A Brief Foreword

I'm not the ultimate fan, and if I liked pixels awkward controls I would play the first two games. This game is a large part fan service, where MGS3 was  really just a game for anyone. If you haven't even played Snake Eater, well then at least you'll have some nice gameplay.

Seriously, I don't know if the fans are here for the story. But as far as the game part, someone has played Resident Evil 4. I'm not just showing my  ultimate RE4 fanboyism here, there are a lot of spots in this game that look a lot like that game. These are the best boss fights since RE4, and just  like RE4, the parts in between the bosses are not just more of the same  gameplay, there is always something new you're presented with. That was the  strength of RE4, and that is the strength of this game.

I love this game, maybe not the story, but the game is solid. Finally a  future game that has future toys, and stealth gameplay that will be par for the course for all games to come. And short, not so complicated levels are quickly becoming the norm in games, and this game shines in that area.

And it's not like I hate the cutscenes or the nonsense story, it's just the  two steps forward, one step back (maybe step for step). I mean, take half of the dialogue and maybe it all sounds better.

Regardless of what I or anyone else says, if you own a PS3, you also own this game... okay, you at least rent this game, period.

TheGum.

PS - "TheGum" comes from the characters in MGS3, just FYI.

PS3 Controls

	button action button action X crouch, hold to go prone, roll as you run L1 aim gun O reload L2 hold for item menu, don't tap that, you can Square change auto aim or manual aim (ha, wish someone would have told me) D-pad up and down to zoom in binos mode or in a scope Triangle context command, aim down sight of gun LS move, press hard to run, press soft to walk R1 shoot, melee if close to enemy, hold to grab enemy RS look R2 hold for weapon menu, tap to quick change Select controls (wait a second!)     Start pause menu for all you ever need

Starter Tips

1. If you want to use your guns or items, gotta set them to slots in the pause menu.
2. Staying hidden means keeping track of that camo percentage in the upper right corner of the screen. 50% is good and means most enemies can walk near you and not see you. Remember, if you want to turn your OctoCamo you need to  either press against a wall or lie down.
3. If you ever don't know what you are to do, just check your map. And if all else fails, just start moving around - maybe something will happen.
4. You should know there are items and unlockables, like tons of them, so  you need to decide before you play if you want to go for those or not. The main ones are no kills and no alerts. There are also ones for speed, no  continues, no health items, and just whatever you can think of. The game is  way easier if you leave all of this stuff for a later playthrough.
5. Don't slouch off during the cutscenes, you need to be ready for the L1 and the X presses, which pop up in the corners. During the L1 presses you can  move the camera around, and during the X presses you can press it multiple times. Feel free to press L1 during certain times for hidden presses that are usually the best ones.
6. There is always a stealth way to get through an area, even if it doesn't look like it. This game is designed to support both run and gunners, and the sneaking mission kinda players. As far as rewards, you are given more points to buy weapons for stealth, so keep that in mind.
7. You can pick up downed bodies and drop them back down to see if they drop an item.
8. You can disarm traps using the Mk II, your robot. The Mk II can even  act as a distraction by tapping on a wall, and he can even stun enemies. Just make sure to watch his battery life. 
   
   
    
9. Speaking of battery life, you can get more batteries by using the Mk II  during the mission briefings between the chapters. Just press the SELECT button to get the button icons and take the robot up the stairs for a battery, which should be there between each act. There is also a camera behind Sunny's  computer.
10. You should always have the Solid Eye on when you need to know about your surroundings, but the eye chews up battery life, especially on night vision. So aside from more batteries, you should just switch to some other item.
11. If you don't know how to use rations, just have the item in the L2 screen and press X.
12. Psyche, the little bar under your health, goes down if you crouch for too long. If it goes down too much then everything you do will suffer, so  have those compresses or regains ready.
13. There is a Threat Ring that pops up around Snake if you crouch and stay still, or if you go prone. If the ring is smooth then there are no threats  around you. If there are humps in it, the size of the hump is relative to  how much of a threat that thing is. For instance, a guy that is just patrolling is a threat, but a guy patrolling and kinda knows you're around is an even bigger threat.
14. It's in your best interest to help the rebels in the first two acts. Not only does it make full use of your combat skills, it also means you don't have to tip toe around the rebels. True, you can ignore them and sneak by all  areas, but it would sure be more difficult.
15. Use your radar to know if someone is near. Keep the solid eye on and the  radar will detect nearby enemies. Don't let the smaller blips fool you, those  are usually rats or birds.
16. You have four options for no kills: Mk2, Mosin-Nagant, V Ring rounds for shotguns, and stun grenades. If you realize that I and many other players can get through this game using only these guns (for the most part), then if you are using all the guns you should have a much easier time.
17. Look at the briefing tab in the pause menu for more useful tid bits.
18. Watch your step, and maybe stay down wind. Enemies can detect you by  scent, sight, sound, and maybe they can even taste you. The last thing you  want to do is hit a can, or hit a claymore.
19. If you are playing the no alert / no kill game, then you need to save  often. The game saves at the start of each area, so keep that in mind,  especially early on when the areas are quite large. If you get caught or kill someone, gotta reload that save. You also need to save in many files. Consider saving at each act point, at least after each briefing.

Walkthrough

Just a side note about the opening menu with Snake in the cemetery. You can wait a while and something does happen, or rather, something doesn't happen. Just FYI.

*NOTE: During the brief time you have control, feel free to edit the options in the pause menu, mainly turning on the subtitles.*

Well, the game starts soon after the many strange company lead-in movies and the long opening intro scene. Once you have control, briefly press pause to see where you need to go. Then just go left to crawl under the truck for another  part of the intro scene. Then just walk up the road for more scene. Nope, you don't get the pleasure of cutscening your way through these guys. Just relax  and run up the road, through the guys and into the doorway on the right. Go up, jump through the window, then go out into the street, and swing around to  the left to hit the next scene. Be ready for two L1 presses during the next, long scene.

After the save, be ready for some X presses if you feel like it, a few sets of them (you can press X quite a number of times when you see the icon).

Back to the Articles.

Page Listing 1 : A Brief Foreword 2 : Act 1: Liquid Sun 3 : Act 1: Red Zone 4 : Act 1: Safe House 5 : Act 1: Advent Palace 6 : Act 2: Solid Sun 7 : Act 2: Confinement Facility 8 : Act 3: Third Sun 9 : Act 4: Twin Suns 10 : Act 4: Nuclear Warhead Storage Bldg 1F 11 : Act 5: Old Sun 12 : Act 5: Old Sun (part 2) 13 : Epilogue: Naked Sin 14 : Other Stuff

Act 1: Liquid Sun