I beat the game earlier today, took like 20 hours but I'd say 70% of that was cutscenes. Not sure what's the actual length though because I left the game open a few times while I was doing something else and I didn't really play around much so it could be more or less for other players. One thing though, I definitely suggest playing the game on hard difficulty because normal was just way too easy.

Without really spoiling the story, I do think it gets better after the first two acts. At first the game keeps introducing all these old characters and the plot doesn't really progress all that much and it's kind of setting the scene for rest of the game, explaining some stuff you need to know to understand rest of the story and just introducing you to the new Snake and naturally there are some important story segments too. GZ is kinda right that it feels like there are some pointless cinemas and the pacing could seriously be better (this has been problem with all the MGS games though, nothing new here) and it's filled with the usual MGS gibberish but that didn't really bother me too much, to be honest. The cinemas are pretty much the best in the whole videogame industry and coupled with the amazing visuals and really strong voice acting and soundtrack, it's a great experience even though some cutscenes are a bit too long, even for me. There are some big twists but what's different about MGS4, compared to other games in the series, is that it doesn't really have some new shocking plot twist in every second cutscene and the story itself could even be a bit boring if you haven't played earlier games because seriously, it really does focus on wrapping up pretty much all the unresolved issues. So it follows a more logical path (logical for a MGS game, anyway) instead of trying to rely on woahing the player over and over again. I think MGS fans are going to love it but it might not appeal that much to other people. Despite its shortcomings (pacing, too much fanservice in first half of the game, some completely ridiculous cutscenes), I liked the story a lot and it did get much better in second half of the game, at least for me. I suppose I just enjoyed understanding the story for once and I just loved how Snake's character was handled from the beginning to the end. I also appreciated some of the running gags, especially the Mantis one.

After beating the game, I think it probably is my favorite Metal Gear game afterall. Act 4 had much more sneaking around and like I already mentioned, the story got more interesting too. The gameplay is easily best in the series and even though it's more action-oriented, you can still just stealth for the whole game if that's how you decide to play it, and there are definitely different ways to play through the game and I think it can make the game feel clearly different. Though even so, given the new enemy types and vehichle sequences, it's still definitely more action-oriented, no matter how you play it. Another thing worth praising are the boss fights. The only boss fight I didn't like that much was Raging Raven or whatever that flying beast was called, all the other ones rocked. The gameplay was just awesome, and I wish there was more areas like the one in act 4 and just... more playable content. But even so, I think the game felt complete so I'm not really complaining.

I was really looking forward to MGS4 and I wasn't disappointed. On the other hand, I was kind of expecting something different, or something more, and I can't really tell why. I feel like I'm satisfied but at the same time something is missing. I wasn't completely happy with everything and like every game, MGS4 has its flaws but seriously, I can completely understand why this game would get a 10. Some people might be disappointed in some of the decisions Kojima made, like it having more action-oriented gameplay or multiple, mostly linear locations or that the story focuses on unanswered questions from other MGS titles, but overall, given the amount of variety the game offers in terms of gameplay, the amazing visuals and audio and how polished everything is, it's a nearly perfect for what it tries to be, it's just that you either like it or then you don't.

another one of my tired 5:30am posts

EDIT: Oh ya, a few things to those who have beaten the game:

1. Who injected Snake with the new FOXDIE? Was it Drebin despite what he said or someone else? I don't think this was answered.

2. I still don't really get why Liquid didn't try to stop Snake from destroying GW. Did he know that the virus which Naomi created would actually destroy all the AIs? I didn't fully get that part and it's kinda bugging me. It seems like Kojima wanted to make Ocelot this badass dude who planned everything from the very beginning and he anticipated that if he lets Liquid's personality take over him, something like that would happen. But it just doesn't seem very plausible to me. For example, if he knew about the virus, why wouldn't he destroy Patriots' AI with just Naomi?

3. Since it seems like the AI wanted to kill Big Boss for the third time, and the only way for him to wake up would be for the AI to be destroyed, does that mean the AI planned its own destruction? Naturally this isn't what Zero originally had in mind.

jesus christ 70%

that's pretty ridiculous!  having a game take SO LONG TO MAKE and then having it just be 5 hours of gameplay is crazy!

Yeah I'm kinda pissed, but weren't all the more recent Metal Gear games kinda short? Not just that but most of the "current-gen" games have been quite short.

Yeah I think I beat MGS2 in like 15 hours, but that was on easy, and I think 12-13 of those 15 hours were actual gameplay, so having MGS4 be longer and yet somehow have DRASTICALLY LESS gameplay (seriously I thought the 90-minute cutscene thing was all just hyperbole; I can't believe there's really only 4-5 hours of gameplay) is still a pretty big departure.  Although with that said, I never played MGS3, so idk maybe it had a substantially more cutscenes than gameplay, too.  I feel like the original MGS was a decently long game, but I also remember there being a ludicrous amount of cutscenes in it, too (once when I was fourteen, I figured I wanted to know the story but didn't feel like playing through the game, so watching the cutscenes would be a short fix aaaaaand two hours later with no end in sight I gave up on that idea), so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by much of this.  Still, 3/4 of a game being cutscenes is pretty drastic!

Wait, you mean 8-10 hours total, or just the gameplay with the cutscenes adding another ~10 hours?