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Editor's note: many spoilers lie ahead for the entire plot of Metal Gear Solid 4.Ever since the success of Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima had avoided making the kind of sequel typical of the games industry. MGS2 intricately paralleled MGS with a self-reflexive structure that collapsed by design: the first postmodern video game. MGS3 avoided the problem entirely by being a prequel. But with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the pressure was finally too much to bear.
Since the original's success and MGS2's spot of rug-pulling, many of the series' obsessive fans had demanded the return of favourite characters, especially Solid Snake - and now there was the added complication of MGS3's 1960s cast. MGS4 is where, for good and ill, Kojima stopped running from these expectations. On the surface, it gives the fans what they want to the point of fan-service, and ties up almost every loose end. But, as always with Kojima, there's a sting in the tail.
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