FINALLY finished Metal Gear Solid 4. The ending was very bitter sweet. There are few endings to some characters I found particularly cringe worthy (Meryl and Johnny being married), but despite all the dislikes I've heard towards the ending for Snake, I really liked it. I think this was a very good conclusion for Snake. It pretty much implies that death is indeed near Snake, but Snake wants to live the rest of his life in peace so his legacy will carry on before his death. Just ending the game with Snake killing himself would really upset me. We see Snake, an old man, knowing his time is short but we see him actually try to reach a purpose with the very little time he has left and I think THAT is a good ending for Solid Snake fans.
...As for the game itself. It was okay. Aside from the good conclusion, there were a lot of really odd plot decisions that I didn't get. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these plot elements were last minute decisions by Konami The whole Ocelot being Liquid to fool the Patriots bs, and Big Boss coming back to life using parts of Liquid and Solidus.
One problem I had with the game is it really likes to 'show off'. What I mean by this is the game is so sucked up in itself of being a conclusion that it ignores many segments where they could put gameplay. "OH look how Old Snake is now! He even has a stress meter."
I'm sure it comes as no surprise, gameplay is little in this game, and that's MGS 4's biggest sin. It really is upsetting they model all these guns and give you a huge arsenal of weapons to use.... only so you can use them for maybe 3-4 hours worth of gameplay. Otherwise the game is probably an 8/10 for me as a Metal Gear fan.
Anyways I should be finishing up my Metal Gear Marathon with Portable Ops and Peace Walker. Then I'm all caught up!