Metal Gear Solid 4 walkthrough and complete guide for every Act

It's been a long time coming, but Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has finally shaken off its PS3 shackles and released on other platforms, opening up Old Snake's final journey to a whole new audience. If you aren't familiar with the Metal Gear series then this instalment could be particularly baffling for you, as even seasoned fans were left scratching their heads at certain points.

This Metal Gear Solid 4 walkthrough doesn't reveal the entire brain-bending plot, and the true implications of it are still being discussed to this day, but because you'll find out where you go and who you fight along the way, consider this an official SPOILER ALERT for what follows. We'll start each act with some general pointers for that location, then lead you through them with step-by-step details to reach the conclusion.

We don't go into specifics here, but we do have a separate Metal Gear Solid 4 boss guide available if you need additional help taking them down, or for more general help check out our Metal Gear Solid 4 tips.

Act One: Liquid Sun walkthrough

Location: Middle East

Top Tips for Act 1

1. Be sure you know whom you’re shooting at. All you have to do is clip a local militiaman with a round and the entire army will turn on you making your job twice as hard. If in doubt, equip the Solid Eye to bring up friend/ foe data. If you do indulge in a spot of friendly fire, you can make amends by taking down some of the enemy, but be quick.
2. Unless you’ve bought a heavy weapon (the Javelin missile, for example) from Drebin, try to avoid any direct confrontation with the Gekko Metal Gears. These biomechanical monstrosities are agile, fast and powerful, capable of scaling buildings, shooting you to pulp and delivering a roundhouse kick that will wipe away most of your health bar. If you must show how big your stones are, aim for the top of the Gekkos’ heads. Their living legs look like weak points but you’ll only cripple them temporarily.
3. Try flanking the enemy. The PMC mercs are nearly always fighting a knot of militiamen, so circle around and take out as many of the Praying Mantis soldiers as you can. You’ll know you’ve tipped the battle in your favour when a cheer goes up from the militia.
4. Don’t be ashamed to use the auto-aim function in the Haven Trooper battle. These ladies are very agile, and bounce all over the place, so being able to flip from one prancing assassin to another quickly makes a huge amount of sense.
5. Oh, and watch out for Claymore mines in the palace. There are several hidden around corners. If in doubt, crawl into an unseen area. Do this and you’ll pick up any Claymores you pass over rather than setting them off.

General Strategy for Act 1

Snake enters the Middle East on the back of a local militia troop transport and is immediately pitched into the middle of a running street battle between the militia and the technologically superior forces of the Praying Mantis private military company (PMC). Snake’s ultimate goal in this act is to make his way through the war-torn city safely to reach the Praying Mantis base of operations where his target, Liquid Snake is located.

There are two ways of doing this. The first involves avoiding confrontation with either side using Snake’s impeccable stealth abilities. However, with plenty of opportunities for old-skool sneaking in the rest of the game, the better (and more enjoyable) strategy for this first act is to ally Snake with the local militia. Doing this is as simple as killing a PMC mercenary and reaps instant rewards: you won’t have two armies shooting at you on sight; you can navigate the militia safe house’s subterranean tunnels quickly and with impunity; you can use the militia’s mortars to take down enemy vehicles; and you can give and receive valuable items to and from grateful militia soldiers.

But best of all, when things get very shooty, you’re still free to switch on the OctoCamo, melt away and use the ensuing chaos to slip past both armies and ever closer to your real objective. There is no boss battle in this first act, although the set-piece fight against Liquid’s elite, all-female Haven Troopers in the palace is a fantastic test of your combat skills.

Act Two: Solid Sun walkthrough

Location: South America

Top Tips for Act 2

1. If you haven’t already, start buying modifications for your favourite weapons. Red dot sights and underslung shotgun units are never a bad purchase. It’s also worth investing in a Javelin missile launcher. It’s good for taking down choppers, Gekkos, ground vehicles and certain winged bosses you might be about to meet.
2. During the bigger shootouts keep a health item equipped. Do this and should you fail to notice Snake’s health getting low, he will automatically take the ration/Regain power drink/noodles.

General Strategy for Act 2

With Liquid fled to South America, Snake follows, setting down several clicks away from Liquid’s drug baron-style villa in an area crawling with troops from the Pieuvre Armament PMC. Part one of the mission involves getting to the villa cross-country via a heavily guarded power station and detention block. In a similar style to the Middle East act, it pays to ally yourself with the local armed forces to do this.

At the start of the mission you’ll see a settlement. A group of local soldiers has been rounded up by the PMC mercs. Being sure not to cap any of the local boys, take down the first wave of PMC soldiers and, hey presto! You have yourself a ready-made army to smooth your way up country. Happily, these guys are very aggressive, so will keep the mercs busy, enabling you to pick your battles and look around for special items – there are some great bonus tracks for Snake’s iPod around here, for example.

The path towards the villa branches at key points along the way but all routes lead to the villa, so press on. When you get to the villa, use the local army’s general assault as cover and make your way into the house. There aren’t many PMC guards here, but stay sharp (particularly on the stairs) and make your way to the roof.

Feel free to use the fixed gun emplacement here to thin out the PMCs for your new friends or just circle around the side of the roof and head down towards the basement and into Dr Naomi Hunter’s lab. After a long chat with the good doctor, Haven Troopers interrupt to take her away. Then the stage is set for your first boss battle with a member of The Beauty and the Beast unit whom you saw briefly in the Middle East.

During the fight with Laughing Octopus, equip the Solid Eye’s night vision mode so you can easily spot her then wear down her health, while watching out for her disguises as she blends into the background. When she becomes Laughing Beauty, avoid her embrace and take her down, using Snake’s Mk.2 tranq gun for a non-lethal victory that will earn you Laughing Octopus’ OctoCamo facemask.

All done? Good, now your mission is to track down Dr Naomi Hunter, who’s been spirited away by Liquid’s Haven Troopers, by looking for signs of her passage through the countryside. Equipping Solid Eye’s night vision mode will reveal footprints (hers are narrower than her captors) and show up Haven snipers lying in wait, while flattened grass is also a good indicator that somebody passed by that way.

Use your ears too. It is possible to hear the doctor at certain points, but be warned, there is a decoy tape recording of her voice hidden in a booby-trapped hut, so be on your guard. Watch out too for Claymore mines in the long grass, and try to be quiet. The less you give away about your position the better. Oh, and look out for a set of handprints (!). Follow them to find a great little gift from the development team. Eventually you close in on the doctor only to find her being airlifted away by chopper. Drebin’s arrival in his armored personnel carrier signals the final stage of this act, a frantic drive towards Snake’s extraction zone back through the entire map.

Pursued by Gekkos and zombie-like PMC mercs Snake must man the personnel carrier’s roof-mounted gun. Strategy here? Keep the mercs from climbing onto the vehicle’s roof and shoot at the Gekko’s heads. In case one or two mercs do join you, keep a CQC weapon equipped so you can leave the big gun, deal with them quickly and get back to shooting a passage through the chaos. Back in town there’s a final sprint through Gekko infested streets to Snake’s chopper. Avoiding them isn’t always possible - so try running and rolling past them to avoid their sweeping attacks.

Act Three: Third Sun walkthrough

Location: Eastern Europe

Top Tips for Act 3

1. When using the tranq gun, aim for the head, neck or spine. The sedative will work faster and knock your enemy out before he gets a chance to raise the alert.
2. Auto-aim not flicking to your desired target fast enough? Release [L1] briefly and press and hold again. Assuming you’re facing the enemy you want to shoot, the auto-aim should now get the message.
3. Watch out when the resistance member goes up the steps and enters Liberty Park. He looks like he’ll speed to the distant exit, but actually stops out of sight to have a slash behind some bushes.
4. At one point your mark disappears through an archway only for a PMC merc to walk out seconds later. Keep back and look closely. You’ll notice the merc is wearing a bicycle helmet and not a military helmet. It’s actually your resistance member in disguise.

General Strategy for Act 3

MGS4’s third act is a brilliant change of pace that sees Snake donning a trench coat and tailing a resistance member through the mist-laden streets of Prague during a curfew. By following the mark you’re trying to discover the location of Matka Plutku, or Big Mama, but with soldiers from the Raven Sword PMC enforcing the curfew, your work is cut out for you.

Not only do you need to locate your mark initially, using a Radio Signal Interceptor, but once you do you need to follow him without making him suspicious and clear his path ahead of any PMC roadblocks or patrols. Locating your mark is easy enough, but once he sets off, keep back. He often checks behind him and will occasionally double back or stop and listen. Move only when you’re sure he’s going on ahead. You usually get a few minutes to deal with the PMC patrols before they spot your mark, so keep your silenced tranq gun (the Mk.2) armed and ready. You should be able to knock them out in time.

This will spook your mark, but not enough to send him scurrying away so keep your nerve and stay hidden while he makes sure the coast is clear. Towards the end of the mission you’ll hear the sound of a patrolling vehicle approaching. Hiding in the shadows is okay, but you’re close enough to the resistance HQ by this point to get rid of your disguise, don the OctoCamo suit and blend in with the cobbles. This way, you won’t risk losing the resistance member and the patrol will just drive on by, oblivious.

After you’ve met up with Big Mama and had a gutful of exposition, it’s time for a brilliant on-rails level that sees you riding shotgun with Big Mama on her Triumph T100 Bonneville, shooting at PMC patrols, missile spewing flying drones, and the second member of The Beauty and the Beast Unit, Raging Raven. As ever when things get very busy in MGS4, flicking on auto-aim is a godsend here. Complete this breakneck run through Prague in one piece and you’re all set to take on Raging Raven.

Moving between the enclosed ground floor and two balconies around the tower, pick off drones until Raven gets near enough to receive a good blast from your heaviest weapons. Using auto aim will help you deal with the drones, and you should keep moving to avoid becoming an easy target while stocking up on ammo to keep your weapons firing. Wear her down until she exits her armored exoskeleton, then perform a Mk.2 tranq gun take down to unlock her MGL-140 grenade launcher for your own use.

Act Four: Twin Suns walkthrough

Location: Shadow Moses, Alaska

Top Tips for Act 4

1. If you forget the pass code that Otacon tells you, Snake will feel it’s because of his age and he’ll lose a quarter of his Psyche gauge just like that. It’s 48273.
2. The snowy plain between main buildings (and the site of Snake’s battle against Vulcan Raven in MGS) appears to be empty, but don’t think you can just skip through the big flakes whistling to yourself. There are two snow-covered Gekko mechs here. It is possible to avoid ‘waking’ either, so consider yourself forewarned.
3. It pays to explore all the areas of the Shadow Moses base as there are a number of points that will trigger memories of Snake’s first mission here, and earn you valuable Drebin Points. It’s also just fun...
4. Keeping the Solid Eye night vision mode on will eventually drain the battery, so, when you can, flick it off to enable it to recharge. You do not want to be fighting blind.

General Strategy for Act 4

Ah, Shadow Moses – scene of Solid Snake’s breakthrough mission in Metal Gear Solid on PS1 and one of the most famous game locations ever. In a brilliant nod to that first visit, the act begins with a section of the 32-bit PS1 game in which Snake has to infiltrate the base from the heliport. It’s just a bit of fun, but you won’t progress until you successfully make it past the guards and into the building.

When you do, the game will snap back to the present, with Snake getting dropped off in a raging blizzard a short way away from the self-same heliport. Between you and it is a patrolling Gekko mech, and while the snow means next to zero visibility for you it doesn’t affect the Gekko’s sensors. Even the odds by switching on the night vision mode on Solid Eye. Yes, it should blind you, but instead it enables you to make out the Gekko’s movements and even the direction its sensors are scanning in.

Once again, you can try and take you get spotted just equip your favourite SMG (stock up on ammo if need be) flick auto-aim on, and fire, backing away from the approaching Scarabs as you do. Fail to keep a little distance and you will get hurt when the damaged Scarabs self-destruct. They’re also quite fond of leaping onto Snake’s back. If they do, shake the left stick furiously to shake them loose. Before you reach the snow-whipped location of the boss battle against the ferocious Beauty and the Beast Unit’s Crying Wolf, you’ll find yourself forced to fight several Gekkos inside the building.

The key to success here is to use cover to keep from getting stomped on, and to head to Drebin’s Store immediately to shell out for a Javelin missile launcher (didn’t we tell you to get one of those ages ago?). Until you earn Crying Wolf’s rail gun, it’s by far the best way of making sure the Gekkos stay down. Now brace yourself, because from her until the end of the act it’s virtually wall-to-wall boss battles.

First up is Crying Wolf, who you need to take down while dealing with squads of elite Haven Troopers. Use your Solid Eye night vision to spot targets while trying to stay upwind of Crying Wolf so she can't track you, then snipe her when she temporarily emerges from her armored exoskeleton to shoot you for maximum damage. Show Crying Wolf mercy with your tranq pistol to add her DSR-1 sniper rifle to your arsenal.

Next you have to deal with Vamp, who is seemingly immortal so it will take more than bullets to bring him down. Use regular gunfire to temporarily incapacitate Vamp, using auto-aim to help draw a bead on him, then get yourself behind him. As soon as he stands, grab Vamp in a CQC chokehold then use the nanomachine syringe to make him mortal again. Raiden then appears to tackle Vamp, while you turn your attention to the waves of Gekko Metal Gear mechs pouring in to attack, until Otacon starts up Metal Gear REX to trigger the third boss fight.

Now in the dockside area of Shadow Moses island, you need to use all of REX's weapons including cluster guided missiles, Gatling gun, chemical laser, and mech sweeping kick if you're going to take down Liquid’s Metal Gear RAY. Soften RAY up then dash in with a leg sweep to deal significant damage, watch out for a special attack prompt to cause even more damage, then be ready to retreat to cover before repeating the process. Whatever happens, don't let RAY get too close or you'll be stomped, so always be ready to dodge to the side or retreat and regroup.

Act Five: Old Sun walkthrough

Location: The Patriots’ Ark

General Strategy for Act 5

This is it, people: the final assault on The Patriots’ Ark – a massive floating superstructure designed to house the GW artificial intelligence that Snake must reach if he’s to stop Liquid from carrying out his plans. Problem is, between Snake and GW’s spookily cemetery-like server room are scores of crack Haven Troopers, Gekkos, the last member of The Beauty and the Beast Unit, Screaming Mantis, and gigantic corridor blasted by deadly microwaves. Feeling strong? You better be. Okay, so first things first.

You need to get from the back to the front of the Ark. Stealth is possible, but will require massive amounts of patience. As ever, lie low with OctoCamo equipped, wait, watch, thin out numbers with your tranq gun if possible and then move on. Make use of higher areas to avoid confrontation when you can, and equip Solid Eye’s night vision mode to ascertain where the Gekko guarding the door you need to move through is looking. Be warned, this door requires effort to open, so make sure the coast is clear before you attempt to open or all your sneaking efforts will have been for nothing.

On the other hand, if you’d rather ‘go loud’ then this is the perfect time to do it. Drebin’s Store has a half-price sale on so get loaded up and steam on forward, laying waste to everyone/thing in your way. Not subtle but satisfying. You can always do stealth on the second play through. After this you’ll enter the Ark’s massive, circular control room. Here you’ll encounter another squad of Haven Troopers. They’ll stream in on the ground floor and fire at you from the circling balcony. Keep moving, take out the lower targets first then pick off the higher ones at your leisure. After this its time to fight Screaming Mantis...

Taking out the leader of the Beauty and the Beast unit is a tough ask, especially when she starts using her terrifying psychic powers, and defeating her using conventional means is impossible without first shaking yourself free of her mind control. Ignore all of the misdirection and use the nanomachine syringe on yourself, then wear down Meryl with the Mk.2 tranq gun to get her out of the way. Shoot the strings attached to her puppets, then use them against her – the Psycho Mantis is the more effective of the two, before a final non-lethal takedown lets you claim any puppets you secured.

After you’re done with Screaming Mantis it’s time for Snake to leave Meryl behind and fulfil his destiny. What follows is a series of long Scarab-filled corridors. With stealth out of the question you really need to have ammo maxed out on all of your most reliable and trusted carbines and SMGs. Don’t worry about going nuts here, after this you won’t need your weapons any more.

Once you’ve navigated these corridors there’s one final gauntlet left to run – a seemingly endless passage that’s constantly blasted by microwaves. There is no strategy here other than to join your will to Snake’s and keep hammering Triangle for all you’re worth. It will hurt. You will want to give up, but you have to keep going. Make it to the end and GW’s server room and we defy you not to feel like a goddamn hero. You’ve done it, right? Well, almost. While Snake’s ready to call it day forever, there’s one person he still needs to take down. That’s right – Liquid. Think you’ve got a little fight left? Well, you’re going to need more than that...

It's all come down to this - a one-on-one fistfight between Snake and Liquid on the deck of the Patriot’s Ark. As you slug it out, music, health bars, gestures, and even (briefly) character models from earlier games appear, representing decades of Metal Gear history. Keep circling Liquid until you’re happy you can get the punches in, while trying to maintain your stamina. Keep pummeling away until you achieve victory, and stay away from the edge of the area if you don't want the fight to end prematurely.

This is it, the credits are rolling and you just need to make it through MGS4’s marathon movie ending. Don't skip over it, just sit back in a comfortable seat and soak it all in. Once it's all over, there's one moving final message still to come that's absolutely worth the wait.

Want to read more? Then here's why MGS4's final scene is more powerful than we ever realised.

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