Let Solid Snake Out: Why Metal Gear Solid 4 Needs a Modern Remaster

It’s safe to say that Metal Gear Solid is not just a great franchise; it’s a series that has revolutionized video games as we know them. The original Metal Gear Solid basically laid out the framework for what a modern stealth game should be, and subsequent entries built upon those foundations in new and interesting ways.

While the infamous Konami Kojima breakup has left the franchise in ruins, Konami has been making big strides in this regard with the upcoming remake of Metal Gear Solid: Delta Snake Eater. All of it is great stuff, but most fans would still agree that one of the biggest pain points of a Metal Gear fan is still the lack of a Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots remaster.

One of the biggest issues with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the fact that the game is locked on the PS3, and with no option to experience on modern platforms like PS5 – anyone who wants to play this game will have to track down a console and a copy of that game which is of course easier said than done.

[embedded content]

And even if you do manage to do all of this, anyone with no prior memories or nostalgia with the game would have a hard time appreciating the beauty of it all. It doesn’t look bad by any stretch, but Metal Gear Solid 4 does pale in comparison to modern AAA titles. It’s a shame really that so many potential fans are missing out on such a gem of a game.

Every Metal Gear Solid has a distinct theme, such as Metal Gear Solid 2 having a focus on the rapid spread of misinformation and threats that come with it or Metal Gear Solid 3 having a focus on guerilla warfare, and that works to great effect because that makes each experience somewhat a fundamentally different one – and a new entry in the franchise doesn’t render the older ones obsolete.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was all about the digitization of war. From private military units to automated drones and, of course, the nanomachines, Metal Gear Solid 4 puts a strong emphasis on showcasing a modern dystopia where AI dominates the battlefield, and anyone in control of the nanomachines inadvertently controls the tangent of war in that world. As one can imagine, our world is gradually moving towards this particular school of thought in the face of the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and advancements in biotech.

But even apart from the narrative stuff, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots also features some of the finest gameplay mechanics of the entire series. Sure, you might not have the flexibility of choice of the same magnitude as the Phantom Pain – but those strengths are swapped out for a more streamlined experience that has its own distinct kind of charm.

The levels are meticulously crafted to both nudge the player toward a certain kind of playstyle while also remaining open to experimentation. You see, sneaking through the battlefield is not just about jumping from cover to cover, but becoming one with the terrain itself. That’s where the Octo Camo suit comes in, and Old Snake can essentially become a fighting chameleon donning it as it gradually changes colour and texture to match that of the ground itself.

The scale of warfare shown in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is also something that we really haven’t seen in prior entries, and there are also new tricks involved in the process of better realizing an Old Snake. There’s a psyche meter that tracks Snake’s mental state during combat sequences, and if it drops too low, you start experiencing tangible repercussions like loss of accuracy or back pain, which hampers your efficiency on the battlefield.

The narrative of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots might just be the most confusing one in the entire series, but just the fact that it actually works in a cohesive fashion is nothing short of an achievement in storytelling. You see, the entire plot of Metal Gear Solid 4 is about tying all the loose ends left behind by previous entries while also trying to carve a story about Old Snake and his adventures against the nanomachines, which is why you might feel some sort of disconnect in certain parts of the story and this is also the reason why Kojima has to resort to exposition dumps so heavily to make it all work.

As a franchise, Metal Gear Solid has always been about meshing together the best of gaming and cinema, and Kojima’s talent truly shines in Guns of the Patriots. The cutscenes might be a little drawn out (fun fact: the final cutscene is over 70 minutes long and holds a world record), but each of these scenes is beautifully directed and voiced, culminating in an experience that rarely dips in quality. There are plenty of iconic moments in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots’ story, such as old Snake crawling through a microwave hall or the fist fight with Revolver Ocelot at the top of the Metal Gear, which are unmissable for anyone invested in what the franchise has to offer.

And who can forget the boss fights? These have always been the highlight of Metal Gear releases, and it’s no different with this entry. Whether it’s the aforementioned brawl with Liquid Ocelot or Crying Wolf or Screaming Mantis, there’s no shortage of excellent cinematic encounters that fans will remember long after the credits roll.

All in all, Metal Gear Solid 4 was something that was way ahead of its time. It might not have been Kojima’s magnum opus, but it was a tightly designed experience that set out to portray a dystopia and was pretty successful at it. It’s also a more mature take on Metal Gear, and everything from Old Snake’s cynicism to the aforementioned gameplay mechanics and even the colour palette come together to bring this vision to life.

On a similar note, we should also mention that a Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots remaster wouldn’t just be a chance to experience this game once again; it would also prove to be an opportunity to right some wrongs with the game. First things first, Konami could use this opportunity to maybe mold the narrative to be a bit more streamlined and easy to catch on for fans accustomed to simpler narratives.

The cinematic flair of Metal Gear Solid 4 would truly shine when built in a new engine like Unreal Engine 5, if optimized properly. Characters would look so much more real, and textures and environments could be brought to life, and lighting could be solved through ray tracing and so on and so forth. There are a multitude of technical possibilities looming just over the horizon, and we could also get so many quality of life changes on the gameplay front as well.

But of course, that also brings us to the problems that come with a Metal Gear Solid 4 remaster. Without the presence of Kojima in Konami, changing anything about the base experience will always be met with intense scrutiny from fans, while releasing the exact same thing for a newer platform wouldn’t be great from a value proposition, which puts the prospect of a remaster in a rock and a hard place.

And that’s without getting into the technical aspect, which is another mountain of problems that Konami would need to solve if they wish to get Metal Gear Solid 4 on a new platform. You see, the base game was built for the PS3’s Cell chip that has a very different architecture from what we are used to with modern systems. As such, transitioning the deprecated engine from that platform to a new one is going to be a really tough task, requiring massive revamps to the core technology.

As such, one can only be hopeful about the future. The future of Metal Gear Solid looks to be brighter than ever with the upcoming release of Delta Snake Eater and if that venture turns out to be a successful one – it’s possible that Konami might put together a team and give them the resources to rebuild Guns of the Patriots for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, perhaps it’s already in development as part of the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 2. The longer Konami waits, the more MGS4 risks becoming a relic instead of a revelation.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.