Michael Abbott:
''My friend Steve Gaynor wrote me to say that he finally finished Metal Gear Solid 4 "out of spite." I was curious about his opinion of the game, partly because I respect his judgment so much, but also because I've struggled to articulate my own thoughts about the game. What exactly is it about MGS4 that disappointed me so much? I've already written about Kojima's cinematic blind spot, but that doesn't fully account for it. And why, if I was so disappointed, did I bother to finish it?
Steve may have finished it out of spite, but I finished the game out of an inexplicable sense of obligation. To whom or what, I don't know. I was supposed to review it for PopMatters, but I bowed out after sitting down to write it twice and getting nowhere. Konami wouldn't provide a review copy, so I had planned to do it on my own dime. In the end, I couldn't muster the enthusiasm for spending more time thinking about the game. I was exhausted and just wanted to move on.''
