4/5 ★ – WoahItsFlug's review of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

I was nervous and had low expectations but high hopes going into Guns of The Patriots, a game frequently mentioned in discussions of "Which Metal Gear game is the worst?". As someone who was introduced through MGR:R and then blown away by the original series that spawned it, I was worried that MGS4 wouldn't give me the satisfying conclusion I wanted for these characters, and that it wouldn't offer a bridge or setup for the spinoff game I loved so much. I'm relieved to say that this game far exceeded my expectations and, in my opinion, is an (almost) perfect finale* to the MGS series. There were moments near the end of this game that made my literally cheer out loud in a way I haven't since seeing Spider-Man No Way Home in theaters. Gameplay wise, Guns of The Patriots plays similarly to the rest of the games before it, with a modernized (by 2008 standards) control scheme and a more linear, streamlined structure. This game, unlike Snake or especially Sons of Liberty, has pretty much no backtracking (besides one level if you kept messing up like I did) and also is by far the most cutscene heavy, with roughly half of its runtime being cutscenes -- one aspect that people often dislike and bring up as a reason for ranking it low. Personally, I was invested enough in the story that It didn't bother me all that much, but If you have a shorter attention span -- these cutscenes can be LONG -- or just crave the stealth gameplay of the first three games, you might find an issue with this. This game also has a much bigger emphasis on action and big setpieces than the games before it. I won't spoil them here, but this game has some pretty intense (and sometimes long) action sequences. They were all awesome, but especially starting in Act 3 (of 5), the game is less focused on the stealth and creative problem solving than the others. Story wise, this is actually one of my favorites in the series. The narrative here is a bit easier to digest, as by this point pretty much all the biggest pieces have been adequately lore-dumped and overexplained in the other games, leaving more time for more character exploration and blockbuster cinematic setpieces. Kojima's signature clunky exposition and on-the-nose dialogue are still very much here, but i found it less obnoxious and intrusive this time around -- although I may have just gotten endeared to it over my dozens and dozens of hours playing these games. This story (while keeping spoilers minimal) brings back much of the extended cast from MGS1/Twin Snakes, who were absent in Sons of Liberty, as well as bringing in storylines and characters from Snake Eater and revisiting some elements from the original 8-bit games. While some fairly important events and characters to the timeline go unmentioned due to a couple more prequels (Peacewalker, Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain) releasing after this game, their absences leave minimal holes in the games' story, and if anything make some moments even more impactful and satisying than I imagine they were when the game first launched, now that some holes have been filled in. In my opinion, even if you follow release order otherwise, I think this game should be saved for last (or second to last if you want to play Metal Gear Rising, as this game sets up elements for that). While up until this point I was much more a fan of Big Boss & Venom Snake as protagonists, Solid Snake really grabbed me in this game. Exploring how he's been doomed to repeat the cycles of fighting endlessly that his father/brother/creator (long story) set in motion and coming to terms with his own mortality is a very strong central emotional pillar for the game to stand on, and I think this game gives him depth and fleshes him out in a way that he really needed. He may have been badass and charismatic in his first two outings, but this game really solidifies him as an all-time great video game protag in my eyes. On the other side of that coin, returning Liquid Ocelot cements himself for me as the series' best villain, and the gleeful, erratic while still very intelligent and calculating way he's written make him an absolute joy to watch while being a great foil for Snake, who's falling apart at the seams. Their dynamic is the source of many of the game's greatest moments, both its most serious and dramatic and some of its goofier ones. Speaking of which, this game continues the sense of humor that the old games had (for better and worse) that I sorely missed in Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain. From fourth-wall breaking callbacks to the first game, slapstick gags, corny dialogue, and genuinely funny writing to maybe a few too many poop jokes, it's nice to see this series embrace its lighter side and double down on some silliness often inherent to video games as a medium. Unfortunately, this game does take some missteps in the story and characters department. Returning from MGS2 but downgraded from player character to supporting cast is Raiden. At this midpoint in his story between Sons of Liberty and MGR:R, Raiden's become a cybernetically enhanced ninja (which to be fair is pretty par for the course with this series), which of course is awesome, but I can't help but feel this character gets stuck in an endless loop of character development and regression -- and to explain why I will need to get into some spoilers, but I'll try to keep them vague. Leading up to and during the events of MGS2, Raiden is a former child soldier plagued by PTSD and unable to live life for himself. He's abusive to his girlfriend, emotionally unavailable, and constantly whining and moaning. At the end of the game, he resolves to leaving his identity as Raiden behind and living life for himself, and recommits himself to his girlfriend. When we find him in MGS4, we've skipped over his entire mission he was starting at the end of MGS2, his girlfriend (now ex-wife) has left him due to him being emotionally unavailable and always away on missions, he's become even more closed off and violent, and at the end of the game, he once again makes the same resolve to stop running from his past, be there for his girlfriend, and live life for himself. Maybe the goal here was to mirror Snake and Liquid's struggle with the endless cycles they've spent their lives in, but now that he's been relegated to a deus ex-machina side character who only ever shows up to kill stuff in increasingly ridiculous (but cool) ways and get Snake out of trouble, I don't think this story gives us nearly enough time to get a grasp of why he's turned out this way, and leaves him feeling like he's just retreading old ground as a character. And from what I remember of MGR:R, it's ground he's gonna retread yet again. Far more egregious than Raiden's character regression, though, are the game's secondary antagonist team, the B&B squad - a team of oversexualized women in robot suits with no character beyond their incredibly disturbing, honestly overly dark and mean-spirited backstories. Their boss fights are too easy, and the way they're portrayed just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Everyone knows Kojima is bad at writing for women, but I think this is by far the biggest fumble. I would go into more depth about why they don't work, but I really can't, because they're given nothing to work with outside of just being deeply upsetting canon fodder for Snake to dispatch once per act. Something worth noting is that the back end of this game really carries it hard. The first half is solid enough, but they honestly feel a little drawn out and uneventful overall. Without the double-dose of well-executed fanservice and huge high stakes setpieces of Acts 4 and 5, and the contemplative character study in the game's 71 minute epilogue cutscene, the game would not be as good as I think it is. It sounds like a no-duh statement to say "without the second half the game wouldn't work as well", but I can't stress enough how crucial it is that the game's backend stuck the landing as well as it did, as it was tasked with wrapping up the entire saga up to that point. I need to give a special callout to the game's final boss and the segment immediately leading into it. When you play so many games a year and usually several at once, sometimes it's easy to lose track of the magic that the games can bring out sometimes, but those two segments were an experience that will sit with me for a very long time, maybe some of my favorite moments in a video game EVER.