The game visually is quite stunning. It blew me away at how visually deep it was. The attention to detail was insane. Then again, from the PS3 games I've been playing, all the games tend to be visually stunning.
The story was a disappointment. I thought Kojima and co could've done better. Reason why was that things were wrapped up quite quickly. Well, I suppose that things had to end somewhere and I just found that at times, the story was ridiculous. Seriously, why all the Frogs? I sometimes have to remind myself: only in Japan. The twists and turns were quite enjoyable. Though at the very end, I could only ask, "for the love of Boss, why Johnny?"
Sound was impressive as usual. The score was awesome. I loved how at certain places in the game, it played specific dialogue and/or music (a better term would be mini-flash backs) to invoke a sense of nostalgia of past MGS games. Personally, it made me realize how long has it been since I've beaten Metal Gear Solid during the PSX era. It's been such a long time. I felt that this was the ultimate fan service Kojima Productions had done in MGS4.
Gameplay wise, it somehow felt like I was playing MGS 2 again which wasn't really enjoyable. The gameplay was ruined in what I believe to be the movies and short amount of game play. When thinking about it actually, the most fun I had in the game was fighting against Octopussy. Oh man, she was always a thrill to fight. That reminds me, fighting against the un-armored Beauties, I didn't know that a human being could speed walk so fast. It was insane! The remaining boss fights weren't quite as thrilling except against Ocelot. That was truly a memorable boss fight.
The other disappointment was how small the stages were, or to be more precise, how short each act was. The most enjoyable act, I thought, was the Act 3. Through out the rest of the game, I've realized that there weren't a lot of sneaking time. Though that doesn't mean that when it comes to sneaking, it's a cake walk.
In the end, I didn't quite enjoy playing MGS 4 as much as I did MGS 3. Plot-wise, MGS 4 wasn't a enthralling as the other MGS games in the series. Though I do have to say that this game was better than MGS 2.
The only reason why I would play this game was for the online portion. This was perhaps the best part about the game.
Recommendations: If you are a die-hard MGS fan, this game is for you. If you have played all MGS games, this game was made for you. For any FPS gamers, other games would be better. For the general gamer, I think it would be something worth trying. Reason being is that there is a deeper facade in each MGS game that I have appreciated when compared to other games of similar genre.
