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Hello my name is Ballto, and first of all I would like to thank you for taking the time to look at my first impression view of MGS4.

After about 4 hours of casual game play, playing Kojima Productions latest masterpiece “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, my feeling is that there is just something missing from the game. Don’t get me wrong, the little bit of it that I’ve played of it is amazing, absolutely amazing. But what I question is, “Is this really Metal Gear?” I’ve played various other sneaking type games (aside from obviously the metal gear games) and in my opinion, this game just doesn’t have that sort of metal gear feel to it when it comes to the games mechanics. The storyline is very Metal Gear, the weapons are very Metal Gear, and the characters, plot development, and situations are very Metal Gear. But I feel that there is just something missing, or an element they put in that takes away from it.

I think that the first thing that sort of pulls me out of the Metal Gear feel of the game is the fact that you can now “buy” weapons. While this isn’t as lame as “You pick up cash and trade it for guns” I think that being able to just simply buy the weapon you need for the time takes away from one element that held the metal gear feel from the start, that of course being the “procure weapons on Site” feel of being stealthy.

Another feature that pulls away from the Metal Gear feel is the iPod use in the game as well as the Mk II mini robot. For everyone who doesn’t already know, for the last week (before game launch) there was a lot of controversy over the fact that in the game, snake now uses an iPod to help “soothe” him in the game. The biggest problem with this is that people were saying that Kojima had “sold out” and all that crap that people say. And while I could care less about who sells out for what, I think the game (with the entire sell out crap aside) would have had a better feel to it if there was no iPod. Boasting that you would be able to upload your own music to the iPod to listen to while playing your game. And while I can’t find any way to do this yet, I’m sure it’s possible. Just the thought of sneaking around behind the enemy while listening to “It’s raining men” or some equally silly song, ruins it for me. One prime example of this, is that right from the start of the game, you can equip the iPod and listen to a podcast about these guys who talk about the release of MGS4. And while I didn’t listen to the entire podcast, they basically spend the first 10 minutes saying “hey! This is going to be on the MGS4 game when it comes out, and people fiddle around with the iPod and find our sexy voices”. So needless to say that didn’t help either.

The other thing that takes away from it is the Mk II robot, which looks like a mini Metal Gear Rex on wheels. It serves a lot of the games features in the game (simply saying that you do it through the Mk II) but when you use it in the game, you run around with it like a RC car. Granted its fun to do (since you can even use it to do things like take out guards with a shocking stun prod), but it’s another thing that pulls away from the Metal Gear experience.

With alittle more time I will write a full length for this game, which will exclude the content seen above.

"I remember the night of my 21st birthday... that was the first time that I died."

This opening line in 2K's new first firstperson shooting game "The Darkness" helps to sink the player into the mood for the game they are about to enjoy, that's right, enjoy!

Based on the comics published by Top Cow, we now have a game to the comic book series "The Darkness". If you have heard about this game before, it's pretty much what you have expected it to be from either seeing trailers, commercials, or anything of the sort. A new "Gritty" first person shooting game, that will help feed the dark side inside all of us.

Playing the hero in a game is getting the point now a days where it's almost dull. And while you do play a "hero" in a sense in the Darkness, he's the kind of hero that most people love to play, the Chaotic-Neutral kind. Doing all the bad things for the right reason, not only adds a realistic touch to games, but it also makes for some very enjoyable gameplay.

In the Darkness, you take on the role of Jackie Estacado, orphan child, turned Mafia Enforcer thanks to his dear old uncle Paulie, but this is only the beginning for Jackie, as on the evening of his 21st birthday, his life is taken over, by an entity known only as "the Darkness". Unfortunately that is all that I can tell you about the game without revealing the storyline so now I'm going to have to jump to the gameplay.

There are lots of differant reasons why I enjoyed playing this game. A dark sadistic touch, the fast-paced gameplay, the attention to detail, the realism added to it. But right now I will start off by mentioning the word Style. Unique in it's own sense, The Darkness is still at it's core a first person shooting game, which is something that we have all seen. Though partly thanks to the power of the next generation console, they were able to open some doors that couldn't be opened in the past. Visually the game of course looks amazing. What I loved personaly about this, was how everything looked so real, yet still held a droplet of the illusion that yes this is still a game. The bright lights, the highly detailed faces, and even seen in the movement of people. Help to remind me that this game was at one point still a comic book, but does it in a subtle way so that it's not overpowered by the other visual effects that you will see and notice.

The talk of "style" can mean alot of differant things to people now a days, to me, what it means is the ability to stand out, and while the pure gameplay is nothing new, it's everything else in this game that makes it stand out. it's fast=paced, but still leaves you enough time to sit back and enjoy the havoc that you have created. Everything that you do seems to hold it's own style of doing it, that is of course ranging from your variety of choices when it comes to taking out the people who stand in front of you, all the way to the up close and very personal executions that you can perform.

I know that in a game where you play a character who controls the darkness it's self, it's hard to think that I would comment on something like realism in a game, but you can see it as clear as night (not day as I will comment on soon enough) when you play it that special attention was given to this in the game. The first and most obvious showing of this will be the use of two single handed weapons in the game, this being the pistols, and the Sub-machine guns. While this is something that is pretty much a standard now a days, they do something interesting with it, where the fact that one gun is in your left and one gun is in your right, actually matters. This is shown most clearly with each weapon having it's own set of ammo, but with being able to shoot one gun or the other, depending on which trigger button you press. Now I know that alot of people are still saying that's not so new, however what does add to this is the fact that left gun aims alittle more to the left, and the right gun aims alittle to the right. Now what visually adds to the style of this, is that while normaly the crosshair (just a red dot in this game) usualy has both the left and right one in the center over each other. If that particular arm is obstructed, be it by a wall, a barrel or anything. Then the crosshair for that hand moves out of the center and as close as it can. This is shown to you visually by the arm moving out of the neutral central position and moved to something to accommodate this, like holding the gun sideways or other things like that. The game is all about style.

Now that i'm done my rant about style and all the little details that make the game great, I'm gonna jump to the actual gameplay! I know i've been avoiding it and babbling on and I'm sorry for that but now we get to the important part!

The core gameplay for the Darkness is nothing out of the ordinary, and for the most part it's your basic FPS (first Person Shooting) game. Alot of time will be spend ramboing yourself through levels, and enjoying your slaughter-fest like it was a painting that you just made. But there are things in the gameplay that are very interesting. The Darkness and your Darkness powers are one of them. Aside from your normal shooting Jackie is granted early on in the game the power of The Darkness, which will mean different things as you advance in the game. Your first power granted is being able to summon your "Maw Tentacles". Your Maw tentacles are the snake looking things that you have seen in the games previews. These alone (without using their inate ability) do serve a few purposes. First off, you will not be able to use any of your darkness powers unless they are summoned. Second, the markings on the tentacles show how much "darkness" you have left to use for your powers. Third, you will not be able to absorb darkness unless they are released. And fourth they need to be out in-order to devour Hearts (that's right devour your dead foes heart). These creatures really do have a life of their own, as they are able to be seen on the screen as you play the game and have them summoned. This is seen just by their natural sway around jackies body, their facial reactions, and all the Morbidly humors things that they will do. Without going into a deep (and long!) explanation on all of your powers, that is the basics of it.

One other comment on your basic gameplay that I must make is the fact that the game is based around your character "working from the shadows". This is because using all of your darkness powers will absorb darkness, and your darkness powers will actualy be drained if you stand in the light. Whether it's the light from the street lamps, or just plain sunlight, you will want to avoid it if you want to get anywhere in the game. So with that thought in mind you will be spending alot of time just shooting lights so that you can press forward with no concerns about your darkness powers. And you get to see your lovely little pets do a very cool looking draining effect when you stand in the shadows.

Summary

The game is pretty good, and great for visual effects, and even includes an online multiplayer mode for you to toy around with after your done the main game. Unfortunitly I havn't got a chance yet to try the online mode, so I can't say much about it (if someone does get a chance to play it, please send me a PM to tell me what it's like). The story line is cool, and pressed forward usualy durring the loading time! (best idea ever) And is done by showing Jackie in a monolog talking about the current event, and the best part is that he does this durring the loading times. Over-all, I would say that it's a good rent, and if you enjoy the online mode it would be a decent buy. I myself only rented it and will be taking it back when i'm finished this review. But all in all, it's a fun game to play, and give syou a good reason to check out the comics. ^_~

The Numbers

Gameplay:3.5/5
- Nothing new, but done with alot of style.
Graphics: 4/5
- Great Lighting, lots of constantly changing visuals to look at, Next-gen quality graphics
Sound:3/5
-The music is decent, Sound effects are above average

Playtime: 5-15 hours Casual gameplay
-This of course depends on how many of the 100 unlockables you want to find
Rent it or Buy it: Rent it
-If you want to just play it it's a good rent, if you want to mater it, it's a good buy
Learning Curve: 10-30 minutes
-If you play alot of FPS the only learning curve there is islearning how to use the darkness.