An opinion piece from Destructoid argues that Metal Gear Solid 4, returning nearly two decades after its 2008 PS3 debut as part of the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol 2, will strike modern players as bizarre and out of step with today's more sanitised, easily digestible media landscape. The writer suggests that while the game was divisive even at release, longtime fans have since gained the perspective to appreciate its eccentricities, whereas newcomers will simply be baffled by its excesses.

The piece focuses particularly on the "Beauty and the Beast" boss unit, an all-female squad whose armour falls away to reveal conventionally attractive women after each defeat, complete with a controversial in-game photoshoot feature and reports that Hideo Kojima originally wanted the characters fully nude in cutscenes. The author also notes the game's convoluted story elements, such as the sudden appearance of the character Sunny, daughter of MGS2's Olga and adopted by Otacon, arguing that even prior knowledge of the trilogy won't fully prepare players for MGS4's stranger plot turns.