Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Playstation 3, 2008)

It's been a story nearly twenty years in the making, and now it is coming to a close.
The Metal Gear Solid franchise has been amongst the most powerful franchises in the industry especially since the release of the playstation one game Metal Gear Solid, unofficially subtitled "Twin Snakes."
Many people were worried about the amount of issues this game had to cover in order to satisfy true fans of the series, but take it from a true fan of the series: producer Hideo Kojima and his crew deliver.
Chocked full of nostalgia, plot twists, tied ends, and more, this game is worth playing for the story alone.
For those who have never played a Metal Gear Solid game, it would be this reviewer's recommendation to approach it with caution. For a popular title the series is considered more "hardcore" than many other popular games, and the steep learning curve may turn off some players. Metal Gear Solid 4, however, does a great job of cleaning up the control system to allow for easier, more fluid play. In addition, the game can be played a variety of ways depending on how stealthy or run-and-gun the player wants to be.
The gameplay is simply fantastic, taking the usual quiet, undisturbed environments of the Metal Gear series and adding in frantic battlefields through which the player can sneak through unnoticed, or help out either faction. There is something visceral and extremely satisfying about making it around a battlefield while bullets whiz overhead without being noticed by any of the soldiers on either side.
Before you take into account my rating and review, it is ESSENTIAL that you know that there are tons of cinematics in this game, in other words videos which the player watches in between action sequences. Several of these scenes last over a half an hour, and without timing each individual scene I know of one for sure which goes over an hour.
For players who do not have the time to invest more than an hour or two per gameplay session, this really is not the game for you; which is a shame.
If skeptical, give the game a rent, but be patient with its challenging controls and unforgiving, yet satisfying action.
All in all this is a spectacular game with superb production values, blurring the lines between gaming, movies, and literature. An extremely deep story with biblical, political, and philosophical references, there is little this game doesn't have.