downfall of rain, with mist rising from the sewers and police vehicles patrolling the streets. Past characters are beautifully recreated with the added power of the PS3, some of them almost feeling brand new given that they've not been seen since the PSOne days. The cut scene choreography and overall presentation is flawless, matching up to any other game and many films, while the ability to push context-sensitive buttons and see quick memories from past games is a very cool feature that helps make everything feel even more tied together. The game simply looks and runs wonderfully, constantly mesmerizing you with its locations, designs, animations and camera angles.

The sound is on par with the graphics too, with all the familiar voices of games past returning to reprise their roles (some a bit better than others). David Hayter lends his familiar, gravelly voice to Snake once again, though he at times sounds quite different due to Snake's increased age. Some sections are a lot better sounding than others, with a few questionable lines of dialogue here and there, while others are full of great emotion and intensity. With so much dialogue required for the game it's no surprise that some feel a bit flat; overall everybody does a great job with an amazing script.

Familiar sound effects, such as the "!" alert from soldiers, the sound of a tranquilizer dart or the slice of the makeshift ninja character's sharp sword, make a return to keep up the continuity of the franchise, but what absolutely blew me away was the score. The music in MGS4 is hands down the best soundtrack I've heard to a game (yes, that does include the mighty Halo, which is certainly no slouch in this regard). From booming orchestral scores during high speed chases to eerie, electronic driven industrial tracks during tense situations where something could happen at any moment, and of course the epic, booming rock tracks during boss fights, the music of MGS4 is so perfect for every situation that many cut scenes sent shivers down my spine due to the music accompanying them. The soundtrack is perfect in every way, responding to actions during gameplay and never feeling old or tired, always enhancing the moment and sending the cinematic scope of the game completely off the chart. The entire cut scene in the middle of Act 3 will surely go down as one of the best ever moments in gaming.

I very rarely call games perfect, and though Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has room for gameplay tweaks here and there, when you look at its grand scale of and all that it successfully achieves, the game is, in my humble opinion, a one of a kind masterpiece. I doubt that any game series will ever build up to such a culmination as this one has, with so much thought, effort, and passion put into it. Hideo Kojima set out to move and excite people, to truly make a work of art, and not just a fun videogame. Metal Gear Solid 4 is an accomplishment like no other, but to truly appreciate it you have to know the history and see what has led up to it. It's fantastic as a standalone game, sure, but so much will go over people's heads that it would be a damn shame to experience Metal Gear Solid in anything less than its entirety - and especially without the knowledge of the revelations from Metal Gear Solid 3. If you're a fan then you're almost certainly ready to finish the saga, and if not then you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about and would do well to start at the beginning; trust me, it'll be worth it! As for me, this is without doubt my new favorite game of all-time, and I don't expect anything to knock it from its throne for a long time to come.

Please note that Metal Gear Solid 4 also has a multiplayer online mode for up to sixteen players. Check back for an update on this in a couple of weeks' time when I've had chance to fully experience it if you want to find out just what it holds in store!

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).