[merylsilverburg]

I GOT IT!! I got the magazine - I mean, I got the demo!! I just finished playing it (actually, I didn't *finish* the demo because if you don't move constantly the demo thinks you're not doing anything and keeps taking you back to the stupid main menu, arrghhh! ) but...

OH MY GOD

I kept my eyes glued to the screen every minute. Damn, the graphics have improved! My jaw just fell open at the sight of the sunset when Snake (Snake for short, but his codename is "Naked Snake") jumped out of the gunship. Basically, the opening when he jumps off the gunship is probably stuff that's been shown in trailers already, so I don't need to talk about that since I assume everyone (but me) has seen it. It was amazing!

First off, the graphics are so terrific! The trees and bushes look so realistic...the way the bushes sway as you move in them and all...wow.

A lot of the controls seem to be the same except one new feature is using the directional buttons to stalk your enemy. When you first jump off the gunship, Snake loses his backback containing all his weapons and items. You start off going to retrieve it by climbing up the tree using the triangle button. Hang off the tree branch, using the triangle and retrieve your bag.

Afterwards, you're supposed to go and rescue a guy named Dr. Sokolov being kept prisoner by the Russians. That's where the whole stealth thing begins. And that's where the camouflage comes in:

You know, I thought the camo changing was supposed to be a quick change option. Where you'd press R2 or something and you can instantly change your camouflage. Well, I dunno if this is going to change, but in the demo, it's not so. You have to press the Start button to get your camouflage options, then select which one you want, and then press Start again to go back to the game screen. Honestly, this is a hassle and it causes a disturbance in the game flow.

Otherwise, the camouflage is really a genius because the patterns Snake wears really blend into the areas. I lost him once in the tall bushes...that's when I got discovered by the enemy... But, I think the more the game progresses, the more this camo feature will really be put into use. Along with keeping track of the enemy soldiers.

I think stealth will really be enhanced in this game even more...playing the demo brought back the rush of fear (which I didn't feel in MGS2). The fear which comes from actually being discovered by the soldiers. Picking the right camo helps, but if you're not covered fully (around 60% or so), the soldiers will pick up on you. Crawling is going to your main way of getting around it seems...but even crawling, the soldiers pick up on you.

One bit of problem I have with the camera/FPS is during the crawling. While crawling through the tall bushes, it automatically switches to first-person mode which prevents you from seeing where the enemy is. I mean, those bushes are tall. It's hard to see beyond them...I just wish the FPS thing would come up only if we want it to.

The codec scenes have been changed...it's still a 3-D model, but it's more of a photo of a 3-D character. There's no activity going on because it's trying to keep with the time era, so it's in black and white and no movement. Snake's chief/boss this time is a guy whom we are supposed to call "Major Tom" (I have no idea why Tom). Everything follows the traditional MGS storyline; you have the chief/major and you've got the female paramedic/doctor (like Naomi or Rose) and then...there's a woman called The Boss who was Snake's mentor and advisor and she will be supervising the mission.

The game will be much tougher I feel because there are many limits now to your weapons. For example, you have an MK-22 tranquilizer gun, an M1911A1 hand gun, and an M16A1 assult rifle/should rifle all which you can attach a supressor to. Unfortunately, the more you shoot with the suppressor, the more it wears out and there's a meter showing you how much durability your suppressor has. Wear it out compelety and you don't have a suppressor anymore.

Same with the motion detector and one other item I forgot. They use batteries, so the more you use it, the more the battery will be used and run out.

The stamina bar is important because it keeps Snake "up and running". You need to feed him otherwise his stomach will growl (as what happened to me -_-;;; ) and the enemy will hear you. This will also keep up his endurance and he'll heal quicker if it's full. The healing process is this: you hide Snake out somewhere and stand still...his health bar will recover gradually depending on his stamina.

The demo seems very long, unfortunately I don't have the time to play it all the way through right now.

I do have a question for those who have the demo: how do you kill the gators and get their head? I tried various things (knife, handgun, shotgun <--- this blew it to pieces though...) and I just wondered if I'm just stupid and couldn't figure it out, hehe.