The ending of Metal Gear Solid 4 was something else; the ending to, um, end all endings. It was filled with strand-tying revelation after revelation, filling in all the plot holes left open by the games before, and throwing in a few surprises too. The thing is, the ending itself was a little on the “a bit friggin’ long” side.

Spoilertastic details follow!

As was uncovered a few days before the game was released, MGS4 featured plenty of lengthy cutscenes. None came longer than the multitude of scenes we call the “ending,” which covered all sorts of dead-ends which seemed to end the game, only to be followed by another scene or four.

Snake and Ocelot indulge in a man’s-man sort of fight, all fist-mashing and series-referencing as your health bar and the music – in another “clever but mental” Kojima moment – change depending on the era in which Ocelot’s brain appears to be. Then, down goes Ocelot, and that’s it. Everybody’s cheering, happy days. That’s the ending, right?

Nooope. We see Meryl and Johnny get married, and gasp in shock and awe as Drebin reveals to Otacon that the Patriots interfered with everything: Drebin is a Patriots agent (gasp!) and Rat Patrol 01 and Snake had been manipulated all along (double gasp!). Snake was the bad guy and Big Boss was trying to stop the evil AI that was manipulating everything, including Snake… Wha???

Then Snake, terrified of becoming the bad guy and killing everyone with his super-uber mutated virus of death, gets ready to blow his head off in front of the grave of Big Boss. BANG! End of show.

Off roll the credits. Voice actors for all the characters are named; Old Snake, Otacon, Meryl, Big Boss…wait, hold on, Big Boss?

Turns out Snake didn’t shoot his face off and Big Boss has been watching him the whole time. Contrary to what we believed before, Big Boss didn’t burn up like a piece of crispy duck and has been searching for MGS3’s Major Zero, who founded the mystical Patriots. Then he euthanises Zero, and you think ‘oh boy, that’s the Patriots done for, now the game can end’.

Happy days follow, as Big Boss reveals that Snake is no longer a super-uber mutated virus of death. Unfortunately said virus is now targeting Big Boss. Big Boss and Snake make their peace, Big Boss dies, end of game.

Oh, wait, nope; post-credits, Snake explains to Octacon that he wants to live his life to the full in the days he has left, and leaves his symbolic cigarettes behind so we definitely know he’s a changed man. And then he and Otacon presumably go skipping off into the sunset. That’s it, DONE.

See, when it comes to describing most game endings, the job can be done in a line or two – maybe a paragraph if the need arises. See that, up there though? Three hundred and forty-friggin’-five words to sum up the practically feature length ending. That’s just unnatural.

While the ending did go on and on and on and on, one thing must be admitted. For a long ending, it is damn awesome; one of the best endings I’ve ever seen in a game. Almost film-like in its direction and its style, Kojima’s determination to tell a good story and throw in some nice lessons to take away must be admired. For both it’s stupid length and its general awesomeness, MGS4’s ending(s) slot in at #16 in our Top 100 Moments of 2008.

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