MGS4 - Great, yet disappointing ?

Just to be clear, i consider myself to be a big MGS-fan. I didn`t buy a PS3 until MGS4 came out, and was actually going to wait for a potential price drop at E3 this year before i did, but when i saw the MGS4+PS3 bundle, well....but enough about that. I should try to make some sense to the headline.

Just a fair warning for those of you that hasn`t played trough MGS4 or any other MGS-game before it :  DO NOT READ THIS POST AS IT HAS SPOILERS IN IT !!!!!

Last chance to turn around. DO NOT READ MORE IF YOU HAVN`T COMPLETED MGS4.  Sorry, but i would`ve hated if someone ruined the game for me, so...

I`m not sure if i need to say so much about why MGS4 is great, as that`s something most know already. For me great gameplay and story is the best selling points of MGS-games, even though some of the best graphics on the systems they`ve been on, movie live soundtrack and sounds etc can appeal too ;) MGS4 approves on a lot of gameplay elements of the previous games. The free camera works great, the aiming system is some of the best i`ve tried, the new camouflage system is easy etc. From a gameplay perspective i don`t think MGS4 fails (hell you can even listen to an I-Pod while you play, great stuff).

The story in MGS4 however, just isn`t as good as in MGS1 or MGS3, and in a such a story driven game as MGS it needs to be well. I can understand complaints about the length of some cut-scenes, as the first encounter with Drebin and the "Guns of the Patriots" one (although one of the best in the game, it`s just too long with a lot of repeated info being shown) demonstrate,  even though i didn`t think that was the issue for me.

I just didn`t get as excited about the story line as i hoped i would be (as i did with  MGS1 and MGS3). In a way it`s stupid to criticize a story which is better than almost any other game out there, and also makes a lot more effort than most to actually tell a proper story within their game, but as a MGS fan i would claim the MGS games is in a league of their own, and it`s better to compare them with each other than other games.

It`s a bit hard to say what went wrong with MGS4 story, but i do think the whole  Patriots mess Kojima got himself into, hasn`t been the easiest to get out of. It`s just taken too far with AI`s controlling nearly everything in the world ??. I think if it was "just" the war economy that would`ve been more than enough to believe, and yeah i know it`s fictional, but... I also think the whole Liquid-Ocelot could`ve been more interesting if the struggle between the two could`ve been intensified, instead of what happened. It feels strange to say it would`ve made more sense if Ocelot`s arm had actually been possessed by Liquid, but i think that could`ve resorted in a more interesting story (if that makes any sense).

The Ending wasn`t as good as i expected either and was too much "let`s bring back the dead and now everything`s fine" (perhaps inspired by Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or something, but it didn`t work here).  I actually think an ending with Snake dying would`ve been better too, even though perhaps Kojima let it end the way it did ( just like MGS1) to open up for a MGS5 if the fans didn`t like it.

As it seems, everyone seems to be very happy with it, so maybe i`ve just gotten old and grumpy like Snake and this blog is just an overlong cut-scene. I`m not trying to say MGS4 is a bad game by any means. I just feel MGS1 and MGS3 is better games than it overall and that MGS4 ends up as the third best game in the series. For me that`s slightly disappointing. I`m curious to hear what other fans think, so if you think i`m an idiot, let me hear it.