I picked up my copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I played about two hours give or take before putting it down to fix some dinner and watch The Cutting Edge (yes, watch The Cutting Edge, I'm weak like that.)
First things first, mainly because you have no choice: there's an eight minute install during which Snake smokes a cigarette and the game doles out some dollops of wisdom.
Once that's done, the game is a bit slow to hit its stride. Shifting back and forth between short moments of user control and cut-scenes, the flow is off. I would have rather they just let me play or given me a cutscene. Continually going back and forth did nothing but frustrate me. Soon enough, though, Snake is finally given over to my total control.
There aren't too many surprises at this point, mostly because all the videos I've watched in anticipation for the game have been culled from these first few hours of play. The bad? Nothing yet I didn't really expect. The good? Nothing has been spoiled from deeper into the game. A good trade off, I'd say.
During my all too brief foray into the Metal Gear Online beta, I never really got a good handle on the shooting controls. I've got a better grasp of them now, though I still end up hitting the wrong buttons to either ready my weapon or fire it. My struggles haven't resulted in fatalities (yet) so I'll file that away under "No Harm No Foul".
I know that the internet has whispered about some seriously long cutscenes. So far, I've only run into one sorta long cutscene. It wasn't uninteresting, as things go, but it was a bit long, for my taste. I didn't time it though. No, it wasn't forty minutes.
Obviously, I've only gotten my first mouthful of the game. I'll be back for more. But not until after the pamchenko. Toe pick!
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