Game Style Reviews: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Gamestyle Write's:

Despite fanboy wailing to the contrary, Metal Gear Solid 4 is not really the exclusive title the PlayStation 3 needed. That's not to say it won't remain on Sony's platform indefinitely - the sheer amount of references to two of Microsoft's biggest rivals are sure to put paid to that rumour - but despite the blockbuster presentation, obsessive fan base and considerable day 1 sales, it isn't a system seller in the same way, say, Gran Turismo has always been. Single-minded, self-obsessed and utterly without peer anywhere in the gaming universe, Metal Gear has always needed to be its director's medium first, a million-dollar franchise second. As contradictory and aloof as all its predecessors, MGS4 is the perfect expression of a unique gaming ideology stuck stubbornly in the days when "120 minutes of FMV" was a selling point, yet feels as fresh and as vital today as any of its peers. It's a bewildering, outdated mess of a console-defining singular vision. 9/10