Metal Gear Solid 4

Few series are as primed for a primer as Metal Gear. Since its beginning two decades ago, Hideo Kojima's creations have taken more surprising twists and turns than a snake in a spin cycle. On top of that, the last game in the series to hit store shelves, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, was a prequel; it's been seven years since a Metal Gear Solid game actually dealt with Solid Snake's timeline!

Of course, Franchise Player is here to help you slip seamlessly into Snake's skin with a brief rundown of the story, character dossiers, and a glossary of terms. Also, be sure to check out the video for a brief review of the series' central themes; though faces, names, and even decades have changed from one game to the next, these have always remained the same.

X-ray specs reveal bony facts, and that is precisely what this solid eye of a feature intends to do for you. But is this the work of a trustworthy and socially awkward gaming journalist or the diabolical machination of an AI construct intended to bend your memories to its wicked will? Only one thing is certain: It is full of codes. But are they the truth or lies in disguise?

The Story

The story of Metal Gear is extremely simple. OK, that is definitely a lie. But for the sake of sparing you several thousand words (that you'd be better off playing through anyway), it will be put as simply as possible. The overarching conflict in the Metal Gear Solid games is between a man named Snake and a war machine known as Metal Gear. Now, you might argue that the conflict is really between Snake and the villains who seek to use the walking tanks for world domination. But one could counter that the destructive spirit inspiring all of these evil-doers is the omnipotent, missile-launching Metal Gear. It drives them as much as they drive it.

And what drives Snake? Loyalty? Love? Duty? Or is he just following orders? Rather than psychoanalyze him too much (although we see that he likes Castlevania!), let's briefly go over the story so far. The Metal Gear timeline actually begins in Metal Gear Solid 3, where Naked Snake is trying to save the world from his former mentor, The Boss, and a sociopath named Volgin. Naked Snake succeeds only to discover that The Boss wasn't bad after all -- she was ordered to die a traitor. Even though Naked Snake earns the title of Big Boss for his heroics, it seems clear that the death of The Boss has broken his heart. Between this and the original Metal Gear, two things happen: Big Boss decides following orders isn't all it's cracked up to be, and three children are cloned from his genes. One of those becomes Solid Snake.

This brings us to the first Metal Gear, which came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. Solid Snake is working for Big Boss as an agent of an organization known as FOXHOUND. Big Boss orders Snake to destroy a Metal Gear (big scary walking tank) and rescue another agent named Grey Fox. Things go well, until it turns out that the Big Boss is actually the bad guy in control of Metal Gear. He only put Solid on the case because he thought his lack of experience would blow the mission. Instead, Solid blows up the Metal Gear. In Metal Gear 2, Big Boss returns with Grey Fox at his side, but Solid Snake defeats them both and stops Metal Gear yet again. Metal Gear Solid takes place after these events, when another one of Big Boss's cloned kids, Liquid Snake, reforms FOXHOUND and takes over a nuclear facility on Shadow Moses Island. Snake shows up, finds out he has a bad virus, fights a ninja, blows up Metal Gear, punches out Liquid, and rescues a girl soldier named Meryl.

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a previously unheard of agent named Raiden attempts to rescue the president of the United States from a group known as The Sons of Liberty. Things get hairy, though, when it turns out that the President is also a clone of The Big Boss. His name is Solidus, and he has rocket shooting tentacles and a sword. Solidus reveals to Raiden that he is the leader of the Sons of Liberty and that the world is actually controlled by illuminati known as the Patriots. Also, he's Raiden's father. Kind of. Meanwhile, Liquid Snake's severed right arm somehow manages to take over the entire body of a gunslinger named Revolver Ocelot, which he uses to carjack a Metal Gear prototype and escape.

And now, in Metal Gear Solid 4, you reassume the role of Solid Snake as he attempts to prevent Liquid Ocelot from taking over the world with a huge mercenary army. Unfortunately, you're dying from early onset old age, and you're full of nano machines that probably aren't under your control.

Battlefield: Bad Company Hands On

Though the Battlefield series has always been known as one of the leaders of multiplayer military warfare, the newest console edition, Battlefield: Bad Company, comes packed with a complete single-player campaign as well. As the name suggests, you are part of a company, Company B, and it's your job to quell the seemingly never-ending stampede of evil enemy soldiers. After playing through the first five levels of the campaign, we come bearing impressions on the transition to single-player combat.

The most noteworthy element in Bad Company's campaign is the sheer destructive ability your weapons carry. Ancient deciduous forests come crashing down with the blast of machine-gun fire, changing the face of battlefields midbattle. The ever-changing aspect of battle adds a level of chaos to the proceedings, and because you can't interact with trees once they've been uprooted, hiding from enemies becomes a quest to find more-permanent cover rather than a tactic of simply hunkering down and waiting out the storm.

The walls come crumbling down.

The destructive element comes into play away from forests, too. You can also level buildings, though they require a slightly more powerful weapon--grenades--which you can throw against walls and through windows to expose cowering soldiers. Unfortunately, the buildings combust in a predetermined way; we encountered one instance where a gas tank positioned in a corner tore down one wall when ignited, but left another standing strong. Still, even though we couldn't bring buildings all the way down, we could reduce them to little more than freestanding staircases and untrustworthy floors.

Aside from the standard array of military weapons, we were given a few tools that made wanton destruction the most logical strategy for disposing of enemy forces. There are C4 explosives, which can be used not only to destroy objectives (such as a missile launcher), but to destroy enemy tanks and annoyingly placed buildings as well. But even more enjoyable than C4 is the mortar strike. Though our commanding officer told us to use this extremely powerful device to dispose of tanks and other enemy vehicles that are difficult to destroy with normal weapons, we found it more fun to use against ground troops and any object we felt should be razed. Instead of being given a finite number of uses like with the C4 bombs, we only had to wait for the time bar to refill before we could unleash another attack from above. It may be unsporting, but it's so satisfying to blow up one stranded soldier with a weapon designed to decimate a bridge.

The oddest quirk in the campaign is how healing is handled. Unlike many other shooters out there, Bad Company doesn't allow your character to automatically regenerate health. But it does have another method that, when used properly, made us virtually invincible: We could jab a long needle into our character's chest whenever he neared death. There is no limit to how often you can use this important device, save for a brief timer between uses. Like the air strike controller, a time bar refilled whenever we healed ourselves. Bolstered by our speedy recovery, we found ourselves running into battle with our gun put away and the needle out, absorbing bullets the whole time, then thrusting the needle into our chest and finally knifing enemies when we reached them. Combined with the unrelenting destruction, it made for a fast-paced, action-oriented spin on a military shooter.

Anyone expecting a multiplayer-heavy game with a shallow single-player campaign tossed in will be pleasantly surprised by Bad Company. There is real depth here, and with the camaraderie of your fellow soldiers pushing the story, it makes for a riveting journey through a desolate world. With a sprawling combat zone in which you can choose your own path to destroy enemies and well-designed sound that brings the horrors of war right into your living room, Bad Company is something those hungry for military action should keep their eyes on.

FlatOut Ultimate Carnage Q&A

FlatOut is not your ordinary racing game. A blend of demolition derbies, violent race circuits, and insane human stunts--flinging the driver several hundred yards through burning rings of fire, for one--FlatOut Ultimate Carnage turned some heads when it was released last year on the Xbox 360. And now Bugbear's flagship driving game is coming to the PC. We sat down with P.J. Snavely, director of product management for publisher Empire Interactive, to get the lowdown on what PC gamers can expect when FlatOut hits later this year. Here's what he had to say.

FlatOut finally makes its way to PC. Prediction? Pain.

GameSpot: The FlatOut franchise is renowned for insane stunts, demolition derbies, and good old-fashioned combat racing. What was your goal in bringing Ultimate Carnage to the PC?

P.J. Snavely: Our goal was to provide the perfect mix of racing and destruction, then package it all together in a beautiful product. The game really does look great, and I don't think any other game out there provides the combination of great racing and sheer mayhem that Ultimate Carnage brings to the table.

GS: For anyone who's hasn't played FlatOut, break down the Race modes, Stunt modes, and Carnage modes.

PS: The Race modes are highlighted in the championship career section of the game. There are three different levels of racing to play through, each with a progressively tougher class of car. Players will compete in series of races to earn extra credits for expanding and upgrading their stable of vehicles. Finishing third or better in the cups is required to advance, but along the way, the user can compete in voluntary destruction derbies or time trials to help earn a little extra cash.

Carnage modes are a great mix of destruction and speed. It is a mix of four nontraditional types of racing events--carnage races, deathmatch derbies, stunts, and beat-the-bomb races. In carnage races, for example, your goal isn't necessarily to finish the race first--you'll collect points by crashing into other cars and destroying the landscape. You'll also gain more time if you can navigate the sections fast enough. Position isn't irrelevant, either--you'll gain point multipliers based on your standing in the current race.

Stunt modes are finally on a stage all to themselves in Ultimate Carnage. There are 12 great stunts to try in Carnage mode, and each one has a different score to try and obtain for medals. Using the ragdoll system, you'll launch your driver in fun events like basketball, baseball, curling, and a bunch of others.

GS: We've seen a lot of fun community and customization options in driving games recently, from custom paint jobs in NASCAR and Forza 2 to video sharing in Burnout. With such insane stunts, FlatOut seems perfect for at least some form of content sharing. Anything in the works?

PS: I definitely believe in the power of user-created content, and I totally agree that FlatOut definitely provides a great platform from which to work. I'm hoping that we can add something meaningful to the series along those lines.

GS: We've had our fair share of ridiculous stunts in FlatOut, a franchise that takes ragdoll physics to glorious new heights. What's the craziest stunt you've ever seen?

PS: I had a particularly nasty one happen earlier today on one of the midlevel Race Class tracks. The track is a figure-eight shape, so if you ever played with Hot Wheels and a Criss-Cross-Crash track as a kid, you know the anarchy that can happen there. I'd gotten behind a car and nudged him off a ramp while we were going over it, only to have a car jumping toward us on the way back. Needless to say, it was an airborne three-way collision that sent a of couple drivers flying through the air.

GS: Ultimate Carnage was really an Xbox 360 overhaul of FlatOut 2, released in 2006 on the Xbox and PlayStation 2. Is this PC game simply a port of a 360 game that was, in itself, a really good port?

PS: It is definitely more than that--this version has received a lot of love on the graphical side, so the game looks and runs better than ever.

GS: The 360 version of FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage was released way back in October 2007. So why now and why on the PC?

PS: Is there a better time to not spend money on gas than right now? Seriously, though, we wanted to make sure we could deliver the same great experience on the PC that users were getting on the Xbox 360, and I think we've definitely accomplished that.

GS: So what's new? We love flinging our driver through a windshield and into giant basketball hoops. Any new crazy games or features exclusive to the PC version?

PS: Sorry, there's nothing exclusive to the PC version--the stunts are too much fun to not have available to everybody.

GS: PC gamers love their flight sticks and force feedback wheels. What peripherals will Ultimate Carnage support? USB fire extinguisher?

PS: If only they had those! You're more likely to want a USB seat belt here. Ultimate Carnage is compatible with most force feedback wheels.

GS: What's next for the FlatOut franchise? Any plans for a full-fledged FlatOut 3 sequel?

PS: The franchise is one of the top racing series available, so I'd have to say that a sequel is definitely something we're considering.

GS: FlatOut received some unfair comparisons early on as many critics were quick to label it a Burnout clone. What do you think separates FlatOut from other racers out there?

PS: It has to be the quality of both sides of the game. You can't have a destruction racing game without having solid representations of both sides of that term. FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage does both aspects really well--the destruction is a ton of fun and the racing gives you that high-quality real driving feel.

You'll jump through hoops to play FlatOut.

GS: Finally, what do you want PC gamers who haven't played FlatOut to know about Ultimate Carnage on the PC?

PS: To those gamers, I would say this: You haven't really had fun with a racing game until you've crashed a car hard enough to throw the driver through football goalposts from 60 yards away.

Thanks for the time.

Death Jr.: Root of Evil

Death Jr. has always been just shy of reaching his potential. As one of the first games to debut for the PSP system, Death Jr.'s endearing character design and art style looked promising. Unfortunately, frustrating controls and a pesky camera system made the pint-sized son of the Grim Reaper fall short of expectations. The game's sequel improved on some of its predecessor's shortcomings by offering better camera control and weapon combat. Death Jr.: Root of Evil for the Wii is a port of the PSP sequel, and it, too, improves the formula. The new game suffers from a few poor design choices but it's still an able, entertaining platformer.

DJ escapes murderous bears on a rampage in the scenic toy cemetery.

The game opens as Death Jr. and his ragtag bunch of classmates are hunting for cocoons in the forest. In their search for a biology project, they inadvertently unleash Furi, a maniacal villain who bears a striking resemblance to the Hulk. While Furi escapes and goes after DJ's dad, DJ and his gal pal, Pandora, set off to correct their mistake. It's an amusing premise that makes for some funny moments, but the storyline is rarely in focus. Expository cutscenes are few and far between, and most of the underdeveloped plot is revealed through in-game conversations with friends. DJ and his pals have a great sense of humor, and their observations of the world around them are always amusing, but great characters like Stigmartha (a girl who bleeds from her hands when she gets nervous) and Dead Guppy are underused.

Although you'll have a scythe or whip for melee combat, ranged attacks are available through the array of firearms at your disposal. DJ's creative weaponry showcases the game's twisted humor. Whether it's a flaming-toilet-paper launcher or a hamster with C4 strapped to its back, the selection is sure to give you a chuckle. Hidden throughout each of the 19 levels are spare parts that you can use to upgrade weapons, as well as orbs to collect and trade in for new melee attacks. The game sticks fairly close to the traditional action platforming conventions, so there's plenty of swinging from ropes, clearing rooms of enemies to unlock doors, and collecting various doodads. Though not particularly inventive, Root of Evil's time-tested formula is still fun.

You can play as either Death Jr. or Pandora, whose move sets are almost identical. Cooperative play is also available through a split-screen mode, but you'll need a separate save file to play with a buddy. The multiplayer mode is really no different than playing by yourself because the story and gameplay are identical. The only advantage of playing with a friend is having an ally to help mow down the hordes of enemies that the game throws at you.

The PSP version of Root of Evil was plagued with poor controls and a terrible camera system that resulted in far too many cheap deaths from offscreen attacks or misjudged leaps. On the Wii, the control scheme has been significantly improved by implementing subtle yet effective motion sensitivity. Flicking the Wii Remote adds some occasional (and much-needed) variety to the melee combat, but the real value of motion control is in ranged attacks. Holding the Z trigger engages sidestep mode, in which aiming and camera control are relegated to the movement of the Wii Remote. The screen automatically scrolls depending on where you aim, and you're still free to move your character with the analog stick to avoid being attacked. Outside of sidestep mode, the camera can be centered using the C button or rotated with the plus and minus buttons. Although you'll still fall victim to the occasional offscreen enemy fire, frustration is much more limited.

Pandora's moves are almost identical to DJ's.

Style has always been a selling point for the series. Environments are filled with personality, and enemy designs are varied and imaginative. Whether you're tackling homicidal teddy bears in the cemetery for dead toys or doing battle with Louie the Llama in his World of Waffles amusement park, the bright colors and unique style help to set a playful tone. Unfortunately, graphics that were a technical marvel on the PSP two years ago are not nearly as impressive on the Wii. Jagged edges and occasional screen tearing mar an otherwise pleasant presentation. The soundtrack is an appropriate blend of spooky and whimsical tunes, and the voice acting is on par with most cartoons. The sound effects are generally appropriate and not intrusive, but weapon fire and annoying grunts from DJ or Pandora sometimes drown out the music.

Despite some remaining issues, such as cheap deaths and unrelenting swarms of enemies that spawn out of nowhere, Backbone has significantly improved upon the PSP version of Root of Evil. The Wii game is a competent platformer that won't blow you away with innovative mechanics, but it's still entertaining while it lasts. Fans of traditional platforming and unique art styles would do well to give the game a try. Death Jr. has yet to fully realize his potential, but he's finally on the right track in Root of Evil.

By Brian Fishman, GameSpot

Posted Jun 13, 2008 5:57 pm PT