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Discussing Metal Gear has a lot in common with talking about religion or politics with extended family over Thanksgiving dinner: things start out amicably enough but quickly devolve into shouting, name calling, and perhaps flying mashed potatoes. If you were to put five people in a locked room and forced them to talk about it, two would love the series, two would hate the series, and the last would profess Hideo Kojima to be god incarnate, all while asking "Can love bloom on the battlefield?" in low, harsh tones. No one will ever agree, and Metal Gear Solid 4 has made the sound decision to not even try to win over those two out of five who don't like it. The game is simply not for them. The two who like the series will love MGS4 and the last guy with the Foxhound tattoo who practices CQC will have multiple fan boy orgasms.
MGS4 is the perfect example of fan service done right. It is never tacky and takes itself just seriously enough to give people exactly what they want to see while tying up all the lose ends. There is no cliffhanger here, by the end of the game all the questions are answered, everyone is accounted for, and followers from casual to rabid will be pleased with what they have seen. The game is littered with allusions to its precursors that will simply fly over the head of anyone who hasn't played them. For example, the first ten minutes of the first chapter, after you finally get to play, consist of Old Snake running from a swarm of Geckos, the new 'big bad' for this game. He turns a corner after narrowly avoiding being crushed and sees a cardboard box sitting in the middle of the room that he can hide under. This in itself is self referential, but it goes even further when a Gecko crushes the box to find it filled with watermelons, which were on prominent display during a kitchen firefight in MGS2. Snake later appears from around a corner, camouflaged, and lights up. There are layers of history here; the MGS legacy is all present in one place, proudly on display.
Part of this legacy, like it or not, is the way MGS4 tells its story: through really, really long cut scenes. Perhaps it is a failing of Kojima's that he cannot get his point across through game play alone and must resort to ninety minute mini-movies, but I honestly would not have it any other way. The cut scenes were just as engaging as any other part of the game, perhaps more so. Characters that I have known and cared about for years fell in love, fought through personal tragedies and got the ever living snot kicked of them. Just because I wasn't pushing buttons telling them what to do all the time doesn't mean I wasn't involved; anyone who says other wise must be forgetting about another popular genre of entertainment that does this all the time: movies. I would watch MGS4 even if there was no interaction as all. It is a story six games in the making revolving around one of the best characters in all of gaming. Certain other bald Sony exclusive tragic heroes could learn a lot from Snake, like how not to be a douche bag all the time and that even an emo badass is still just emo.
I don't know anyone who ever really cared about Kratos, to pick on a current example. Fans like Snake to the point that there was a great deal of anger over MGS2 when people realized he wasn't a playable character for most of the game. Snake is human, he is vulnerable and at the same time superhuman, at least he used to be. The choice to age Snake in MGS4 is far from cosmetic. The story revolves around him coming to terms with his swiftly approaching demise and he grows more and more desperate about what he views as his destiny as the game wears on. It is difficult to see him doubled over in pain, clutching his back out of agony, or literally crawling towards an objective because he can no longer walk. I felt sorry, almost guilty, for pushing him on, kill after kill, only to know that none of it really mattered. The final outcome was unavoidable, out of destiny or duty, it did not matter.
As much as I love the story and the characters, it cannot be denied that the game play has not changed a great deal from previous titles. If the excellent cut scenes, well developed characters and exceptional voice acting are stripped away all that is left is a game that has been surpassed on all fronts. There have been better stealth games for years, see Splinter Cell, and that is supposed to be what Metal Gear is all about: tactical espionage action. The sneaking still works, and is as necessary as ever, but it would have been nice to have a few of Sam Fischer's moves to help out. When the sneaking fails and the shooting starts the age of the game mechanics, just like Snake, start to show even more. Over the shoulder action has evolved a great deal, from Resident Evil 4 to Gears of War to Uncharted, the bar has been raised, and MGS4 simply does not keep up. Everything works, it just feels old and cumbersome, making cranky old Snake seem even more fitting.
There are also problems with the presentation of the game itself. MGS4 oozes polish, so when a bad texture pops up it really sticks out. Snake always looks good, but every once and a while something near him that is poor looks all the more ugly because he is next to it. In addition there are more then a few places where load times become intrusive, and I don't mean the multiple mandatory install times. There are two chase scenes that could have been truly excellent, but are broken up by several loading screens between areas. The momentum of the sequences are completely thrown off; it's jarring to escape certain death only to be rewarded with waiting to do it again. There are even load times between cut scenes, and while they provide ample time to refresh the beer and snack supply, it would be much better if they just weren't there.
Even compared to its predecessors there are problems. I view MSG3 to be the best game of the series overall, mostly because the ending had me choking back man tears and it had several amazing boss encounters. MGS4, in spite if everything that happens, never reaches the same level of emotional impact as 3 did. The bosses, even though they look amazing, are not of the same quality as The End from 3 or Psycho Mantis and Sniper Wolf from MGS1. MGS4, while excellent in its own right, suffers under the weight of what is trying to do: bring to a close an incredible saga that has more incredible moments then any other series, including anything with space marines or flying plumbers. When the credits rolled, after one final twist and cameo, I felt like standing up from the midst of my empty coke cans and Twinkie wrappers and saluting the screen. Not for MGS4 itself, but the for the landmark series that it brought to a close. If this truly is the end of Metal Gear (!), then goodbye Snake, you went out with dignity, and I'll miss you.
