the only thing saving this game is the gameplay. kojima alan smithee'd himself from the project and it shows. it's a complete backtrack on all of the character development from the previous games in the series, and goes completely off the rails by the second act or so. surprisingly, not everyone and everything needs to be connected to big boss; nor does everything need to tie together in a neat package that ultimately both ruins the mystique of the series and makes midochlorians look tame by comparison. garbage.