10 Times Metal Gear Solid Went Too Far

If there's one thing Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots definitely doesn't need, it's superfluous characters.

This is a game that features cut-scenes that last for - in some cases - over an hour, including returning faces from the entire series, many with an axe to grind and a story to tell. That's a lot of talking, even for a Kojima game.

One new character that we could perhaps have done without is the arms dealer Drebin and his side-kick underpants monkey. Drebin is one of those characters that seemingly exists purely to explain everything to everyone, over and over again. He somehow knows the truth about the Patriots - that the world is secretly being controlled by sentient A.I. - and he knows the entire, tragic, ridiculous backstory for each and every member of the Beauty and the Beast Corps.

All he does is turn up every couple of hours to fill in the blanks and over-explain everything, and as a result he adds like another two hours of running time to the game, spent listening to dull exposition while watching a stupid, smoking monkey parade around in a pair of tighty whiteys.

Unacceptable.