First of all, this is my first review so please no bashing me (it is 3 AM and I have been playing MGS 3 for the past seven hours, so typos will be cleaned up in the morning)
*SPOILERS* anything in the trailers is fair game to be discussed in background. Key elements of the story will not be given up.
*STORY*
Onto the game. As you probably already know the game is set in 1964 and revolves around a new weapon called the shagohod that has the capability to launch nuclear weapons at America with ease. That is all I am going to say about the story. Suffice it to say, the game has one of the best stories ever for a video game. Most of the loose ends are tied up, and it really makes me want to go back and play the other games.
*GRAPHICS/SOUND*
The graphics are jaw-dropping. Probably the best that can be found on a PS2. Everything from the reflections on the water, to the bunnies hopping in the forest add such a sense of realism to the jungle that the world almost seems real. You even get a sense of the sunlight coming through the trees due to a light tinted yellow filter on the game in these areas.
To address the slowdown that many reviewers complained about, I found very little, and the slowdown I found was in areas that I could really care less about slowdown. By this I mean, the game hiccups on the survival viewer and codec sequences from time to time. The game will hang for a slight second a take a while to load these menus every once and a while (though it is really rare, the Major seems to be the worst in terms of loading).
As far as sound, the game sounds great as well. The soundtrack does what it is supposed to, and makes you feel in the 60's. Everything from the theme song and the "songs you get by using CQC in a certain way :wink: " all sound like they are taken from this era.
*GAMEPLAY*
Typical MGS gameplay with several new featues make the experience more fulfilling this time around. CQC is the new combat system that has been employed, and probably the best change the series has experienced yet. Slicing enemies throat's or using them as shields adds a new depth to the game, and makes things much more enjoyable. I probably killed myself 25 times, just from messing around with the CQC and using enemies as shields.
Aside from the CQC, the biggest change in the game comes from the new curing and eating aspects of the game. The curing system is more annoying than it is useful. You never run out of any type of medical supplies and generally interferes with the continuity of boss fights (constantly having to remove gunshots of tranq darts in the heat of battle really sucks). The hunting system is implemented a little better than the curing system. It is actually fun to hunt and scrounge for food. Killing animals is usually easy and pretty fun, but fuirt usually takes being shot out of a tree (wasting bullets suck) and the animals usually give more stamina than a piece of fruit (fruit also has a larger chance of tasting terrible IMO).
Camo also plays a big part, but I do not think the implementation of camo is all that big of a change to the series. Basically all it is, is a system that helps provide you better protection while in the enviroment. It gets old changing camo all the time, and comes off as a little annoying (like the curing system).
*CLOSING COMMENTS*
I do not want to give too much away as this is the best game I have played in years and I would hate to ruin it for everyone. The game is truely a work of art and redeems Kojima (I personally loved MGS2, but if you hated that one, give this one a try as it is vastly superior). The game is also very long. I think it took me like 20 or so hours to beat. This is with me screwing around plenty and killing as many people as possible/ and trying to find all the secrets (i.e. weapons and other items). If you played without screwing around, it would probably take 12-16 hours. Also, a major change in series is gameplay is the key focus. Cutscenes at the beginning and end are long, but most of the ones in the game are relatively short and never seem longer than 5 minutes.
There were few faults in the game overall and I feel that the good, far outweighs the bad. Makes me feel bad when you consider how overlooked this game is. I wish the hype was as great as it was for MGS 2, as it really does not deserve to be as overlooked as it is. IMO this is game of the year as far as consoles are concerned (HL2 is probably GOTY overall, although I have not played it).
Overall score for the game 9.8
