Metal Gear IV: biggest PS3 game yet?

We're installing the latest -- and maybe greatest -- Metal Gear Solid game, Guns of the Patriots, and series star Snake is taking a cigarette break. In fact, as if to underline the uncompromising nature of the game, Snake chainsmokes on-screen throughout the game's ten-minute install sequence. Like so much of its creator Hideo Kojima's other work, MGS4 is what it is, and if you don't like it, well, it probably wasn't the game for you anyway.

Perhaps this attitude explains the mixed reviews the game's been receiving. Far from the lockstep full-marks lavished on Grand Theft Auto IV, a couple of early European reviews dinged the game significantly for its sprawling, incomprehensible plot, and interminable cutscenes that stretch out to almost feature film-like proportions.

But then, to the Metal Gear faithful, those things are part of the fun. Most early reviews agree, including the influential Japanese publication Famitsu, which awarded the game a rarely seen perfect score. In the US, Empire Online did the same, and while most major specialist outlets are still sitting on their write-ups, we're confident they'll roll out similarly glowing assessments.

Regardless, it's going to be a huge hit. It's even driving sales of the $400 PlayStation 3 itself -- plenty of consumers, even including one Yahoo! Games staffer, are buying the machine solely because it's the only machine that'll play it. A special edition of the PS3, available exclusively through publisher Konami's web site, offers a gunmetal gray finish and a copy of the game for a hundred-dollar premium. Hundreds of game stores will open their doors at midnight on Thursday morning, to hand out copies of the game to eager purchasers. Even though it's only appearing on the console with the lowest market share in the US, it's bound to top the charts.

Snake's still smoking. Watch this space for the next round of critic scores -- or, if you've already made up your mind, call your local game store to find a midnight opening. Even if you're not keen, you might want to get ready for a workday full of bleary-eyed colleagues and a sudden outbreak of absenteeism. By the time the smoke has cleared, not only will Snake have further cemented his status as one of video gaming's most valuable characters, he might just have taken a bite out of Nintendo's market lead, too.

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