PixlBit

I never thought I would ask "What the fuck?" more than when I played Metal Gear Solid 2. Then I played Metal Gear Solid 4. I don't even know where to start with this game. Wrapping up all of 2's plot points was a no lose battle. If they tried and failed to in one game, they'd get shit on for that. If they spread it out between games, they'd get shit on for making things more convoluted (which, considering this is Kojima, was inevitable). Yet neither happened, and they performed god's work by wrapping up everything in 4. No matter what I say after, this game deserves ridiculous praise just for that feat alone.

However, this game also deserves a lot shit. First, let's start with the good. This game controls ridiculously smooth. Nearly six years later and I still haven't played a stealth game or third person shooter that feels this polished. The way the guns feel aren't the most satisfying for gunning down people, but for sneaking around, ocasionally taking someone out, they feel amazing.

Unfortunately 2/5 of the time, these go to waste. Act 1 was really good. Sneaking through a warzone is just an awesome idea, both sides have something to distract them, but will notice you if you're not careful and open fire. Act 2 was a step up despite more cutscenes, the areas are really well designed and offer a great variety of paths.

Act 3 on the other hand....god fucking dammit. People want to say MGS4's cutscenes aren't that bad? Act 3 is just tailing someone (aka the worst kind of stealth. Going at their pace, one mistake and it sends you back, fuck that), then a rail section from a motorcycle, then a boss fight.

Act 4 then redeems it so much. Going through Shadow Moses was amazing and all the little nostalgia touches made it extra incredible. One of the best segments in any game I've ever played, ending with you piloting a fucking Metal Gear. The one thing I wanted the series to always do and they finally did it.

Act 5 then...god damn fuck that act. Next to impossible to sneak through, especially on your first go. Then once you do, the place is on full alert the whole fucking time. It's like they're giving a middle finger to everyone wanting to go through a stealthy run. Then the first boss, like the others, is mostly meh. The bosses kind of felt like the same gag over and over and while Act 4 gave a cool callback to a MGS1 boss, Act 5 repeating this was kind of lame, even if it was Psycho Mantis.

But then the final boss, oh god that was incredible. It is easily one of my favorite bosses ever, something the series has always offered a lot of. It was the perfect way to end the series back when it was supposed to be how the series ended. 

As for the story....well like I said before it miraculously wrapped everything up. But it did so with ridiculously long cutscene. Starting an act meant at least half an hour of exposition, a good chunk of which really is not that necessary. As for the story, well, there's some good stuff but a lot of bad stuff.

In terms of good, the characters continue to be well written, to the point where I didn't want to punch Rose the same way I did at the end of MGS2. The one positive of how long the cutscenes are is that the characters are well fleshed out and get a lot of little moments. There were a couple of good twists thrown in there as well. And....I'm having a hard time remembering other things, but the characters are a big enough plus that I will say the pros do outweight the cons. 

On the bad, fuck nanomachines. Fuck them fuck them fuck them fuck them. Vamp was much cooler when he was supernatural rather than nanomachines being the cause of his healing. Part of what I love about MGS is that they just accept all this weird shit happening, explaining it just ruins that. 

The final cutscene is also way too long. I know this is a really common complaint, but it is that bad. There's also that the whole Ocelot was programmed to act like Liquid was somehow dumber than his arm controlling Ocelot. I still do not get the logic behind it, I might have missed something, but it seems like programming yourself to be a psychopath who wanted to launch a nuke would be a plan where a lot could go wrong.

But at the end of the day MGS4 is still a good game, but a very uneven one. At its worst, it's torture, but at it's best it's a blast to play.