MGS4 playthrough: Could boss fights be not as good?

Pundits say that the PlayStation 3 provides über designer Hideo Kojima the platform to finally realize his vision for a Metal Gear game. I say hogwash. Kojima never did let hardware limitations prevent him from creating masterpiece upon masterpiece in the previous console generations.

Case in point: the brilliant boss fights. Each Metal Gear Solid installment had them, and even the ones in older games could be considered as all-time greats. Psycho Mantis and Sniper Wolf were my personal favorites in the first MGS, and when either are compared to any game boss ever created, the FOXHOUND duo is certainly unmatched when it comes to fun factor and design brilliance. Of course, how can we forget the sniping showdown with The End in MGS3? There is simply no boss fight like it in any game system.

However, I can’t say the same with my first boss encounter in MGS4. Laughing Octopus was quite tricky to locate given her camo powers, but there were no “OMG!” moments to permanently sear the experience into my subconscious. The second round against Laughing Octopus wasn’t that interesting as well because while the boss was tricky to hit with guns, she never did try to do anything else but try to grab Snake—and she didn’t do a very good job either because she’s too slow. To be fair, it was the first boss fight so MGS4 has several more chances.

I just find it ironic that the supposedly-ideal platform to fully realize Kojima’s vision for MGS has already used up one bullet–and it missed.

Could it be possible that because the hardware is supposedly ‘ideal,’ Kojima and his crew have lost their edge? Or was Kojima too wrapped up in closing the story’s loose ends story that somehow, he didn’t put in as much time and effort to make the boss fights as staggeringly impressive?

Whatever the case, the eyes of all Metal Gear fans and gamers everywhere are on Kojima and crew. Forget the perfect score given to MGS4 by GameSpot. Forget all the hype that we were subjected to for four years. Play the game and let it speak for itself. Let the discussions commence.

Image of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is courtesy of Konami.