I got my EGM today
Someone asked about MGS3 so here goes.....
Mark: The setup is nothing new - every Metal Gear plops you in the middle of nowhere with only your wits to get by. But Snake Eater delivers on the survive-and-conquer premise like never before. Staying hidden via stealth and camo, picking off the enemy one by one, living on captured snakes and fish, prying bullets out of your body before sewing up you wounds - Rambo would be proud.
One thing I can't stress enough: Patience is absolutely required to appreciate MGS3's unique new features. For example, almost any time you get hurt, you need to stop the game and head to the cure subscreen to spread ointment on burns, or ment broken bones. Innovative and definitely realistic, but when you're hurrying or in a boss fight, constantly switching to a menu can be jarring and annoying. Likewise, swapping different uniforms and face paints to camoflage yourself is great fun - lying in wait for an enemy perfectly hidden in the tall grass is what its all about - but it also requires switching to a subscreen.
Luckily, Konami added a great reward for staying stealthy - my favorite new featrue, the close quarters combat system. Get close enough to grab any enemy and your options are astounding: Slam him to the ground, interrogate him, slit his throat, choke him unconscious, take him hostage, etc - all these moves are executed with amazingly lifelike animation. Sure, you could gun your way through the whole game and never bother with CQC, but for those of us who know the thrills of true stealth gameplay, MGS3 offers an impressive deep end worth diving into.
And the graphics, Snake Eaters outdoor environments are huge, bigger than anything Metal Gear Solid or any other console game has done before, yet detaled down to the individual blades of grass. Seriously, at tiems its hard to beleive this game is running on a PS2 - it would still be a feat for the Xbox. All the open space does come with a price, though. The irregular natural terrain and the fact that the new sonar radar doens't show walls or where enemies are looking make it difficult to locate and keep track of bad guys. Metal Gear's top down camera is not up to the task., so the player must constantly swithc to the firest person view or slowly craw everywhere just to play it safe. I hate to say it, but I thnk the time has come to kiss the traditional view good-bye and embrace a more Splinter Cell-style camera.
As for the biggest complaints about MGS2 - its bland, androgynous hero and convoluted story - MGS3 puts the series back on track. The plot is still filled with crazy twists and bizzare dialogue but the overarching plot is exciting and unpredicatble as a great summer movie. Add in tons of secrets, a bewildering array of different ways to tackle bosses, optional cut scenes and mini-games, and the overall polsih Kojima is known for and you have one of Ps2's best games
This was from the review that gave it a 9. The other two gave it a 9.5 and a 10