Sneaking in Late

I grabbed a PS3 with the MGS 4 system bundle during its release week a few months back, but only now have I sat down with the epic game packed with my console. Life made it hard to dive into a long game and eager to play through something start to finish, I snagged Heavenly Sword. An enjoyable, quick play that let me see some of what the system can do gaming-wise when I wasn't taking in Blu-ray films' beauty.

MGS4 SPOILERS

Finally, I settled in to stealth action my way through Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. A series vet of the Solid generation at least (MGS 1-3), the trailers taunted my mind for months with how gorgeous the game looks while equally amazing changes to the controls were less hyped yet significant. It's much easier to accidentally slip into Rambo mode instead of running when spotted. I blew through the first half of the game's second act (South America) by continually getting discovered by PMC soldiers then fighting my way by. Previous games left you pretty much waiting to die when your presence was revealed. The resulting low ration count does suggest stealth is still the road to walk (as well as telling of my averager shooter skill).

Soon as I'm wondering where all the need for stealth went, reverting back to sneaking makes the rest of Act 2 a less nerve-racking (Where's the next ration already?!) experience. This is followed by a very CIA espionage movie feeling third act that drives home how different every act will be. Currently, I'm just digging into the unexpected return to Shadow Moses with deja vu all over the place. Amazing to see the old locations graphically polished to PS3 level as Snake comes down the hill in Alaska while MGS 1's end song, "The Best is Yet to Come, " plays. That's a superb gaming moment.

Cannot predict where it will all go exactly as I play roughly the last quarter of the game. Maybe it feels quick because I know this is Solid Snake's last game from what creator Hideo Kojima has said, but this installment is flying by compared with how long it took me to work through any of the previous titles.

"...just an old killer..."