GOONL!NE

5:00am (6:00am CET) – Well Good Morning folks. Today, we’re gonna enter a new dawn this morning but as we welcome one, we say goodbye to another. Yes, while the PlayStation 3 could see its sales go up as of this morning, we will be bidding farewell to one of gaming’s greatest legends, Solid Snake in this, Hideo Kojima’s swansong (in the series) that is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

While the game aint due to go on sale for another 4 hours yet here in the UK, people have been getting their copies as recently as yesterday and infact, street dates were indeed broken last week when people got the game earlier then today’s date of June 12th. Still, for most of us who waited, the wait is infact, nearly over.

5:04am – The game has gone sell in Japan about ooh 10 hours ago roughly I think if I can get the time difference right but within the next hour on the East Coast of America, the game will go on sell.

5:10am – Okay so let me tell you why I am doing this. It was only 7 years ago that I got into the series via Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. After trading it twice (Once because AI Colonel scared me to a certain extent with his glitching face…you’ll know what I mean if you played it and the 2nd time being when I had to trade it for credit for my PS3. Got it again just last summer so I’m on my 3rd copy) and since then, it has grown into my favourite games series with all 3 of them in my top 10 games ever with MGS1 at No. 5, MGS2 at 7 and MGS3 at 2.

So where will MGS4 rank in it? Time will tell but as to why I’m here, its not the Metal Gear fanboyism that got me here, its an idea I got. Why not…liveblog everything possible in MGS4 as such, a liveblog review (Something similar to Play magazine’s review of Grand Theft Auto IV)

5:36am – Okay, so incase you havent been seen the reviews for the past week (I actually was doing that, I was getting ready for Radiohead) or in the past few weeks for that matter, you’ll see that the game has been getting no less then 9.5 in their reviews with exceptions made by Eurogame and Edge.

I’d like to point out that the guy who reviewed the game for Eurogamer is, I think, a MMO person and is not a big action expert…and please do beat in the mind this is the same person who reviewed Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 last September and gave it 10/10 so is Eurogamer going on the Microsoft gravy train? Phft, who knows. But anyways, there aint gonna be no biasism in our review of the game.

The score you’ll see here is the score honestly been given by me when MGS4 and, as well, Metal Gear Online are done reviewed but hence why this is a liveblog review but also to let you know of what has been going on throughout the day in Metal Gear land.

Anyways, if you want them review’s, here are the major ones.

“Guns of the Patriots is almost intimidating in the consistent quality of its ideas, invention, and execution…Even by the series’ stratospheric standards, MGS4 is a remarkable high point.” – OPM UK, 10/10

“The Playstation 3 finally gets its “savior”, Kojima gets his masterpiece, and gamers get one of the best games of all time.” – Gamepro – 5/5

“If you’ve ever loved any one of the Metal Gear games, or any moments from the series, there will come a moment when MGS 4 will send your spirits soaring. If you’ve loved them all, well then there’ll be many, many more. It’s a masterpiece.” – IGN UK, 9.9/10

“Despite its flaws it’s a largely successful of marriage and plot and play, a towering achievement and one of the finest action games ever made. – GamesMaster Magazine – 97%”

“MGS4 is a masterpiece, arguably the best in the series and – though many will fiercely disagree – ever so slightly disappointing.” – PSM3, 95%

“But where MGS4 really succeeds is in delivering an experience unlikely to ever be surpassed by Kojima ever again, providing fans everything they want to see, twists you won’t expect and more raw, lavish creativity than the video gaming medium probably deserves.” – IGN Aus, 9.5/10

“Guns of the Patriots is a frustrating, fractured game that turns Metal Gear Solid’s world upside down several times over, but never changes it. ” – Eurogamer, 8/1 [Please, take this review and consider it void, I only linked it out of sentiment]

“MGS4 is not the game it could have been; nor is it the game it would have been had the series grown with the benefit of hindsight; nor is it the game it should have been if you believed that early trailer. But it is faithful to its fans, its premise and its heart, delivering an experience that is, in so many ways, without equal.” – EDGE, 8/10

5:45am – And while all those reviews are all well and good, there has been some a row erupting for some time for the past week and its this big massive NDA Konami had put into place for the game for anybody who wished to review the game early such as the above. However, such sites as 1UP, GameTrailers, Gamespot and IGN USA as well as EGM have refused to give a review until the NDA expires (Which it does in the next 15 minutes on the East Coast) because of these big demands Kojima and Konami asked for such as Story stuff and a few others as of to which we dont know about which is fair enough but also the compolsory install and how long it takes.

And while we do know about the install, the list of demands on the NDA is somewhat called ridiculous. Adam Sessler of G4 voiced his opinion on it last week in weekly video collum for G4tv.com and X-Play (God bless Adam Sessler, you gotta love him) and in my opnion, spoke the truth load and clear so much that Ryan Payton Assistant Producer for MGS4 (And host of The KP Report) responded to it.

I cant find his exact comments but if I can find it, I will post them as such.

6:02am (00:02am US East Coast Time) – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has now officially gone on sale on the US East Coast. It also means the NDA of the game has expired and now IGN, GT:TV, Gamespot and 1up can publish their reviews. We will post them when they appear but do be warned, as the NDA is now history, there could very well be major spoilers in at least one of the reviews.

6:07am – Okay, just a quick heads up while I listen to the epic MGS2 theme by Harry Gregson Wlliams (Who returns for MGS4 btw), Gametrailers will be publishing their review of the game in little over an hour so dont forget, be on GameTrailers by 7:00am so until then, I’m off to play Team Fortress 2 for the 360 so I’ll be back in roughly 45 minutes.

7:26am – Sorry its taken too long folks, got off TF2 at 6:55am but Safari was being a bitch hence why this long. Anyways, I’m off in about an hour to get Metal Gear Solid 4 myself so anything from after 8:30am, not happening. Also, where is th GT:TV review I hear you cry…well…I thought their timer was on CET but it was on BST actually. But it will be here in half an hour, dont panic.

9:19am – Sorry its been this long since I posted but just to let you know, GT:TV and 1up have their reviews up with GT:TV giving a 9.3 (Worse then Halo 3? Get off your bike!!! Still, better then the EG score) and A from 1up.

But the most important thing since is…

I GOT IT!!!

Just came back from the town getting the game (with a nice hardback cover for the game) with the guide as well =D

Why am I here typing this? PLAY IT FOR FUCK SAKE!!!

*runs off*

5:53pm – Yes, nine hours since the last entry but I have been playing it all day ya know? Finished Act 1 at half 12 and within the past 15 minute, the spectacular finale to Act 2 featuring the infamous knives fight between Raiden and Vamp and all I can say is…stunning. Having looked back on it, while it did and does deserve the praise it got/gets, maybe this game is more worthy of a 10 then Grand Theft Auto IV but the game hasn’t been completed yet.

As for Metal Gear Online, after having some trouble with creating a Konami ID, I finally got on and had a few matches and this is just miles better then the original MGO in MGS3: Subsistence for the PS2 a year and a half ago. Either way, both are just absoutely spectacular to look at just, without a doubt probably the best looking game for the Playstation 3, its one of them anyways.

Anyways, after I put some food into me, its onto Act 3 and some more MGO so dont see me back so soon. And whoever else has MGS4, hope your enjoying it.