Countdown to June 12th!

Why?

It's the worldwide release date of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots of course! I am feverish with anticipation.

Hideo Kojima's latest spy stomp sees a prematurely aged Solid Snake wetworksing his way through international conflict hot-spots on the trail of his dark-half half-twin Liquid Ocelot. Half Twin you reel? Recap! Well, Liquid Snake (Solid's true twin) managed to survive his own death (remarkable!), in the form of an arm transplant onto wily subordinate Revolver Ocelot. Liquid is able to steal think-reigns from his body donor on whim - typically when his brother's interfering with their plans. Complicated? That ain't the half of it: Both Snakes are clones of a legendary pirate eyed contra named Big Boss, who you got to play as in part3, who twice created first-world threatening military baronys in third-world countries - a plot taken up by the Liquid son. Throw in a surrogate son for our hero (Raiden, who's now more machine than man), an unkillable Vampire renegade, a parade of (literal and lateral) ex's, walking tank-bots, and a cabal of shapeless memetic computer godhead mega antagonists you've got a brief sketch of MGS4's plot outline. Phew!

MGS4 is extra super special exciting for offering the opportunity to finally play with the Solid Snake doll again, a toy out of circulation for the previous two games. What's more, in a Dark Knight Returns style twist, Snake's old and maudlin. Hooray! Solid Snake's on a one-way disaster mission to wipe out every trace of his worldbreaker genes. It doesn't get any better than this!

I cannot wait for this game. It is the single reason I have invested in a PS3. Blu-ray movies are a welcome bonus, but it was all for this. I love this series. It's Fleming James Bond break and entering combined with the sneak stalk of The Terminator's future sequences. Solid Snake is the ultimate soldier-golem figure in gaming. Part Action Man / G.I Joe 12 inch doll, with a hint of First Blood's soulful but damaged John Rambo, capped with a techno clone birth and Freudian identity headaches. He's the plucky underdog. His abilities never upgrade, he never stat boosts in ethereal ascension bombing. He's just a stocky military mullet-man out battling overwhelming odds.

Anyway, here are a couple of my dream scenarios for Metal Gear Solid 4:

1. Nightmares. After Naked Snake / Big Boss' capture and (extreme) torture in Metal Gear Solid 3, our anti-hero ends up in a holding cell. Exhausted, his radio-ops team suggest a nap. Making a save here functions as rest. Loading up this particular save lets you play Naked Snake's nightmare aside mini-game: Guy Savage. Directed by Shuyo Murata (a writer on the Zone of Enders series), Snake's Nightmare is a kind of quick, diverting slashy parody of occult action fighters. You play as a Castlevania trench-coat distortion of Snake battling against zombified US Cops in a slum burrough. It's utterly mindless and quite exceptionally violent. Slash about enough and you do a power up ascend, and you're able to rend zombies apart with with ease. An exceptionally daffy anti-authoirity death-stamp dream yarner - utterly at odds with all of Metal Gear's various forms and mechanics.

Mini-diversions are always welcome, as are playable extensions of a characters harassed psychological state. If not full-blown nightmares, then something fun and Easter Eggy (but tough), spinning out from the announced Psych and Stress meters would be dreadfully welcome.

2. Mass Production Madness. The undoubted highlight of the End of Evangelion instead-of conclusion feature is the prolonged assault of the mass production Evas - monstrous, pale, snake-like, and manned by imitation pilots; they're a battering, homogeneous threat. The Metal Gear series has long dabbled in clone chaos, the central thesis is Solid Snake's hard-won humanity in the face of his artificial / horrific lineage. Whilst his brothers have flirted with their father's dream of an all-powerful military state, and been sunk in the process, Solid Snake has steered clear; even taking a counter position.

Solid Snake has marked himself as superior by abandoning his legacy. Lets make this action packed game-text by having him fight with a new brand of mass production Big Boss clones. Maybe even fight the hatchlings en masse. A crucial point of Liquid's agenda in the original Metal Gear Solid was getting his hands on the body of Big Boss to essentially push this point - he was to to indulge in radical gene therapy on his comrade army and produce a legion of father-bots to be at his disposal. Lets hope he succeeds this time! Snake literally facing down that aspect of his nature through prolonged gruelling physical combat would be a fucken tonic. Failing that, I'm all for hatching the old man himself, maybe with the Snatcher augments he got for canon diverging NES series spin-off: Snake's Revenge.

3. Ape Suicide! The complete lack of fun to be derived from PlayStation 3's me-too! SIXAXIS motion control is total. The only in-game application of his pad waving hell-corner I've had any time for is Resistance's 'Shake the pad!' response to being set of fire. It puts your character out you see. Plausibly interactive, slightly fun, and takes a scent of skill to easily overcome. What I propose for MGS4 is none of these though, it's pure text. A brief detour: MGS3 created a greater sense of empathy between user and inscrutable psycho-in-progress Naked Snake by forcing you to deal with his injuries in the pre-tech fashion of the 1960s. Naked Snake would pop up on a sub menu, flagging and panting if injured, awaiting medical assistance. No cure all salves for Mr Naked. You had to remove bullets, add anti-sceptic lotions, stitch gashes, dress wounds. On higher difficulties you did not want fights. You wanted to follow the series' notional mandate of sneaking around. It was less hassle. Your dwindling medical supplies wouldn't have to be dipped into. Moreover, you would feel for Naked Snake. Beneath the action man bluster was a ludicrously fragile man in need of constant upkeep. Ignore hurt for too long and it'd start to impact on Snake's performance. Shaky aiming and vomiting being some of the highlights.

My concept seeks to combine these two disparate elements - cackhanded shake pads and mundane empathy unity. A recurring image / motif in the first few batches of MGS4 trailers was Snake's suicidal tendencies - jamming a colt alike pistol into his mouth before a fade to black gunshot rings out. If Snake really is on the path to self takedown (and lets face it, who else is capable), I'd like to see an end screen figure presentation - Snake slumped and beaten, with his gun arm at his side. Pistol-arm movements would be mapped to the SIXAXIS in relation to your body - games end that'll likely be on your lap or just to your side.

Let the image sink in.

He's just sitting there starring right back at you. Mission's finished, but still you find yourself here.

A few beats of total silence.

Suddenly you're instructed to take Snake's life. He's finished. He just wants to die.

Pick the pad up, put it to your own head, movements mirrored by Snake, and pull one of the shoulder triggers.

Do it!

Blow your own brains out. Lift up the pad, jam it next to your temple and end the series.

What a finish!