Decent review. My opinion is that MSG4's greatest strength, is also it's greatest weakness. This game, I whole-heartedly believe was crafted for the fans. Period. It's comparable to never having heard of JRR Tolkien or any of his writings, then sitting down to watch 'Return of the King'. It's an amazing movie on it's own, full of spectacle and a beautifully woven story. But without the knowledge of the previous films(story) you miss out on so much, it will leave you questioning what the hype was about. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the game. In ALL aspects. There are points in it, especially the Fourth Act, that literally filled me with heartfelt nostalgia. But for those without a relatively strong familiarity of the prior games, you'll get the gist of what's going on-but you won't have a rich sense of, "OH MY GOD! I GET it now". Game play, I believe feels just slightly off balance, but not enough to hurt the game. I'm on my third play-through, and I think It's just because Kojima throws EVERY possible type of game mechanic into this game so just as you grow comfortable with one way of playing (BAMF!) your playing a rail-shooter (BAMF!) 3rd-Person action (BAMF!) and so on... The loading is present but, once again, for the FANS the initial 8 minute load, if your like me your sitting there staring at what's going on on the screen and salivating at what's to come. The short "now loading" moments never really seemed inexorable to me and I wasn't affected by the between mission load times(3 minutes) mostly because of ALL the game gives you throughout. To close, this game may be one of the greatest pieces of fan service ever. Thanks to Kojima for giving such a stellar ending to those who have followed his work from the beginning.
