MGS4 had an awesome(albeit not flawless) story IMO

Kojima is a perfectionist. He is always striving to get better. While I am not the biggest fan of his story telling style, I respect the man because he never rests on his laurels. Plus MGS1 is still one of my favorite games, can't hate the guy that was behind it.

He had to tie up all of the story so I was kind of expecting lots of cut-scenes. Still, I liked MGS3's ratio of cut-scenes and gameplay more. I also didn't like how a certain two characters became too over the top near the end, it was like watching the cut-scenes of Twin Snakes again.

Lastly, there were things he could have cut out to lessen the waiting.

I didn't mind the cutscenes, but I can see how other's would.

One of the chief reasons MGS is so unique is the lengthy cutscenes. It's very much a story driven franhcise and the cutscenes are there to advance the plot at key intervals. They may be long, and sometimes boring, but they're definitely needed to really create the sense of depth and plot the series holds.

There is no other game like it.

I do however like the way a lot of the cutscenes in MGS4 were interactive, it shows how Kojima is trying to evolve the gameplay and storytelling of the series while still remaining true to it's roots.

It was nice to get see some images of a past character or event through the flashbacks, but that's pretty much it in the way of interactivity... Unless you want to count zooming in to look at breasts.

Everything in moderation. I know a lot of people like the cut scenes so it's a personal opinion but I find it gets in the way of the game. (I don't have a PS3 or MGS4 but I did buy a PS2 and one of the MGS games which I later returned because I was extremely disappointed). A game is supposed to be interactive and I agree with CliffyB that MGS has too much passive entertainment. If I want to see 45 minutes of Japanese animation I'll watch a Manga video.

Kojima is a pioneer and a perfectionist - he will never be truly happy with his games. Hopefully he can find a way to explain the game plot in an interactive manner.

FYI, it's called anime.

Also, there is a trend that may or may not notice.  The games that tend to be criticized for the lengthy cutscenes happen to have been developed in Japan and the games that use interactiveity to advance the story are made in the West

You can also switch to a first person view during a few cutscenes, giving you a different view of a character or object. I'm not saying it's revolutionary or even the most amazing thing to hit gaming, but it's interesting none the less, and it's a unique feature that, so far as I'm aware, other games have yet to implement.

I was most certainly counting the aforementioned breast zooming.

teehee...

mayb he means more QTEs