You realize that 9 hours is almost as much as mgs2 and 3 combined? Its just that mgs4 has a lot more gameplay if the 21 hours is true.

That's what I was referring to. I don't remember MGS2 being very long at all. Overall, the ratio seems reasonable to me and I can always skip them if they annoy me (though I probably won't... I hate skipping cutscenes even if they're bad).

Well, it pretty much garauntees I won't buy this game, but that's simply indicative of my tastes. I'm sure it's a great thing for people who already enjoyed MGS' story and dialogue.

Kyros said: If true, I'm more disappointed at the overall total... 30 hours. ??? You people seem to have too much time 5-10 hours is too short, 15-20 hours is nice, 30 is long but any longer is almost certainly drawn out. This especially holds true for a cinematic game like MGS4 you can only draw out a storyline so much before it gets too thin and repetitive. More is not always better.

Yep. Unless it's an RPG (I usually play those over long periods of time off-and-on), any game over 25 hours usually starts to grate on my nerves.

We'll see how long this game really is... I almost always come in finishing a game ~20% faster than reviewers, give or take. 

Kyros said: If true, I'm more disappointed at the overall total... 30 hours. ??? You people seem to have too much time 5-10 hours is too short, 15-20 hours is nice, 30 is long but any longer is almost certainly drawn out. This especially holds true for a cinematic game like MGS4 you can only draw out a storyline so much before it gets too thin and repetitive. More is not always better.

Well the thing was that with Kojima's comments about 50GB not being enough, a lot of us were thinking that having a hell of a lot of content would justify that kind of size. Otherwise, there had better be a good reason that much data is being filled up by that game, since GTA IV apparently has a hell of a lot of content, but fit mostly on DVD9 (the exception being that the in-game TV shows can be full screen, since they are FMVs).

I like MGS story and cutscenes too...Gameplay is cool but gets boring. I wish I could skip the sneaking around and just have the story cutscenes and boss fights...

Link? You've been on about this before to an extent where it makes me think you're just someone's puppet account.

Sounds pretty good to me, especially if the previous games had only 4-5 hours of cutscenes (I haven't counted myself). Lots of story, even more of gameplay. I hope there's not too much gameplay. It's pretty boring to be just going from place A to place B if it takes too long. Unless if it is some sort of a passage or road, connecting two villages for instance. But even then I wouldn't like having too many phases like that. I guess it could be an excellent ratio ATM.

Who's really complaining about the story and cutscenes? If you're really not interested, you can always skip the cutscenes (since the first part of the series). There's still more to play than in most games if 21 hours is actually true.

That's why I can't wait for MGS4. How will snake defeat the The Beauty and the Beast Unit? It will be fun to play and watch.