A boss fight that lasts for weeks sounds intriguing, depending on how the gameplay was handled. Obviously you wouldn't be sitting at your console for the entire time, so the "fight" must be broken up into large sections, each requiring hours to complete. In this case, where it's supposed to be a battle against a sniper hidden in a jungle... I can see how it would take weeks to find and end the bastard (no pun intended).

That boss fight was where I quit playing MGS3 and MGS as a series (yes, I know about the elapsed-time easter egg). I loved MGS1 and MGS2, but MGS3 lost me. I really liked the video-gamey gameplay in 1 and 2, where each room is more-or-less a puzzle to figure out and work your way through, with the radar telegraphing the puzzle's parameters. MGS3 made a major switch away from puzzle gameplay towards slow action, removing the essential radar and replacing it with careful player observation. The sniper boss fight was the epitome of this pivot, requiring you to slowly trundle through a huge jungle and look for a few tiny clues to find your enemy's position. For better or worse, I just don't have that kind of patience, especially when I want to be having fun.

I think it fits the style of the story more, and certainly it was well-received by players, but for me personally, I found it interminable. I watched a friend play MGS4, and its story was completely bonkers. Ground Zeroes literally made me sick to my stomach. I'm done with MGS and while I'll watch for what Kojima puts out next, I'm pretty nervous about it.

If you haven't beaten The End within two weeks of starting the battle, the next time you load your savegame a cutscene shows he has died of old age. He is replaced with a ninja squad you have to evade/defeat in the jungle.

You can also kill The End using a sniper rifle the first time you see him in the game (right after emerging from The Sorrow's boss "fight"). You have to snipe him while he's sitting in the wheelchair before he's taken away.

It's fair enough criticism, although I highly suggest you watch a video on why MGS3 was such a brilliant game, if you get bored sometime. I'll link you a decent video at the bottom, maybe you've already seen it. I wished more developers would make games that they want to make, rather than making games that they think the consumers want. Many studios do this, but many studio don't do this.. looking at Infinity Ward and Bungie.

I can't wait to see what Kojima puts out next, and I believe that Sony will allow him the freedom to do what he wants. Even if it isn't the most fun game in the world, there is a guarantee that it'll be wacky and challenge the general notion of what video games have become now. That's what makes it so exciting.

> Ground Zeroes literally made me sick to my stomach.

Because of the graphics/gameplay? Or the story? If it's the story, I think that's a good thing. It's a devastating critique of US foreign policy as it relates to extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention, black sites, etc. Except for the very end, there's nothing that happens in the game that the US army / CIA haven't already done.

Yes, because of the story. Child rape; child torture; full-view, un-anesthetized surgery. No thanks.

FWIW The sniper battle vs The End (hoping that was his name) is legitimately one of the best boss fight's in any game I've ever played (if only for replay). Making it optional was very smart, but IMO it catches a lot of undue flak.

Really?

I don't remember it as something special.

Psycho Mantis or The Sorrow I remember as good, but the end was just "yet another boss" to me.