The thing about MGS4 is that it is much more segmented than any of the previous MGS games. It's more or less like playing separate episodes, complete with "intermissions" during inter-act installations (my one and only real gripe with MGS4). I would have preferred to see the 4GB install limit ditched and just have all 5 acts ready, regardless of HDD space.

Each act varies so much that it is almost like playing in a different game every time with the same game engine/inventory. The game engine, inventory system and camo system have all been refined from MGS3 although the basic mechanics are pretty similar (MGS4 still plays the smoothest in terms of controls, etc. by a wide margin IMO)

And yes, everything from MGS3 ties in with MGS4, particularly Act 3 and the conclusion.

yeah it made me play mgs2 and mgs1 because the storyline is so good

MGS3 was the most emotional MGS imo, MGS4 just oblierated it though, when all the MGS3 characters started going, and the memories from MGS3, how connected you were to those characters, honestly took me down to tears..

I might try it one day...

MGS3 was far better than MGS4 in story, but I prefer MGS4 in the end for the gameplay.

MGS 3 and 4 are both phenominal!

 all MGS's (except TTS) are phenominal, but MGS2 gets a -1 because of Raiden. and it's hard to decide which MGS has the best story/Soundtrack.

I was over at a friends house and his little sister (13yo) was playing that game. I was underwhelmed. It's possible that if I had played the entire game I may have been able to appreciate it. I never could get into the series. The dialog is way too over the top.

This is also a valid complaint. This series would be improved fantastically by the world's most ruthless copy editor leaping into the script with a meat cleaver.

Maybe not so much over the top as just plain over excessive. I've seen far too many films with far wackier, less plausible plots and dialog.

It makes you realize that video games have the potential for the most bloated dialogs due to the fact that cut scenes are often used as story filler/game expanders. They tend to be expanded and milked to increase overall play time in the opposite way film and television shows are edited to keep play length under control.

Not all that different from many novels that spend so much time on expanding prose that much of it starts to feel like overly descriptive filler to expand the word/page count.

I'm in the minority, but I was glad when more costly, larger production values resulted in such story based games being paced more like films with the addition of the main playable segments of the game, because it meant I didn't have to set aside well over ten hours just to see how the story ended.

Pacing is always a tough part of game design. You're never going to have what everyone considers to be an "ideal" length. Some want their value (won't buy a game if it doesn't give them X hours of entertainment) and some just want to be able to say they finished the game without it taking a major investment of time.