Close Quarters Combat (CQC) isn’t introduced in the ‘tutorial,’ and since this revolutionised your response to neutralising alerts in MGS3, it seems odd that MGS4 doesn’t explain it properly - veterans beware, it’s now on the fire button. In fairness, the version we played, however polished and despite being playable to completion, is still being tweaked. A major reason for us being allowed to finish the game was to provide Kojima with feedback. We can’t reveal the majority of our praise, or minor quibbles, to avoid spoilers - but we did recommend the opening section be made more transparent for newcomers.
Some random observations: while the demo section’s similar, at key moments a robotic female voice chirps propaganda to the PMCs (accompanied by a nursery rhyme jingle), reinforcing the corporate nature of war. You can wake up unconscious guards by standing over them and tapping the context-sensitive ‘action’ button - far better than shaking them like in MGS2. It’s incredibly easy to trip alerts. We must’ve started 20 in the Middle East section alone, and since there are so many guards, you can’t silence alerts like an ‘Off’ switch using CQC as you could in MGS3 - offending our inner Obsessive Compulsive Twit. Sound plays a major role, with a fine line between silent tip-toeing and noisy treading - you need to be really delicate with the analog stick. Impressively, it’s much easier to sneak around in active battlefields, since the noise of war drowns out your footsteps.
More insight: the ‘Stress’ and ‘Psyche’ meters play a more important role than you’d think. In prolonged combat, or boss encounters, Snake’s Stress level rockets (like a reverse countdown, with ours often hovering around the 80% mark), increasing his resistance and aiming accuracy. The flip side is that extreme stress causes Snake’s Psyche to crash, which means his stamina heals slower. It’s really important to hoard Arsenal Compress or Recovery items (like a Ration) to restore Psyche - smoking and reading girlie mags has the same effect, but work less quickly. There’s a great in-joke where Snake’s psyche drops a quarter of a bar during cut-scenes whenever anyone mentions how old he looks, or when Sunny threatens to take his cigarettes away.
Back to the game - once you’ve met the MkII robot, you descend into the Militia base. Snake finds a Militia outfit to replace his Octo-Camo, allowing him to blend in. Be warned - we accidentally killed an ally, and spent the rest of our time fighting through the tunnels. Switching allegiance between warring factions is as simple as who you last killed. In one set-piece, fighting alongside the militia, a friendly soldier accidentally blundered into our sights - leaving you battling both sides as your allies turn against you.
Make your way through the underground base - note the wailing injured militia and the still-wobbling wing of the Raging Raven robot birds on a tabletop - and you meet up with guns dealer Drebin, who outlines the game’s Weapon upgrade/purchase system in a whopping cut-scene. Guns range from Mk22 tranquilisers, to M16s, to P90s to full-blown automatic grenade launchers - plus the usual RPGs, Javelins and C4 charges. Every weapon feels unique, and can be customised with stocks, sights and grenade launchers, creating your own personal attachments.
When Drebin’s finished, you navigate a section we won’t spoil, before bumping into Akiba - who’s enjoying a toilet visit in a barrel, as seen in the last trailer. He sprints off, and you engage in an epic street battle, engaging snipers - either head-on using cover, or by finding a sneaky alternate route - before taking on a distant enemy tank, fighting alongside the militia. Snake can use fixed mortar emplacements - a neat new addition. By this stage, you really feel you’re engaging in open warfare, reminiscent of the Sgt. Jackson desert street/tank scene from Call of Duty 4. When you destroy the tank, your militia chums celebrate in real-time, firing guns into the air and whooping “We did it!”
Snake infiltrates the Middle East Event Palace, navigating deadly laser trip wires and sleeping gas grenades, before meeting up with Meryl and the Rat Patrol team. This cutscene’s almost exactly like the trailer, with Meryl explaining how PMCs are controlled by SOP System nanomachines, allowing them to coordinate movements; while it gathers data, and regulates their body organs, fear etc. - the ‘total battlefield control’ element of the trailers. Teaser: Meryl refuses to acknowledge Colonel Campbell as her father, calling him ‘Uncle’ and revealing he’s re-married a woman of her own age. “Womanising piece of shit! Men… selfish, egotistical pigs,” she barks, eyeballing Snake. Her bitter tirade is interrupted by an attack from the FROGs, or Haven Troopers. The difference is, of course, where the trailer ended, the game lets you fight in real-time - a thrilling set-piece, and the Middle East’s defining moment.
