Well, I just finished Act 2, and it's been pretty much what I'd expected.The ratio of movie to gameplay is a little boring at times, and the dialogue gets to be trying on my patience and/or sanity. "I am telling you something. Now I am telling it to you again in a slightly different way. Now I am using a metaphor to explain it in even simpler terms." Shut up already, I understood the first time, now make with the story, please. I'm officially convinced that Kojima could turn the book "Fun with Dick and Jane" into a 4 hour movie if he felt the inclination to do so.

It's definitely a pretty looking game. The gameplay is a step up from the older MGS games, though the controls and movement can still be occasionally infuriating. Whenever I try to go from standing to crouching while moving rather slowly and Snake decides to dive forward, I feel the urge to chuck the Dualshock through the screen.

Also in the "stuff I now remember bugging me about previous MGS games" would be Snake's voice. Hayter sounds like someone's 2-pack a day smoker grandfather doing an impression of Christian Bale doing his overly raspy Batman voice. I've found it far more enjoyable to re-perform Snake's dialogue to myself in my head in the voice of Lorenzo Music. (Garfield from the old cartoons.) Makes it far more tolerable, and works better than some of the other voices I've tried mentally replacing it with. (Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie from the Vacation movies, Christopher Walken, and Master Shake all were decent, but don't strike me as quite as funny as Garfield angrliy grumbling about everything.)

I am enjoying it despite the few issues I have with it. I'm kind of terrified of moving into the latter portions of the game where I'm guessing the cutscene tally ramps up, but it's the weekend, so what the hell else would I be doing instead? I'll probably post some more thorough impressions once I finish it.

If I remember right the end of act 3 was a monster. And of course, the ending.

But it's an extremely polished game, congrats on the purchase. If you played previous MGS games, you'll most likely love Act 4.

IF U SPOIL, DONT FORGET TO PUT A WARNING !!!

End of act 3 into act 4 cut scene lasts over an hour, but it is quite awesome.

Act 5 is mostly cut scenes

One of the best games ever made gets more (way late) backlash. Nice.

I enjoyed MGS4 (only one I've played) and thought many of the cutscenes depiction of action was nice (although it would have been nicer to play the action rather than watch it!) but the dialogue was often too laboured/slow and most cutscenes could have been way shorter. Still, saying that they at least showed more ambition than most story based games.

I could play MGS4 all day everyday for weeks. There is nothing boring about it. From the one player campaign with it's range of difficulties to the amazing online add on.

If you find stealth games boring, then maybe you should have bought something else to occupy or stimulate your mind. I hear Tom Clancy games have a good balance of gameplay and cut scenes. check out e-bay, just searching for these games online should me more stimulating for you... :)

The OP could just be geniunely annoyed by certian aspects of the game. It is possible for people to not think MGS4 is one of the best games ever you know.

I just started the game over again and am loving it. The first time through, I rushed through it (beat it in 18 hours) and didn't take the stealth and CQC too seriously b/c I wanted to see how the story unfolded. I've even been watching the cutscenes. When you play like this the pacing of the game seems to make a lot more sense, although I totally agree just about every scene could be cut down. To me, the game is like an epic movie such as Cleopatra or Ben Hur. Both could've been cut down considerably, but in their actualized form they still work damn well and represent a leap forward in movie making.

Did I say I found "stealth games" boring? I was implying I found it boring that I'm sitting around watching cutscenes that could be 1/3 as long if they didn't feel the need to be so repetitive that my handicapped cousin can follow them. I said I enjoy the gameplay, I just would, you know, like a chance to utilize it.

I love how if anything is said that's less than glowing, even though I said I AM ENJOYING IT DESPITE MY ISSUES WITH IT, people feel the need to go on the defensive. Snake's voice sucks to me. That's not a fact, it's an opinion. It's also not enough to make me hate the game. But when, towards the end of act 2, I sit through a 15 minute cutscene of *ahem*someone*ahem* in combat, then I'm given control of the game for, literally, less than a minute before the act ends and I'm sent back into another 45 minutes of end of Act 2 into beginning of Act 3 cutscenes, it gets boring TO ME.