Finished on Solid Normal, Eagle rating. | Honestly... I kind of expected more. But MGS4 ties its loose ends pretty tightly.

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this one - more than anything, it just feels like closure and little else. It's an ending to the series and a beginning to a new chapter for Snake, but on its own, it does little to make it comparable to the first two MGS titles. Gameplay wise, it's the best MGS has ever been. But story-wise, it lacks a seriously inspired creative vision, and relies too much on what's already been established - like the Star Wars Episode 3 of the franchise.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting something to change, and my version of this is playing Ubisoft RPGs over and over again and believing in my heart of hearts that the next one will be the one to break the cycle. And man, Avatar: The Frontiers of Pandora had me hook, line and sinker at first. I'm hardly an Avatar fan, but the movies are some sexy ol' eye candy, and this really manages to capture that same visual sauce.

But when the intro is over and you're released into Pandora, the visage drops and the horror begins. Oh, it's just a little magical Navi detective vision. What harm could it do? Wait a minute, these mystical sky plants that make me parkour to reach them act a lot like radio towers. I guess it's just one element. Huh, my weapons feel about as impactful as nerf guns and enemies are exactly the same except with an arbitrary level number above their head which means they tank more damage? Strange. And before you know it, boom, you're back in that cycle of trudging around bored out of your mind completing menial tasks to check off pointless icons from your map. I gave it 6 hours, but it's hard to keep going when the whole thing is just Far Cry except now you're fighting evil spacemen and purple rhinos, and bases are just massive oil wells.

Respect to Ubisoft for trying some new things; I do like how the game encourages exploring more frequently and figuring out the lay of the land. But on the other hand, the game is so linear and goal-driven that most of the time you're just asked to wander somewhere and talk to someone, but the game gives you such crap directions that it's actively not fun to play with navigation hints turned off. If you're looking for a pretty game to test out on your OLED, it looks fantastic, but outside of that its just more Far Cry but without Giancarlo Esposito keeping you a wee bit engaged with the promise of randomly turning up and monologuing at you for three minutes straight.