4.5/5 ★ – heyitscarter's review of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

The Metal Gear legacy is a complicated one. One that takes big swings, asks big questions, and often - delivers big answers. The series' decade-long run from '98 to 2008 up until the release of this game tackles so much - battling the shackles of fate. Righting the sins of our fathers. Making sense of an unjust world. Forging ourselves, our ideals, our loyalties - and understanding that everything is by design. That those who hold these shackles do so only for their own gain. These themes are as relevant on a metatextual level today as they were throughout the 'aughts. And they were personally relevant to Kojima, too - as he continually tried to end this franchise year in and out. I truly believe Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is his opus. In this game he delivers resonant closure to all of these themes both contextual and metatextual, but most importantly - human. This game is genuinely moving and hauntingly beautiful in a way no other video game has been. In MGS:4, Kojima delivers his characters and world closure. He delivers us closure. But perhaps most interestingly, he delivers himself closure. From a gameplay perspective; I prefer it to V's more high-speed, fast-paced environment-sprawling action. Guns of the Patriots opts for a slower Snake in a living environment where you can truly feel like a fly on the wall, observing the battlefield as you sneak through it. Its systems design feels like a natural evolution to the franchise's heritage - primarily the octocamo as a perfect modernization of MGS:3's camouflage system. The MK. II feels like a smart take on the espionage-focused kit in MGS2. The gunplay feels as surgically clean as it does in V, but is not nearly as powerful a tool in your belt, so you never feel as if you can take out an entire army by yourself. A lot of critics say that this game is all cutscenes, and I agree it is a shame we don't get to spend more time in this incredible pre-Fox engine; but I don't mind when the narrative and characters are as compelling as they've ever been. This would be a five-star review...except, the game did let me down in one regard. The B&B core has not aged well. The fights aren't bad, but unlike their counterparts in 1, 2, or 3 - they feel like an afterthought to the rest of the game; and it's made worse by their flimsy, torture-porn backstories and weird, gross hyper-sexualization that was prevalent across the entire industry at this time. And I feel like I should be clear - sex in your video game is fine. Pressing a button to look down Naomi's blouse is objectification, certainly. Shaking your DualShock to make Rose's tits bounce is pervy. It's weird, it's gross - but it's something we can live with among consenting adults. It's a whole different level of gross when you are told in graphic detail about how these women were sexually and physically abused, while at the very same time, the game is objectifying them, lingering along their nude bodies while they moan. Making it an objective to avoid their physical advances. It's shameless to an embarrassing degree and a black stain on an otherwise genuinely beautiful game.