Let me start with the worst first; YES, I HATE THE FACT THAT HIDEO KOJIMA THIS TIME MEANT IT WENT HE SAID THAT HE'S DONE WITH MGS! YES, I HATE THAT SNAKE IS NOT GOING TO BE THE MAIN CHARACTER IN FUTURE MGS GAMES! YES, I HATE THAT MOST OF THE CHARACTERS I LEARNED TO KNOW AND LOVE (Naomi, Vamp, Ocelot) DIED! AND YES, I HATED THAT GREY LITTLE MONKEY-THING THAT DREBIN ALWAYS DRAGGED AROUND WITH HIM!!! Now some more lighter things, but still negative; There was no Demo Theatre, which is really sad considering that the FMVs in MGS4 is absolutely astonishing. If there is any plans of doing a follow-up (like Substance for MGS2 and Subsistence for MGS3), I hope they will include at least that. Furthermore, I didn't care much for the over-linear storyline. From previous MG-games, I've been spoiled to have the freedom to (sometimes) travel all the way back to the start point, and recover items, equipments and weapons I didn't acquire from the start. In MGS4, the story takes place in different places (Middle East, South America, Eastern Europe, Alaska, Pacific Ocean), which makes it very hard to re-trail your own movements to improve your performance. It also give me the feeling that the game is really pushing you forward to complete the story and be done with it, which is also a bit of a bother since the story isn't really that long. Experienced gamers would complete it in just 3-6 hours. Now, finally, the good stuff; There is finally a real explanation to who/what the Patriots are/were! And the revealing of this is so spectacular, so intriguing, such a work of genius that I was really amazed! And the fact that graphic, sound, music and game play, with all its new resources in control and layout, is by no means any disturbance or annoyance. My most blissful moment in the game was when I realized that you could buy and customize weapons, and that just about every weapon in the game are actually real ones. They exist in real life! How cool is THAT? I quite enjoyed the return of several characters such as Naomi, Meryl, Vamp and Raiden (I know I have said in the past that I hate Raiden, but that was because he stole Snake's place in MGS2. Raiden as the NexGen Cy-Ninja is truly an amazing sight and it fits him) because MGS3: Snake Eater and MGS:Portable Ops (Plus), no matter how great they were, took our minds away from the event from our own day and age (well, sort of. Usually the MG/MGS-games was set about 5-10 years into the future from their original release dates). After MGS2, there was a sort of void whereas the progress of the story halted to a complete stop for the fans. But I call this a masterpiece of deception. While the fans are all hung up on how a CIA-agent named Naked Snake became Big Boss, the world's greatest soldier of modern times, along the way creating the prologue of what would become the Patriots, things happened. Snake's body started to break down, Raiden went MIA, EVA hid in Europe, Ocelot at an unidentified location, Rose gave birth to her and Raiden's son, Meryl advanced in the military ranks and found out about her real relation to Roy Campbell, Snake and Otacon took Olga's daughter, which they named Sunny, into their care after Raiden had saved her from some group believed to be the Patriots, Naomi was broken out of military arrest by Ocelot, Liquid finally possessed Ocelot completely, and Snake grew a 'stache. And just like before, Harry Gregson-Williams put his heart and soul into his work when he once again delivered a musical soundtrack that took a good, hard grip of the player's emotion and shook it. Long. And hard. As a prolonged MGS-player, I took great enjoyment in the Shadow Moses level as it was filled with all sorts of nostalgic moments. And personally, I have always wondered what happened to that place after the place was evacuated and shut down in the early 2000s. It was suppose to have been abandoned, right? Well, we were wrong, weren't we!? When I as Snake set foot on that Helipad, and heard the nostalgic voice memories of Snake saying "A Hind D? Coronel, what's a Russian gunship doing here?", I took an overview of the place. It was crumbled down due to 9 years of harsh weather and no maintenance, and as usual, the weather was not welcoming. Truly a sad sight. But still, I was happy. I was home again. Oh yes, I was indeed at home. I also want to mention that due to the lack of a Demo Theatre and the really hurtful realization that Snake indeed will not come back, I would say that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is so definitely the closure we have been waiting for all these years. And the game hints towards future releases. I could not be more satisfied. I take my hat off to Kojima-san, David (Snake AND MR. Hayter), and the Shalashaska for their long and hard work and sacrifices they have made along the way to this point. Stand proud, men. A world of fans salute you.
* (I wrote this review in US Enlish because I'm so sick and tired of the correction program telling me that I misspell words when I type 's' instead of 'z'. Don't blame me for this disrespectful spelling, blame America and the staff at IMDb.com.)
* (I wrote this review in US Enlish because I'm so sick and tired of the correction program telling me that I misspell words when I type 's' instead of 'z'. Don't blame me for this disrespectful spelling, blame America and the staff at IMDb.com.)