‘MGS4′ – No place for Hideo?

Completing Metal Gear Solid 4 has created a battle inside my head. One side thinks it was an incredibly fitting finale to an epic series, and the other side thinks it’s a bit of a let down that fails to satisfy why I love the series to begin with. It’s mainly because of the control system and inherent gameplay; the free camera that you control with the right analog stick completely works, as does the shooting, but it collides with the feel of the game itself. The series prided itself on being restrictive in both it’s view points and controls, going hand in hand with having to hide and using stealth. I regard fluid controls are better suited to action oriented titles – look at Resident Evil 4 for example – which dissolved it’s horror persona almost completely. Add that there isn’t enough stealth to begin with (act three aside, which shouldn’t have been allowed to exist) and the Drebin shop being a pointless feature (I used only three of the 30 odd weapons) you come away a little underwhelmed.

The right side of my flustered brain however is completely in awe of how they managed to sow up a rediculously complicated story. Somehow every main character from the trilogy was included and concluded, with a few surprises along the way. The ending was simply majestic. The cutscenes oozed high production values and despite rumours weren’t too long for comfort. There were a few gripes however; the Beauty and the Beast bosses seemed disconnected to the actual main plot, it felt like Hideo tried to cover all the corners of the globe just because he could, and that the final area (on a gameplay standpoint) was severly underused.

So by the end, I was a bit confused – it connected with the others in an artistic way but seemed divorced when it came to playing the damn thing. I look forward to replaying it – by the fourth act I had the controls down, so having the chance to mess around and explore with real confidence may change my outlook on the game. Besides, looking at message boards there are stacks of things I’ve yet to discover, including being able to move Rose’s boobs with the Sixaxis. How on earth did I miss that?

Overall the, first play through is a solid 8/10. Edge were right. And sadly for me, last is by all means least.

Also playing: Halo 3 (online)

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