Well. You're all aware that MGS4 has been out for some time.

I've been a massive Metal Gear fan since MGS was released on the original Playstation (I still play it now), I've even played the original Metal Gear on DOS (The 1990 release, port of the 1987 game). I love the series, the batshit insane setting, I found the whole thing very immersive.

It is, in my opinion, one of the few great stealth games that're floating around - It suggests that you don't go around guns blazing, but at the same time (Awkward controls aside) doesn't restrict you from doing just that. This is where MGS4 started niggling at me.

My first play, ever, of the game and I wasn't entirely sure I was still playing the same series - I'd meandered around shooting at everything (And I mean everything) without much consequence. Sure, it still looked the same, and the characters sounded similar (Seriously, has Snake swallowed a few bags of gravel since last time he talked?), but it wasn't the same.

It wasn't a bad feeling, but it felt very out of place, because Snake is clearly older (Yay advanced clone aging) and running around throwing more bullets than Rambo really wasn't something I expected to see of his character at this stage. Of course it gets explained away in one of the many, many cut-scenes, but it still doesn't feel right.

Coming into this game without being familier with, or at least aware of, the previous games is going to leave you scratching your head and wondering what the hell is going on, and what the writer was on when it was written. It's normal to feel that way when you come into a game series that's been going for the best part of 20 years. I expect, though, that this will put off a fair few players, since very few people want to 'catch up' before they play a game.

The controls, as I mentioned before, are awkward. There's been so much crammed into this game in terms of things to do that many of the controls are doubled up, which is frustrating (For me at least). I've lost count of the number of times I've gone to stab an enemy in the neck, and pressed square, instead of unequiping my weapon and pressing R1. That's more to do with me playing far too much MGS in years gone by than anything, though. It has been said that it takes too long to get into a 'shooting' stance. I disagree, though. I didn't find any issues with using the 'cross hair' (Which is more of a circle), which is pretty much only delayed by your R1 pushing abilities. Obviously Triangle takes you into first person mode, but I've found the only times for that to be worth the effort are firing the FIM-92A, Javelin, and the sniper rifles, occasionally the M4.

I've been playing the game for a week or two now, and have gone through it a number of times in an effort to get some of the cooler stuff (Stealth suit please), which is damned hard to get. The system in this game for weapons is unlike any of the previous games. Now there's a 'weapon store' system, which basically lets you buy guns and ammo, which is all well and good, but weapons that you scavenge off troops are ID-locked, which you have to pay to get removed using the games 'points' system. It's not costly to get things unlocked, but it's in no way similar to the old systems of grab'n'go.

There are, as before, unlocks for completing the game, which is what I'm working on at the moment. There seems to be a collection of certain criteria you need to meet to get certain items, as even though the game has been completed on the hardest setting, I still haven't got the Big Boss mask. It's not very giving about what you unlock and where. Damned game. However, I suppose that mystery is what keeps me playing the game.

One thing that strikes me about the gameplay being very open (You can shoot everything, or you can sneak around), although clunky, it is very easy to replay the game using slightly different tactics and get a very different outcome. For example, replace the standard guns with tranquilizer guns, and it's a very different game indeed. Some sections are nigh on impossible with just a tranq gun, but hell, they're fun too.

I don't know why, but I am enjoying replaying the game, even though it's pretty much the same thing over and over again, and you're not able to skip some of the cut-scenes, even though you've seen them a half dozen times before.

The Altair costume, while useless, is hilarious, and I would suggest you unlock it. Nothing like wandering around in that bad boy