Act 4 - "I was having that dream again."
This act is a bit of an anomaly in that (excluding boss battles) there are no human enemies. I think almost everyone felt that it was a disappointing design choice when it was released, and it still feels the same way now. It was an understandable design choice given the progression of the story, but given the amount of leniency with other creative decisions that felt like they were pushing the boundaries a little too much in places, I'm sure it could have worked and would have made this section perfect.
There are so many wonderful touches here to make this an incredibly nostalgic return to Shadow Moses. Metal Gear Solid 1 is my favourite game of all time for a number of reasons, but MGS4 goes out of its way to draw from its atmosphere and most memorable moments. The intro alone being a replay of MGS1's original opening entry into the tank hangar (played as a dream of Snake's, ending with a pixelated Young Snake - Old Snake jumpscare) sets the scene, followed by a number of flashbacks across the act, some of which you have to find and trigger yourself, others you'll come across through the story. Traversing through Shadow Moses this time is unfortunately not as fun as it felt like it could be, given your main aim is to either avoid or use chaff grenades on mechanical enemies like dwarf gekko, with one super fun section requiring you to distract a gekko for 2-3 minutes depending on the difficulty (although if you get irritated enough you can just blow it up).
When recently pondering over which MGS entry has the best boss battles, something reminded me that MGS4 is absolutely up there and Act 4 arguably is a very big part of this argument. Crying Wolf is the first of these and it's a pretty enjoyable one if playing non-lethal. I'm rarely ever keen on boss battles that throw minions into the mix to add difficulty, I feel it's generally an irritating and lazy design choice. But I can't deny that having the FROGS searching for Snake alongside Wolf fits in relatively well here (not to mention Wolf's desire to crush Snake with means she'll often smash right into them as she runs around the snowfield with reckless abandon). As well as being able to traverse the entire snowfield as you aim to locate the rampaging Wolf, you also have two scalable communication towers. Ordinarily in a sniping battle, this would likely encourage the player to just camp out up high and wait for an opening. However, the FROGS patrol everywhere and are sensitive to sound, meaning just hanging about up high isn't exactly a straightforward option as they actively look for Snake, and are very sensitive to the noise of him walking around the towers or of his night-vision goggles (which are the easiest way of spotting Wolf). One other aspect of this is that smell is a factor too, so Wolf is able to find a stationary Snake fairly easily if you stay in one spot for too long thanks to the changing wind direction. Even if you're staying up high, she'll lob explosives towards you on passing. In a series that is fond of a sniper battle, this is yet another unique addition/edition even if it isn't one of the most memorable ones.
If you ever did the MGS2 European Extreme challenge, the sight of a lively Vamp running towards you as you play as an aged Solid Snake is probably enough to make you want to put the game down like the AI Colonel told you to (which, by the way, I did on my first MGS2 playthrough; I had been sitting in a dark room for hours on end and was a little sleep deprived at the point that he calls you demanding you turn the console off. Can't say I slept very well that night). Snake is clearly outmatched for speed and agility but has the firepower to deal with Vamp... only to find him (yet again) rising from the dead. I managed to figure out the trick to this fight without needing assistance the first time I played MGS4 which I was quite happy with, relying on Snake grabbing a dazed Vamp post-resurrection and jabbing him with the syringe. It's a fairly straightforward fight with the novelty of needing the syringe to finish him off, but I think it's a decent feature that can be figured out easily enough if you've been paying attention to the story.
I think it's fair to say that Act 4's finale is one of the best moments in the series. It's a shame that this was spoiled pre-release in trailers (as is the traditional Kojima way), but getting to pilot REX in a battle against RAY is something that I don't think anyone expected when the general outline of MGS4 was known. Getting to utilise all of the abilities REX used to terrorise Snake in MGS1 here against RAY is about as cool a moment as Kojima has given us. After the battle we get to see Liquid Ocelot heading for Outer Haven and giggling at Snake, who for some reason thinks tipping himself over out of REX's cockpit and dislocating his shoulder will be a good way to stop him (note: it isn't, but it is far too funny to not mention).
This act is a bit of an anomaly in that (excluding boss battles) there are no human enemies. I think almost everyone felt that it was a disappointing design choice when it was released, and it still feels the same way now. It was an understandable design choice given the progression of the story, but given the amount of leniency with other creative decisions that felt like they were pushing the boundaries a little too much in places, I'm sure it could have worked and would have made this section perfect.
There are so many wonderful touches here to make this an incredibly nostalgic return to Shadow Moses. Metal Gear Solid 1 is my favourite game of all time for a number of reasons, but MGS4 goes out of its way to draw from its atmosphere and most memorable moments. The intro alone being a replay of MGS1's original opening entry into the tank hangar (played as a dream of Snake's, ending with a pixelated Young Snake - Old Snake jumpscare) sets the scene, followed by a number of flashbacks across the act, some of which you have to find and trigger yourself, others you'll come across through the story. Traversing through Shadow Moses this time is unfortunately not as fun as it felt like it could be, given your main aim is to either avoid or use chaff grenades on mechanical enemies like dwarf gekko, with one super fun section requiring you to distract a gekko for 2-3 minutes depending on the difficulty (although if you get irritated enough you can just blow it up).
When recently pondering over which MGS entry has the best boss battles, something reminded me that MGS4 is absolutely up there and Act 4 arguably is a very big part of this argument. Crying Wolf is the first of these and it's a pretty enjoyable one if playing non-lethal. I'm rarely ever keen on boss battles that throw minions into the mix to add difficulty, I feel it's generally an irritating and lazy design choice. But I can't deny that having the FROGS searching for Snake alongside Wolf fits in relatively well here (not to mention Wolf's desire to crush Snake with means she'll often smash right into them as she runs around the snowfield with reckless abandon). As well as being able to traverse the entire snowfield as you aim to locate the rampaging Wolf, you also have two scalable communication towers. Ordinarily in a sniping battle, this would likely encourage the player to just camp out up high and wait for an opening. However, the FROGS patrol everywhere and are sensitive to sound, meaning just hanging about up high isn't exactly a straightforward option as they actively look for Snake, and are very sensitive to the noise of him walking around the towers or of his night-vision goggles (which are the easiest way of spotting Wolf). One other aspect of this is that smell is a factor too, so Wolf is able to find a stationary Snake fairly easily if you stay in one spot for too long thanks to the changing wind direction. Even if you're staying up high, she'll lob explosives towards you on passing. In a series that is fond of a sniper battle, this is yet another unique addition/edition even if it isn't one of the most memorable ones.
If you ever did the MGS2 European Extreme challenge, the sight of a lively Vamp running towards you as you play as an aged Solid Snake is probably enough to make you want to put the game down like the AI Colonel told you to (which, by the way, I did on my first MGS2 playthrough; I had been sitting in a dark room for hours on end and was a little sleep deprived at the point that he calls you demanding you turn the console off. Can't say I slept very well that night). Snake is clearly outmatched for speed and agility but has the firepower to deal with Vamp... only to find him (yet again) rising from the dead. I managed to figure out the trick to this fight without needing assistance the first time I played MGS4 which I was quite happy with, relying on Snake grabbing a dazed Vamp post-resurrection and jabbing him with the syringe. It's a fairly straightforward fight with the novelty of needing the syringe to finish him off, but I think it's a decent feature that can be figured out easily enough if you've been paying attention to the story.
I think it's fair to say that Act 4's finale is one of the best moments in the series. It's a shame that this was spoiled pre-release in trailers (as is the traditional Kojima way), but getting to pilot REX in a battle against RAY is something that I don't think anyone expected when the general outline of MGS4 was known. Getting to utilise all of the abilities REX used to terrorise Snake in MGS1 here against RAY is about as cool a moment as Kojima has given us. After the battle we get to see Liquid Ocelot heading for Outer Haven and giggling at Snake, who for some reason thinks tipping himself over out of REX's cockpit and dislocating his shoulder will be a good way to stop him (note: it isn't, but it is far too funny to not mention).
![[+]](https://metalgearforums.com/images/collapse_collapsed.png)
