MGS4 Graphics

[greenmedic88]

A lot of the graphical overhead currently goes to creating the atmosphere of the game.

For games like Crysis and Uncharted, it was creating a living, breathing, organic environment filled with vegetation with individual leaves/branches/etc. swaying in the breeze. Light filtering through vegetation canopies, creating shadows and various contrasts in light. Water effects and wet environments that provide interesting reflective effects as they do in real life.

MGS4 is a middle eastern desert environment, meaning lots of dust, lots of crumbling environments in keeping with the theme that the world at large is beginning to erode, and lots of warm, sandy hues and color palettes expected of a desert setting.

What struck me right of the bat were all the smoke and dust effects, the haze effect created by the heat of desert environments, the grit that flies all over the place including the camera when the action picks up, and many of the details that help makes the environment seem more realistic and immersive.

I think the reason why the technicals of the visuals weren't particularly pushed by Kojima and Co. is because they were not supposed to be the primary selling point of the game.

I was half expecting to see 1080p visuals on the basis of early reports (native, not upscaled) which turned out to be an exaggeration, but the upscaling effect is better than that seen in GTAIV (which runs at a lower native resolution and looks soft at 720p). MGS4 looks a bit soft at 1080p (I'll try playing it at 720p to see if there is a significant difference) compared to say Uncharted playing at its native 720p resolution.

Does the display mode/native resolution interfere with the visuals or game in any way, shape or form? Nope. It's beautiful.

Regarding the destructive environments (or lack of), MGS is not a game that can allow for this without having to significantly alter the game play elements. If you could simply blast a hole in any wall, it would make the game ridiculously easy and would allow players to circumvent a great deal of the challenge associated with playing MGS games. It's not a technical issue, but a game design issue.

For Kojima, it has always been about game play and story. That has not changed in over 20 years of development.

But presentation has been continually upgraded (much like the FF series over the years) and as it would be, one of the better playing games with arguably the most interesting story of the current generation, also happens to be one of the best looking as well.