4. Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid was a unique title when it was released in 1999 into the crowded bring death to everything on screen market that gaming was known for. Director Hideo Kojima and his team decided to buck the normal trend and instead have his protagonist expertly sneak around the cloned antagonists, with only mandatory boss battles getting in the way of progress. The option of attacking everyone head-on was there, but the thrill of sneaking past soldiers - or have them walk in circles after footprints - was a breathe of fresh air. Metal Gear Solid isn't a long game by any means and it's possible to fly through in around three hours, but two speed-runners have smashed the planned running time, holding world records for the NTSC and PAL versions. The aptly named Matt 'Solid Snake' Powell managed a perfect stealth approach of 1hr 54min 2secs on the NTSC version, while Aurélien 'slade' Pilet clocked 1hr 59min 46secs on PAL. The cunning duo made it a more impressive feat when both speed runs where on the Extreme Difficulty mode, which is a teeth grinding nightmare even at a slow pace. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvypzMzCrhw