Metal Gear Solid 4: half-movie, half-game

Metal Gear Solid 4 combines game and movie in a ground-breaking FPS.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

(Konami. PS3, R16)

We know the gaming industry has been nudging the movie industry in the race for the entertainment dollar - global video game industry

revenue was US$40 billion in 2007

- but here comes the most amazing example yet of how cinematic a game can be.

The Metal Gear franchise has been delivering the goods - and pushing the envelope - in the decade since it was first released on the original PlayStation.

But if you want to see how good the PS3 can be, the big exclusive title

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

, along with the recently reviewed

Battlefield: Bad Company

, is the place to start.

In some ways, Metal Gear feels as if it has been developed more as a showcase for the new console which, complex to program for, has been slow to produce a solid flow of compelling titles.

Making use of the console's horsepower and its Blu-ray player stunning visuals in full 1080p high-def, this stealth action game feels more like you are playing a movie.

Cinematic cut scenes can go for as long as 10 minutes - an effective and cool way of advancing the plot. In between these, you get to do the usual Metal Gear stuff - sneaking around with cool weapons from silenced sniper scopes to missile launchers and special tranquiliser guns. A new high-tech twist is that you can't use a dead soldier's gun without the computer chip and unlock ID combination.

The movie scenes seem to take up about half the game, which may be a little frustrating for those used to pushing past cut scenes - but there is a skip feature.

For me, the scenes helped to immerse me in the game, and made me feel like I was in a movie. But gamers seem divided about whether this means gameplay suffers by taking second place. One California weekly paper slammed the experiment as "a

shameless, self-indulgent exercise

in wanton artistic excess" with the cut scenes, lasting as long as a TV episode, reducing gameplay to be mere "mediocre and routine."

Yes, tough for purists to accept but those of us who have paid for expensive big-screen HD TV sets and a PS3 to deliver hi-def expect a new visual experience in gaming at some point. Like it or not - and I love it - this is the way games will go from here on in, as we demand those jaw-dropping visuals. It's just that it may be some time before other games can get to the same calibre of this one, created by

legendary producer Hideo Kojima.

And Kojima definitely sees movies and games colliding further. In a

recent interview

he said: "When entertainment becomes digital, there can be a great collaboration between games and other kinds of entertainment like movies or even novels. All these things might form together to form a coherent medium."

So with this Metal Gear, we have the usual endless dialogue, great character development, stunning visuals, impressive physics and shooting mechanics and you can choose from a huge range of upgradeable weapons with Debrin Points - and even take to the battle online.

The story: set in 2014, chaos rules around the world with war everywhere driving the economies, especially in the Middle East and Africa where mercenary corporations are scrambling to even more war so that their huge economic windfall grows.

An aging Solid Snake is out of retirement for one final mission to save the world including killing Liquid Ocelot, the head of one of the biggest corporations but Snake is up against some tough enemies including a bunch of half-women half-beast flying machines and the usual array of Liquids loyal assault troops.

No wonder several key US gaming reviewers have already nailed this as a 10 out of 10 title. There's no wriggle room in that sort of rating: it means it's flawless.

I've kept playing it, knowing it's damn good, but have to wonder if there's something wrong with my review unit, as after six hours straight gaming Snake refused to obey my controls and I was forced to Quit Game and restart the PS3.

Late delivery and slow loading times (for all the gorgeous graphics) each time the game is inserted again could be overlooked. The reality is this is indeed a masterful piece of game to cap the franchise and inevitably will be one of the best of this year or perhaps an icon in console history.

But if you just want a straight stealth shoot-up game without the movie stuff, like the Californian reviewer, you'll have to look elsewhere.

MadGamer's rating: 9.5 / 10

So what next for Metal Gear? Well. there's a

movie with Christian Bale

rumoured to be in line for the challenging role.

And there are already hints about

Metal Gear Solid 5

which may be a prequel.