The watchable sections were interspersed with a variety ofdifferent mission

 Other Metal Pipes However, being of the more casual persuasion with games these days,it wasn't surprising then that my early enthusiasm for the gamestarted to wane in the first hour. As I progressed through theintroductory filmic episodes I realised I was woefully ill-equippedto get very far here - I simply didn't have enough time. This wasmade more frustrating by some ingenious and intriguing touches thatmade me want to learn more. Flash backs for example, were availableat certain points in the narrative. Pressing a particular buttoncut the footage to a grainy image from Snake's past, and helpedalleviate my lack of knowledge of the story. These half-secondclips cleverly connected me to the characters being talked about,or the distant history that was referenced. The watchable sections were interspersed with a variety ofdifferent mission based levels. It really does feel that wayaround, as MGS4 stretches the balance between watching and playingto absolute breaking point. The game never seems to quite commit tobeing either a movie with gameplay or a game with cut-scenes.Either way it is certainly nice to get to direct the actionyourself after watching so much character acting. The player directed portions are played largely in third-person,and have similarities to other games that obviously drew heavily onprevious games in the Metal Gear cannon. Splinter Cell and GhostRecon spring to mind for example. There is an ever increasing arrayof weapons and equipment to help you on your way, not to mentionremote controlled robots, bionic eye patches and stun knives. Buthaving said all this, we still haven't really got to the heart ofwhat sort of game MGS4 actually is. In a nutshell what we have here is a tactical sneaking-shootinggame. The term sneak 'em up seems to sum up the general playmechanic pretty nicely, although as you progress there is moreemphasis on the sneaking than the shooting. Usually the mosteffective way through a level is to spend time planning camouflage,enemy line of sight, and your visibility profile. Charge forwardhoping to get away with Gears of War's run-and-gun stop-and-poptactics and you will soon come to a sticky end. To reduce this game down to its constituent elements is, likeglossing over the substantial back-story, is to miss the point.MGS4 is significant because of what it is as a whole. Where othertitles fail, it coherently brings together some impressivedisparate pieces, such as filmic graphics, pixel perfect gameplayand believable voice work, in such a way as to give it the air ofpoignancy and meaning. As a newcomer to the franchise, I was unsurprisingly left a littlecold. Much of the gameplay I had seen elsewhere. I didn't find thesneaking all that much fun, and I simply didn't have time (orpatience) for the lengthy cut-scenes. But above and beyond all thisI could tell there was a great game here. It was just a game forsomeone else, not me. Or rather, I should say not for me now. Oncethe family are a little more self sufficient and I can sit backwith the missus and relax of an evening, perhaps I'll find againthat strange land called disposable time, and within it conquer myjourney back to these hardcore classic.