The good news about the Tokyo Game Show was that Metal Gear Solid 3 was playable on the show floor. It's only a couple of months before the game starts to ship in Japan and eventually to the rest of the world, so this would be the last major chance for Konami to hype up the game. The better news is that Konami has released a ton of new stuff in anticipation for the game. A brand spankin' new trailer, many of the bosses in the game, and so forth. So what about the playable version that was on the show floor? Well, it was good and bad at the same time. Don't get what I'm saying? Read a little bit more.
The demo of the game starts off similarly to the E3 version. You land in the jungle and you'll soon find all of your gear. Your rifles, AK-47, mic, knife and pistol. A pretty nifty gift. As you progress to the other areas, you'll have the opportunity to shoot up some snakes and 'gators for food, or shoot down some fruit for the same purpose. The next couple of areas are populated with sentries to the brim, which lets you test out some of your regained firearms. One thing about the Metal Gear series is that it always seems to retain some sort of humor, even though the basic premise of the game is actually broody and dark. What kind of humor does it have? How about shooting someone point-blank with a shotgun, seeing him fly 15 feet in the air before landing with a thud on the ground? That's true comedy right there. Sure, the physics model for that particular situation isn't exactly realistic, but it makes a game like this a hell of a lot more fun.
Most people can tell from the trailers that have already been released that MGS3 is one pretty looking game. Despite the 'greenness' of the trial version, MGS3 still manages to impress with a wide range of little graphical touches that most developers would not have thought of. Details like bullets blowing up dirt from the ground if you shoot too low or Snake nearly escaping death by grasping for a ledge with one hand before settling in with both hands make the game more dynamic than its competitors, which is why it's still the best stealth game around.
As for the story, the conversations and text that were used during the codec conversations were all in Japanese, so we couldn't tell you what exactly was being said, but most of these cutscenes did appear in the E3 version of the game, so those who have tried that will probably find nothing new here. One thing that we noticed while in a vicious firefight was some pretty complex attack strategies by the computer AI when alerted by other soldiers. With three enemies pinning me down, one threw a grenade towards my general vicinity, hoping to flush me out. Of course, the fire from his comrades' were pinning me down, so I was in a no-win situation, where the only choice I had was to jump in a random direction, hoping that they would run out of ammo while I was in mid jump.
That didn't happen.
So was was the bad news about the MGS3 demo? We were only allowed to play it in 30 minute spurts, which made us go t othe back of the line every half hour. Other than that, not a lot was wrong with the game at this point. If you've grown to love Metal Gear, you're going to enjoy this title, and if you're down for more of a Splinter Cell-esque adventure, you might not like it as much. Either way, PS2 owners have a lot to anticipate this coming fall, especially if you're an import purchaser. Look for this title to hit import and domestic retailers in a couple of months.
