MGS4: Now that it's all over...time for the NEGAREVIEW!

**Before getting into the analysis, a warning. There may be some very slight spoilers herein, but since my analysis is mostly based on the quality of the various game elements (what worked, what didn't work) instead of discussing the storyline, I will try to keep these to a minimum. Any spoilers will be gameplay - not story - related.**

What a ride.

Finally, now that the most important game on Sony's new console has been out in the world for 5 days officially (upwards of a week unofficially due to retailers ignoring the street date), I'd say with a fair amount of confidence that a lot of people had sufficient time to play through Kojima's magnum opus.

Basically, the game did everything it had to do - and is an instant classic. All the loose ends of the storyline were tied up, the boss fights were more than memorable, and the new gameplay innovations introduced made the game feel entirely new while at the same time, never stopped feeling like a Metal Gear Solid title. That being said, switching to a playing style that matches the environment - that is, dealing with the war going on around your character (rather than simple infiltration missions) was difficult at first, and changes to the controls took some getting used to as well. The minigames and variety in the missions complitmented the frantic pacing, and Kojima's trademark sense of humor is still more than intact. I loved the game.

However, MGS4 does NOT deserve the lavish praise being thrown on it. It isn't perfect - it is good - possibly the best game of the year (certainly better than GTA)... but perfection?

No. Not by a long shot.

In fact, due to the tremendous amount of hype and inflated review scores surrounding the game, I thought I'd take a cue from Joystiq and write a NEGAREVIEW... that is, pointing out the flaws in a game that, while amazing, doesn't quite live up to its abundance of perfect scores.

I would have done one for GTA, but most of the people I know who read this blog wouldn't take me seriously, since they believe I skew any game not-Japanese on the side of a negative review. However, that aside, GTA was simply not my cup of tea...so it would be more fun for me to write a NEGAREVIEW on a game I actually really enjoyed start to finish. And with that...

CAUTION PHASE:

There is a reason why reviewers were not allowed to discuss the cutscene lengths when reviewing the game early. In what is probably a shock to no one, the game has more cutscenes than actual gameplay - by far. In general, if you know what you're doing, you can finish the game in 6-8 hours. That is - if you skip the cutscenes. I watched through all the cutscenes and finished in 15 hours. The ending scenes alone (with their Matrix 2 Architect-like explanations of the storyline) end up being 45 minutes long _BY THEMSELVES_. Fortunately, we are given the option of skipping most of these, but from the time you fight the final boss it's still 17 minutes between you and the game completion screen. In general, the pacing is similar to Xenosaga for PS2... some cutscenes are longer than others. But - if you're even halfway into the storyline - and if you're playing this game, you should be - the cutscenes won't bother you. On the contrary...you'll want to keep playing to see what happens next. That said - the length of the cutscenes is still drawn out far longer than it should be in some cases, and in other cases there wasn't enough background for those new to the series. The option to view important character scenes (especially concerning MGS2) would have been VERY nice. The game is certainly not n00b friendly. Also, Naomi is a bitch! Poor Otacon.

Ooops! I said no story spoilers.... Gomen ne. I was really mad about that... It won't happen again, I promise.

Onto the next complaint..the controls. The controls allow you much more freedom this time around, but those used to older MGS games will require time to adapt. In particular, the "hiding behind the wall and popping out to shoot" mechanic is vastly different than older MGS games, and I've been discovered by enemies more than once while fiddling with the buttons. I'd consider myself a "hardcore gamer", so the fact that I had difficulty with the controls means other people probably did too.

ALERT PHASE:

Although the game tends to keep locked at a pretty solid 30+ FPS, I did notice that during cutscenes where the camera is allowed to pan to the sky or not a lot of characters are present onscreen, the engine was running noticeably smoother - 60FPS. While this allowed for flying characters to look amazing, it actually distracted me from the game. This is a nitpick - especially considering the amount of stuff going on in the game's levels - but I think they should have stuck with 30FPS all the way through instead of teasing us with 60FPS for non-populated scenes. All the 60FPS sequences do is call attention to the weaknesses of the "almighty" PS3.

Adding to the list of issues which appear to show chinks in the PS3's armor is the install times - which - again - reviewers were forbidden to talk about. The game requires a 9-minute, 4.5 GB install up-front...which is quickly becoming the norm for "big" games on the system...but added to this install is a series of installs which occur following each chapter of the game's conclusion. Each chapter specific install is 3 minutes long and the data overwrites the previous chapter's install...so you don't have to worry about an entire BD worth of data being installed to your system. These installs are mandatory to cut down on load times, which are happily very short although the "now loading" screen does appear more often than I'd like it to. My question is...why can the Xbox 360 handle all games without the need for an install, whereas most PS3 games require one? With a game like this, I can see streaming being a major issue, and I'm thankful for the shortened load times... that said, there has to be a better way to organize data so that gamers don't have to give up 20 minutes and a bunch of data on their hard drives just to play a new game.

Will this game ever come to the 360? Doubtful, although I wouldn't put it past them. They'd make a lot of money by porting it over, although after seeing the amount of action onscreen it wouldn't surprise me if the 360 port had some quality issues when compared against the original game...

EVASION PHASE:

Finally worth mentioning is the "poor" sales in Japan. For a third-party exclusive game that was supposed to catapult the PS3 from a psuedo-niche market into the next PS2, the game performed...poorly. Not that they didn't sell any copies at all (especially when comparing against the performance of Ninja Gaiden II on the 360 - a measly 25,000 copies in the first week)...but this is a far cry from the 500-person-lines that existed around Akihabara for launches of important Square Enix games. I wouldn't be surprised - at ALL - if the game sells more copies domestically when compared to Japan.

All that said, this is still one of the best games this year, and something that simply must be experienced. As a next-gen gamer, you owe it to yourself. Just don't buy into the hype.