Day 209, Game 209 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

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Well, I made it through the week. The week of Metal Gear Solid. And by "made it," I mean I finally finished the week of headaches and head spinning. Unfortunately, I wish I could say I finished strong and came out on top, that I conquered the mighty franchise and claimed victory to the tactical espionage game play. 

Like I said, unfortunately I can't say any of that. 

I limped into the last day of the series, beaten and battered, defeated and ready to never touch another Metal Gear game again. The weird thing is, I can't even blame the games, the franchise or the hype I put on the whole week for completely ruining me. No, the only person I have to blame is myself, for attempting this week in the first place. It's all my fault, and more specifically, an extension of the dark side of this year-long blog project and the grave consequences I'm suffering from doing this whole thing to begin with. 

I have noticed this growing problem that I am having for a few months now, but I haven't written about it for fear of breaking the golden rule of letting the audience take a peak behind the curtain on stage. The problem is this: I am starting and playing so many great, awesome games, I am beginning to develop a backlog like no other, unable to finish many of the games I am really enjoying, only because I am moving on to the next game the very next day. Sure, I am still playing some of the games I really, really like, and go back to ones that I want to when I can, but there just isn't enough time in the days and nights to complete all the games I really want to.

Sadly, the problem isn't getting any better. And starting the Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection has only made it worse. Sure, I won't ever need to go back and play the original Metal Gear games, but with Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, Peace Walker and now 4, I desperately would love to finish them. I just don't know when I will ever get back to them. 

So when I started Metal Gear Solid 4, I went in completely uninterested and uninspired to get to far and too deep into Guns of the Patriots. It wasn't because I was bored with the story, or I didn't desperately want to experience one of the true crowning achievement games of this generation  - because I did. But in reality, I just was bummed about starting yet another game without having the time or energy to finish it. 

I played it, I started it, and got a little bit into it, but it just wasn't grabbing my attention. Also, I didn't feel like it was fair to get too far into this epic and awesome game without being able to give it my full attention. I just think this game is better than I was able to give it, and one day, I would like to get back, restart it and give it my all. For now, however, I had to quit it before I projected my frustration of myself onto the game. It just wouldn't be fair. 

And with that, I can close the book on my week of Metal Gear Solid. I learned a lot about the series, rediscovered an old love and also was able to finally see what the masses has seen and felt about the series for some time now. I feel bad for being so late to the party, and wish I could have experienced these games as everyone else did, instead of trying to cram them all into one week. 

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