About two decades ago, in 2008, Hideo Kojima did it again with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, aka MGS4. One of the reasons this game is so famous in particular is for its lengthy cutscenes. To everyone’s surprise, MGS4 officially holds the Guinness World Record for the longest cutscene in video game history.
But exactly how long is it? The answer depends on whether you mean a single cutscene or a sequence of multiple cutscenes. Because there are two of them. Let’s see what this is all about.
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How Long Is the Longest Cutscene in MGS4?
According to Guinness World Records, the longest individual non-interactive cutscene in Metal Gear Solid 4 is 27 minutes long, which by itself is a long time compared to a lot of other big-name triple-A titles.
Guinness also lists a 71-minute cutscene sequence from MGS4, which is made up of multiple cutscenes combined together during the game’s climax. This is actually three cutscenes played back-to-back, where you have the opportunity to pause or save between them.
I mean, come on! This is super-duper crazy if you think about it. Gone are the days of these Metal Gear games when only story and gameplay mattered and today’s games are nowhere near them.
This is why Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear series, especially MGS4, are held in such high regard even decades after their release. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a prime example of that.
Watch the Famous 71-Minute MGS4 Sequence
Spoilers ahead! If you want to see why Metal Gear Solid 4 is famous for its lengthy cinematics, you can watch the 71-minute sequence below. Keep in mind that this is a sequence of multiple cutscenes, rather than one uninterrupted 71-minute cutscene.
So, if you’re asking for the longest single MGS4 cutscene, the Guinness World Records answer is 27 minutes. If you’re talking about the famous extended sequence near the end of the game, it’s 71 minutes in total.
How Many Hours of Cutscenes Are in MGS4?
A quick search on YouTube shows you a lot of all-cutscene videos of MGS4, lasting more than 8.5ish, even 9 hours. So when it comes to how many hours of cutscenes a game has, there’s no single agreed-upon figure. In order to find out that number, what we should do is simple. Combine all the cutscene times and see what we come up with.
Some of them include credits or gameplay footage and whatnot and that makes the time differences here. So it’s safe to say it’s way past 8 hours and no more than 9 hours which is insane. We got a lot of so-called triple-A games every day that have gameplay and story less than 8 hours.
If you’re curious to see just how much cinematic content MGS4 packs in, here’s a full compilation of the game’s cutscenes. Spoilers ahead!
At the end of the day, the numbers surely speak for themselves. The longest individual cutscene is 27 minutes long, according to Guinness World Records and it belongs to MGS4. The famous sequence stretches to 71 minutes when multiple cutscenes are combined, which is crazy enough.
But when you look at the game as a whole, there’s well over 8 hours of cutscene footage. That’s absolutely insane when you think about it and this alone makes Metal Gear Solid 4 such a memorable game even decades after its release.
