Not many facts on Metal Gear Solid 4 have been released since Kojima himself has instituted a media blackout on new MGS4 material and info until E3 of 2006. In typical Kojima fashion, he will reveal a new MGS4 trailer at E3 to bring us all up to speed on the latest features and story line of the game. Assembled below is every clue he's uttered so far, into one convenient location, so that conspiracy theorists can connect dot A to point B and so forth, and make educated guesses about where the series will go.
NOTE: This is information gathered from various interviews with MGS mastermind Hideo Kojima -- all quotes are from Mr. Kojima with the original sources noted after the quote.
Gameplay
The theme of MGS4 is "no place to hide," but it will still be a stealth game. "The concept behind 'no place to hide' is that...there is no safety zone. According to the environment, things will always be changing, and there might be conditions where there literally is nowhere to hide."(1) Kojima has hinted in interviews and the first trailer that one aspect of the game may be destructible environments-you might be able to hide behind a wall but an enemy could always blow that wall apart.
The plan is to make the game's overall world more interactive and realistic than ever. "I want to create [a] kind of simulation world. [For example, in most games you have a tree but it's basically a piece of plastic; a set piece.] There should be life in that tree. If we water the tree it will grow, if we burn the tree it will die."(2)
Kojima has implied that you will be able to drive vehicles for the first time in the series. "We will try to make Snake control anything that's possible."(4)
There will be a "psychological aspect" to the game. "There is an intense fear when you point a gun at someone. I want to represent that in MGS4...that's what real combat is all about." Kojima plans on consulting a real psychologist in order to flesh out this aspect.(1) He also says that the A.I. will be so realistic-so much like playing against other real people-that using psychology against them will be crucial.(2) The bad guys will use it against you, too; Kojima gave an example of the new Metal Gear robots (in the second MGS4 trailer) emitting various peaceful countryside noises (including cicada, horse, and cow noises) to lull the player into a false sense of ease before attacking.(2)
Not all characters in MGS4 will be enemies. You may step into a battlefield between two foreign powers-depending on your actions or whom you kill, you can make friends or enemies with one or both countries (and thus their soldiers in the battlefield). What you do in one stage can also affect later stages of the game; if you help one country defeat another in a level, the defeated country may not be around in the next mission. There will also be innocent people not directly involved in the conflict in the war zone.(1)
The MGS4 team is planning to include a feature that allows you to control Otacon's robot to scout ahead, although it may not happen if the team decides it doesn't work well.(4)
The Close Quarters Combat (or CQC) system from MGS3 will return in some form in the game.(4)
But as for the healing, hunting, and camouflage systems from MGS3, "Some of them might carry on into MGS4, but since the theme is battlefield, we might implement them differently," says Kojima. "We will try to create a system that is best suited for that battlefield. There's bullets flying around everywhere, so you don't have time to go hunting for a frog to eat."
Online
There will be an online aspect to MGS4, and "[it] will not be restricted to eight players" says Kojima, referring to MGS3: Subsistence's eight-player max for multiplayer battle modes.(2)
Story
MGS4 takes place roughly 10 years after MGS2 (which took place in 2007 and in 2009).(2)
The plot will not be presented in the same way as it has in previous MGS games. "We won't create [the story] in the same way: cinema, action, cinema. I want the action to be less localized, for events to occur across large areas...I want to utilize the environment itself to tell the story line."(1)
Like previous games, MGS4 will use in-game graphics for the cutscenes so there will be no difference between gameplay visuals and the cinematics. However, Kojima says more of the story will be told through scripted events and voiceovers during gameplay rather than non-interactive movies.(2)
Kojima is interested in exploring "the concept of the substitution of war." For example, countries having robots do their fighting for them, or hiring mercenaries to fight their enemies, some of who could originally be from the same country as the soldiers they are fighting against.(2)
"MGS4 will not be based on a specific location; we just call it 'the battlefield,'" says Kojima. "It's any location where war is raging, many different situations, and many different countries." Kojima plans on "going near fighting" in real-world wars to get inspiration for the game. "I'm worried that some of my team might suffer some serious mental damage," he says, "and be unable to return to the real world."
Graphics
Snakes' hair is actually physics-driven. His mustache alone contains the same number of polygons as an enemy in MGS3.(3) The game also uses self-shadowing and HDR lighting techniques to appear more realistic. Various color filter effects were overlayed on to the second trailer to make the footage look more like real film.
The second MGS4 trailer was generated in real time, not pre-rendered. Kojima proved this during the Tokyo Game Show by showing the demo again, pausing it, and changing the camera angle and lighting on the fly.(3)
Characters:
An older version of MGS hero Solid Snake is MGS4's main character. He looks older now due to the passage of time and the imperfect technology that was used to clone him from super-soldier Big Boss (the hero of MGS3). His mustache and hard-bitten old-timer look was inspired by actor Lee Van Cleef. His special electronic eye patch (named the Solid Eye) features a radar as well as thermal and night vision (and possibly other features).(1) He still smokes, and appears to have some kind of serious medical problem (that causes his seizure in the second trailer).
Snake's helpful scientist buddy Hal Emmerich (a.k.a. Otacon) returns in MGS4 as well. The two banded together after MGS1 and formed a group called "Philanthropy" to try and stop the proliferation of Metal Gear weapons throughout the world. (Judging by all the robots seen stomping around in the MGS4 trailer, they aren't doing so well so far.) In the footage we've seen, Otacon doesn't appear in person but his image is beamed to a small robot that accompanies Snake on the battlefield. Otacon himself is in a "safe place" outside the town Snake is fighting in.(3)
Raiden is back, appearing in official artwork holding a baby. Fans have hated the long haired blond soldier ever since he infamously replaced Solid Snake as the hero in MGS2. He's been the butt of many jokes (many from Kojima himself in MGS3), but now Kojima says, "After you finish MGS4, you're going to like Raiden very much."(5)
Handlebar-mustached villain Revolver Ocelot has also appeared in press materials. While it's seemed like Ocelot worked for different sides or countries in previous MGS games, in truth he's always been a tool of The Patriots (see below). However, since he had Snake's cloned "brother" Liquid Snake's hand grafted on to his right arm after MGS1, at times Liquid's personality appears to take control of Ocelot. He was last seen (last in terms of the series' overall storyline) sailing off in a Metal Gear Ray weapon at the end of MGS2.
The bisexual vampire Vamp, who we last saw getting shot in the head as a boss enemy near the middle of MGS2, will apparently return in MGS4. He can be seen in a cab during the end of MGS2 while Solid Snake and Raiden are chatting and walking down a New York street, which proves he was most likely returning in the next MGS title.
Meryl Silverberg, Snake's old love interest from the original MGS, looks to be alive and well in MGS4. (So if you got the optional ending in MGS1 where she died you'll need to play that game over again.)
The Patriots are a mysterious secret cabal that controls the U.S. government. "Very few are aware of their existence, even those with codeword clearance," U.S. President Johnson explained in MGS2. "Politics, the military, the economy. They control it all. They even choose who becomes President. The Patriots rule [America]." They have been involved in various degrees behind the scenes in all three previous MGS games.
Hideo Kojima's role:
Mr. Kojima is co-producing and co-directing MGS4 (along with Shuyou Murata, who worked on Zone of the Enders and previous MGS games). "It's a totally new way of producing MGS," he says.(1) Kojima had only planned on producing, but he was convinced by his staff and fan reaction to direct again. He says he will not direct the next game (but then he said the same thing before MGS3 and MGS4).(2)
Sources:
(1) Electronic Gaming Monthly interview
(2) Game Informer interview
(3) Tokyo Game Show presentation
(4) PSM interview
(5) Official PlayStation Magazine interview
